Haze Anthony
Syracuse, New York City: Sober Palace (Bar)
"And that's how you died...?" he asked in disbelief.
The man in front of me, who happens to be a reincarnated soul just like me, shook his head before signaling the bartender to give us a final shot of tequila. I happily accepted the drink after giving him the same mischievous smile.
It's so nice when angels recognize a fellow angel. The young man with a light red gradient hair kindly approached me at my spot and started a conversation about souls and stuff.
"Yep!" I answered and took a generous sip out of the cold alcohol. "No need to be sad for me... I already found happiness within these bar havens and the pleasure of-"
"Girls...?" he continued my sentence but with a questioning matter.
"...Women," I corrected him before wriggling my eyebrow at him. We chuckled and both took our glasses high up in the air and made a 'cheers!'.
The sound of our clinking glasses caught the attention of the bartender, who offered us a sober tea, my companion beside me shook his hand away in a 'shoo' motion that made the bartender go back to cleaning the shot glasses again.
"Man, he thinks that we are THAT drunk, huh...?" he whispered before laughing hysterically.
"Yeah..." I simply agreed.
"How many chances have you got left, lover boy?" he asked before putting his chin on his palm, waiting for me to tell a whole different story.
The angel who gave me my chances is too generous. Even though I committed Suicide, he gave me a humble consideration because I did it for 'Love'; he said I have 20 chances to reincarnate into 20 different bodies.
"Let's see...-" I pretended to count with my fingers while he just laughed and went with my joke."5... I spent 1/4 of my chances in a span of 5 months..."
He stared at me in disbelief and then began to pat my back while congratulating me, "Whoa, YOU are a playboy...! Me? I've been in this body for almost 19 years," he praised me.
"Love turns its back on me," I confidently told him. "...so I turn my back on it as well. Just Payback, nothing much."
"Enough about me... So about you..." I asked and took a break from talking by sipping a large gulp of my beverage, lightly coughing when I felt a little sting on my throat because of the sizzling alcohol.
"I was reincarnated as a newborn baby boy. And I waited patiently finally I found the love of my life, she is not here in New York sadly but I was planning on seeing her after a few months so... You know," I could see the love in his eyes as he went along with his story.
I wished that I dare to find new love again like I was supposed to, but I guess... After what happened with Denise, I can't take other women seriously again. I met many women from different places and different times, but I didn't feel the love in any one of them.
"Wish I had that patience..." I smirked.
I was like a hollow mass. I am a soul, but my heart already left my body. The shits that happened to me made me realize that it's best to use your mind, not your heart for the mind knows what's best for you while the heart speaks the better for others.
"How did you die...?" It was my turn to ask him not knowing that the bartender was already giving us 'these- guys- are- drunkard- nuts' looks. We both chuckled softly, sending the bartender to the farthest corner of the bar stands.
"Well- you know... I committed Suicide because of Love. I'm still amazed that the above still gave us chances. I only have one chance left though," he said with a serious tone.
I ignored his lack of description of his story and didn't ask for a further delve into his life instead, I just nodded and took another sip from my half-emptied tequila.
"It's one insane system up there. The bad ones still get chances to roam around the earth looking for love," I stared blankly at him.
"No, you're wrong. It's a fair system... The ones who get to stay in heaven are the ones filled with love," the smile on his face didn't disappear while he was explaining, "We, on the other hand, can't stay in that paradise because we didn't get to feel real love. There come the chances that we have to use for finding that love before we die."
"But if we don't find real love, where would we go...?" I asked and waited for his wisdom.
He tilted his head high up and proceeded to think about the answer to my question, "Hell...?"
I stopped dead in my tracks and chuckled because of the image of hell. Demons burning your flesh as they sizzle your remains. The paradise for endless torture, you live again and again just to be tortured non- stop.
I don't believe in Hell anyway...
"I thought Hell was just a myth they spread to scare little kids..." I declared and slightly chuckled at his bluff answer. His answer didn't satisfy me so, I kept quiet to let him continue the conversation.
"You don't believe in Hell..?" he asked, the look on his face tells me that he was surprised that as an angel, I don't believe in Hell. It looks like that he's looking at the only man who doesn't believe in Hell.
"No... I'll only believe that if I end up down there myself," I proudly answered before bringing the cold glass of tequila to my lips and taking in all of its content, slamming the glass on the counter when I felt the alcohol taking half of my consciousness.
"Why? You're living in it at this very moment," his statement caught my attention so, I looked at him again and smiled like a goof.
"You think the world is the real hell...?" I asked in a manner that made him looked like a fool.
"Why do you think bad souls like us get to go back here...?" he asked me back, not looking at my direction while just spinning his glass to shake the glistening liquid along with slowly melting ice.
"If this is Hell, then why do we have to find love here...?" I asked in a more serious tone.
"That's the challenge, isn't it? You have to find your flower in this garden of fire. You have to water it so, it doesn't get destroyed by flames. Pluck out the weeds that keep stealing its nutrients and protect it from hurricanes," he was staring off at a distance while telling me his little fantasy.
Man... This boy is really in love.
I looked at my watch before looking outside the window to witness the outside's darkest scenery with the moon high up, illuminating its light to the people passing by.
"Okay, this is getting too cheesy," I chuckled and lightly tapped his shoulder to wake him up from his little fairy tale. "I have to go..."
I slid in a couple of dollars from my pocket to his front counter before tapping his shoulders again. "Keep the change. And have a nice night! I hope you and your 'True Love' succeed in life."
I was about to leave when he called out and introduced his name, handing me out a business card, "Angel Vaughan's the name..." Gladly, I accepted it but did not bother to read it. I shoved it inside my pocket and smiled at him.
"Goodbye, Angel Vaughan!" I waved at him before turning back at him.
"So, you're not going to let me know yours..?" I heard him ask.
"Caliber," I answered."-and you won't be seeing me again in this town anymore."
"You can't be sure. It's a small world, you know..." he said with a smile.
"You mean a small hell..." I corrected him before I heard him did a small laugh as he held his stomach. Before I could completely leave the place, I initially wrapped my hands around the handle of the door.
"But..." I called out to him, "You might hear some news about a man who jumped over a bridge and fell on his death," I continued before walking my way to the door.
"Using another chance again...?" I heard him ask that made my stop in my tracks. Slightly, I tilted my head to look at him once more and smirked at him, digging my hands inside my coat's pockets in the process.
"Why not...?" I asked back and continued my way outside of the sweet heaven as the cold blast of wind succeeded to make every hair on my exposed skin stand up.
As I exited the bar, I heard the bell rang and some girls giggling behind me. Two girls were behind me, waving their hands and winking their flirtatious eyes at me.
"Hey, Girls..." I winked back and approached them with my other hand on my neck, loosening down my black tie for them to fantasize. I smirked at how their cherry shaped eyes widened at the sight of my slightly exposed chest.
"Can you please help me...?" I asked and held the hand of the brunette before kissing it. It sent the girl into a crazy flustered party while the other girl with the dirty blonde hair just wrapped her hands on my arm.
"Aren't you the famous Haze Anthony?" the girl with the dirty blonde hair asked with excitement while running her hands up and down my bicep.
"I can be the "infamous" Haze Anthony if you want me to be," I smirked, then both of them squealed like little pigs. All this pretending is making my insides shrivel up so, I better take this plan fast.
Disgusting little sluts...
If I didn't need witnesses then I'll gladly leave them the fuck alone to fantasize for this moment their whole life. Gold digging bitches...
"Like to take this on the bridge side..?" I wriggled my eyebrow, but they looked so confused that I just want to laugh out loud.
"Ugh... Why..?" they asked in a synchronized manner.
"It's dark. Isolated. No one will bother us. No one will hear our howls all night," I said, slightly brushing my soil colored hair backward with my slender digits.
"But it's dirty there," they crossed their arms and pouted their lips. "...ew".
"Yeah, but we're dirtier," I convinced them.
Before they could react again, I unbuttoned the few remaining buttons on my shirt and showed them how hot am I with full my exposed packs. They stared at me for a few minutes before they grabbed each one of my arms to cuddle.
"Alright..." they giggled and sniffed my sweet scent, slowly intoxicating their senses,"- to the bridge here we go."
Goodbye Haze Anthony...