My Neighbor Is a Silver-Haired Banshee 9 First Date with a Banshee Friday, 2 August 2019

Apollo still had a few hours to spare before Betha gets off from work by five. His stomach didn't just have butterflies in them – there were probably frogs, rabbits, and kangaroos hopping. Birds might be flying around, trying to catch the butterflies. He was ecstatic awhile ago. But now, he felt too nervous that he might stop breathing any moment if he continued to palpitate with the thought of messing up.

Like a lifeless dork, Apollo slouched uncomfortably in his mom's white Acura and stared at his emotionless eyes in the mirror. He blinked, realized he was on earth then brought his thoughts to life by talking to himself, "What if I mess this up? What if she doesn't enjoy this date and decide not to date me ever again? What if I do something that turns her off? What if I try to kiss her and my breath smells like beef and kimchi stew?" He shook his head. "When have I ever been such an overthinker?! How do I stop my mind from thinking?!" He covered his face with his hands and looked at himself in the mirror. "You're gonna be fine. You're going to be super fine…more than fine. She's gonna fall for you after this date." He threw a slick finger gun gesture at his mirror image coupled with an eye wink.

BETHA

"Apollo should fall for me after this date." Betha uttered as she entered her end of day report in the computer system.

"Were you saying something?" Hannah asked with a confused look.

Betha completely forgot that Hannah hasn't left despite the small office space. It must've been because of the stacks of medicine blocking her view or because she was too excited to go on her first date with Apollo that she forgot she wasn't alone.

"Nothing. I was just mumbling a song I remembered." Betha responded, deeply hoping that Hannah wouldn't ask about what song it was because she didn't have any song in mind to back that up. As if her thoughts pierced through the gates of hell, Hannah didn't utter anything more. Betha thought, "Oh bless the creatures of the deep south for granting my plead." She stood up from her seat, took off her white coat and quickly snatched her bag from her already open locker by the office's exit door. "Bye, Hannah."

Hannah was busy with her report, so she barely noticed Betha's excitement to leave. "Bye." She responded without a glance.

~

Apollo's guts turned upside down when he finally saw Betha stepping out of the pharmacy. She was wearing a midrise crop jean, peach café top that showed a fair amount of cleavage, and her hair was fixed in a bun with her bangs dangling. Her peach heels made her taller than her 5'7" height.

The approaching nervous breakdown vanished on thin air as Apollo admired Betha. When his anxiousness subsided, he stepped out of the car to meet her. She was smiling amiably like she didn't know how sexy she was.

"Hey." Betha said.

"Hey." Apollo smiled. "Let's go?"

"Yep."

As they entered Daylight Avenue, Apollo said, "You look beautiful, Betha." He gave her a boyish smile. "I didn't want to keep my thoughts to myself."

Betha felt pleased at his compliment; it was the first step to completely lure him into her plan. "How sweet of you. Thanks. " She saw a shop with sporty outfits. "I want those. Let's check out those outfits. I need them for my morning workout."

"Sure." Apollo nodded and followed her as she eagerly looked around the shop's nice-looking sporty outfits. She looked animated while she tried on some running shoes. Apollo gave her an affirmation on each pair of shoes she tried on because everything looked good on her feet. In 30 minutes, she finally picked the red and black Roko sport spark then searched for comfy tops.

"This rainbow tee top is cute." Betha said.

"Yes, it is. It looks good on you."

She chuckled. "You've said that like every time I want to try on something."

"Well you do look good on anything." Apollo wasn't lying. Betha's body was the epitome of perfection and her flawless olive skin made her look glamorous even in a sporty attire. "You can try it on if you're in doubt of my fashion critic." He giggled but then he suddenly felt uneasy when Betha looked stiff. Her eyes seemed unresponsive until her conscious state totally disappeared -- she was in a trance. Apollo knew that look before and this was the third time he was going to witness another transformation. He knew there was no time to panic…except they were in the mall. He thought, "If people see her Banshee form, someone is bound to take a video, upload it in YouTube, and the next thing I know, it will circulate through all forms of media: television, newspapers, radio, internet, magazines…shit. What the fuck do I do now?"

Apollo's eyes surveyed the shop to make sure nobody was looking. He nonchalantly escorted Betha who looked like a mannequin but didn't pull away from Apollo's gentle grip as he guided her path. They made it to the fitting room without anyone noticing but Apollo was concerned about the transformation. He knew that anytime, Betha would start shrieking and that loud eerie noise would be hard to suppress. He didn't want to cover her mouth to stop her from doing what she was bound to do so he knew his mind had to be quick. He recalled the phases of her transformation: (1) she will be in a trance, (2) she'll get her cloak, (3) she'll walk near the area of the human who's in danger, (4) the fluttering sounds of birds flying will be heard before she transforms into a Banshee.

He suddenly realized something. "The cloak. Where is that cloak? She might not transform because she doesn't have it." He whispered to himself as Betha stood lifeless in front of him.

Betha's eyes turned to the rainbow tee and grey bag that Apollo held for her. She unconsciously clutched the grey bag from him and to his surprise, it magically transmuted to a grey cloak and found its way to Betha's shoulders. "Holy shit." Apollo couldn't believe his eyes. "I've never seen this before." The fluttering sound of birds flying suddenly reverberated inside the small room. "Oh no." Betha's transformation began right in front of his eyes. "Betha, we're in the mall. I know you can't control it, but would it be possible to turn your screech down a notch please?" Her black hair turned into silver and her skin started to wrinkle until she fully transformed into an old hag with long pointed nose in front of Apollo. His eyes grew wider and there was nothing he could do but to move to one corner and cover her ears. "I sure hope this doesn't make me deaf. Go on, Betha. I'll be fine. Squeal."

Chapter end