Richard drove towards his house at a steady speed. As he drove he took in the scenery in Misthilll, the capital city of Crevania. The street was still lively and a lot of people walked along the street looking happy and satisfied.
Most of these people, he knew, were hiding their inner demons just like he did on a daily basis. It was very easy to hide one's darkest fear and blend with a smiling face just like these people on the street.
As for people like him who have seen war torn war zones as much as they've seen the new day, it was pretty hard to maintain sanity. The war of the three countries over Gavdos had left a very deep impression on him and his abduction by the terrorist group left a scar in him.
He still had nightmares at night about how his team was destroyed while he could only watch while his foot was stuck to a land mine. The feeling of helplessness was worse than death.
Inside the car, Richard took a deep breath and trained his eyes on the road so as to distract his thoughts a little bit. Over on the side he saw an old man lying on the public bench. He was probably a homeless man.
The difficulty of life presented itself to him in a new light. Just then his phone rang snapping him out of his reverie. He looked at the screen and saw that it was Lieutenant Pauline—his friend and also a teammate now.
He parked the car to the side of the road and answered the call while wondering what she wanted at 10p.m. in the night.
"Hello? Is this Richard Brad?" the voice was clearly not Pauline's. Richard paused for a bit before deciding to reply.
"Who are you?"
"I'm… a bar tender and there's this girl here who is drunk and she asked me to call you…" the man on the other end stuttered.
Richard sighed deeply. Pauline was out drinking again. He thought for a second before asking the man for the directions to the bar. "I'll be there in a minute."
He hung up the call and turned the car around and drove towards the bar. It took him a little over twenty minutes to arrive at the bar. There were few people there and some were smoking at the smoking area.
At the centre, women were dancing to entertain the people at the bar and they were ever ready to give their 'services' to the willing as long as they had cash. This bar was a perfect place to come to when one needed to unwind.
Richard scanned the bar and his eyes fell on a figure that had her head plopped down on the table at the counter with one hand hanging loosely. It was Pauline.
The moment he made a move to catch up to her a few of the dancers came closer to him while their vibrating bodies hindered his path. He wasn't in the mood for this and he never has been so he pushed his way through not caring about where he touched during the process.
The girls giggled. "He's so hot and strong. He even touched my breasts!"
The other glared at the first girl and hissed. "Didn't you see him slap my ass before brushing past me?"
Thankfully the music drowned out their voices and Richard didn't hear what they said. He had only come to such bars a few times and 80% of those times were to pick up a drunken Pauline. He would rather drink at a small café or just stock up on alcohol.
He reached Pauline and pulled a stool too. He sat down and grabbed her body and lifted her head up and she stirred a bit with a smile. She seemed to know who it was that came for her as she clung to him like glue.
Richard found that she was cold and got angry. He looked at the bar keep and glared at him. "Why didn't you even give her a blanket?"
The man wanted to retort that the bar didn't offer such services but quickly shut his mouth when he noticed his military trouser. He didn't want a beat up tonight.
Richard found that he was a waste of time so he turned to Pauline and asked, "Are you okay? Can you walk?"
"No," she shook her head slightly, "I feel like crap you know?"
"Let me bring you home then."
"No, let's drink together a bit more."
"Would you like a glass?" the bar keeper peeked out at Richard but a single glare from the soldier sent him shivering back behind the pile of bottles.
"No more drinks tonight, you're wasted."
He tried to drag her up but she was heavier than usual. It wasn't a problem for him either but he soon noticed that the lady was struggling too.
"What now?" Richard said impatiently. He wanted to get home and eat and then sleep but here she was clinging to him like her life depended on it.
"I want to stay like this. Your body is so warm." She purred in a low voice that came out like a moan.
"You doing it again Pauline and I swear next time I won't come to find you." he tried to drag her again but she pulled back again.
"I want you," she said in a low seductive voice. "I fucking crave you."
"Let me guess, you didn't find a perfect…" before Richard could finish his sentence, a warm pair of lips had crashed onto his. Pauline locked her lips with his and started kissing him heatedly. Her hands moved behind his head sloppily to show that she was still under the influence of alcohol.
Richard froze and his hand hung in mid-air as he sat there not responding to the kiss nor pushing her away. The bar keeper peeked out again and offered, "We have a room…"
Pauline pulled apart offering Richard the opportunity to glare at the bar keep one last time. The man rolled his eyes while thinking, 'soldiers are very difficult to please!'
Richard turned to Pauline who was now resting on his shoulder and asked, "Are you satisfied? Was this your plan all along?"
She didn't respond and when Richard pulled her apart he discovered that she was sound asleep. He sighed and pulled her up before carrying her to his car.