Memories

Maybe Before...

 Chapter 2

 The daemon re-entered the back alley. The brisk chill of the night swept around him, wrapping him in their comfort again, but he barely noticed. Rather, his focus converged solely on the man who lay still on the ground with a cumbrous breath. He strode straight to him, half lifted him off the ground, and cracked his neck in half. The man fell limp back to the ground with a vertebrae bulging out his neckline. The daemon retrieved a small leather wallet from the dead man’s pocket and threw him into the nearby dumpster, replacing garbage bags on top of him. It seemed like fate that the next day was garbage retrieval day.

 He returned to the diner where he grabbed a pot of coffee and poured a cup for Hael. The daemon watched the thick brown liquid flow, filling the white, porcelain cup. He stirred in one milk and two sugars before placing it on a saucer and bringing it out into the diner. He paused a moment and he began to survey the room, as if looking around and remembering who ordered what. Soon his eyes met Hael’s and he strolled over calmly.

 Suddenly a different image flashed before his eyes. He was still carrying a coffee, but in this instance he was carrying it to a different woman. One who held a similar warm smile as Hael once had, but whose eye’s held no sadness or fear. Except it didn’t last long.

 Abruptly Hael was back and he was frozen mid-stride. He shook it off and set down her coffee in front of her as he sat down across from her. She looked down at the coffee and glanced back up at him with eyes of a frightened animal. Her mouth unhinged and words hesitantly and quietly formed.

 “How do you know how I take my coffee?”

 A shy, embarrassed smile crept across his face as he replied, “About three weeks ago, when you were off shift, you came in and ordered that very coffee from the other waitress here.”

 “Wow, that’s quite the memory you have.” There was neither interest nor amazement in her voice, just acknowledgement of the memory that really had been his curse.

 He simply nodded in reply. The daemon reached down into his pocket and fished out the other man’s wallet.

 “He won’t ever bother you again,” he said as he slid the wallet across the table to her. Her gaze caught his in that moment and she saw the truth of what he did. She knew exactly what the wallet symbolized. But instead of flinching away, she just remained perfectly still, grasping the porcelain mug.

 They remained in silence until the early hours right before dawn. The silence hadn’t been an uncomfortable one, as it was more of a lack of need to talk about what had transpired beforehand. Although, the daemon stole glances at her any chance he could get. There was still something there that rang so familiar inside of him, in a place he had long forgotten about. But as a word hangs from one’s lips at the precise time it's needed or a person is overcome with an overwhelming sense of déjà vu, he just couldn’t figure out where he had seen her before.

 Before this city.

 Before the last city.

 Before the city before that.

 Maybe even before Hell itself. He pushed it away from his mind.

 There had been nothing before Hell and he knew it.

 Instead he wiped the sleepiness that clung to the corners of his eyes and took a sideways glance towards the clock. He had a little over an hour and a half to make it home before the sun rose. It would be close, but if he left soon he could make it. However there was still Hael to stay with, even if they weren’t talking he knew she felt safer just being in his presence.