Harvey Noir - Part 1
It was a dark and stormy night. But then, it usually is here in the land where the undead walk the earth, drink tea, and generally have a good time while avoiding the bitter hatred of most everyone else in Azeroth. On the particular dark but not-so-stormy night, I picked up quill, ink and a few packs full of paper and headed to my room upstairs from the Gallow's End Tavern. The atmosphere outside was forboding, but the near warmth coming from the smoldering cinders in the fireplace could calm the screams of a banshee.
My name? My name is not really important, but you can call me Harvey. It is in fact better if you do, as I rarely answer to Alice or Jujuconga... any longer.
But there I sat at a small desk near the window, trying to think of what bit of information I could scribble down so that Ditor would give me back my chicken. Gambling isn't a pretty addiction, children, and this time I had gotten in way over my head. The goons at the racetrack had been sniffing around Orgrimmar for me, so I had to come back home and lay low for a while. I'd get them their money, but these boys don't like to wait.
A storm was coming to Tirisfal - I could feel it in my exposed bones. Just as the first few raindrops spattered against the dirty window pain, I heard a shuffle at the doorway. It couldn't be the innkeep with dinner since I hadn't ordered any. And there would be no girls paying this old man a visit - it's not like I was hiding out in Goldshire.
An all to familiar clicking of the latch told me someone was coming in without asking, and that doesn't sit well with Harvey. I dropped the still dry quill and replaced it with a throwing dagger. I had replaced these things when I was able to lay my hands on a sniper rifle. But the rifle was across the room in the closet and it would be pretty useless in this type of scuffle. By the time the second click of the latch was finished, the candle was snuffed and my off hand had a second dagger.
A thin beam of light entered the now dark room. My wrist was bent, ready to send the dagger right through the intruder's forehead. But I smelled her before I saw her. The smell of lilac oil filled my still working nostrils and I slipped the thin daggers back up my shirt sleeves. I saw the sillouhette of her head and upper body against the torches in the hallway and if I had any breath left, seeing her body would have taken it away. A delicate hand lifted a candle holder into the room, lighting the darkness and her face. I frowned and turned back to the desk, flicking a match against my thumbnail and relighting the candle.
"What do you want, Luci?"
I tried to look like I was busy, but the blank sheet of paper in front of me would give the truth away. I opened the inkwell and started scribbling some notes to disguise my writer's block.
The door clicked once again, shutting behind her. She moved from my right to my left, toward the bed. I set my teeth and continued to scribble, my hand moving like a writer possessed from inspiration.
Leave Luci, I thought.
Get out and don't come back. Haven't you done enough already? Why are you here anyway... no I don't want to know. Get the hell out. Now! My mind might have thought it, but my mouth was fully in control of the situation and overrode the entire paragraph, dismissing it as drivel.
"Harvey, I was told I would find you here." I heard the slightest rustle as she sat down on the bed. I might not have been so upset were it to dawn to me that I was sitting in the only chair in the room. But logic had no place here. Logic fled the room once Luciselva walked back into my life.
The game had started, and now I had to play it through. I put down the quill and turned the chair with a creak.
"What can I do for you, Luci. I'm busy and don't have a whole lot of time for chit-chat." My face was expressionless, which wasn't particularly a difficult trick for me. The loose hang of my jaw on the left side tended to help with these situations. Luciselva frowned, her face filling with expression, a unique trait for one of our kind. And it was part of the curse placed upon me with her. She melted my cold heart. She filled my dusty mind with memories long buried. And I loathed it.
She sat on the bed staring back at me. Her eyes begged and pleaded for a forgiveness that did not come to her lips. The years disappeared and it was like we were back to that time, to that moment when the coldness won out in my veins. After what could have been hours, but was only a few seconds, she finally spoke.
"Are you still mad at me, Harvey?"
I took my eyes off of her for a moment, but not out of shame or anger. It was a question I had been asking myself for what seemed like forever, but now it was time to answer it. And I really wasn't sure of the answer.
"I..."
I looked up at her again, and it really was as if those years had been clawed away to take me back to that most brutal moment in my unlife.
"I... I don't see any point in holding onto the past. It just brings regret for things you've done and things you didn't do. Yesterday means nothing. Last year means nothing. Hell, tomorrow means nothing. It's today or nothing at all. So forget about it, ok? It is buried." The silence weighed heavy between us, but I'm not sure from the regret I just spoke of, or from simple relief. Another curse I have is that I don't have amnesia - it would actually make everything I had just said be truth. But I do have a working memory, and despite all of my prattling and pretending, the memories were alive - good and bad. But there was some truth in my words, and that was that all we have is right now.
"So, what can I do for you Luci?" I had to move on.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small jar, but didn't open it yet. Luciselva wasn't speaking, so I turned my full attention to her. She was looking down at her hands as if hoping they held the key to unlocking her vocal chords. Her delicate, sutured jaw opened and closed several times. Apparently she wasn't having much luck.
"Look, kid. It was great seeing you, but..."
"Harvey." Her voice was almost a whisper, but it stopped me dead. "I'm in trouble." Luciselva's jaw was quivering and her body shaking by the time these last words came out. I knew deep down that this was something big, something I should avoid, something that would likely take me back down roads whose bridges I had long since burned to ash. But I knew deeper down that it didn't matter and that it never would. I would do anything for this woman. Luci was the only person since Sarah that had been able to light a spark in this rusty stove of a heart. Fortunately my mouth was still in control of the situation and could at least offer up some resistance.
"I don't do that any more, Luci. I'm legit. I retired from all that malarkey when I got finished out my final tour. No more sneaking around, no more targets, and no more taking orders. I do things for myself now." The more I spoke, the more I believed what was being said. But Luciselva's features were firming up under my barrage of words.
I continued, while I was on a roll. "I'm a reporter now. Well, maybe not a full reporter, but a freelancer just the same. The pen has replaced the sword, doll. I hunt down stories now, not people. The only time I go off in search of adventure is for fun and profit... for me! The Covenant sees to those desires, and that's a volunteer outfit."
When I was done, Luci stood from the bed without making a sound, then folder her hands in front of her. "Well, Mister Reporter, I think you're full of kodo waste. I know what you left behind, but I also know what you keep with you and that you can't escape. I know who you are... who you really are, Harvey." She floated across the floor and put her hand on the door latch. "If you don't want to help me, that's fine. I understand. I understand all those things you're trying to hide, and I understand all the words you aren't saying. I'll find someone else to help me. It was only a secondary reason I came here anyway."
I folded my arms in confidence. I'm not sure how I made it through this, but I'll have to put more faith in my mouth in the future. I tilted my head to the side, cocky with myself. "Yeah? Second reason? And what's the first, Luci?"
Her hand slipped down the latch and her eyes slid defenslessly to the floor. For a moment, I saw again that frail, scared forsaken girl who sat shaking on the edge of my bed. But the visage dropped again and she pulled her face up, grabbing my eye sockets forcefully with her own empty sockets.
"I love you, Harvey. I always have and always will."
A very large lump caught in my throught and silenced my big mouth for good. Before I could regain my composure, she clicked the latch on the door and the room exploded into a bright hot fireball.
Posted by Harvey at 08:14 AM 20 July 2005