Unpleasant Destiny
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| Helen Black |
It was a dark but fresh spring night in 1923 in Washington D.C. You felt the 20´s in the air. You could hear the music and laughter from every window and door. In that time everybody was finally free. All of the people were having a good time, except for one young lady. She was sitting at the bar, half drunk, with a glass of whisky in her hand, talking to the bartender about her life.
“You know what? Life is so unfair!“ she said, “You are trying so much to love people around you, and then someone like that idiot Peter is only using you!“ She was totally broken. The bartender looked into her crying hopeless eyes and shook his head to show her she´s right. “I loved him so much!” she continued, “and then I just found him sleeping with some slut in my own bed!” she said and took another sip of her drink. “I was so stupid! So stupid... Oh, look at me, I´m so handsome and perfect...“she was quoting him angrily. The barman was just counting money and shaking his head. The night club was full. A beautiful blonde was singing next to the piano, men were drinking alcohol, illegally of course, and women were flirting with all those drunks. Helen sighed and turned away from the bar. She looked at those people and sighed again. As she was watching them a sympathetic man came to the bar and ordered something. She ignored him. But he, on the other hand, was staring at her like he´d never seen a woman before. Then Helen realized he´s staring so she asked with a drunk voice,
“What?” He smiled and said,
“What a beautiful lady sitting right next to me, “he said still smiling. Helen overturned her black eyes and said,
“Yes, I´ve heard that before...” But he answered,
“So you should know what beautiful deep eyes you have. What gorgeous silky hair you have. Your skin is like porcelain, so pale and so soft, that only a touch would make my day...” She was looking at him and after a few seconds she said,
“Are you drunk or something?”, and he answered,
“If you are what I always see when I´m drunk, I want to be drunk forever…” Helen looked him into his eyes and she was looking for something in them. Then she asked with an absent voice,
“Are you going to drink this,” pointing her finger to his glass of liqueur, “because I see I will need it.” He said calmly,
“Sure, my dear. Anything for you.” He still smiled; Helen took the glass and threw the alcohol into her mouth like it was water. He was absolutely amazed by her. No wonder, she was really beautiful. Then she hardly stood up from her seat, took her hand bag and wanted to go away, but he stopped her, “Please, don´t leave. I want to talk with you,” he said. Helen answered,
“And what do you want to talk about? I don´t know you, you don´t know me, so leave me alone!”
“But I want to know you! Please, just tell me what your name is, beautiful?” he asked. Helen looked at him and said,
“Katherine, “and she left the bar. The man sat down on the bar chair, and asked the barman, who was inconspicuously listening, a question,
“She isn´t called Katherine, is she?” The bartender said,
“Hah, no. Her name is Helen. Helen Black. She has just finished a relationship and she´s totally off. So leave her alone.”The man looked at the bartender and said for himself,
“So Helen Black...”
After a few days, Helen went to the shop to buy some medicine for her grandmother. When she was crossing the street she bumped into that man from the bar. He was surprised and said,
“Oh, Helen, it´s you! I´m so glad I see you again!” Helen asked,
“Do I know you? I don´t really remember you.” He smiled and said,
“Well, it was a few days ago, you were in the bar, drunk. I was the man who nagged you with those questions, don´t you remember? You told me your name is Katherine.” She was thinking about that night and then like a flash from the sky she found out who he is.
“Oh! Good Lord, that´s you again?! I thought I would never see you again. Unfortunately, it did not happen.” He said,
“But I was lucky I found you! Finally.” Helen looked confused and she asked,
“Wait a minute, you were following me? If you don´t leave me alone I will call the police!” The smile of the man´s face suddenly disappeared and he looked weird.
“I´m sorry, my lady. I didn´t mean to bother you. And I wasn´t following you, this was only a fortune.” the man said.
“There´s nothing like fortune...” Helen said, suddenly with a sad broken voice. He realized her tone and remembered the thing that bartender said him.
“It´s not your fault, that he was a dump...” he said.
“What?! What the hell are you talking about again?!” Helen asked angrily.
“You know exactly what I mean. It´s not your fault. You loved him. He is the stupid one if he didn´t love you!” the handsome man answered.
“You have no idea...” the woman said.
” Yes, I do. I know how beautiful, polite, kind, soft and loyal you are. So vulnerable, but still trying to cover your fear and sadness...” he said. Helen was watching him with amazement.
“You think you know me?” she said.
“No, I don´t. But I feel something is special about you. And I want to know what it is,” the man said. Helen started to think about that.
“Maybe he´s right. Maybe she should do something with her life. She can´t do this forever. She´s always the hurt one...“. He jumped into her thoughts with a question,
“So you think, I could invite you for a drink tonight?” he smiled with a huge ear-to-ear smile. She hesitated.
“ May I? Maybe he isn´t so bad. I need some fun. No, no, that´s not a good idea...But maybe...” she thought in herself. Then she said, “Well, all right. It won´t kill me.” And then she finally smiled...
They met that night in the park near of the Congress. It was a perfect night. A bit windy, yet warm. The both dressed up. Helen was wearing a dark blue flapper dress with a huge red rose on her breasts. She wore a lovely gold necklace and gold earrings. Her perfectly curled black hair waved in the wind. And she wore red high heels and a dark red lipstick. She looked fantastic! The man was already waiting there with a white rose in his hand. He was wearing a dark brown suit and his blonde hair was carefully polished back with pomade. He looked very handsome. He was tall and well-built. When she saw Helen, his eyes went wide.
“Good evening, my dearest Helen.” he said.
“Good evening, Mr...?” she waited,
“Mr. Smith,” he finished her sentence.
“So I should call you Mr. Smith?” Helen wondered.
“Oh no, I´m Anthony,” he smiled.
“All right then, Anthony...” she giggled.
“I know a perfect night bar near here, shall we go?” Anthony asked.
“Of course.” So they walked away. In the night bar, they were talking a lot. They told each other everything. Almost everything. When Helen asked about his relationship before he met her, he always introduced a new topic. Helen felt there´s something wrong. So she tried.
“So you had a girlfriend, didn´t you?” she asked.
“Well, we could call her a girlfriend.” Anthony said.
“So why don´t you tell me something about her? I told you everything about that idiot Peter...” Helen insisted.
“There´s nothing interesting about Susan,” he said.
“Oh, so now we know her name. I bet she was beautiful,” she said.
“Not enough to be as beautiful as you are,” Anthony said.
“Oh, come on! Tell me something. Why did you break up? Did she deceive you, or what?” Helen nagged. Anthony started to look around the room, he fidgeted and he completely ignored Helen.
“But tell me something. I´m so curious! I´m like a journalist...!” she continued.
“Halt! Just stop it!” Anthony yelled and hit the table. The whole bar got silent and stared at him. Helen opened her mouth and asked,
“What did you say?”
“I said stop. Stop asking me these stupid questions! Forget everything about Susan. Don´t even care about her name!” Anthony said nervously.
“Why?” Helen asked.
“Just stop!” he said. She was totally confused and surprised at once. Then she stood up and said,
“Thanks for a great night, you really made my day!” Helen said ironical. He held her hand and begged her,
“Hey, don´t go! I´m sorry. I´m very sorry. I´m just very sensitive in this way,” he looked really sorry. Helen looked at him, into his eyes and said,
“All right. I´ll give you one last chance.” She sat down on her seat and exhaled. She saw something bad and evil in him. But she was so charmed and hypnotized by him, she couldn´t leave. But she knew he is hiding something. And she wanted to know what.
To be continued...
Blushes are another important category. I don't have
