The room was black, and painful. Something shook his shoulder, gently at first, then harder until Sal finally opened his eyes. The bartender was the culprit. He'd chew her out for interrupting his bar side siesta if she weren't the cutest redhead he'd laid eyes on tonight, and his oldest friend. That and he was pretty sure she didn't have a twin before he took his nap. She was saying something, but he couldn't be quite sure what. Maybe he should take another drink to clear his head? An excellent idea! One quickly foiled as he raised his glass to his mouth only to find it in the hands of the tiny redhead, and strangely enough her sister had an identical drink in her hand. Sal was pretty sure bartenders weren't supposed to drink on the job, but he'd be damned if he'd turn down a toast with two gorgeous twins! He just had to find that damned glass.
A swift smack brought his attention back to the bar, and sent the room spinning more rapidly than it already was. "Jesus, Annie! What was that for?" Her reply was short, and stung sharply with accusation.
"You know why. You've had too much, Sal" She dumped what was left of the liquor and started to clean the glass. "You can't drown your problems here forever. John says you've been here three times the past couple weeks, and I've seen you every other time. You don't talk to me anymore, not like you used to. What happened to you?"
What happened, Sal thought to himself, was that he didn't drink enough to stay passed out longer. As if having his car break down, getting his tires slashed, replaced, then stolen, and finally fired from his job weren't bad enough, he had another problem that had pushed him over the edge. "Gina left me. Couldn't handle supporting my bum ass and herself at once. I told her I'd find another job soon, she just needed to stop spending our rent money collecting makeup and artsy bongs until I'm back on my feet and then, well…" He trailed off and sighed as he reached for the glass he forgot wasn't on the bar anymore. There was no arguing with Gina, or at least no winning when one started. He would know better than most, having been with her for five years. Five years that all seemed to go down the drain so quickly.
'Fuck her,' he thought, 'fuck everyone.'
"I'm gonna go. Gotta get out of here"
"Uh, do you want me to call you a ride?" The stunned silence at her friend's misfortune had been replaced with a feeling of sudden and intense dread as he got up to leave. If he left the door she had a sinking feeling that she'd never see him again. "I'll pay if you want… I feel like you should just sit here, rest a while. My shift is almost over, I'll take you back to my place and you can sleep it off on the couch." He got up and walked towards the door, supporting himself on the tables and chairs on the way
"Sal," he kept shuffling toward the door, ignoring Annie's pleading voice, "Sal," the hinge hissed behind him as the wind began to pick up "Sal! Come back here!" The sight of the broken man who had once been her dearest friend since grade school departing made her stomach flip like an undercooked pancake as salty tears threatened to sting her eyes. She had to get after him, just a little longer and her shift would be over.
Salvatore Adventini's blonde hair hung down over his eyes as he stumbled through the rain, he had no umbrella, and he left his coat at the bar before he stormed off. It didn't matter to him anymore, he figured things can't get any worse. He wandered down the streets and alleyways of the city, hoping for something, anything good to happen to him. He just needed a win!
His brooding thoughts were interrupted as he staggered down a back street and caught sight of a young girl walking in the middle of the road. What the hell? She could get killed doing that! "Sidewalk is over here, weirdo! You'll get your stupid ass run over!" She didn't even turn to look at him, much less alter course. Whatever, he figured he'd done his duty warning her.
'If she gets killed it isn't my problem,' he thought to himself while slowing to match her pace. Something was really off about her, but Sal just couldn't put his tipsy finger on it. Was it her jet black hair that damn near absorbed the light around it like a black hole stuck to her scalp? Her deep purple dress that seemed to almost glow, or that neither seemed to be affected by the howling wind? Perhaps it was the fact that she seemed to be completely dry in the middle of pouring rain without an umbrella or any sort of coat that he could see?
Before he could stop to ponder what sort of new tech had been developed to allow such miracles, a car came screeching around the corner. It was swerving in the heavy rain and heading straight towards the dry weirdo in the street, still oblivious as ever, only now she stopped walking and waited in the car's path. "Move! There's a fucking car! Get out of the road!" he screamed and waved at her to try to get her attention, but still she didn't budge. This unbelievable idiot, was she trying to get herself killed? Well he wasn't about to let her waste her life like this! Sal did the only thing he could think of and ran full speed into the road, intending to tackle the girl out of the way of the crazed driver still speeding toward them. Then, like a ghost he went straight through her and ate the pavement. He could swear the driver was yelling something at him as he came closer, and both his hands were gesturing madly for Sal to get out of his way. But it was too late, the strange girl was on the sidewalk now and grinning with mischievous, mirth-filled eyes the same unmistakable deep purple of her dress. He was about to be hit by a car and all this freak could do was smile, was this all a joke to her? How had she even got to the sidewalk? He was certain he would have collided with her no matter how he fell, but it was like she was there one second and gone the next. He stared down the headlights of the oncoming car in horror, his pants now wet with rain and fresh piss. The driver tried to steer the car out of the way, but couldn't move the wheel at all. Sal couldn't help but wonder in the final moments before this speeding wrecking ball hit him and crushed his bones: 'What the hell is wrong with the cars in this town?'
The vehicle finally stopped a few feet after it plowed through Sal, and a shaken and weeping man jumped out from the driver's seat, yelling at the top of his lungs to anybody who would listen about how he lost control and that the car had a mind of its own, that the wheel wouldn't turn no matter how he pulled and fought. His excuses and apologies fell upon deaf, dying ears. Both men knew something was incredibly wrong with the situation they found themselves in, but Sal knew in his heart he wouldn't live to see the rest of it unfold. His arms were bent backwards at an unnatural angle from the force of the blow, his lungs were punctured by his broken ribs, and he was slowly drowning in his own blood while he fought to stay conscious through a head injury the magnitude of which could only be brought on by a front bumper making direct contact with the human skull. He finally succumbed as Annie pulled up in her car, stepping out with Sal's coat, shell-shocked for the second time that day as she began wailing with despair, the mangled body of her oldest friend cradled in her arms.
Sal watched this all unfold like some sick dream from just above his own body and off to the side. To say he was confused would have been an understatement. It isn't every day you get to watch yourself die. He "walked" over to Annie, though it was more of a staggered floating, and tried to shake her shoulders, to console her, tell her he's okay, anything to stop her from weeping and wailing. He might have had some success, if the smoky wisps that he kept flailing around could be counted as arms of any sort. Suddenly he realized what happened, he didn't remember getting up, and his body lay still and bleeding in the road. This was it, this was death. Other than the extreme confusion and inability to see his arms properly no matter how hard he focused, it wasn't as dramatic as people made it out to be, at least from his point of view. One second he was afraid for his life, the next he popped up in the middle of the street watching the aftermath.
Soon, he could see a white light in the sky, it started to fill the whole sky above him as it spread out and he heard voices calling for him just like in every story you hear about near death experiences. Was this it? Was he going to go to the afterlife and figure out who was really right? He was so excited he willed himself closer to the light, closer and closer until he could almost feel the warm summer sun shine down upon his face just like his fondest childhood memories playing cops and robbers with water guns alongside all his grade school buddies, including Annie. The feeling of being at home and at peace almost overwhelmed him with pure elation!
But it wasn't meant to be, someone still had plans for him. A strong force pulled him away from the light.
"No, no, no little pawn. You're still a part of my game, you can't leave the board just yet!" He turned to see the face of a woman almost exactly like the girl he had just died trying to save. Her long jet black hair was an almost impossible sea of swirling darkness in a churning current of invisible water he couldn't feel, her flowing dress was longer now and revealed one long, pale leg, and her purple eyes were still just as deep and mysterious, but now held a menacing quality as he met her gaze. " I bet you really enjoyed that little taste of the afterlife you had there, huh? I can see the joy buzzing through your soul! I went ahead of you just to see how much fun you were in for, and let me tell you: that seemed like a wholesome and heavenly eternity you would have had! Oh if only you had a proper body right now! I'd love to see you cry, first over going to your beautiful afterlife, and then again when you realize I'm going to keep you far, far away from it until I'm done with you!" Her half-smile widened into a massive grin, the kind you would see coming only from the clinically insane as their delusions play tricks on them, or a sociopath whose façade has fallen to reveal the joy they find in toying with people. In the case of this being, Sal was dead certain it was the second scenario if he wasn't experiencing the first.
The woman clapped her hands twice and a large hole twice her size appeared behind her, swirling like a whirlpool filled with odd lights and colors. Before Sal could even protest, he was being picked up by the woman and thrown headfirst into the portal before him.
"See you in a moment, little pawn!" She called after him, "Believe me what I have in store for you is gonna be so much more fun than being stuck in the afterlife!" She cackled like a mad witch as Sal felt himself dropping lower, lower, lower into a warping mass of colors and shapes while the doorway flew away out of his reach, the mad laughter leaving with it. Sal had never considered the idea that someone could dangle an eternal paradise in front of you like an anglerfish luring its prey, and then snatch you away from it. It felt like the most cruel joke someone could play, one he wouldn't even wish on his enemies, and yet he was experiencing it firsthand. Whether she threw him into Hell or somewhere else, he was going to find a way to make her pay, he swore it on his own dying breath as the parade of colors closed in around him and a high pitched ringing sounded through his whole being.