A dirty blonde haired man walked into the establishment-
An old place I had always loved.?

It was disgusting, yet somehow comforting,

?The smell of cheap smoke,?

Red thrift store outfits,?

30 year old carpets; never been washed,?

Peeling wall paper,?

Sticky drinks spilled on the wood counters,

?Ceilings soaked in years of rain,

?The hot ashy fire place crackling louder than the pompous fools commercing.

It looked quite nice when you were there,

?Like a fancy lounge from the twenties but rustic. The wooden structure yet the velvet furniture. The gold lined curtains yet the bar stools. The leather chairs in the corner but the cigars and women in red dresses, the bartenders in puffy vests yet the men in tuxedos and fedoras. A perfect mix of two beautiful things tainted by the dull Taste of lost dignity and self respect.

Speaking of twenties, A cigarette in the 20s style was carefully balanced between my two slim fingers. My pale skin glowed pink and red in the dim, elegant light. I inhaled the heavy grey smoke and slowly exhaled the poison into the briskly cold air as the door swung open revealing a tall, light haired, slightly attractive man. I looked forward with a locked stare as the man walked further in.

But he stopped for a moment in the doorway, leaning against the side to look at a crumpled up photograph in his pocket. Then he whispered something to himself and stepped in further. He looked at me curiously, I could tell from the corner of my eye. He adjusted the bar stool and sat down next to me. Staring at me looking almost confused, but he was careful not to look too intrigued. I sighed, annoyed with him already.

"Yes..?" I ask. He was Silent for a long while.

"I didn't say anything...." He mutters looking away. Then he looked back at me. It made me even more mad.

"What do you want?!" I asked again glaring at him. He backed off.

"It's just that... I thought I would never find you again. I guess I'm just happy is all. Sorry if I'm getting too intrusive," He said holding his hands in the air as if to casually surrender. "It's been so long, but, gosh, you haven't changed a bit. You almost look even better than I do..." He commented eyeing me up and down.

"Watch your tone. I think you have me confused with someone else I have never seen you my whole life," I said rolling my eyes. 

"WHAT!?" He shouted, "Oh come on, Nora, don't play innocent you know me! Don't you remember?" He asked sounding desperate.

"Why would I remember you if I have never seen you before?" I asked. 

"Wow... Ouch. You really must've been mad that night, weren't you?" He asked seeming sincerely sad. Then He held his head higher as if he found some sort of confidence in what he was about to say. "Look it's been so long I understand you may not remember me but.... You know me. And I know you. In fact I'd say we may know each other a little more than I would've liked." He said taking out a cigarette and struggling to light it.

"If I met someone like you I think I would have remembered. Then again it's hard to tell the difference between you and the other self absorbed idiots clinging to this place like lost puppies." I spit out sharply at him. Then he smiled. Find something funny? If you haven't noticed I'm trying to make you think less of yourself and yet you laugh? 

"Ha.... You're no different than I remember. You always condescended to me as if I were lesser than you.... When I know inside you are just so insecure about 'who's stronger?' that you just can't handle me," He said smiling darkly.

My eyes were wide. I didn't want to believe him... but his words were true. I was going out of my way to make him feel weak when usually for most people it doesn't take any effort at all to make them hate themselves. It scared me how right he was. It was if he could read my thoughts... or...was he right and I had I really met him before?

"I don't know if you knew this but you're the only women who could ever seduce me." He said, "Usually I'm the one doing the seducing...." He finished. The flame in my eyes lit up like a wild fire.

"Oh shut up. You're just like everyone else who lost their self honor. They can't use their head so they just shut down their emotions and use their bodies as their last hope to fill that empty void inside their wearing souls. Then they don't understand why it didn't work and why they are just hollow beings of what they used to be and know there's no going back so they fall into the deepest depression, as deep as the bottle they drink from until they ultimately end their lives with a knife.... You know why it is a knife? Because pain will be the last sense of comfort they have before falling into the darkness of cold death. The only thing that was ever for them since the beginning. Loneliness. You think you're all that? Your life means less than the floor I'd walk on with my cheapest shoes." I say rudely, smiling like I got some sick satisfaction about saying that....I did. 

He waits. I must've hurt him bad..... Good.

"Well...." He says quietly. I wait for him to cry or excuse himself so he can go home and do exactly what I said but... He doesn't. I stop smiling.
"You're not wrong....I mean, that probably is the way I am going down. But isn't death the only thing that waits for anyone?" He asks. Then he finally lights his cigarette and smiles. Not just a fake smile to cover up his true feelings of pain... An actual... smile. What is WRONG with this man? Is he sick in the head?!

"How are you not offended!!" I shouted slamming the table with my fist. 

"Oh yeah, that's right, you forgot who I was, didn't you? I thought you were just playing it cool at first....But now I see you weren't lying... Okay, then. Allow me to introduce myself. heh, ya' see, I'm the man you once loved. The man you said was the ONLY man you could EVER love. And if it helps.... I may have felt a twinge once or twice in my barely beating heart for you, too." He said clutching the cloth on his shirt. 
"How many times do I have to tell you, old man!? You've got the wrong woman." I said brushing my hand through my long brown hair. He doesn't respond. God, I hate it when he ignores me!
"Wait, I can prove it! See? It's YOU! This is a picture I took years ago of YOU!" He said holding up the crumpled photo from earlier and pointing to it.
"Where did you get that picture?! Are you some sort of stalker!?" I asked.
"No! You LET me take this picture of you! You said it would be something to find you by if one of us ever had to leave! And you DID leave a few months after! You were planning on me finding you one day! This was all destined to happen!" He said joyously as if he just solved a murder mystery.
"Say all you want, see if I care, but a picture of me doesn't prove anything..." I shrugged unemotionally.
He stopped talking for a while. I enjoyed the time I didn't have to listen to his voice. But after a few minutes of staring at me a little while longer, he spoke again.
"That dress looks nice on you," He said, casually pointing at me.
"Shut. Up." I was wearing a long red dress with no sleeves and a cut on the bottom to show my legs. He's right. It looks nice on me. But never would I entertain his creepy comments and fake flattery.
"Sorry, if that was rude.... I didn't mean anything of it. I just say what I'm thinking, I can't really hold anything back." He looked almost guilty as he said that.
I smirked at him. "Heh... That's the problem with you... You could never keep your mouth shut, Eugene! Ah-" then I realized what I had done. I had a memory of him. I had already said his name before I could take it back. I did remember who he was... Why had I forgotten? And what really happened between us?
"So you DO remember me! Scarlet, Don't hide it.  I know your love still burns for me like fireworks!" He said excitedly, obviously holding himself back from hugging me.
"Oh, don't get TOO excited! The only thing in me that burns like fireworks is hate for people like you!" I shot back.
"You...hate me....I-I know that.... But that's why..... That's why you love me, RIGHT? You hate me so much you can't live without me!" I didn't think he could sound anymore desperate. But he could. That last sentence proved it... 
"You've been missing me for years so you shoved all the memories of me to the back of your mind because they were too much pain for you to handle... Then you forgot about it altogether but it's all coming back. I knew I'd find you here.... I just couldn't hide any longer. I know you there's still a part of you that remembers-still a part of you that cares! Face the facts before you fall into the same depressive denial I fell into." He says romantically placing his hands on my arms. "You love me. You always did and always will," He accused with a sly smile on his face. I slap his hands away in one quick motion.
"I don't even know what you are talking about! Get out of my face before I MAKE you." I said. It was a lie. Of course I knew what he meant. I could never forget a man like him. It'd be impossible. Simply impossible. But he couldn't see through my lie. Or he could and just was embarrassed by how annoying he knew he was being. He stood up and took a step away from me as if I were some crazed animal with a severe case of rabies."Just get out of here!" I muttered sharply. I just wanted him to leave before I started crying or something else embarrassing. The worst thing one could do is let the enemy see them cry.
"I-I understand...." He said trying to act calm after his over-excited episode. He looked away. "If you truly want me to leave I'll go. But if you ever want me...I'll be there. I can show you more than just mindless amusement to take your mind off the horrors of the world...I can show you true emotion. True happiness. But if that's not watch you're looking for.... I guess I should leave. But one last question..." He said. His spirits seemed a little dampened. "I know you feel it too. A feeling like you thought you once felt love though you can't remember who it was for or if it was real at all... That missing person you are desperate to find on the deepest corridor of your mind.... It's me. Do you remember hearing that shot in the hallway. It was the most dangerous night you could've been outside but you didn't run from the dangers. You stayed by my side.... Not because you were forced to stay.... But because you just couldn't leave. You wanted to be next to me even of it meant death for the both of us. Was that really you? Or have you changed more than I thought? Is the person I once knew gone?.... Scarlet.... Please...Don't you remember?" He asked quietly as the rest of the sounds in the room seemed to stop completely. It was as if we were the only two there. What he said sounded so sincere but... I never would trust anyone, I promised myself that the day I turned eight. Some part of me wanted to believe him... But for now, I'd just have to pronounce that side of me dead. 
"No." I said firmly. I looked away from his regretful eyes. "Now, can you please-" I started to say but he interrupted me.
"-no, it's fine-i mean-...I.....I get it. I'll go." He said looking away with sorrow etched in each line in his face. 
At first I thought I'd feel victory once he felt bad but.... I felt a little sharp pain shoot through me. Like some sort of emptiness in my soul.... I sighed regretfully. "I'm sorry...Eugene," I whispered. But he was already gone. 
The lights seemed dimmer for some reason....
The night seemed longer....
The drinks seemed smaller.... 
When he was gone everything changed. I tried my best to stop it but I just had to think about who I used to be. Who WE used to be. After many hours of uncertainty and confusion I realized there wasn't much left to lose. I finally let myself remember all the pain from the past days. I finally let myself be who I once was... Even if for only a single night....