There she is, once again. Alex takes a breath and mentally prepares himself. This is it. It is time. He will finally approach her, this enigma that has been haunting his dreams his entire life. He will walk up behind her- tap her on the shoulder- and she will turn around, revealing her face, and at long last Alex will know. He will know who she is, and will be able to start a life with her, to spend eternity with her.
As Alex takes the few steps forward, closing the distance between the two, it happens. What always happens. The fog rolls in, and no matter how fast Austin runs, no matter how loud he screams, she does not turn, she does not stay. The fog engulfs her, and right as Alex reaches out to touch her- she is gone.
Alex couldn’t believe it. That same damn dream, again? Sitting up in bed and rubbing his eyes with the backs of his hands, he groaned and tried to count how many nights in a row it was now. Somewhere around twelve, he was pretty sure. But that was just an estimate.
Every time Alex had this dream, he woke up in a haze. Everything felt as if it were in slow-motion. He rolled out of bed and stood, stretching his limbs over his head, fingertips brushing the textured ceiling of his tiny apartment. He yawned and made his way to the bathroom, going about his morning routine before coming out and heading to the cramped kitchen. Scrambled egg beaters for breakfast, with dry toast and a glass of water. His mother had always teased him for drinking water with breakfast. “Alex, breakfast is a time for juice and coffee,” she’d said, patting him on the shoulder as he downed half his water in one go.
It was always minutes after finishing his breakfast that the haze more or less broke, and Alex found himself sitting on the couch (the apartment being too small for a dining room table and chairs), eyebrows furrowed as he stared into space. He’d blink once or twice, relax his forehead, and sigh. Getting up to turn on the TV, he stretched again, feeling his back crack. He really needed a new mattress.
The same old shit on the TV, of course. Nowadays it was all just coverage on the war raging overseas, stories about brave soldiers being blown to smithereens and scrolling tickers at the bottom of every newscast listing the names of those killed. Alex had given up following the tickers, had given up praying that nobody he knew would appear there. Because the sad truth was, he’d seen far too many familiar names run across the screen in bold red type. It wasn’t even worth it to try attending all the funerals anymore, either, because he only owned one suit and no washing machine, plus lacked the funds to travel to each service.
Finally Alex turned the TV off. Why he’d even bothered trying to find something to watch, he didn’t know. Hopefulness, he guessed. But his hopefulness never seemed to pay off.
It was then that Alex felt a headache coming on. This wasn’t an infrequent occurrence. He rarely ever drank caffeine, but when he did it was in such large quantities that he felt the beginnings of withdrawal for two to three days following. The day before yesterday had been one of those days, filled with coffee and energy drinks and soda galore.
It followed, then, that Alex needed an aspirin. Desperately. He walked into the bathroom and opened his medicine cabinet, but was let down immediately. Empty, save for a few prescriptions that he rarely even took anymore. He let out a sigh of disappointment and looked around. He wasn’t sure he had enough money in his wallet for a bottle of aspirin, and he didn’t want to put that small of an amount on his rarely-used credit card. But this headache coming on was not going to go away on its own, and thus, ten minutes later, Alex was dressed and walking down the street to the CVS three blocks away.
His eyes shielded by his favorite sunglasses, Alex walked facing the sun. The shadows of the buildings on either side of the street created a sort of tunnel, and he couldn’t help but notice that it seemed he was walking towards the light at the end of said tunnel. He laughed to himself and rolled his eyes at his weird thinking. He was sure nobody else would have thought of that.
“Excuse me, sir, do you have any change to spare?”
Alex stopped in his tracks. The voice was coming from below him, and he glanced down. Sitting against the wall of an abandoned building was a man dressed in grubby clothes, with unkempt hair and beard, holding a cardboard sign that read ‘victem of the warr- fott and lost my sannity’.
Alex frowned. “Are you okay, man?” he asked, not knowing what to say. The message on the sign made him feel slightly uncomfortable, but he wasn’t about to be one of those people who just ignored the homeless on the streets because they felt uneasy.
The man coughed, a rattling wheeze, and said, “I’m losin’ my mind, boy, and it’s all ‘cause of that damn war. Please, if you have anythin’ to spare…”
Alex couldn’t help but feel a pang of sorrow shoot through his chest. He sighed and withdrew his wallet from his back pocket, opening it and noticing the profound lack of bills inside. But there was a crumpled dollar, at least, and he pulled it out, leaning over to hand it to the man on the ground.
“Oh, thank you so much,” the man exclaimed, his weathered face lighting up. “Many blessin’s will come your way, many blessin’s indeed.”
Alex blushed a bit and nodded, sticking his wallet back in his pocket. His headache was coming on full force now, and he needed to get to the CVS.
“You’re welcome,” he muttered, turning and continuing his walk.
Finally reaching his destination, Alex walked through the automatic doors and headed straight for the medicine aisle. Searching for the cheapest brand of aspirin possible, he found what he needed and seized it in his fist, already feeling better for the fact that his relief was so close.
“Next in line?”
Alex walked up to the counter and placed the bottle of aspirin in front of the cashier.
“How are you today, sir?” she asked.
Alex gave her a small smile and shrugged. “Doing okay. How are you?”
The cashier shrugged as well, scanning the barcode on the bottle and punching a few keys. “I’m okay. Do you have a CVS card?”
“I… no. And that’s okay, I don’t need one today,” Alex replied, pulling out his wallet once more. “How much is it?”
“Oh, it’ll be three twenty-seven.”
Alex opened his wallet and peered inside. Shit.
“Um, I only have two dollars…” he mumbled, thoroughly embarrassed.
The cashier raised an eyebrow and glanced Alex up and down, then shook her head a bit. “You’re sure you don’t have another dollar? I mean, I’d be glad to ignore the twenty-seven, but…” Her voice trailed off.
Alex pulled out everything in the pocket of his wallet. Two dollar bills, a picture of his mom, and a two-year-old Starbucks receipt. No, that was definitely it.
“You could put it on your card, maybe?” the cashier suggested, noticing Alex’s Visa.
He shook his head quickly. “No, not for three dollars. No. Um, okay, then. Sorry for wasting your time,” he said, sighing heavily. “I guess I won’t be getting it.”
“Hey,” a voice said from behind Alex. He turned and standing in front of him was a girl. Maybe twenty-four, twenty-five years old. Long dark hair and crimson-painted lips, she was… absolutely attractive. Simple as that.
“Yeah?” Alex said, confused.
“Here’s a dollar,” the girl said, holding out the bill.
Alex’s face flushed, and he held his hands up in protest. “No, no, I’m not… I’m not taking your money. It’s okay. Really.”
“No, it’s okay, really,” the girl repeated Alex, stepping forward and placing the bill on the counter. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t mind. Seriously.”
Alex sighed again and glanced between the cashier and the dark-haired girl and back again. His head really did hurt. He could sure use the aspirin.
“Okay, fine,” he finally said, holding his hand out for the other to shake. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” The girl shook Alex’s hand firmly, more firmly than Alex would have expected, and gave him a small smile.
