Who are you, anyway?
The day sped by in a blur of phone calls and countless interruptions. Derek was incredibly busy, being a lawyer meant paperwork all of the time, and by the time he was walking to catch the bus home, he had forgotten all about the girl in the yellow raincoat. It was getting dark quickly and the streets were beginning to transform into a dangerous place. Derek was not worried. He did not stand out, he was not different, and for blending in, he was granted instant immunity.
“No!” echoed a cry from a side alley. “Leave me alone!”
“Shut up!” hissed another, rougher voice.
Derek paused, squinting into the gathering gloom, attempting to see what was going on. It was the first voice that had made him stop; it was eerily familiar yet he could not place it. Then he spotted the yellow raincoat.
The girl in the yellow raincoat had her back to a wall and was surrounded by three large men. The men dwarfed her, making her appear more childlike and helpless.
“Go away!” yelled the girl, her eyes darting from one face to another, scanning for the weakest link and an escape.
“Don’t be like that, sweetheart,” said the middle man, advancing on her.
“No!”
The man closest to Derek snatched at the yellow sleeve as the girl landed a punch solidly on the middle attacker’s nose.
With no other thought, Derek found himself propelled into the alley, ramming into the man closest to the girl. The rest happened too fast and it became apparent that the only way to end it without magic was to get back onto the street and into the public. Derek found the girl in the yellow raincoat’s hand and dragged her to the alley entrance. They stumbled into the street and took off running, stopping only when they were several blocks away and safely on a bus.
“You’re bleeding,” said the girl after a moment. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a handkerchief.
With shockingly gentle hands, she wiped away most of the blood on Derek’s face before dabbing it on the gash above his eyebrow. Derek flinched and snatched the dirtied cloth out of her hand, applying pressure on his own.
“What the hell were you doing in an alley with those guys?” demanded Derek. "And why on earth do you have a handkerchief in your pocket?"
The girl jumped at the harshness of his voice. Her blue eyes were wide and scared but her face was calm and composed. She said nothing, just stared back at the man who had helped her.
“I’m sorry,” said Derek after a moment. “Are you alright?”
The girl in the yellow raincoat nodded and then looked away.
“Thank you,” she muttered.
“Um, yeah, sure, look, are you sure you are alright?”
She nodded, still not looking at him.
“Who are you, anyway?”
“I’m Pembrooke Quinevere Natalie Wright,” said the girl in the yellow raincoat. “But most people just call me Lily.”
“Lily?” repeated Derek. “How did anyone get Lily out of all of that?”
“My mother did not want me to have a common name so that when I was growing up, I wouldn’t be one of several. Pembrooke Quinevere Natalie Wright is quite a mouthful and my grandmother used to call me Little Lily because she liked flowers. Lily stuck.”
“Lily,” said Derek slowly, as if trying it out to see how it fit. “Alright. Lily, what happened tonight?”
“I was walking to the bus stop,” said Lily quietly. “I had been at the post office. And then these guys game up to me, talking and walking around me. They herded me into the alley before anyone could notice. I don’t know what they were planning on doing, and I’m glad I didn’t find out. Thank you, Derek, for everything you’ve done tonight. You didn’t have to stop. Why did you?”
“What? How could I not? What type of person would I be if I just walked by, looked the other way?”
“You would have been just like everyone else.”
“Well…”
The bus drove on, stopping to lighten its load every so often. Derek kept throwing concerned looks at Lily, who was shivering slightly next to him. Aside from that, she showed no signs of the stress of the evening and at the last stop, the stop where they had met that morning, she hopped off in much the same fashion that she had boarded the bus so many hours before. Turning, she smiled up at Derek.
“This is where we part ways, fine sir,” she said. “Thank you, again, for all your help.”
“Where do you live?” asked Derek, longing to keep the conversation going for as long as he could.
“As much help as you have been,” said Lily, “I do not know you very well. But I live down this way.”
“Oh, right.”
“Well, good night.”
With that, the girl with the yellow raincoat sauntered down the street, the brightness of her coat glowing in the street lamps. Derek could not help but wonder who she was, this girl who stood out for more reasons than her odd clothing choices. But alas, there would be no way to find out, nor should he want to. They were never supposed to have known the others name, let alone know the other as a person with emotions and thoughts. Now was the time where their paths ought to have split again, the fork that appeared when the first one was missed.
As Derek turned and strolled towards his home, work troubles began crowding his mind again, but in one corner remained Lily and in another, was the name of the coffee shop she had disappeared into that morning.
This time, Derek chose to deviate from the set path and make a new trail, one that included the girl in the yellow raincoat for a little while longer.