Goodbye for now

Judgement Day

My eyes are red, swollen, and irritated. I only stop my binge raid when by the grace of god I recall my eviction hearing is today. I look down and realize that I'm still in the hospital gown from three weeks ago. I don't bother with my hair, I just pull on sweatpants and a T-shirt. I haul myself to the courthouse silently. Staying silent even when the judge asks if I have anything to say for myself or if I have any counter-evidence after our landlord presents months of evidence showing unpaid rent. "Judgment for the plaintiff. The defendant will have two months to vacate the property at which point necessary force will be executed. Next case 16-CR-0071 come forward."

A bailiff hands me a stack of papers and ushers me out without a single word. I make my way to my car slowly staggering and swaying trying to ignore the pain that's still in my womb when I see it. When I see him. The man I recognize with his full lips, strong jaw, and neck tattoo, dressed in all black. I stare at him as he hands something to a man dressed in a white shirt. The man passes him something back. Things I can't make out because they're across the loud and busy street.

Then a long white truck passes in front of me blocking my view of him. And when it's gone, so is he. Replaced by someone I don't recognize, full lips replaced by thin ones, strong jaw replaced by a full round one, and when he throws his head back in laughter, the neck tattoo of a bird in flight is replaced by a skull yet he's still dressed in full black. So I start running. I fight through the sharp pains flowing through my abdomen and legs. I puff my cheeks out and force air into my lungs. I don't stop. Not even when a group of people from the parking lot start yelling out to me.

My foot almost touches the asphalt, hovering just an inch above when I'm violently grabbed around my waist causing a nauseating wave of pain to crash through me and stopping any movement from me. I tilt my head up looking back at the man holding up so that my toes don't even touch the ground. I don't know him. I've never seen him before. But I recognize the aura he exudes. Dangerous, mysterious, and covered in tattoos. And I sure as hell recognize the four thick black line tattoos on his wrist. His face is curled into a deep-set frown as he scowls down at me.

This man is huge. He looks like he spends at least six hours in the gym per day. The size of his wrist is as thick as my thigh! He towers over me, the tallest person I've ever seen. He's wearing a roughed-up black leather jacket and tattoos wrap all around his body. His tattoos are amazing. They're all intricate pieces of art. He must have a good artist. A part of me wonders if I should be intimidated by his size and his appearance. I actually feel safe around him even though he's clearly angry with me.

He drags me to my car without asking me which one is mine with a strong hand gripped around my bicep. Only huffing out a gruff "no" when I start struggling out of his grip. He pulls out my car door when I unlock it and gestures me inside. He shuts it in my face without having said more than one word to me. He continues to stand just outside my driver's side car door as I stare at his abdomen outlined by my car's window.

He doesn't step back when I start my car, clearly not bothered if I run over his toes or not. That's not the last time I see that man. In fact, the next morning when I haul myself off the couch with a bottle of tequila in my hand I find I dark figure looming at my front door. I can see him clearly through the glass, the man who stopped me from finding Rio. Rio; a name I haven't allowed myself to think of in months. The menacing stature doesn't move an inch. He doesn't ring the doorbell, doesn't knock, doesn't even address me, and the fact that I'm staring right at him. So I don't open the door for him or invite him in.

I stay collapsed in my nest of blankets and booze on the couch and Mr. bad boy stays at my door all day long. Jesus, does this man not get bored?! He's been standing there all day without a single move. Without checking his phone, looking around or hell even getting something to eat goddammit! Does he not have anything better to do? It eats at me that he's watching me so intently. It leaves an uncomfortable pit in my stomach. Shame burns at me whenever I take a sip of tequila straight from the bottle.

I scrunch my eyes closed when the sun angles low enough in the sky to shine directly into my eyes. The orange, pink hues are so bright that it's causing a sharp splitting headache along with dizziness to ambush me. I stumble and sway towards the kitchen trying to hold in my vomit so I can get to the sink when I realize that my door doesn't have a shadow anymore.

He's gone

Huh...