Diana smiled. She didn’t know if she agreed, but it was a nice thought so she elected to believe it.
At the restaurant Chuck was waiting for a table too. He was with a date. Diana didn’t actively avoid him, but she didn’t go out of her way to talk to him either. At one point he looked over at her, and she smiled. He didn’t smile back. His brow furrowed, and he turned his back to her. She couldn’t blame him. She doubted he even remembered her in any detail, and the furry green world-eater with her no doubt rattled his senses. Chuck and Diana walked in different worlds, and while those worlds might brush up against each other, they would never meet for long.
“How’s the cult going?” asked Diana.
“Finished,” replied Sharon. “It just hasn’t been the same after Calvin left. Then Greg gave it up because it conflicted with his new obsession: fantasy football league. Kind of drifted apart after that.”
“Shame.”
“Tell me about it. Now I have to figure out what to do with my Saturday nights.”
“You still miss him, don’t you?”
“Yeah.” Sharon glanced up at the moon. “I know it’s for the best. I know he didn’t belong here. But I miss him.”
“It’s tough to let someone go sometimes.”
“Do you think he was telling the truth?” asked Sharon. “Do you think he still thinks of me?”
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” said Diana.
“That’s something at least.” Sharon half-smiled. “I thought about trying to find a new guy, someone who needed me the way he did. But it just strikes me as pathetic, right? He was one of a kind. Even as monsters go, we won’t see anything like him for a long, long time.”
“If we’re lucky,” said Diana.
“Doesn’t change the fact that I miss him.”
“You need a rebound guy. One with less baggage. Preferably one who doesn’t corrode reality.”p>
Sharon laughed. “I’m not sure I would know how to handle that.”
“You’ll handle it, just like we all do.”
“And how’s that, oh wise sage?”
“Knock it off.” Diana gave Sharon a playful shove.
“No, really. I want to know. How do you handle it? How do you deal with being a keeper of monsters and secrets and things this world was never meant to know?”
The universe shuddered as a hole appeared in the sky. A giant serpentine eye gazed down upon the world, and whether it glimpsed anything worth noticing or not, it disappeared.
Diana shrugged, smiled slightly.
“One day at a time.”
By A. Lee Martinez
Gil’s All Fright Diner
In the Company of Ogres
A Nameless Witch
The Automatic Detective
Too Many Curses
Monster
Divine Misfortune
Chasing the Moon
*I might have been thinking of Clint Howard, but then again, I might be mistaken. Although he does a hell of a job, and was excellent in Ticks. Kudos, Clint.