Temporal

Chapter One: Alcoholic Destiny

It’s a strange thing, to be accosted with something so dark for the sake of something so bright. I have yet to decide if these events were the product of fate or some kind of twisted destiny for the enjoyment of a deity, or if I just happened to see her through that window by pure chance. The time was midnight on a Wednesday. The occasion was another failure, to be drowned out by the lavish embrace of alcohol. The setting was equally dismal to the time and the occasion. I sat there in my black pick-up truck, parked on some street with a name that didn't matter. I drank myself to the emotional state of helplessness, to properly observe the winners comfortable in the warm homes they worked so hard to obtain. 

The warm beer started to get through me; the distasteful elixir became easier to drink, and that alcohol I drank swayed my attentions easily. It began to rain, and the streetlights were a nice contrast to the drops of water that bombarded every patch of land as far as I could tell. There was no point in turning on the windshield wipers, even if it would allow me to observe the homes a bit more easily. I don’t consider myself a stalker or something nefarious like that, I observe these people with envy, and I derive more depression than pleasure from it.

It began as it always did after parking on a mysterious street in a random neighborhood. I started by fiddling with the random objects in my pockets and around my truck. First opening my wallet, it contained a few small things. My license read ‘Charlie Harkins’, but as I looked in the rear view mirror to validate that piece of plastics claim, the person I saw was somebody different. Charlie Harkins was someone with a goal or two in life, reserve money in the bank, a family and a best friend to compliment the wonderful life that he had. Next was a Bristol Community College identification card with Charlie’s face on it, followed by four one dollar bills, and a debit card without any money to spend.

Who is this modern and certainly more shadowy, perhaps even ghostly version of Charlie Harkins? I could tell you about his once rampant aspirations, jumping from career path to career path trying to fulfill himself emotionally and financially until retirement. I could describe the losses in the past, the deprivation of love, and the destruction of a good youths chances at a great life. This version of Charlie Harkins looks and acts like a broken man. A once bright smile has been reduced to an indifferent smirk, and a full head of magnificently messy brown hair has been shaven off. It’s quite terrible actually, to think that a once great somebody is now a wayward nobody. A cruel application of reality I suppose.

Continuing in my routine, I located my News app on my iPhone. Typically I browsed the local news, the national never seemed to intrigue me. On this dreary night, the local stories followed suit. ‘Murder: Three confirmed deaths, four still missing.’ the top headlines read, and this was also the story I’d been following for awhile. The murders started about four months ago, and the police barely have any leads, or so I've read. Although this sounds quite devilish or demonstrable, the murder headlines are actually a nice break from the usual drivel the town crops up. I could only read about Mayor Curtis and the occasional break-in for so long.

As if aligned by some sadistic nature, even the residents added some darkly features to this night. I could blame the alcohol for turning my gaze to the girl, as opposed to the presence of such fate, however, it’s best not focus on such small trifles. In a woozy and inebriated state, I turned my head and looked in the window of the small blue house to the right. A girl stood there in that window, a bit shorter than I with black hair that draped above her eyes. She was looking out to the stars through the rain, her posture seemed to reflect her pain. A man emerged behind her, and a struggle ensued. I was shocked, affected more than I usually would be by such things. Perhaps it was the love to come that caused my heart to throb, or maybe it was just the alcohol.