The stream of memory flowed, moving swiftly from thought to mouth. I didn’t worry about who was listening, and hoped that maybe Eve could understand.
“That’s odd,” she said with a frown. “I’ve never had anything like that before. Hell, sugar, that’s about the craziest thing I ever heard.” She grabbed the bottle and chugged a few more gulps, managing to empty the rest. Dropping the bottle back down, she pushed the glass away as if she no longer wanted to look at it.
“What about you?” I asked.
“Oh you want a story now, huh? I can respect that. Though I may need another drink…” she showed me her shot glass and flipped it upside down onto the table.
“You have quite a tolerance,” I said. My head was spinning, and Eve drank far more than I did.
“More vodka?” I asked, looking back towards the bar.
“No. For my story, I’m going to need something a little sweeter. I think we need to go to the cellar,” Eve said.
I pushed back in my seat, stood, and grabbed the lantern in the middle of the table. “Shall we?” I held out a hand, my good hand, to lift Eve up.
“My gentleman,” she said and gathered to her feet, pulling at her dress to make sure she was still decent. She motioned towards a door that led to a stairwell that spiraled downwards.
I led, holding the lantern out, guiding us on. Eve clung to my arm. I wasn’t sure if she was more drunk than she looked, or was just trying to get closer.
“How do you know Sierra?” Eve asked suddenly.
“What do you mean?” I questioned back.
“Well, certain people come looking for something late at night. We only go to places we are familiar with in those moments. And you find yourself in her bar, virtually by yourself, sitting alone at a table. So, why?” She found her grip around the back on my neck, slowly caressing, circling.
“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.