Rediscovery

Old acquaintances meet.

I found her again!

I can't believe it! Well, I mean, I can because I've been looking for her for months, but I still can't help but yell into the darkness from my balcony. I found her!

I was walking down the street, checking outside the bars for lonely souls when I saw her, sitting on the steps of a particularly unkempt dive. I circled around the street, playing it cool and looking up casually at the night sky. When I came back around, I stopped in front of her and commented that it probably wasn't safe to be alone at night, what with the Gutter Ball Killer lurking around.

"I can handle myself," she said, winking at me through a puff of cigarette smoke.

I recoiled in my head. Was she really going to flirt with me (who doesn't look like me) after just a few months of being separated? As a part of my brain tried to work that problem out, I asked if I could interest her in a drink.

"Think the drink can do a fair job on its own to interest me." The cigarette smoke now blocked her whole complexion from my view. The fact that her voice could still sound so sweet on my different ears just proved how perfect she is. I kept myself from kneeling down right then and there, grasping her hands in mine, and maybe even giving her a kiss before confessing my true identity.

"Well...has it done a fair job already?" I said.
"Today or in general?"
"I'm more interested in today...but maybe later I'll ask about in general."
"In general, I drink occasionally."
"Not exactly what I was looking for."
"Well, maybe later you'll find out whether I was interested in a drink."
"Hm."
"Hm? What's that all about?"
"Just thinking." She gave me a peculiar look. She recognized that phrase.
"Oh...why, do tell."
"I was just thinking about why a girl like you would be sitting on the steps of sleazy bar like this at a time like this."
"Quite the 'hm' then. I don't know. Maybe I'm...waiting for Gutter Ball to come around and get me." She smiled and finished her cigarette. I bit my lip. I would never kill women. I like them too much.
"Maybe you're not his type."
"What makes you say that?"
"Speculation."
"Explain."
"It just seems like all of his victims are males and have-"
"No, why do you think it's a guy?"
"Excuse me?"
"You assume it's a guy."
"Oh, of course it is!"
"Wow, you're very confident."
"I mean...just speculation."
"Right. Maybe I'm Gutter Ball. How's about that for a thought?"
"That's...a thought."
"Maybe I've got a problem with men. And I...wait outside bars, hoping to pick some drunk soul wandering out and follow him into a dark alleyway where I can gut him."
"Quite the flirt you are."
"You don't even know." I smiled. She really hadn't changed.
"Okay. Fine. Let's say I believe you. Why do you do it? Besides having a problem with men."
"Oh, you know." She looked down at the ground and was silent for a few second. "I guess...my dad was a drunk and he would always come home late at night...maybe after gambling away rent money...or just hooking up with some cheap bimbo down the street. Either way, he walked in all the same. Left leg dragging behind his right like it was just mauled by a bulldog. Hands grasping for any surface or walls for balance. Eyes moving wildly like he just saw a ghost. Hair drooping and all messed up. Basic picture of a man at rock bottom. And...he would get on his knees, on our once nice rug. You would think he was about to do a push up...but...instead he proceeded to vomit his heart out. My daddy...was not known for knowing his limits. He drank to forget and forget he did. After he was empty and done, he went through this process of...cleaning up. I stood in the door frame of my room and watched...as my dad went to the kitchen, came back with paper towels, and picked up his own slop in an effort convince himself...and me...that everything was normal and okay. But...I knew better. I couldn't bear to see him do that to himself any longer so...one night, I waited for him in the bushes in front of my house with a knife in my hand. He swerved into the driveway and stumbled down the pathway to the front door but...before he could make it, I jumped out, pushed him to the ground and did my work on his internals. And you know what he said...as I pulled out his rotten liver? 'Thank you, princess.' I guess after that, I felt like I was doing the right thing and just sorta kept at it." She glanced up at me and shrugged.

I couldn't respond. Maybe I shouldn't have turned around and walked away without saying anything, but I had had my fill for the day. She yelled after me, saying "Sorry! I was just joking around!" But I was burned out. I went back home and went to sleep and in my dreams, I could see her sitting on the steps, smoking. I found her, alright. She hasn't changed a bit.