A Black Bird's Tale

HeartBreaker

Dedicated to Forbes's Blackbird. Curaeus forbesi.

Short Story for the BirdLife Campaign

{Margaret Atwood & Wattpad}

~HEARTBREAKER~

A PLAY OF HEARTS

by Lilian Carmine

PLAY OF HEARTS. Act 1. Scene 1. 

"So, have you seen him?" 

        Elenore has been watching him for a while now, but she isn’t about to confess that to her curious and most beloved, thinly veiled enemy. Even though she also happens to be her current best friend. It’s the first time this evening she has bothered to talk to her, leaning in as they sit at the bar. 

        "Who?" she feigns ignorance. 

        "The party crasher! Everyone has been talking about him! Come on, don't play dumb with me, Lenor. You know who I'm talking about!" her girl friend chides knowingly, watching her dangle her long legs over the bar stool. 

        She shrugs like she doesn't really care and continues on pretending disinterest, absentmindedly twirling the little stick with an olive around in her cocktail . 

       The truth is that she cares more than she wants to admit even to herself. She noticed the alluring stranger the second he stepped foot in the room. And what first started as a mild curiosity, an itch that was begging to be scratched, has now developed into a full growing urgent rash, running wildly across her body. The man standing across the room is truly the most handsome male in the room.

        But Elenore has had her fair share of handsome men in her life so far. Beauty isn’t really the most important thing for her. Of course, a beautiful man is always nice to have around, to entertain and keep her occupied on long, cold nights. But beauty certainly isn’t enough to keep her interest for too long. Pretty men are for one night stands and nothing more. 

        This stranger is so much more than a ’pretty man’ though. He is like something out of a wild, dark dream. Shadows dance and wrap around him like a furtive, velvet cloak, lingering seductively over his long, dark locks of hair and over his expensive-looking black suit. His golden eyes radiate a sharp, edgy intelligence.

        But there is also something else in those brilliant eyes: a cunning hidden deep within his gaze, a clever malice that contradicts the trustworthy demeanor he so cleverly flaunts.

        Elenore watches, enthralled as the stranger swiftly works his way through the crowd. Throughout the night he changes his persona over and over again, sometimes confident, arrogant and cocky; then switching quickly into this slick, shady womanizer. He can be cute and shy, then quiet and intense, and in a blink of an eye he would change into something entirely different. He is constantly morphing to match each new person he encountered in the room. 

        A man of smoke, mirrors and shadows. He is the epitome of the word 'player’.

        'He's dangerous', a warning voice whispers in her head. But what is at first intended to be a caution turns quickly into challenge with this reckless woman. She wants to have a taste of the lingering shadows that trail after him. Maybe that is what draws her to him the most – his darkness. 

        Elenore smiles at that.  

        She knows all about trickster men. But it feels that there is still so much more to learn from this alluring stranger. And she longs to discover everything that makes him, and claim it for herself. She will conquer him, like she has done to men before; he will be hers for the taking.