Alone on Halloween (SoccerCop)

Alone on Haloween

     Bottle after bottle of wine that Alison was drinking, were all on the floor, some broken, some still had wine in. But she just wanted to forget about the loneliness she felt. Sarah and Felix were at Mrs S's house, Cosima and Delphine were visiting the university and Helena was out looking for her boyfriend or something. She missed Beth. Almost a year ago, she jumped in front of the train, leaving her alone. Well, hardly alone, she had a husband and kids. They were on a holiday so Alison was home alone for the week.

     Alison stumbled up the stairs to the guest bedroom of her house, almost falling a few times. She hid all of the memories of Beth that she had in here. Beth stayed here a lot, and in the middle of the night, Ali would sometimes sneak out of hers and Donnie's bed to sit or sleep with her, in the most innocent way possible. Not have sex, just sleep, bodies fitting together perfectly, offering a warmth that wasnt strange to either of them. There was a box hidden under the bed, filled with Polaroids. The one on the top of the stack was them when they went for a late night drive for ice cream because Beth was upset about eventually having to leave. There was another, when they went for that picnic in summer with Gemma and Oscar. The stack was huge, just full of memories and memories. There was one, maybe her favorite, of her, Beth and Cosima on their movie night. Alison missed Beth. She didn't want to believe that she was gone.

     Also in the box was Beth's blue hoodie, that smelt like cheap perfume and home. Ali almost always wore it. Donnie asked her where she got it all the time, and she'd always say she didn't remember. She did, it was when they went for a walk in winter and Alison only had a vest top on. Typical Alison, wearing the least appropriate clothes. She wanted to go back to those days, where neither of them were hurting, or crying, or gone.

     Alison was soon crying after thinking of all of these times. The days at the gun range, when Beth taught her how to shoot. Ali was terrible at first, missing every target. Then, Beth would come up behind her, arms welcoming and homely, and help her aim. Soon enough, Alison could shoot with one hand.

     The late-night walks or drives, when one of them were sad or stressed and they'd just talk it out. Walking past strangers and laughing, leaving condensation in the air like cigarette smoke. Drifting around and changing shape in the breeze. Their fingers would be locked together, Beth's always warm and Ali's always freezing. Beth only needed one hand to drive when Ali was with her. Alison didn't want to be alone, but Beth was gone and there was nothing she could do about it.

     Snapping her out of these thoughts, someone started thumping at the front door. They could have been knocking for about five minutes, but Alison wouldn't have known, she wasn't thinking about anything else. Just Beth, Beth, Beth. Rain was pelting hard against the window, trying to pierce it, matching Alison perfectly. Tears shot down her face, soft sobs escaping her mouth every second. One hand was over her mouth, as the other came up to her face to cover her cheeks and eyes.

     The thumping got louder, when Ali finally noticed it. She stumbled out of the room, still highly intoxicated. She assumed it was trick-or-treaters, but felt the need to answer to them. She wiped her eyes as she walked down the stairs and to the front door. She could see an illuminated figure at the front door, illuminated by the porch light. Shaky hands fumbled with the keys that were on a hall table, trying to find the house key. Eventually, she found it and  pushed it into the lock, twisting until she heard it unlock. Her clammy hands stuck to the handle as she pushed down on it and opened the door.

     The figure resembled that of someone who had had water thrown over them, and had been left to dry for about two minutes. Her blurred vision didn't help, as she could barely make out any facial features. She clutched the sleeves of the blue hoodie that she had put on and wiped her eyes, and recognized the face as soon as she did. It was...Beth.

     "Hey Ali," Beth almost whispered, her voice still chipper as ever.

     Alison's drunk state didn't help. She thought Beth was a ghost that had came to haunt her. A scream escaped her lips, loud and ongoing, almost deafening Beth. Alison then proceeded to break down into sobs, realizing that Beth was actually alive and wasn't a ghost. She sat on the floor against the wall, crying into her hands. Beth walked in and sat in front of her, pulling her hands away and wiping her tears. Alison tried mumbling something completely incoherent but started crying even more. Beth cut her off by pressing her chapped lips to Alison's soft ones, softly and gently. Beth pulled away and grabbed Alison's hand.

     "Let's go for a walk, yeah?" Beth whispered, linking their hands together and pulling Alison up.

     "Yeah."