Let Me Call You Sweetheart

All Nightmare Long

Closing that night, you look longingly out of the window one last time before you have to bring the shutters down.

She was gone. You rush out of your store, your heart pounding in your ears and breathing heavy.

She was leaving the store with someone else. He was holding her up and posing for pictures outside of the store. As soon as the camera was put away, she was chucked in the back of a car unceremoniously and driven away.

You had been so close, but this was your lot in life, to get so close, fall and get up just in time to see someone walk away with your prize.

You go back inside and slam the door behind you. Your heart snaps, and the tears well up, but before you shed any, you hear a gentle tapping at the window.

"We're Closed!" You shout.

The tapping persists. You sigh and go to the door.

"We are unfortunately closed." You say in a much kinder tone.

In the doorway waits an all-clad in black leather figure, whose curls looked slightly damp, it's only then you realise the rain is coming down hard, and you can hear a rumble of a storm in the sky.

The figure lifts their pale-skinned face towards you, and you sigh a little in relief. You point them to go round the back. They smile and make their way around. Whilst you shut up the front of the store.

You jog over to the back room and open the door. The rain is pelting down, "Come in, Come in", you say quickly and beckon him inside.

He shakes the rain from himself in a similar way a dog would and takes a leisurely stroll around the backroom.

You look him over and decide to break the ice, "So, how can I help? Doing some late-night shopping or something like that?"

"Oh, definitely something like that", Eddie says with a slight smile, running his hand over the shelves as he passes them.

You can't play small talk games any longer. The discomfort was eating you up, "She's gone. Someone just took her", you say, half sad, half frustrated.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," he says with a soft laugh, "That guy doesn't have a clue. She'll be back before you know it."

"Why would anyone bring her back?" You say bewildered

"Spoken like a true devotee", he smiles, and turns his walk towards you now, his hands in his back pockets, "He'll complain and say she's faulty. Like they all do."

"She's faulty?" You say with concern

"No, she's been treated without care. You remember what happened when you were careless with her twin" you nod. You remember the jolt of electricity and can still feel a shadow of the pain.

You nod and hold your arm.

"They just don't understand like you and me, and they never will. They have no idea what it's like to be against the odds every day of your life, to be persecuted by those that should love you, to be denied the only thing that makes this whole mess make sense" his voice has a slight increasing tone of annoyance.

"So last night, the whole guitar thing was real?"

"You've been trying to convince yourself it wasn't?" He volleys a question back.

"It felt insane. If I told someone those things, they'd think I was mad. Someone didn't even believe I played that guitar." You say, rubbing your face.

"And I know I am way too invested in obtaining the guitar. It's all I can think about. Logically, I know this is wrong and unhealthy, but I just can't stop." You say, looking into your hands, your voice tinged with worry.