The Gray Dancer

06. LIQUOR

HANNA'S LIFE MOVED ON JUST LIKE IT ALWAYS DID. Days passed before she could even blink, her life as empty as ever. Hanna's life left her behind as the world moved on without her. She had been thrown into the whirlpool of life, unable to swim and escape from the waves holding her back.

Living seemed even more pointless to her now.

Hanna's days faded into nothingness, nothing unusual for her. She would follow the same monotonous cycle every day, just as she had done for years. There was nothing for her to look forward to each day, only the hope that the new day would bring her happiness. For the most part, there wasn't anything unique to her days, either. Hanna did the same things as always.

Except for today.

Hanna found herself in front of the bar she swore to never visit again, staring at the large building before her. She wore the same dress as she did the other day—the emerald green one that rose above her knees. Emerald happened to be Hanna's birthstone; it represented growth, the one thing Hanna would never achieve.

Why would she, of all people, grow?

Hanna pulled out her ID, making her way to the extending line outside the bar. As the sun began to set below the horizon, the line began to increase with it. The life inside the bar flourished with the rising moon during the darkness.

As Hanna got her ID checked, the doors opened for her to enter.

Once again, the stench of sweat and smoke overwhelmed her as she stepped into the crowd. The loud music pumped through the room. The jabber of voices rose even higher than the music, almost deafening her. She could hardly hear her own thoughts amidst the screaming music. Maybe that was why she loved the bar so much? Was it because the voice inside her head didn't control her anymore?

Hanna slowly submerged into the crowd of dozens, swallowed by the bright room.

Hanna was out of place again. Even if her thoughts didn't shriek as much as they usually did, she knew that she didn't fit in, not with her emerald green dress. Not with her empty smile. For each second she spent inside the bar, she felt more and more out of place. Hanna didn't fit in at all.

Hanna looked around the place, full of a multitude of emotions. There would be people crying in one corner, while others would be dancing in another. Hanna fit neither of those types. She didn't want to cry nor dance.

She only wanted to drink her pain away.

Hanna made her way to the stand filled with various types of alcohol behind it, her eyes passing along each bottle displayed over the walls. The walls had every colored bottle from black to white. She scanned each color, coming across one she recognized.

The green bottle laid there in the bottom corner of the wall. It was the same deep emerald green from the other day. She knew it was a drink she enjoyed.

Hanna wasn't one to try new things or adventure. She enjoyed sticking with what she knew, avoiding risks. It simply made sense for her to have the same drink as she did the last time she had come to the bar.

Hanna's dress hugged her form as she stared at the green bottle not too far from her reach. She pulled her emerald dress down, falling onto the bar stool.

"Can I have the Liquor?" Hanna waved over a bartender, "The green one."

The bartender met Hanna's eyes and walked towards the array of different alcohol bottles. She pointed towards one of the many green bottles.

"This one?"

Hanna nodded in reply. She wasn't one to drink, but she found herself in front of the place she swore to never come back again. She ended up growing to like the bitter taste. It gave her the love nothing else gave her.