The Raven - Episode 2 (of 3)

By Paulette Hampton.... “Call me Evan.” “I’ll stick with Magic Man,” Elizabeth cocked her head slightly. “It suits you.”

ICYMI: part 1

Episode Two: Freed

Several weeks later a knock came at the tattoo shop door.

Magic Man slowly opened it to see Elizabeth leaning against the doorframe. Her eyes were partly glazed, and her breathing was rapid.

“Oh, hi!” He smiled. “Got your nerve back up?”

Elizabeth nodded.

“I’ll have to take care of you another day. The shop’s closing. It’s way late.”

Elizabeth nodded again and sniffed.

“Hey, are you okay?” Magic Man bent down to get a better look at her face. Her mascara had run, and her eyes glistened with tears.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.” He motioned her in. “Sit down. What’s wrong?”

“Leslie and I had planned to go out tonight to The Green Lantern Pub.”

“Yeah, that’s just a few blocks down the road from us.”

“She couldn’t make it, so I decided to go there myself.”

“Okay.”

“I was having a nice time until I saw my ex, Timothy, and his new girlfriend a few tables across from me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“I remembered what he said about me being too prim and proper so I thought that I should show him

and get that heart tattoo.”

“I don’t think you’re in any shape to get a tattoo tonight.”

“And why not?”

“You don’t want to make this kind of decision when your emotions are all stirred up and there’s been some drinking involved.”

“So, no tattoo tonight?”

“No, but we can schedule one for next week.”

“Fine. Sure.” Elizabeth frowned.

“What’s the best day that works for you?”

She started crying. “I can’t help how I am!”

“Oh, please don’t cry.” Magic Man’s face grimaced with panic. “I’m not equipped to handle that.”

“I try to be spontaneous and fun but…”

Magic Man handed her a tissue.

“Timothy is right, but I don’t know how to change.”

“You don’t have to change, Elizabeth.” Magic Man said. “Be who you are. The right guy will love you for it.”

“But I bore myself!” She dabbed at her eyes with the tissue. “I want to change.”

“Tell you what!” Magic Man beamed. “Let’s give you a tattoo.”

“But you said –”

“I know. It won’t be a real one. The owner’s kid has a stack of rub-on tattoos in the back. Let’s look at those and see what you’d like to get tonight.” Magic Man went to the back and retrieved the booklet.

Elizabeth smiled. “That sounds like fun.”

“And spontaneous!”

“Yes, that too!” Elizabeth clapped her hands together.

“Where would you like it?”

“I definitely want to see this one. How about on the back of my hand?”

“Do you like my crow tattoos?”

Elizabeth blushed. She hadn’t noticed she’d been staring at his neck as they flipped through the tattoo pages. “It’s gorgeous.” She paused and thought. “I’d like to have a raven if we can find one. Poe is my favorite poet.”

“There’s a raven here.” Magic Man’s eyes crinkled as he grinned. “I would have thought you’d go for a flower or a symbol.”

“The raven is a symbol. A symbol of my fun side coming out just a little.” Elizabeth hiccupped and then giggled. She quickly covered her mouth.

“I like the sound of that!”

He held her hand in his and cleaned her skin with a cotton ball, cool with alcohol. He then placed the raven drawing on the back of her hand and quickly pressed the rubbing with water.

“How long will it stay on?” Elizabeth asked.

“A week or so.”

“People at the library will be shocked.” Elizabeth giggled again.

“That’s what you’re trying for, isn’t it?”

She nodded. “I’ve always been a rule follower, never making any waves, never doing anything outlandish. It’s time; don’t you think?”

“Absolutely!” Magic Man gently dabbed the excess water around the rub-on tattoo with a small hand towel. “In fact, I say that this will be the first of many shocking things you’ll be doing now that your raven is coming out.”

“You think so?”

“I know so!” Magic Man laughed.

“How’s that?”

“Once you let the raven free, he’s not going back in the cage again.”

“How’s it look?” Elizabeth asked, stretching out her arm to admire the sleek black bird on the back of her hand.

“It suits you!”

“I think so too!”

“Let’s get you on the books and get you an Uber.”

“Thank you, Magic Man.”

“Call me Evan.”

“I’ll stick with Magic Man,” Elizabeth cocked her head slightly. “It suits you.”

🩷🩷🩷

Paulette Hampton holds a Masters in Reading Education and is a multi-genre writer. She is the author of the YA paranormal novel Of the Lilin, the memoir When Life was Yellow: A Memoir of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and a sci-fi novella entitled Singing to the Fere Moon. Her poems have appeared in Immortal Hymns Rewritten Realms, Secret Attic, WildSound, and elsewhere. She loves to draw and spend time with family and friends. She lives with her husband and two cats in North Carolina. paulettehampton42.wixsite.com/website.