Midnight Magic

"Can you feel my heart?" She'd asked, voice tight with pain.

Her words haunted me, as did the thudding of her still-beating heart tucked away in my nightstand.

I hadn't expected to become the guardian of my friend's heart all those years ago. But life is funny like that sometimes.

Nadine was an enigma in my otherwise structured life. I won't bore you with the details, but trust that my schedule was as reliable as the tides. I was a regular at the bagel shop by my work and the bar by my home. Hell, my eating habits were predictable enough to rely on a subscription grocery service to fill my small pantry.

When Nadine first joined the company, I never expected that she and her little black book would change my life. Or that I'd be happy about it. My schedule remained, but overnight, I'd made room for a friend and her wild to-do list that she always held close. She was a whirlwind personified, and hers were the winds I rode with reluctant glee.

It started with a night of drinks and karaoke that ended by the river. I hadn't meant to go out at all that night. It was a Monday, and going out was for Fridays. But when Nadine got that look in her eye, it was hard to say no, even at the beginning of our friendship.

We stayed out until the world had quieted. Though we were still loud ourselves, lost in a time and space that was our own in a way that the day never was.

It was by that river we started, and by that same river, things began to end for a time.

I came into ownership of Nadine's heart through a night that started like any other.

We ended our workday, and she got that look in her eye and cracked open her notebook. Challenges, wishes, adventures had and to be had were scrawled on its ivory parchment. She never let me read through it. "It has to be a surprise." She'd chide me. "Life is monotony without the unknown. Do you want to be bored?"

"No," I'd relent.

"Then embrace it!"

And so I did.

The first sign that something was off that night, and perhaps my only warning, was our detour to the river before dinner. The river was always our destination, so it felt odd to start there. But I'd learned it was best to just let Nadine do her thing and go along for the ride.

And then she asked me something that would change my life forever. "Can I trust you with my heart?" She said.

Like an idiot, I thought she was confessing to me. "Don't get me wrong, Nadine, you're gorgeous-" I began, but she laughed in my face.

"Oh my," she wiped a tear from her eye, "sorry. Poor phrasing." She gasped. "You're bright as a beet, Don!"

I shrugged nonchalantly, grateful for the shadows cast by the fading sun behind me. "I'd never hurt you, Nadine. If that's what you're worried about."

"You're as stoic and loyal as they come." She punched my arm playfully.

"A compliment?" I chuckled. "Where's all this coming from?"

Nadine stared across the waters for a minute, absent-mindedly drumming her fingers on her notebook. Quiet moments were rare for her, and like our midnight space, they were sacred. After a long pause, she spoke. "I'm not ready to leave."

I leaned back on my palms. "We can sit here as long as you want." I feigned ignorance. True, I didn't know what she was talking about, but it clearly wasn't about this moment in time.

She rolled her eyes. "And here I trying to be thoughtful." She produced a bracelet from seemingly nowhere and offered it to me. "Put this on."

"Oh, thanks, Nadine. But it's not really -"

She flattened my protests with a glower.

I pushed the cold metal of the seemingly simple copper band against my skin, forcing the opening around my thick wrist.

"Okay," she opened her coat, revealing a bold, low-cut shirt, "now, I need you to take my heart."

I can't remember why I didn't move, why I didn't ask her what she meant. I just remember the slowing of time as she took my hand in hers and guided it towards her chest. As my fingers brushed against her soft, midnight flesh, I pulled back. "What the fuck, Nadine? I'm not touching your tits."

She frowned but conceded, "fair enough. The back will do."

"What?"

Nadine turned away, shrugging her coat down to her waist. The shirt's collar dipped to the waistline of her slacks. "Reach in from the center."

I placed my hand hesitantly on her back, compelled by my curiosity. Her skin was sticky to the touch.

"Higher, please. Are you going for my kidneys?" I raised my hand higher. "There. Let my pulse guide you. Now, push!"

"Jesus, Nadine," I said, pushing my hand against her skin. The copper band on my wrist grew hot. Previously invisible runes glowed in the darkness. I almost pulled away in surprise, but then Nadine took a step backward, and my hand sunk into her flesh - through it.

"Do NOT grab my spine," Nadine said through gritted teeth.

I froze elbow deep in her chest. "Am I going to kill you?"

"You said you wouldn't hurt me, right? Don't worry about it."

A cold breeze grazed my fingertips, my hand protruding from her front. "What if someone sees us?" It was a bewildering experience. But just as strange was the fact we were doing it, whatever this was, in the open.

"I've taken care of it." She chuckled darkly through the pain. "You just worry about getting your hand around that fluttering you feel in my ribcage. Feel for the pulse."

I focused, pulling my hand back into her body and feeling for her heart. Another breeze grazed my skin as I passed through her lungs. But I found what I was looking for, her heart nestled between them. "Got it."

"Now, gently. GENTLY. Grab it."

"And?"

"Hold on." She took a deep breath and an enormous stride forward. Her heart, a fiery red thing, bloomed out her back, leaving pink welts on her skin.

And like a house of cards, she collapsed. My momentary awe at holding her heart was washed away by fear. Fear of death, fear of the consequences, but above all, fear of being alone in a world without her.

Nadine was the kind of person you met and wondered how you went your entire life up until that moment without them. I was not ready for her to leave either.

I cradled her quieting heart close to my own, and knelt beside her.

She lay still, her soft cheek pressed against the concrete. Each breath was slower than the last. I rolled her onto her side. Should I do chest compressions? But I already had her heart. Could I put it back? I frantically looked around for help, but whatever Nadine had done to protect that area of the river was still in effect. There was no one nearby. Just as I was about to start compressions on the heart in my hand, it roared to life once more, pumping itself as though it were still inside Nadine. I almost dropped the thing in surprise.

As suddenly as she'd fallen, Nadine rose like the sun, slow and graceful. From her purse, she handed me a pouch embroidered with stars. "Keep it safe."

"Are you…okay?" I asked, sliding her heart into the pouch. Its flames quieted within the silken confines of the pouch's liner.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be? Come on, let's grab dinner. I'm starving."

And so to dinner we went. It was so…normal. The kind of normal that's abnormal. Throughout the night, I pressed her to explain what happened.

"What was that? What are you? How are you alive? How long am I supposed to watch over your -"

"*Insert name* There's a time and a place for everything. What is this?" She gestured with her hand to the waiting staff and jam-packed tables around us.

"A restaurant."

"Which means it's time for," she did a small drum roll on the table and then pointed at me with finger guns, "dinner. And polite conversation."

I reached for her heart, still beating in my pocket. It quickened as I did. She stopped me with a look.

"Nadine, I get that you have your secrets. We all do. But I need to know what's going on."

"Will you stop helping me if I don't tell you?"

"Maybe." I lied.

She sighed. "There are some truths of this world that can ruin your chance of living happily within it. Do you want to be ruined?"

I searched her eyes for a sign of the trickster I knew, but all I found was tired sincerity. I shook my head. "Just level with me on this. How long do I keep it?"

"Until I come back."

And so I did. And so I still do.

Nadine didn't come to work the next day or the day after that. Her cellphone went straight to voicemail, and her apartment was abandoned. I reported her missing, but after a brief investigation, the police dismissed the case. There were no signs of a struggle. She must've just packed up and moved to another town.

It's been years. Some think Nadine's dead, but nowadays, most don't think of her at all. Her heart, beating in my nightstand drawer, is a welcome reminder that somewhere, she's still alive. It is both a small comfort and a ghostly reminder.

Not long after her disappearance, the money arrived at my door alongside an apology note, both stuffed into a nondescript box. "Don't call. Don't think of me. And don't ask around or start snooping. Keep moving forward. -Nadine p.s. I'm sorry."

It was $20,000 in all, stacked in neat piles of crinkled bills.

Half of it, I gave half of it to my sister, who was still working her way through trade school. It was cheaper than college, but I didn't want her to worry about debt.

The other half, I kept for Nadine and myself. It took me some time to work up the courage, but I bought a little black book of my own. When Nadine returns, as she promised she would, it'll be my turn to take her on an adventure.

One I hope she'll never forget.