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“Hey, I thought I was getting a story,” I said, trying to turn the attention back on her.

“Not until I get my drink, lovely boy.” She poked a finger into my side.

“Of course, of course. Let’s see here. Sierra, she was a friend. A good friend. You know, her and I first discovered this bar back then, this cellar too.”

“Nu-huh,” Eve giggled.

“Oh yeah. We popped our first cork off a bottle of some white wine only a few days into this life. She loved it. I didn’t care for it. Oh Sierra, how has she been?” I inquired. It’d been so long since I’d have seen her.

“You don’t know?” Eve slowed her pace, staring up at me, as if something suddenly changed.

I shook my head.

“She died. Fever took her awhile back.”

“Really?” I replied.

“Yeah. She taught me everything I know. She was like a sister.” Eve waved a hand in front of her, trying not to cry. “I cried enough for her. Let’s talk about something else, yes?”

I nodded, cradling her the best I could, though my damaged shoulder screamed at me.

We walked into the full-sized cellar. The lantern lit up the strange space. What seemed like an unlimited amount of bottles filled the cellar, even after the two years of serving them to thirsty guests. Boxes upon boxes were stacked in the corners, empty ones scattered about.

“What kind do you want?” I asked and lifted the light, scanning over the bottles. Pulling one at a time, I read the labels like I knew what I was doing. I only really knew white or red, nothing more.

“Red,” Eve answered.

“Anything in particular?”

“No. Just red.” Eve let go of my shoulder and slipped toward the middle of the floor, scooting some boxes out of the way. She slumped to the ground, watching, and waiting. I found the bottle she wanted and sat beside her, placing the lantern close by.

“Corkscrew opener?” I asked.

Eve was smiling as I looked up, and saw the corkscrew opener dangling between her delicate fingers. She handed me the device and I undid the top.

“So… a story?” Eve asked and grabbed the bottle, taking a generous sip. “Oh this wine deserves no less. Good choice. Okay let me think.” She passed the bottle back and pondered which direction she wanted to go. I took a taste of the wine. It was a beautiful drink, but I was already far more drunk than I wanted to be.

“Oh darling, I have one,” Eve exclaimed. “There was a night, much like this one, where a guy wondered into a bar all by himself.”

The story was oddly familiar, and I smiled, laughing. I did wondered where she was going with this.

“And this guy, ever the gentlemen,” she said with a wink, “told me a story that reminded me faintly of someone else. Someone that everyone felt betrayed by…”

A sudden lump filled my stomach.

“Uhhhh…” I said.

“Shh…” she held a finger to her lips. “This is my story, let me finish. This guy, this betrayer as they called him, opened up to a girl he didn’t know. And he’s been hurting for so long, so very long. So this girl, this stranger, who didn’t believe the rumors, held his secret and will do so forever. So she wonders, why after all of this, did he wander into a bar, in a city, where most everyone still hated him?” She placed a hand on mine. “Why did Jackson come back?”

Chapter 13: Waking up

Slowly, I withdrew my hood. It wasn’t like it mattered anymore. Eve smiled, turning her eyes away from mine, and instead sipped the wine.

“How’d you know?” I asked. I didn’t think I gave anything away. I couldn’t say if I was scared, flabbergasted, or confused. I was just indifferent. It wasn’t like she drew away or became violent, like the rest. She was oddly, even strangely, comfortable.

“Oh sugar. Sierra told me about you, long, long ago,” Eve explained. “You two had no secrets. One thing she told me I can clearly recall was that you had strange dreams. Vivid ones. Real ones.” Eve lifted the lantern and strolled over to the hallway that filtered back upstairs.

“Come along,” she said and waved me over. Together we climbed back up, returning to the main level. Instead of stopping there, she rounded a corner and climbed up another level. She stopped at a shut door and twirled and lifted a lantern nearby.

“What is it?” I asked after she didn’t say a word. She simply looked at me.

“It’s just… I can’t explain it,” she said and shook her head as she pushed through the door. I followed.

We entered a bedroom. There was a bed in the center of the room. Pictures hung off the wall, though it was too dark to make out the faces. A long dresser sat on the far edge of the room, along with a few candles that remained unlit until Eve circled around in the darkness and put a match to each one. The bed was thickly covered with multiple blankets, and Eve took a seat near the edge. She patted down the spot right next to her.

“Here. Sit,” Eve said. She had a mixture of demanding and affection in her voice. She took out her earrings, undoing her necklace while placing it on the nightstand. I didn’t know what to expect, how to trust someone I abruptly realized I’d put too much trust into. I still took my place on the side of that bed.

“Umm…” I struggled.

“Jackson, just lay down. It’s been one hell of a day for you, sugar.” Eve killed the lantern and the room was shadowed in a strange glare. The candles’ light reflected on the lone window in the corner of the room. I dared a look out as I moved over to the window.

I could see the main street down below in front of the bar. There was the glow of that ever-present red light, and several bodies lining the street, completely incapacitated after their drinking. Though a few loners still circled the street with flashlights, looking for something or someone.

“They’re still looking?” I asked, but I didn’t think I meant it as a question.

“They won’t stop either. Frank has them all, spread thin and crazy. They came in the bar hours ago. But never mind that right now honey. They’re not coming back, for now at least,” Eve said and stood, facing away from the window, as she unzipped her dress. I dared a look back, the curves of her form present, and worth getting caught looking. She slipped in-between the covers. “Come here.”

I was dizzy, slightly drunk, and suffering from my ever-present insomnia, but I wouldn’t dare ignore this invite. So I did the only sensible thing. I took my sweatshirt off and tucked the sphere close by, and climbed into bed.

Eve placed a hand on my chest, and circled a finger around. “Just let me help you,” Eve said and twisted around to face me. She rested a pair of lips on my neck, kissing and sucking. She twisted upwards and sucked on my earlobe. I couldn’t help but sigh in eagerness. Was this really happening?

Eve mounted on top of me, and the rest was a blur. Only sleep took me away from the best dream I have dreamt in sometime.

****

I was standing on the edge of an abyss, gazing straight into the drop. It was twilight, too dark to see, but something emitted upwards. A sound fueled this nightmare, as screams erupted up through the hole. The screaming didn’t frighten me, though, not as much as the darkness did. All around that great abyss was the very same city I had come to know, with its broken buildings and dead stories. In the dream, somehow the city closed in around. It surrounded and pushed. Soon or later, I had to fall.

For hours I fell, only moments I screamed. Plunging through the darkness was oddly familiar, as if I had done it before. Gliding through life without sight could punish anyone, but as I fell I was somehow wholly at comfort. The thought of dying was easy and welcoming. To find myself hitting the bottom of this seemingly bottomless pit felt like a joyful even I almost yearned for.

Then nothing.

The descent was over. I wasn’t falling, was somehow standing upright as if I’d never fallen in the first place. But I was still in the darkness. I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. Sounds emitted from behind me, something like beating, like someone was tapping on a wall with a fingernail.

I turned toward the sound and it suddenly stopped, as if it never existed at all. Another tap echoed from behind me. It stopped when I turned toward it. Finding myself flying in around in circles, I tried to trace the sound as it endlessly echoed from all around. Then suddenly, it stopped forever.

“Jackson?” Olivia’s voice sounded from somewhere in front of me.

I couldn’t see her, but I knew she was somewhere in this darkness. When I tried to call back, my voice was unwilling to cooperate. I voicelessly screamed her name, and only heard whispers of what should be there.

“Jackson?” she asked. Her voice was further away, echoing off into the distance. I silently screamed again but to no avail. Instead I ran to where I thought she would be. She kept repeating my name, kept getting further away. My trembling legs wouldn’t carry on after a while, couldn’t carry me to her.

Suddenly she screamed very loudly. Then it sounded like a body hit the floor.

I raced harder, trying to find my way through the black. I never came across anything. Instead, after forever, I simply slumped to the ground, out of breath and out of my mind. That was usually when it happened. The world crumbled away into an even deeper abyss. Once more I fell, but didn’t care, just shut my eyes and let it all go, let it be done.

When I did open my eyes once more, I found myself somewhere new, no longer in the darkness, but in a sea of grass with the sun shining brighter than anything I had ever known. The chirps of birds circled in the air above. A light wind breezed through. I knew this place was peace, was exactly where I wanted to be. This was home.

But it didn’t last. Again the tapping came, as if someone or something desired my attention. The relentless tapping grew louder and more defined. After a time I had to cover my ears as the oscillating sound grew too deafening.

The world shook with noise. It never grew softer, or vanished. Minutes would turn to days. Months to years. Like this sound was going to never leave. Never had I been so lost as to what to do or where to go. I was trapped in something so wicked that I couldn’t find a way out. I only sat there and squeezed my ears.

Abruptly, I was flying. Not like a bird, just moving, skyrocketing passed everything. The world blurred with colors streaking together. The sound of the tapping grew more prominent. It wasn’t really louder, just closer. I was going to find out where the tapping was coming from.

I saw it then. There was something blinking in the distance. Within moments I had come to what I apparently needed to see. It was as alien as the tapping and everything else, and once again it was dark. But the blinking gave off life, a shallow hint of red. What I could only describe as a tower, maybe a few stories high, had a light near the top that was blinking red.

This was what caused the tapping, just not as loud as before. In fact, the tapping was barely audible. It was more like a drone or the buzzing of electricity. I hovered around the light for a second like a moth drawn to a flame, then descended as if my wings suddenly lost their ability to carry me.

Touching ground, I stood in front of the tower. It was an antenna, like the ones I’d sometimes seen on top of buildings Downtown. Attached to the tower was a small brick building with a single door. My hands drew to the door without my permission, and before I knew it I’d walked inside.

Inside sat a man staring at computer monitors. He didn’t move, just sat there. He motioned for me to approach, pointing at a monitor. I obeyed, but what I saw on the monitor, for some reason, didn’t make sense. I never could remember what I saw on that monitor, always waking up, and forgetting.

****

Sunlight had already poured in from the window. Easily, gently I arose from the bed. I paid attention to Eve’s breaths, making sure each was the same length as before, trying not to wake her. I thought it would be easier if she didn’t see me go, though I didn’t exactly know why. It was a strange connection, even though I’d known her for only what was a moment, a brief second in time.

My ribs still hurt with every movement, and my shoulder slightly burned. But what Eve and I shared last night made everything hurt less somehow. That’s why it was going to hurt more to leave.

I made sure the sphere still sat in the front pocket as I grabbed the sweatshirt. As I touched the sphere, yesterday suddenly felt alive again, as if sleeping could have changed what happened. But, like a nightmare come to life, I knew the world was the same. Reaching the door that would lead downstairs, I couldn’t even look back. The door opened softly. I retreated through and gently pulled the door shut.

I scurried down the stairs in a few steps and burst back into the bar. The same people were sprawled out in the corner, snoring loudly.

The sun was already overhead, clearly past dawn, and as I traveled outside I knew it was dangerous to be out here. I pulled up my hood, my hidden face at least making me feel better. But I had to be quick and get out of sight.

Something was amiss, and demanded me to look back as if eyes were on me. A face was watching me through the doorway, just a sheet covering her naked form.

“You should be fine, sugar. Most everyone sleeps off the hangovers till late. And I’m sure they were drinking even more after seeing you,” Eve said and tossed a smile, flicking a blonde curl away from her lip. “You just keep yourself good, ya’hear.”

I nodded. There wasn’t anything else to say. I started to track back the way I came, heading home. There wasn’t a need to linger, and the sphere begged to be figured out. But had I known this would be the last time I saw Eve alive, maybe I would have hung around a little longer.