When Jasper became the manager of a bar, it was not the highest priority on things she wanted to do with her life but the pay was why she stayed. The hours were late into the night, and in the afternoon, she had some online classes she was finishing up to get her master's degree but It worked for her. She became a night owl in this process, heading to work around six at night and coming home after three or even four in the morning. The only thing that bothered her about this night time schedule was the weird people roaming the streets at night. Normally the things she sees at night are crimes; people out after the towns curfew, she's witnessed muggings and has almost been mugged herself—but track, volleyball and wrestling have given her quite an ability to defend herself—but some of the strangest would be the man in the grape costume that runs around the streets after bars begin to close and the woman she sees walking around the town from sundown until she leaves to head home from work.
This specific woman isn't strange herself but it's her actions that surprise people. She doesn't dress in odd clothing and never does anything that warrants suspicion but Jasper is rather intrigued by her. She's quite thin, and her skin is as pale as porcelain without any makeup to make it so; even her eyes are this cloudy blue that are incredibly entrancing. Jasper has run into the woman once or twice when she was running late for work and just being up close to her distracts her more than anything. She's incredibly gorgeous and Jasper becomes embarrassed while thinking about it. Even her voice is so distinct that Jasper can hear it in her head when she watches the woman walk by her bar. She was nothing like the older man in the grape costume, and Jasper couldn't help but develop a slight crush on this woman.
She knows absolutely nothing about her and when she questions the staff and some of the regular patrons of the bar they also don't anything about her. Some of them can recount times they've watched her pace the streets or even the rooftop of the building but many of them do not remember her at all. Jasper finds it all so strange because she cannot find a single piece of information about her online and the less she knows, the more she needs to know. But, the reasons were selfish and for all she knew the woman could be dangerous or just prefers to be outside at night.
Jasper tries not to think too much about it because she has a job to do. It's incredibly boring and she misses the hands-on experience from serving drinks but as a manager she has do paperwork. It's normally for new hires and shipment orders, sometimes she has write up incident reports and employee complains but it does pass the time much quicker than making drinks once did. She often sits at the bar and does her work to keep an eye on things but it began to snow a few hours ago and she's rather distracted by it, keeping an eye on the outside by sitting in a corner booth by a window. The weather didn't call for snow but there had been storm warnings all throughout the east coast for weeks about rain, wind, and thunder storms for weeks. This snow just happened to be a sudden surprise for all of them and Jasper was worried about her employees who lived outside of the city getting home.
The bar empties out quickly when the weather becomes worse and Jasper decides to close the bar down early, allowing everyone to clean up quickly and leave. She never wants to put her employees at any risk on the way home as much as she wants to be able to make money because their safety is more important than putting them in harm's way. But because she lets everyone go home, she's the one who is often stuck behind to finish cleaning up and closing the store for the night. She does often have help from a supervisor who lives a few minutes of a walk away and Jasper appreciates the help because she has registers to count, some closing paperwork to finish, and has to double check that everything has been properly cleaned and put away for the night. It takes almost for the two of them to get everything finished but Jasper stays behind longer while this woman goes home for the night.
When Jasper is alone in the bar she locks up the front door, turns off the lights of the open sign, and shuts all of the shades from the windows. Occasionally she'll open a bottle of wine in her office and drink it while she finishes work but she also tends to fall asleep in her chair and not in the comfort of her bed at home. It's close to four in the morning when she does manage to get everything finished on her part, but the last thing she needs to do is make sure there was no trash on the roof before she does leave. The main issue with the bar layout was that there was a rooftop that used to be a patio when the bar was a restaurant ten years ago. The rooftop did not exist for customers to hang out on there but many found their way up to the roof and the door has been broken several times. Jasper never had the issue after officially changing the locks herself but she often found beer bottles or cigarettes still up there and she often assumed it was another manager or maybe the owner who hung up there. Either way she should make sure it's clean and take out the trash so she heads up and embraces the sudden chill from the snow blowing inside of the hallway she comes from. Someone had opened the door and left it open which she will find out who had done and she will hurt them.
She walks out onto the roof, surprised to see there were no empty bottles lying around like normal. It was just a clean white sheet of snow that had covered the roof with her footprints trapped into it. She likes the scenery, it's rather quiet because of how early it had been but the cold weather and the snow just made it gorgeous. She shivers, deciding to go back inside because there's nothing out here she needs to concern herself with. She turns around and takes a step but immediately stumbles back when she bumps into someone.
"What the fuck are you doing up here?" She asks angrily, regaining her balance and straightening her body to stand up straight. She looks at the person she has run into before realizing it was the woman who often walked the streets at nice. She was only wearing a pair of leggings and a thin dress with no socks or shoes on which concerned Jasper immediately. "You must be freezing, come on inside."
That was her first mistake.
Jasper locks the roof door and turns the light switch on in the hallway before ushering the woman down to the bar. When she reaches the final step, she notices the woman looking around the bar, wincing at the bright lights by placing her hand against her forehead to cover her eyes. She looks back outside for just a moment and watches the snow fall before turning to Jasper as if she wants something. Jasper thinks that she may need a blanket or coat, or maybe she just needs to call for a way home. Or maybe she wants to stay at the bar until the weather dies down which is what Jasper had been planning on doing at this point.
"Do you want some tea? Maybe a blanket?" She takes a second look at this woman because it is the first time seeing her up close. She was gorgeous in such a unique way and it had something to do with how distracting her eyes were.
The woman hums, "if that would make you feel better I suppose you can get a blanket for me but I mustn't be long."
Jasper heads back to her office, rummages around for one of her many blankets. She keeps them for the main reason that some nights she works so late that she's too tired to drive and sleeps on the couch in the office. She often will wake up to phone calls from her roommate when she does not come home or another manager who is beginning to prepare for the night. By the end of her shifts at night, the last thing she wants to do is stay later than she's scheduled to but sometimes going home and listening to her roommates complains isn't worth the trip and she's more than willing to find out more about this strange woman.
Jasper leaves her office when she finally finds the blanket and comes out to the bar to give it to the woman. She's moved from walking around the bar and examining items to sitting on a stool with her bare feet pressed against the small bar under the chair. "What were you doing on the roof?" She takes a seat next to her.
She shrugs as she wraps herself in the blanket even though she knows it will do very little to warm her. She rests her arms against the table top and sighs, "it's not very important so I doubt you'd be interested."
"Did you want something to eat or drink?"
"I don't do much of either but I appreciate the offer." She was picking at the skin around her fingernails. "I really must be heading home, it's almost daylight you know."
"I could drive you home if you don't live far. But you could also stay here for the night if you really need to."
"I prefer walking."
"You're not wearing any shoes."
"Oh my, I guess I forgot to put them on." She chuckles, turning to Jasper. "You're awfully nice to a stranger like me."
"I can't leave you stranded up there. Besides, it's under twenty degrees and it's snowing."
"Is it? I guess I hadn't noticed."
Jasper doesn't understand this woman's odd behavior. It wasn't just her appearance that was so striking but the way she spoke and dressed as almost as if she did not belong in this time at all. "Where do you live?" She asks, wanting to get an idea if taking her home was plausible in this weather.
"Right down by the beach."
"Is there anyone who can come and pick you up?"
"No, I live alone. Well, I used to have a roommate but that was a long time ago." She chuckles again and Jasper swallows hard in response. "But I can walk. I prefer to not be outside after sunrise so it's much easier if I walk."
"I can drive you home. It's not safe outside in this weather."
"Listen, I do appreciate your hospitality but-"
"I'm not going to take no for an answer, just give me a few minutes to double check the place and lock up."
The woman turns, staring at the glass bottles behind the counter and says nothing more.
Jasper heads to the kitchen, focusing on putting away some pots and pans back into their proper place before turning the oven and stoves off. She locks the back door before heading back to her office upstairs. She just grabs her coat, keys and bag before locking the door and walking down to the bar again. The woman has moved from the stool to the window, staring outside as if she's entranced by the snow. Jasper's not sure if she should be concerned and possibly call the cops or continue with taking her home. She decides on the latter and she's not sure why. Something inside of her wants to know more about this woman.
She ignores the qualms about her, and unlocks the front door allowing this woman to leave before she follows her out of the building.
Jasper realizes on the drive to this woman's house that they do not live far apart and she passes her own street on the way down to the boardwalk. Their houses are only ten minutes apart but Jasper is not fortunate enough to live seconds from the beach and she realizes she has never seen the beach in this sort of weather before. The darkness of the skies even so early in the morning, the deep color of the ocean and the crashing of the waves against the shore banks were so violently beautiful that she regrets passing up the opportunity to live here. There were perks of living in a town but Jasper can't seem to think of anything but this woman sitting in her car with her.
Jasper knows what she is doing is dangerous; no one in their right mind would take a stranger home and enter inside but her desire to know more about this mysterious woman is stronger than her sanity. Everything she currently knows about this woman is based on the sole fact that she walks the streets from sundown until sunrise. Jasper often sees her in thin garb and does not understand what her purpose for being outside especially in this frigid weather is. If Jasper believed in the supernatural, she would make jokes about how this woman wasn't human but then Jasper knows the possibility of medical conditions. Some conditions prevent others from feeling pain and it could be the reason she's currently barefoot, but then some conditions can create an eye or skin sensitivity to sunlight or even an allergy. Jasper could write a list due to her minor in psychology and her intensive observations of the woman.
She doesn't like to make assumptions about people but there's something about this woman that pulls her closer and closer to doing so. Maybe it's the fact her house is draped in darkness and there is no heat. She's positive it's colder inside than it is outside and shivers intensely when she walks inside. Inside? She doesn't even remember getting out of her car or this stranger inviting her inside. Everything is much blurrier when she tries to piece it all together.
Jasper's teeth are chattering as she speaks, "your house is fucking cold."
"How could I be so silly? Humans need heat."
"Humans?" Jasper asks as she watches the woman move from the hallway into the living room. She grabs a box of matches and lights one before tossing it into the pile of wood in the bronze fireplace. It's not just cold in this house but also extremely dark even with the hint of sun rising behind the trees. The fire illuminates the room, bringing to life the dark shelves filled with books, the pictures hanging off the walls, and the light even discovers the strange floral pattern on the dark turquoise couch. It seems rather normal inside but this person herself was still so strange.
"I suppose it's not important. However, I can brew some tea if that's what you require."
"No, it's fine. I wasn't planning on staying very long." She wraps her arms around herself, rubbing her hand up and down her arm to generate some sort of heat over her sweater. "What's your name anyway?"
"I would tell you but I don't find that information to be very useful. I would love to know your interests." She grabs the fire iron sitting in a spot on the table and begins to push at the wood. "It seems I am one of them."
Jasper purses her lips, feeling rather embarrassed how obvious her interests had been. She decides to breathe, calming herself down and the fire helps warm her up, too. "I like sports."
"Playing or watching?"
"Playing. I was on the soccer team for a while, volleyball and track, too.
"Ah, you love the thrill of the chase then." She smiles and Jasper can feel herself blushing. "That's always a positive characteristic."
"What about you?"
"Hm? What about me?"
"Sports?"
"Ballet and fencing…if you consider them to be sports. But it was a very long time ago." She puts out the fire after another minute passes by, just enough to keep the place warm for her guest. "You should leave before the snow gets worse." She walks to the front door and Jasper follows her slowly. "I take it I'll see you again."
Jasper stops when the woman opens the door and they're both met with the cold wind but only Jasper shivers. She does not like the cold and living on the east coast was the worst decision she has ever made in her entire life. She misses the warmth her hometown consistently had and the ocean where she was always able to surf or swim. "I have to ask...And I know it might be personal but why do you walk the streets at night?"
"I walk to visit the graveyard in the city to visit someone."
"Like someone who works at the graveyard or an actual gravestone?"
"Both. There is more to it, I promise there is, but that's all the information you will receive from me today. Goodbye for now" The woman bows to Jasper as she leaves the house, shutting the door behind her.
One she's inside of the house by herself, she sighs as she locks the door and heads up to her bedroom. She loves the company but it becomes so hard for her to be around people, including a woman like Jasper. She was rather lovely but she she does not want to think about these things now. The sun was beginning to rise and Pearl closes her black-out curtains so she can finally rest.