Kadence

It’s the first week to the new year and I’ve not found him anywhere, nor have I been arrested. My only assumption is that he went back to Eureka. I’m so furious that he left. I didn’t want to hurt him, but he won’t continue to make a fool out of me. As I shuffle across the street, I pull my hood down and my scarf tighter. These people hate me or whatever. Probably because I set that gym on fire, but it isn’t like it belonged to all of them. That big meathead should’ve kept his nose out of my business. The closer I get to the bar, the smell of cigarettes and the sound of music get louder. The chair pulled up in front of the bar looks old and ragged, perched beside even older and more ragged chairs. I motion for the bartender to slide over a beer and glance around for enemies. There’s not too many people here tonight and I only notice a few in the corner talking and laughing and one more at the bar. The haggard looking man has a whole field of empty bottles sitting on the table, barely hiding the rugged beard and bloodshot eyes between them as his head rests on the table. There’s a defeated and soulless sag to his shoulders that tells me he’s no threat, but only when he turns his head do I realize who he is.

“Anthony, what are you doing here? Dante hates drinking. I’m surprised he’s letting you get so far out on your leash. Did you fight?” The wince he gives me when he hears Dante’s name tells me that he’s not in a great mood, but the shrug of silence and lack of bite back makes me feel off. “He’s dead. So he doesn’t care what I do anymore. Now go home. There’s nothing here for you in Eureka.”

“How can he be dead? Did you see it?” The anger is flushing down to my feet, but what’s more is that the sadness is overwhelming it. How could I possibly let it get that out of control?

“He wobbled in and died in front of me. If I hadn’t seen it, I’d be blind. What do you want here anyways? Don’t you have some animals to torment or something?” I’d never noticed how strong Anthony’s features were, but now I can see them most clearly like there’s nothing else around us. Ignoring his questions, I switch seats to right next to him, waving all of the empty bottles off the table and waving over a water from the annoyed bartender. Great, he must realize who I am.

“Anthony, no more for tonight. You’re cut off until you pay your tab.” I reach into my pocket and slide my card across the counter. “Take care of both tabs, buddy.” As the guy walks away, I turn back to Anthony.

“When’s the last time you ate, dude? You look like you’re starving.” The only response is a shrug as he tries to stand, wobbling off of the stool when I take my card back, looking down at the receipts, I scoff. There’s not a chance that any bar tab should be this high. I push him out into the cold night air to shock him back up and drag him to the weird cafe place down the street, shoving him in first as protection from the big oaf before I see the monster of a man barrelling from inside the kitchen.

“If you think for one second you’re comin’ in here to be served-” Anthony raises his hand as he speaks, “Knock it off, Mike. It doesn’t matter anymore. I don’t care. Just feed us, buddy. Please?” The big mountain never takes his eyes off of me as we take a seat inside of a booth and Anthony begins to pick at the pancakes he was given while I opt for coffee on the chance the Mike the mountain tries to kill me with food. Anthony has the look of a doll, worn and tossed aside. I can see the urge behind Mike’s twitching lip that wants so desperately to tear me apart, but I decide to ignore it in favor of Anthony’s solemn glare.

“What did he say? Do you know what happened?” I’m silently searching for something on his face to give away the truth. It’s his fault for running away, but surely this lot will try to pin it on me. He’d have been fine if he hadn’t left. Anthony stays quiet much longer than I expected before shrugging again, his meager expression hardly giving me any insight as he lifts a bite to his face before turning a grimace and dropping them back down.

“Why do you care?” He infuriates me more in this state than he did before he was so morose. It’s like he’s lost any fight he once had.

“Dante belonged to me at one point. I expect it’d be normal for me to care.” There’s a drop in his brows as if he’s really studying me, or maybe something behind me. I’m not sure, but another shrug leaves me in limbo again as he eats a little bit of his meal, leaving nothing of one of the pancakes as Mike comes back to watch us like a hawk.

“What are you hanging around here for anyway? What business d’you got with Anthony?” Mike is a tall man, looming and dark in stance if we are talking about this moment, and as he glares down at me Anthony begins to lean. At first, it looks like he might be falling, but he just lays his head on the table, giving Mike a soft smile as he drifts into a foggier mindset.

“He’s come to take care of me, bud. That’s what friends are for, right?” It’s quite sudden, the violent jerk of his body and the contortion of his face as he expels everything he just ate. I thought it’d stop there, but he keeps going as Mike just hands him a bag from off the counter to catch what he can before the mess gets bigger.

“If you hurt him, I’ll kill you, boy. There ain’t no doubt about that. He’s the only thing keepin’ you alive right now as it is. Get outta here.” The smell of stomach acid and bile reeks as he pushes Anthony into me, wheeling us away from the disaster that just happened.

As I drag him to the car, I wonder when he thought we became friends.