Auburn was a big city compared to the Beauregard area, which was a rural little town where there was anything from massive estates to small trailer park communities. My small town was already shut down for the night. Not one light was on as I drove down Society Hill Road headed to Auburn. We didn’t have many night lights in our town, and the few that illuminated from businesses shut down after ten.
Once in Auburn, I rode around the city, taking in old, rustic buildings that had been standing since my great grandparents were alive. Most impressive was the construction. This city was growing in leaps and bounds, and high-rise apartment buildings were the new rave of the city that had once been a traditional small town in Alabama with ordinances against tall buildings.
I slowed down as I reached the one place that stood out from the other late-night bars. I had gone to Club Elite before, but I wasn’t really a clubbing type of guy. Something about tonight was different. The club’s sign, blinking like a neon light on the hill, drew me to it as if I were a firefly. The mocha beauty holding a microphone in her hand next to the words Alise is Back on the Mic Tonight had my full attention.
My heart tightened at the sight of her. My Raven. She looked just like my Raven, and dare I say she was even prettier. How was this even possible?
I pulled into the club’s parking lot, found a parking space, and walked briskly to the door, eager to see the breathtaking woman holding the microphone. As expected from the many cars in the parking lot, the place was jam-packed. Some people were chattering amongst themselves, some dancing, but most were glued to the well-lit, albeit smoky, stage, watching the loveliest songbird to ever grace a mic.
“I refuse to let you go. If I have to beg and plead for your sympathy, I don’t mind because you mean that much to me. I ain’t too proud to beg,” her voice permeated the room with rousing soul. She somehow managed to sing The Temptations “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” in a slower, more soulful—and who could get more soulful than the Temptations?—way that was miraculous to witness. I stood in awe of her. Watching Raven was mind-blowing in more ways than one.
Did I just call her Raven?
The resemblance was unreal. With long, flowing natural hair, a gorgeous smile, dimpling at the corners of her lips as she worked the crowd, and smooth, rich brown skin that looked not a day over eighteen, she was a remarkable creature. All of that, along with the slightest gap in her front teeth, worked together to create a beauty I thought God had broken the mold for when he made my Raven.
She ended The Temptations’ ballad and started another, this time looking in my direction.
“All my life, I've waited to see your smile again. In my mind, I hated not able to let go. Come back to me. I'm beggin’ you, please. Come back to me.” As she crooned Janet Jackson’s “Come Back to Me,” I was transported to a joyful time in my life.
I closed my eyes and envisioned Raven dancing around the house, singing along to the beat. It was one of her favorite songs. She wasn’t a professional singer, but her sound was unique and so beautiful to me. I used to smile so big when she danced and sung her heart out.
I narrowed my eyes and stared intently at the woman on stage as she bellowed out the tune. “Come back to me. I’m beggin’ you, please…”
You came back to me, Raven.
At that moment, my eyes widened with a revelation. My Raven had come back to me, just like she always said she would. It was true. That was why she had come back to me in the physical form at home tonight. She was trying to tell me to come here and that this was where she would be. While none of what I was thinking actually made sense, I so badly wanted it all to be true. My next breath depended on it.
“That’s my time, y’all. I’m Alise. Make sure you check out my new single ‘Love Me Again!’ It’s out on iTunes, so you know what to do. Oh, and Like my Facebook page, too.” She paused and smiled. “It has been so much fun hanging out with you all tonight. Make sure you come back out and see me Saturday night. We’re going to be doing 90s hits! Muah!” She blew a kiss in my direction, and I sat straight up in my chair as her tender gaze lingered on mine for a few seconds.
I watched her every movement as she walked off the stage. A big buff dude who I assumed was her security walked over to guide her down the steps. I didn’t miss the fact that he had been watching her intently as I had throughout her set. Something about the way he regarded her as he helped her back to her seat unsettled me.
She wasn’t his. She was mine, my Raven.
She walked over to a table where two women were seated and gave them high fives and hugs. Minutes later, she left the table and walked toward the restrooms.
This is your chance, I told myself as I got up to follow her.
I waited outside the door until she strutted back out. This was the moment I had waited for months to arrive. It was here. My chance to stare into the face of Raven reincarnated was ripe for the taking, and I reveled in every moment. Without looking at her surroundings, she turned toward the direction of her table but came crashing into me.
“Beautiful voice.”
“Excuse me?” she asked with a startled tremble in her voice.
She clutched the gold necklace she was wearing as if to comfort herself. The chain had two charms hanging from it, a golden heart and charm that had the words “Love Me Again” carved out of it. When she was on stage, she mentioned “Love Me Again” was a song she’d written, and that it was on sale on iTunes. I had to hear it. I longed to know what lyrics flowed from her dear heart. If I were a betting man, I would bet that everything about it was beautiful, just like her.
I reached out to touch her hand that was clutching her necklace, then dragged it to rest inside my palm. Not even the wrinkle of her perfectly arched brow made me want to stop caressing her hand. It was tender to the touch and small, just like my Raven’s hands used to be. She may have felt I was some type of stalker standing out here waiting for her like this, but this was much more. Deeper. A reconnection that was meant to be.
“You have a beautiful voice, Rav— I mean, Alice.”
“Uh, thanks,” she said, sha
king my hand briskly, neighborly even. “But it’s Alise, pronounced A-lease.”
I stepped toward her, and she stepped back instinctively. Every time I reached for her hand, she moved further away from me, refusing to even breathe in the same air as I was breathing. I hoped I didn’t upset her by not pronouncing her name correctly. That was a mistake I never planned to make again. She said her name when she gave her closing words on the stage, but I had gotten so caught up into thinking she was Raven that I misspoke.
“I’m so sorry. Forgive me, please.”
I deflated a little with that apology for two reasons. One, it was the apology I should have given Raven. Two, it was an admission that she, in fact, wasn’t Raven. Small dimples on the sides of her face were proof of this. Raven had dimples near her lips. Alise had them there too, but she also had them in her cheeks when she was forcing a smile as she was doing at this moment. The resemblance was so close that I had to suppress the urge to pull her into my arms and never let her go.