Midnight and Dawn

Part One

It was around midnight when I found her. She sat alone in the corner of the pub, nursing what I assumed was the remainder of a bottle of whisky and probably in her chest, heartache. Silently, I watched her as she sniffled and tucked long strands of hair behind her ear. Her dark puppy dog orbs eyed her glass and she gulped it down in one go. Her friends had told me. She was dumped last week and she saw her ex-boyfriend walking around with another woman this morning. Fucking loser. Only an idiot would leave her for some blonde bimbo. 

    I snapped out of my thoughts when I noticed someone walking towards her table. I leapt off my stool and hurriedly weaved through people to reach her. The drunkard was latched onto her wrist like a half-starved leech. He lewdly gave her the once over and pulled her to his chest. I had enough of this. I tapped his shoulder, ‘Excuse me but the miss is coming with me.’ I eyed him and tilted my head towards the door. Either he left peacefully now or he was getting a broken nose. He released her wrist and shuffled away, looking sullen. I turned my attention to Lauren and wrapped my arms around her, ‘Hey are you alright? Why didn’t you resist him? Why didn’t you break his hand? Isn’t that what you usually do?’ 

    Lauren wouldn’t look at me. She merely held onto my jacket tightly and cried. I patted her head and waited for a reply. She was someone that always answered questions truthfully. I felt her muffle something into my chest. I pulled away and stared at her. She repeated her words, ‘I wanted to get back at him. I wanted to sleep with someone like it didn’t matter.’ I let out a long sigh and clenched my fists. If I ever see him, I wasn’t letting him live another day. She deserved so much more than this. I brought out my wallet, slapped down a fifty dollar note and gently tugged her out the pub, ‘Come on. I’m taking you back to your apartment.’ 

    Outside, we breathed in the cold air as we waited for our taxi. It was around two in the morning before we made it back to her apartment. I sat her on her bed as I went into the kitchen to make honey and milk. It was her favourite winter beverage besides hot chocolate and tea. I returned to find her asleep. I smiled as I gave her a light kiss on the forehead and whispered, ‘Goodnight.’ She opened her eyes and mouthed, ‘Stay.’ I shook my head. It wasn’t a good idea to stay the night when she was still drunk. She sat up and held both my cheeks in her palms, ‘Please stay, Daniel.’ She said as she brought her lips to mine. And that was all it took to unravel the control I had in my hands. A simple kiss.

    I woke up at dawn to her crying. I held her close as I apologised into her ear. We sat in her bed silently as we watched the sun rise over her balcony. It was that moment that I would remember for a very long time. I finally had her in my arms and I was happy even though, I knew she never once thought about me that night. We fell asleep again, to the warmth of the morning. I didn’t wake up until late noon. My arm blindly searched for her beside me but I felt nothing. I raised my head. Nothing. I called for her but no one replied. I pulled on my jeans and searched every room in the apartment. Nothing. No one. Lauren wasn’t here. Shit. I raked my hair in frustration. Then I saw it. On the kitchen counter was a note and keys.

Dear Daniel,

Thank you for everything but I am sorry that I cannot stay.
I need to leave and I don’t know where I am going but I need to be alone for a while. Please don’t look for me. My apartment, you can do whatever you want with it. Keep it. Sell it. Whatever.

Lauren

    And that was it. She was gone. All I had of her was a memory that I cannot let go of and an apartment that I would probably never sell. I never really had her. She was never mine.