The stranger stood across him, flashing his hunting knife like a trophy. He was spouting some kind of nonsense; Adonis couldn’t bother to listen. The pier was quiet before and after he arrived. The action was swift when he decidedly kicked him. Watching him fall into overlapping waves of oblivion, he remembered her once again. Time seemed slower. He could see individual drops of ocean overlap. Incrementally. He broke focus once the man was completely engulfed in freezing depths. Stamping out his cigarette on damp planks, he somberly contemplated. Another soul. 

The bar wouldn’t be a far walk back. Only a dozen minutes or so from the icy coastline. Dimmed neon lights with the silhouettes of women reflected off water. Snow hadn’t fallen. It soon would. For now, roads were too frozen to drive and air too cold for prostitutes. The outskirts of a city were the worst place to be unless, of course,  you had something to hide. Large slums and towers reaching higher than mountains illuminated the northern view. Such lights would obscure the aurora borealis. He only moved to Kameni because of her. He would’ve stayed, without her help, for likely the rest of his life if it wasn’t for her. Back to how it used to be. 

He pondered how Daniil found him. His files were burned supposedly. It wouldn’t matter whether he knew or not. Like Daniil had said, he had no choice. 

***

Daniil was passed out for who knows how long, his arms folded and his head resting against the booth. Adonis sat across from him, observing his beaten hands and black beard. His Marlboro case was emptied beside four bottles of Sake. He reeked. Adonis couldn’t decide whether to steal his car and abandon him, but he couldn’t help to watch his face when he wasn’t insulting him. He seemed to be crying before he came. He had a black outline of a rose tattooed on his right wrist. Oblivious to any privacy Daniil might’ve wished for, his wallet was scoured by Adonis. He was perplexed when he found no I.D. or credit cards. He hastily stashed the few hundreds found into his pocket. Daniil slowly opened his eyes. He stretched like a cat and noticed the man sitting across from him. 

“Youuu… been her thish ent-tire time?” he hiccuped.

Adonis didn’t respond.

“Do you like Leonard Cohen?” he blurted out.

In a painful voice of gravel, as if nails stabbed his throat, he muttered.

“I have his books.”

In a slurred voice he sang. He stumbled trying to stand. Out of respect, Adonis grabbed the car keys and acted as a stilt for him. They both walked out slowly into the cold air. He tasted blood.

"Suzanne! Takess meh downintuh da rriver. Somethin’ oranzhes from Zhina!”

Adonis hummed along, knowing the verses quite well.