“Nick, pleasure to see you again”
Charisma smiled softly as she opened the door to him
“I, uh” Nick stuttered, he was never
really very good with women, and it had been so long… “I
was wondering, if maybe you’d like to go to dinner sometime?”
he inquired, running his hand through his blond hair
“I would love to” Charisma responded
with a soft, seemingly perfect smile.
~ AT THE SAME TIME ~
The old man, with the well-worn thick brown coat,
gestured to Abby as she walked past his table. She saw him
from the corner of her eye, he’d been doing it all morning,
yet she’d so far been able to ignore him. His thick
mop of dirty brown hair, fell carelessly over his face, shielding
his forehead and half of his eyes. His face was scoured and
looked around with scheming eyes at everyone who entered.
Running his strong hand across his chin and scruff
of unshaven whiskers, her thought deeply and softly,
contemplating, planning every move. This time she’d
see him, this time she’d listen.
“Abby Reid” he coughed as she sulked
past his table.
She spun around to face him, he knew her name, not
just the name on her crocked badge, he knew her full name.
He laughed to himself, that had got her attention.
“Can I help you sir?” she inquired as
she scribbled something across her notepad
He pulled out the newspaper and slid it across the
table, before he stood up.
“I know” he whispered as he leant in,
and slid the newspaper directly under her nose.
She starred at the newspaper in anguish as he
walked out of the bustling diner. It was old and tattered,
it carried a date Abby knew well, a date 2 years ago, coming up
to the day. She looked up, her eyes scanning for the man,
but he was nowhere, he was gone. She gathered the newspaper
into her shaking hands and scurried away.
~ 2 DAYS LATER ~
Abby pulled the coat tightly around her as she
wandered through the mess of loose rubbish and beggars. It
was going on 8:00pm. The streetlights illuminated the
darkening, but still very much alive street. A hand from
around the corner of the ally way latched onto her, catching her
off guard. He yanked her backwards flinging her harshly
against the wall, his dirty rough hand blocking her mouth.
“Don’t scream” he announced under
his breath “I know things, I can help you” he coughed
the stench of cheep Vodka pungent on his breath.
~ AT THE SAME TIME ~
Nick rolled over in the bed as a crashing sound
outside, caused by two fighting cats, half woke him from his
slumber. It had been a long night, dinner, dancing,
talking, he remembered it all, he felt almost a sense of
belonging with Charisma, like he’d known he before, like
they were great friends, reunited after a long period of parting.
He reached to touch her, it had been the first night they had
spent together, and while Nick may have wanted to wait a bit
longer, it didn’t feel the least bit wrong. His hand
skidded across the sheet in the blackness in front of him, only
to find the other side of the bed empty. He squinted in the
darkness, struggling to make out her outline of some sort, but he
was sure she wasn’t in the room.
He slipped out from under the covers, fingering
the ground in search of his boxers. He found them with too
much difficulty, and slipped them on. Wandering out of the
dark room he saw a humming light coming from the lounge.
~ AT THE SAME TIME ~
Charisma fingered through the stack of papers in
the top draw of the cedar wood cabinet – nothing. She
huffed in annoyance, she already been to ever draw in the study
and found virtually nothing, a few bank statements, phone bills,
contracts, notes, things which if she was looking for random
insights into Nick’s life would have been of use. But
she was there, looking purposely for one thing. She reached
for the second draw in the cabinet that was home to billions of
photos and alike, displayed proudly across the polished shelves.
To her dismay the second draw wouldn’t open, it was locked.
She jiggled it in annoyance, but it refused to give way. She
looked around the cabinet, scouring behind the pictures, under
the ornaments, but no key was to be found.
“Damn” she muttered, slamming her hand
against the cabinet.
He had to have it, surely he would have kept it
all, perhaps bought it out ever so often, to stare helplessly at
it, to find some meaning in the words – a meaning he couldn’t
be allowed to find.
Her hand ran across the wood, lifting and probing
haphazardly.
“What are you doing?” Nick inquired, as
he stood tall in the doorway
Charisma spun around to meet his agitated face.
“I was, just looking for some painkillers”
she retorted
Nick starred down at her, doubting that was the
truth. But it was obvious, she’d found nothing else.
“Top draw beside the refrigerator” he
responded, pointing in that general direction.
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