The Boy with Capricious Eyes
Based on a Dream
"Hi my name is Daniel." An overly friendly voice calls, pulling her attention away from her laptop. "Daniel with the brown eyes." He says holding out a hand. "And you are?"
"Working on my thesis." She doesn't return the handshake.
"Hey! You have heterochromia!" He states excited. "That's really cool."
She eyes him baffed as he moves to sit across from her. Technically her eyes were both blue, but her right eye had a patch of brown in it.
"I've always been fascinated with eyes and eye color." He rambles happily, "I personally think the color of someone's eyes can tell you so much about them."
"Listen," she interrupts, "Daniel, right?"
He grins, "That's me, Daniel with-"
"-with the brown eyes, yeah I remember." She finishes trying to figure out why this guy was acting like they were best friends. "Listen, Daniel, like I said earlier, I'm a bit busy finishing my thesis, so if you could do me a favor and let me get back to that?"
His eyes go wide, "Oh! I'm so sorry. Yeah that's important sounding. Go ahead and finish." He pulls a book out from his satchel and leans back in the chair, sipping his coffee and reading...The Demons within Us, by Professor H. T. Hawkins.
Ok not the book she expected him to pull out. She eyes him, and then eyes the book wondering if this was some elaborate joke from Bryan. "Give me that!" She finally shouts, pulling the book from his hands.
Daniel coughs, steadying his hands so as to not spill his coffee. "Hey come on, I'm not done with it yet." He whines.
She flips through the book double checking that it was infact a legitimate copy. "Where did you get this?" She demanded knowing it was the exact book she had been looking for to finish her theology thesis. "There's only like 10 surviving copies."
"Howard gave it to me, signed it and everything." He answered proudly making a grab for the book, "Now give it back, I've promised to finished it eventually, and it's taken me this long to get this far."
"Howard?" She asks skeptically, "As in Professor Howard T. Hawkins, the author?"
Daniel's eyes lit up. "Yeah, you know him?"
"Hardly," she scoffed, "he's been dead for-like-ever."
Daniel rolls his eyes, "yeah but he hasn't always been dead now give it back."
"This book," she says holding it just out of his reach, "is worth a few thousand dollars on its own, and you just happen to have a copy in your satchel because a man who's been dead for 15 years was what, your buddy?"
He huffs out in disappointment and folds his arms. "Last page."
She eyes him cautiously but opens the book to the last page. Sure enough there scrolled onto the back cover is the dedication.
To Daniel, with the brown eyes. May you always remind us what it means to be human. - H. T. H.
She slowly hands the book back to the boy across from her. He grabs it and returns back to his early position as if nothing had just happened.
Daniel take a sip from his coffee and flips a page.
"I'm Claire." She finally says holding out her hand toward the boy. He looks up from his page and grins, before marking his spot and closing the book. "Claire with the blue-brown eyes."
He smiles and shakes her hand. "Nice to meet you Claire."