Items: A gum wrapper, a phone number, spare change, a movie stub, a photo
Alex stared down at his left hand in a daze while he examined the white bandage wrapped around his knuckled. Spots of red starting to show. He was only dimly aware of the dull throbbing pain, but it was lessened by the pounding throb in his head. He had no clue where he was and tried to look around, but his vision blurred and turning his head only a faction made everything spin around faster. He could feel the cold hardness of the ground beneath him. He sure was not in his own room, that much he deduced.
“You must have had some night.” An unknown voice spoke which sounded like it came from the distant end of a tunnel. At first he thought he was dreaming. That must be why everything seems so strange. But he wondered could you really feel this much like shit in a dream? “Hey, you deaf or something?” The voice once more penetrated his thoughts. So Alex thought it best to respond. “Who are you, and where the hell am I?”
The other greeted this with a burst of laughter. “You are really messed up.” Slowly the strong unfamiliar voice began to take shape. He could make out the features of the one who belonged to the voice. A was a large guff looking fellow, with a long scraggly unkempt beard mostly gray and white. “People call me Spud and it seems you are my cell mate.”
As the man spoke Alex began to take in more of his surroundings. He resisted the initial urge to ask this Spud what he was doing in jail. As he did not expect the man new any more about that then Alex currently did. It was always moments like this that the desire to life up came over him. He had not had a cigarette in six months but still the urge lingered on. Alex dug into his pockets for a stick of gum. Trading one habit for another he always thought was ironic, but he supposed chewing gum would not kill him. He never left the house now without a pack of the stuff.
In his search from his pockets he produced a handful of objects, including an empty gum wrapper. Brilliant! He thought. At some point during the night he must have gone though his last piece. In addition to the gum wrapper he also found a movie stub, some loose change, a napkin with an unknown phone number scrawled upon it and a wallet sized photograph.
The photo elicited strong painful emotions. He recognized the eyes of the girl staring up at him. Sara, his girlfriend, or formerly. He could not deny the sudden tightening in his stomach at the image. His eyes glanced over the other objects and the events of the night began to return to him.
“I just do not think we are going to work out. I think perhaps it is time we went our separate ways” Sara said as Alex stood within her apartment, they where suppose to be going out tonight, and he had come to pick her up, not he was completely confused. “What? You cannot mean that, where is this coming from?” In the best of his knowledge they had not had any recent fights. Sara looked exasperated and tired. “I am sorry, really, but please, there is nothing you can say that will change my mind on this. I just don’t think we should continue to see each other. I know it is sudden.”
Alex could not just accept this how could she just say something like this with no real explanation. “You are not making any sense. Maybe things were not always perfect, but I thought things were pretty good, what has gotten into you.” Sara gave a regretful shake of her head as she turned her back to him her hands clasped together in front of her. “Look Alex, I really don’t want to make this into a whole big thing. If you would please just go that would be the best.” Alex stood motionless at first as he watched, but it seemed there really was nothing he could do. He turned to start to walk off before he paused a moment, one thing flicked into his mind, it was the only thing which would make any sense, yet it could not be could it? He glanced back over to her. “You have met someone else haven you? That is what this is all about?”
Sara looked up at him startled and speechless. “Alex, please, let’s not do this.” Her voice was pleading, but the fact that she refused to deny it was confirmation in itself. How had he been such a fool? He did not even see this coming. “Who is he? How long have you been seeing him?” Alex demanded as he clenched one of his hands in a fist.
“I want you to leave right now Alex” Sara said with a bit more determination in her voice as she stood once more to fully face him.
“Just walk out like that?” Alex said, “Yeah that would be convenient for you, wouldn’t it. Answerer me Sara, where did you meet him, how long have you been seeing him? Did you sleep with him?”
“Alex! Stop it, it is over now, if you do not leave now I will have to call the police.” Whether Sara actually would or not he did not know, but he saw that his staying here was pointless and so he stalked out of the apartment and slammed the door behind him. He knew the last thing he wanted to do now was to go back to his own place and just sit alone with his thoughts. He needed something to get his mind off things to distract him. As he began to make his way down the street he dug one of his hands into his pocket and pulled out his last remaining gum stick unwrapping it he stuffed it in his mouth and stuffed the wrapper back ins his pocket. It was suppose to help when you were trying to quick smoking, to find something else to put in your mouth instead. The air was cool as the city was lit by lamps, and the yellow flicker of the dark towering buildings. He walked without thinking about where he was going.
He found himself before the theater though he did not plan to come here, he thought what the hell, perhaps it would be a good way to spend his time. What else was he going to do? It was perfect. He could sit within the dark not be bothered by anyone and forget about reality for a moment. He walked up to the window, and bought a ticket for whatever happened to be playing at the time. He did not know or care what the movie was. He took the change which was handed back to him and stuffed it into his pocket and headed inside the theater.
Unfortunately his intentions did not work out as he hoped. He was unable to concentrate throughout the movie and he was still worked up about what happened. Perhaps sitting alone in the dark was in end a bad way to try and deal with his problems. The conversation he had kept playing over in his mind. He still could not believe it. How had this happened? How could she do this to him? As soon as the movie was over, he needed something else. Alex began to head for the nearest bar. A part of him knew it was a bad idea, but what the hell he thought, he was entitled. He just wanted a moment of peace, to not think about what happened, to be free of the pain and dejection.
He could not remember just how much he had to drink while he was there. It was all kind of a whir within his mind. He strained his memory as the events started tumbling back to him but it seemed there were still some gaps here and there. Details he could not fully form, but enough to have the basic picture of what happened. What led him here? He remembered there was a woman. She was wearing a black dress and the why she smiled, made him feel as if they were the only two people on the planet. What did he say to her? She brushed her fingers against the back of his hand and there was laughter, yes she laughed at something he said, they were both laughing. He must have already been pretty drunk if he managed to say anything funny. They leaned close together when she reached over for one of the napkins on the bar and wrote something down passing it over to him. It was her number. She was leaving now and he was left feeling a moment of disappointment before he folded the napkin up and slipped it in his pocket.
Being left alone again made his thoughts return to Sara and the booze started to work upon him. Who was she to do this to him? Was he just going to sit here and let himself be walked all over like that? The cheating whore, and after everything he gave to her. So all of the sudden he was not good enough for her? He did not remember just when he left the bar, or how he got back to her apartment. He only recalled standing there before her building once more. At first he was lost and confused. Just what did he plan on doing? He thought of calling out to her when an idea formed within his mind. In his drunken state it appeared as the most brilliant plan. Yes, he would really teach her a lesson he thought. He picked up rock and hurled it through the windshield of Sara’s care. He then put his foot through one of the headlights. He did not know who long he carried on unleashing his fury before someone called the cops, Sara herself? He did not know. But the last thing he remembered was the sounds of sirens, and doing nothing but sitting there waiting on the curb, his energy spent, unable to think any further.
He must have been belligerent when the cops tried to actually bring him in. He remembered they were getting rough with him as they shoved him in the car, then everything started to go black and he woke up here in this cell.
