Fools

Fools

He sat in the corner barstool, body hunched over the glass in front of him. He’d been there since before I’d come on shift, never drinking, just staring at the auburn liquid. The man on stage had just begun his nightly tribute, a saxophone and piano saying goodnight. Most of the people were standing, waving goodbye and preparing to stumble home. But still he sat.

I couldn’t understand it really. Everyone else had been so lively through the evening, but it was if his soul had died. And it might have for all I knew. But as the music slowed, I made my way towards him. By the time I reached him, it was only my voice that filled the cloudy bar,

“Hey there cowboy… something wrong?” I asked leaning against the counter. We usually left the quiet ones alone, they were the ones most likely to cause trouble. But something about him called out to me and I knew what it was the moment he raised his head to look at me. The pure loneliness that seeped from his pores caused a small tremor to run through me.

But it was his eyes, that kept me from walking away. His eyes, they were the kind of eyes a girl could easily fall in love with. He finally lifted his glass to his lips, but put it down without taking a single sip. Again his eyes caught me, I felt myself falling for the mystery in those eyes.

This one was something special. I could tell. Anyone would have called me crazy, he was just some fool. But we were a good match. Both fools really. He glanced at the man packing up his sax,

“One more?” he questioned and the man paused before shrugging and pulling out the sax again,

“Anything in particular?” The saxophone player had taken a seat on another stool beside him. I heard him ask for the last one. A smile and a nod, before the song began anew. It always brought tears to my eyes. It was like saying goodbye to some friend, and that song was his final words.

When the song ended the man at the bar allowed the saxophone to be put away. But even after it was gone, still he sat. I didn’t mind, the bar never really closed anyway. And it was a bit of company. He didn’t say anything, and I didn’t either. It was in that silence that I noticed something else about this man.

He was waiting. What he was waiting for I wasn’t sure. But I was sure of one thing. Whatever it was, he thought was going to kill him. I don’t know why I thought of it like that. But I knew deep down it was the truth. I stopped what I was doing and watched him. We really were a pair of fools,

“I miss you.” his voice was hollow and for a moment I didn’t recognize him. The voice wasn’t the same as the man who asked for the song. But then I realized too, that I’d missed him too. But it wasn’t to be, something doomed from the start. I walked around the bar and sat beside him my head falling onto his shoulder,

“You’re a fool.” I told him, my voice carrying through the empty room. He laughed, but there was no real emotion in the sound. It was if he had already given up and even as he spoke again my heart broke,

“I know. I love you… Julia.” for a moment all was still and then I could feel the coldness of my own body, and I could see the blood on his. The bar wasn’t there anymore, there never had been. He was a fool. I cried as I watched him fight, guns taking down as many men as he could. He had only one target and the name ripped from his throat as he moved away from me,

“Vicious!” The other man stood calmly and I knew then that he did not fear death. Not the same way, that the man I loved did. Yes, I was the fool really. In love with a man willing to die, to avenge someone he cared about. I watched the fight, the explosions, and then I saw him fall forced out the window. Another explosion and I was outside as well watching him fall. Again the tears fell as he lay broken on the ground. But not dead. No. Somehow that stubborn man, would live. I knelt by him and pressed my cold lips to his forehead. I could hear the saxophone again. That haunting melody that filled my eyes with tears,

“I love you too.. Spike.”

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*blinks* well there you go. A little one-shot. I was listening to Goodnight Julia, and I just had this flash of this whole scene right before Spike and Vicious go at it. Spike’s resigned himself to die, and Julia, well we all know how that really ended up. But I don’t know I felt the urge to write this. I really like this. I know most authors say that about what they write. But this was just.. I don’t know. Something about it just fits I guess. Review.

P.S. The song Is just a sax and a piano but it’s really good. I suggest it.