A Bloodborne Tragedy

chapter 4

He didn't know how long he'd spent in that house but noon turned into evening fast and the dark had set in for the night. The drug had worn off enough from Sho cutting him off and the silence that got him kicked out in the first place, but now he was bored and needed to distract himself again from the hurt he'd been feeling for weeks. Off to the bar to drink himself silly again he went. Since Sho wasn't working that night, it was the perfect way to forget the embarrassment and not have to think about (or see) him. If he wasn't an outlaw, spending most nights starving and freezing alone in a small camp in the woods, he'd Surely be an alcoholic. Drinking was easy, feelings weren't.

The night went mostly the same as the first without his rambling, he didn't need any more embarrassment for the night, except for another lonely man that accompanied him at his corner table. Half the night was spent drinking, talking, and sharing experiences of their traveling lives. He was a lonely drunk who searched for conversation anywhere, and tonight it was an older man equally as far into the bottle as he was. Conversation Always came easier to Daniel with liquor, and the man was happy to keep it going. They were both lonely, Daniel especially, and people were less likely to question advances drunk in the heat of the moment. So when he sat nearer to the man, leaned in close, and invited him out back for a cigarette, the man joined him with little more than a smirk and the finishing swig of his booze.

Behind the saloon was a dark forest full of critters chirping the night away,lit by the moonlight shining through the dense leaves onto the dirt and the two men leaning on the building. Daniel had a cigarette in one hand, holding it in his mouth, leaning to the stranger with a match. He took the first drag, letting the smoke linger in his lungs a moment before he gave it to the other man. There was no mistaking what Daniel had actually brought him out for, and they both knew it. Daniel closed the distance between them quickly into a kiss, the smokey flavor mixing with their whiskey. There was no love, no gentle coaxing into it. It was rough with long overdue feelings the both of them felt for those they've lost. And then he fell to his knees for the man, knowing his role all too well. It wasn't the first time he'd been desperate behind a saloon, too desperate to care who he was with. And the quiet forest was soon forgotten with the cigarette when the man's fingers intertwined with his hair and tugged gently, pulling his head back so the man could look down at him as he traced his hands up his legs.

Then all too quickly he was shoved to the ground and straddled with a knife to his neck. The man smiled sickly, taking joy in the pain he inflicted on Daniel. "I know your type. You disgust me, you know." Daniels eyes widened In horror at what was happening, and even more that he'd practically let it happen. He wasn't paying enough attention to see the man drop the cigarette and go in for the kill. He was watching the man's face, his heavy breathing and slight smirk convincing him nothing bad would happen this time.
The man shifted his weight fully onto Daniel's chest, and he felt like his ribs were being crushed. He gasped for breath as the man pushed the knife deeper into his neck, cutting a streak open. Not deep enough to kill, but enough to draw blood and maybe even scar. "You're too pretty for a man. Maybe I should–"