One Lonesome Night

Copyright 2021 E.D. Lewis

This is a work of fiction. All character, locations, and events are the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Edited by Elaine Lewis and Tammy Johnson

Cover photo by Khoa Võ

Cover by E.D. Lewis

One Lonesome Night

by E.D. Lewis

"That fucking bitch."

The words seemed hollow against the frosty night air of early January, yet they tasted just as bitter upon the lips of Kiran Andrews as he trucked his way along the sidewalk. The snow that had recently fallen, groaned as his foot falls pressed into the coated pavement and left behind a faint impression of his trail.

A gust of wind picked up, scattering fragments of snow like fine powder and carried it in his direction. Kiran turned his face to the side, letting the debris bombard his hood, yet the feeling of icy needles still pricked at his sensitive cheek. He snorted as the frigidness bit at his nose, numbing the appendage and allowing it to fill with fresh snot. He cleared it the best he could, then hurried onward, his shadow lengthening and shrinking as he passed each street light. The wind picked up again, prompting him to utter a series of hushed curses as his only defense.

Kiran had just left Mia Bellman's place, his ex-girlfriend or what-ever-she-was to him, and was uncertain about his destination. Home was a bust, with nothing but its crummy four walls strewn with cracks and scraped paint and accompanied by tar and nicotine stains, the yellowy light that made everything it shone upon look a little off, and a heater that only worked about half of the time. He'd bitched to the Super about it, but still nothing had been done about it. The only positives for him at home were a bed full of blankets to wrap around him and no Mia.

He came to a brief stop at the closest street lamp, rubbing his gloved hands together, and though they were thick they weren't holding up against the persistence of the winter air. He looked ahead of him on the lonely path before him, then back at the deserted prints that dogged him all of the from the place; he hoped to never set foot inside again.

A sigh escaped Kiran's lips as he pulled out his nearly empty pack of cigarettes. After a moments struggle, he managed to withdraw one of the long slender sticks of heaven, clench the filter between his lips and lit it up. It only gave him a moment of relief before the drag started to taste sour. He looked up and stared out into the dead street.

"That bitch," Kiran exhaled and shaking his head. He reached into his jeans pocket for his cell, contemplating what he wanted to do. When the screen flashed on the first thing that beamed at him was Mia's contact information. He'd tried to call her before heading over, but there had been no answer. Texting was fruitless, she had been avoiding those, too. It was plain that something was up and the longer Kiran had to go with no reply made him agitated and burn with an inner fury. The only choice he had was to go see her. That was a mistake, but not his first. He couldn't believe he'd wasted his time on her. How long had it been? A month? No, they had been seeing each other for at least a few months. It had been at The Rad Pad's Halloween bash that they'd met. It was a lame excuse of a party; he could have gone somewhere else a lot better to get shitfaced without so many minors running around in masks and stupid-ass costumes bumping into you and trying to pass-off fake IDs to the bartenders. The only good thing there, or so he thought at the time, was Mia. She wasn't exactly sexy, but cute, in her little butterfly outfit with the colorful wings; that's what attracted him to her, she was cute, although he thought she might have looked better dressed as some sexy lingerie-clad angel. They had a drink, chatted and danced a little, then later went back to her place for an adult's only celebration. Things had gone great for a few weeks, they saw each other a few times a week and decided that it were a little too soon to spend the holidays together and meet the family. Kiran only had his dad, who only believed in spending the holidays volunteering and he wasn't too keen on meeting Mia's folks so soon; he'd feel like he'd been thrown to the wolves.