Lesson 127- Just because someone has bad news, that doesn’t make it their fault.
The scream is loud and actually painful to hear. It’s not a fearful kind of scream, more like the type someone might give out when receiving terrible, unbearable news. Shit. Why is it that when everything happens, it happens all at once? I search around for the source of the screaming and see a small, thin, and kind of frail looking middle aged man with greyish-brown hair absolutely wailing. Tears running down his face while he points at some old guy on the other side of the room. The thing is, I can’t see why. He looks totally fine, and everyone around him looks kind of alarmed, but more like they’re shocked by the sudden screaming than anything else. Even Torin looks unbothered. I want to tell the guy to stop screaming, but no one else is, and since I don’t know what the problem is, I don’t want to seem insensitive. Clearly everyone else here knows something that I don’t. It takes about a minute for the guy to stop screaming, then he just collapses into his seat, tears running down his face. He looks kind of pale and unwell. Actually, I think he might be sick. I rush to grab a bucket, but before I can reach him he throws up on the floor. I stop and sigh. He looks up at me looking weak and apologetic.
“Sorry.” He answers in a hoarse voice, unsurprising after all that screaming.”
“It’s alright, it can be cleaned up.” I tell him gently, doing my best to hide that I’m kind of grossed out. What’s really strange is that no one is coming to check on him. Everyone has crowded around the old man he pointed out and they’re all talking at once. I’m the only one checking on the guy who just screamed and threw up? I turn around, planning to grab something to clean up the vomit with, but I walk straight into Torin who is already holding a mop and bucket. I smile, okay, maybe I’m not the only one checking on this guy. I go to take the mop from him but Torin waves me away and starts cleaning it up himself.
“Are you okay? Can I get you something, uh…” I pause, not sure of his name.
“Phil. I’m Phil. And water would be good?” He says wearily. I nod.
“No problem!”
By the time I get back with the drink, Torin has finished cleaning up and the guy looks a little better. The water seems to help too as he sips at it slowly.
“So, Uh… What just happened exactly?” I ask Phil.
“I’m a banshee.” He answers simply, as if it’s an explanation. I just stare blankly.
“Banshee’s can sense when someone is near death. If the death is going to happen soon, they wail. It’s a sort of reflex reaction.” Torin explains. I stare at the tired banshee.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. That sounds exhausting. And kind of sad.” I say sympathetically. Phil smiles at me.
“Thanks. A lot of people get mad. It’s not like I can control it. And it’s not like the person’s death has anything to do with me.” He grumbles. I pat his shoulder sympathetically.
“You do benefit from his death though.” Torin comments and I raise an eyebrow.
“Really? How so?” I question and Phil sighs.
“Banshees are… Almost immortal. But only if we’re around death. Once we wail for someone, we follow them around and when they die, we’re… sort of recharged.” He answers. My automatic instinct is to comment that it’s kind of like a carrion bird or something. But I don’t want to be offensive. I’m saved from answering by Phil getting to his feet.
“I suppose I should go check on him.” He says, gesturing in the general direction of the man whose death he just predicted. Torin and I follow along.
“Sorry.” Phil says to the old man awkwardly. I expected the old man to be upset, scared, or even angry. But he just smiles and waves Phil off.
“It’s fine. I’ve been unwell for a long time now. This is… Expected. No need to be so down. I appreciate the warning. Or I do now that my ears have stopped ringing at least.” He says kindly. Phil starts bawling.
“Oh, no need for tears. In fact, we should have a drink. We should all have a drink.” He raises his voice.
“Who wants to help me blow all my savings in one night? It looks like I don’t really need them anymore.” He pulls out a large wad of cash.
“I don’t have everything with me, but I should have enough to get us all fairly drunk.” He reasons. Everyone cheers and just like that, the depressed and solemn atmosphere transforms into a raging party. People are drinking, laughing and patting the old man on the back. I rush back behind the bar to help out Laura and Torin does the same. This is going to be a busy night after all.
By the time we close up, I’m exhausted. We all are. I just called more than a dozen cabs because people got so drunk. The old guy spent all his cash, and then the vampires got involved and decided to keep the celebration going. After that, it got really crazy. The old guy (who never actually gave me his name) stepped out in the early hours of the morning, accompanied by Phil. I almost didn’t notice them leaving, and I doubt that anyone else did either. I didn’t really enjoy the party after that. It all felt kind of empty. Laura is yawning as she helps me clean up. She ended up staying the whole night since we needed the extra set of hands, not to mention she is a far more experienced bartender than I am. Once she heads home, I find myself in that weird wired state where I’m super tired but also sort of wide awake at the same time. I find myself sort of pointlessly circling the room, tidying things that are already clean. It’s not until I’m on my fifth loop of the room that I realise Torin has been staring at me. I approach him, rocking on my heels.
“What?” I prompt. He shrugs.
“You had a long night.” He says. I nod.
“Yeah, we all did, " I answer tiredly. Then I give him a slight simile.
“I did want to apologise. I’m sorry if having Richard here makes you uncomfortable. You were attacked just as much as I was. It wasn’t fair of me to invite him to hang around and pressure you into agreeing.” I apologise. Torin blinks in surprise, then wraps his arms around me and pulls me to his chest in a tight hug. I’m surprised, but I sink into the embrace anyway. I feel Torin press a kiss into my hair as he hugs me even tighter.
“I don’t like having him here very much. But you’re right, and I do understand your decision.” He hesitates before continuing.
“Your willingness to try to understand other people’s points of view is one of my favourite things about you.” He says fondly, still hugging me. We stay like that for what feels like was much longer than a normal hug should be before moving. Then, I basically stumble my way into bed and pass out.
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