Infernum

Alex walked up the street to the end of the building, wondering the whole time if this phantom woman would make another appearance; he rounded the corner of the building with meager expectations, not expecting the woman to be anywhere in sight. The dark alley was long and narrow, but Alex could still see a figure standing halfway down the trash-littered alley. As he walked further down the alley his eyes began to adjust to the darkness and he could tell that the figure ahead was the red-headed woman.

“I didn’t think I’d see you again,” he said as he approached the woman. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you’re here, really glad… I mean I don’t even know your name.”

“Hope,” the woman said, interrupting Alex’s rant.

“Hope? Is that your name?” Alex asked nervously.

“Yes. That is my name,” Hope replied with an uninterested and condescending tone. Alex took a deep breath and thought to himself, Twenty seconds of courage, Alex, just twenty seconds of insane courage. It was a line from a movie he saw once but had long since forgotten the name of.

“I was wondering; would you like to have a drink with me?” he asked nervously.

Hope got a confused look on her face after hearing the odd question then replied, “I’m not thirsty.”

Suddenly Alex lost his 20 seconds of courage and was standing there awkwardly feeling rejected and shut down.

“Maybe some other time then,” he said as he attempted to recover some courage and save a little face.

Hope moved closer to him and stared deeply into his eyes. “I need to know what you saw on the mountain, Alex… Did you see a man there?” she asked as her demeanor quickly turned deadly serious.

“No, I didn’t see a man… I saw a…” For fear of sounding stupid in front of Hope, Alex stopped talking.

“You saw what, Alex? Tell me!” Hope demanded as she placed her hand on his chest just below his neck feeling his rapid heartbeat.

“I can’t… I mean, it was nothing … really.” Alex continued to dodge as his self-confidence disappeared and was replaced by fearful self-preservation.

“Please tell me, I must know,” Hope insisted, easing up a bit. Then, changing her tactics, she asked one more time. “If I drink with you, will you tell me what I need to know then?” Hope asked in a geeky exchange of services way. Alex did not quite understand what she meant at first, he pondered the drink with him part for a few seconds. Like lightning flipping on a switch in his head, he regained his 20 seconds of courage as he suddenly figured out the value of the information he had. It was obvious that Hope wanted something from Alex, and he would be dammed if she was going to get it for free.

“Sure. That sounds like a great idea, let’s go back inside and order a round.” Not wanting to let Hope out of his sight, Alex extended his arm to her. She stood there for a while not understanding the gesture.

“Shall we?” Alex asked as he extended his elbow toward her. Hope started to mimic Alex, stretching her elbow out as well. “Here,” Alex said, putting his elbow down. He then slowly reached for her hand and then, gently grabbing it, he pulled her arm toward him hooking their arms together at the elbows.

“There… Are you ready to go?” he enquired. Hope looked at him, then down at her arm before giving him a gentle nod yes.

Alex and Hope rounded the corner and started walking toward the bar when Alex noticed a white minivan parked just outside the Pioneer. He recognized the minivan right away as the town’s only taxicab; with its classic taxi logo on the side and its triangular advertisement sign on the roof it was an easy spot. Just as quickly as he recognized the taxi, Alex recognized his friend Beau climbing inside. I guess he’s had enough, Alex thought as he and Hope continued walking toward the bar entrance. As the taxi started to drive off, Alex could see Beau in the back seat, along with the honey twins. Alex turned to Hope and chuckled. “I’m definitely going to rub that in tomorrow.” Hope just grinned slightly, unaware of the meaning of the inside joke.

Once inside the bar, Alex looked to his corner table and saw that it was full, so he led Hope to the bar instead where there just happened to be two open seats down at the end.

Hope looked to Alex. “It’s very loud in here!” she said, raising her voice over the music. Alex leaned over and wrapped his arm around Hope then talked into her ear.

“Talk like this, it helps,” he said. Still in her ear, Alex asked, “So, what will it be?”

“What will what be?” Hope asked, unsure of its meaning. Alex looked at her with a kind of disbelief then leaned toward her ear again.

“If you want, I’ll just order something for you, okay?” Alex suggested. Hope nodded her head agreeing with him. Alex looked up at the clock above the bar, knowing he only had an hour before the bar closed; he called the bartender over and ordered a long island ice tea for Hope and a beer for himself.

The bartender gave the mixed drink to Hope and handed Alex his beer; Alex set his debit card on the bar and told the bartender to keep them coming as he eagerly drank half his beer in one swallow. “What do you think? Did they fix it right?” Alex asked as Hope sipped on her drink for the first time. Her eyes lit up as she quickly pulled the glass away from her mouth and grimaced while sticking her tongue out slightly in disdain. She was not accustomed to such a strange drink; up to this point in her life water was the only thing that had passed her lips.

“It burns!” she yelled over the crowd.

“How so, did they forget something?” Alex asked. Hope looked up at him.

“The liquid… It is cold, but it burns my mouth,” she said with a puzzled look on her face.

Recognizing the possibility that Hope may never have had alcohol before, Alex hesitantly asked, “Haven’t you ever drunk before?” not wanting to sound offensive.

“No, nothing like this,” she replied.

“Well, how does it taste?” Alex asked curiously.

Hope looked down at the glass and hesitantly took another sip holding the liquid in her mouth for a moment as she evaluated the taste. “I have never had anything like it before!” she shouted at Alex above the music. “It’s good,” she added. She picked up her drink again and started to chug it.

“Do you want another one of those or something else?” Alex asked.

“There are different kinds?” Hope asked with amazement.

“Of course there are, millions of them,” Alex replied as he waved the bartender back over. “I’ll order you one with fruit this time,” he added.

“Tell me what you saw, Alex,” Hope asked, refocusing on her mission. Alex was very intrigued by her; she was obviously in her mid-twenties but had never had alcohol before not to mention the weird way she spoke, very proper for someone her age. He wanted to know everything about her but knew he would have no chance if he told her everything, so he decided to draw out the conversation as long as he could. He knew that he would be able to get Hope to go home with him, all he had to do was slow fuck their conversation until the bar closed and then he could get to know her before she vanished again. Alex knew it was a long shot, but what could he do? This woman had a spell over him; her beauty, her innocence, everything about her demanded his absolute attention. Over the course of the next half hour, Alex bought Hope many drinks including a sex-on-the-beach, a blueberry-kamikaze and something called a purple-hooter that the bartender recommended.

“You need to slow down, Hope,” Alex warned as she finished her sixth drink. Just then, they heard the bartender announce the last call for alcohol. Alex looked over at Hope sitting on the stool beside him.

“What does that mean?” she asked.

“The bar is closing… Would you like to go back to my place and have another one?” Alex suggested, putting his evil plan into motion. Hope looked up at him and got up off the bar stool, nearly falling over as the alcohol hit her. With a confused sense of determination, she tried to steady herself against the bar.

“What is wrong with me?” she asked.

“It’s just the alcohol, Hope, I told you to slow down,” Alex reminded her. “Well, how about it? Shall we continue this conversation back at my place?” he asked again.

“You will tell me when we get … (hiccup) … there?” Hope struggled to say as she nearly fell over.

“I promise, as soon as we get there,” Alex reassured her. Hope stood up straight just in time for the full effects of the alcohol to kick in. She leaned to one side heavily as she tried to steady herself.

“What is this? What’s happening to me?” she asked with concern.

“You’re drunk, let’s get out of here before the cab is gone,” Alex said as he took Hope’s arm as he did in the alley before.

He led her outside where the taxi cab was already waiting for another customer. Walking to the back sliding door on the passenger’s side Alex tapped on the top of the cab. “Hop in,” he said then started to walk around to the other side. He looked back to see Hope standing at the door. “Something wrong?” he asked.

“The door isn’t opening, why is the door not opening?” Alex laughed at her comment as did a few spectators coming out of the bar. Alex walked back around and grabbed the door handle.

“You’re funny,” he said as he opened the door and ushered her in. The cab started to drive and Alex gave the driver his address some fifteen miles away.

“What a horrible way to travel,” Hope commented.

“What do you mean?” Alex asked.

“It will take forever to get anywhere like this, let just go to a portal station,” Hope suggested.

“What’s that?” Alex asked. Hope got a surprised look on her face and immediately changed the subject.

“What is that sound?” she asked, lifting her ear toward the ceiling of the van.

“I’m not sure who sings this,” Alex replied, referring to the song on the radio.

“It feels like I’m spinning, is that normal?” Hope asked.

“You seriously have never drunk before, have you?” Alex asked.

“Of course I have, it’s required, isn’t it, to live?” Hope replied. Alex shook his head as the cab driver chuckled from the front seat.

Alex looked over at Hope sitting in the seat next to him and his eyes started to wander toward her large breasts. It took a moment but Hope saw him staring down at her chest and immediately looked down to see what he was looking at.

“What are you staring at?” she asked inquisitively.

“Oh, nothing,” Alex quickly replied as his gaze was broken as his eyes wandered back up and met hers staring back at him. Hope had a little quirky smile on her face and a strand of loose hair falling down the left side of her face. Alex reached up and she continued to stare deeply into his eyes as he put the loose strand between his fingers and tucked it behind her ear.

“You are very beautiful, Hope, did you know that?” Alex asked in his smoothest voice.

“Thank you,” she replied as she started to lean back against the seat until she fell against it. “Are we almost there?” she asked as she held her stomach.

“Are you feeling sick?” Alex asked as the cab driver quickly looked in his rearview mirror with wide eyes.

“No, it just feels funny riding in this thing,” she replied. Alex pondered Hope’s statement for the rest of the ride home as they sat quietly staring at each other, all the while Hope had her little smile.

“We are here,” the cab driver said as he stopped the cab in front of Alex’s house. “That will be $37.50,” he added. Alex handed the driver two twenty-dollar bills out of his wallet and told him to keep the change as he leaned over and opened the door for Hope before helping her to walk to his front door.

He opened the door and reached inside to turn on the light.

“After you,” he said. Hope staggered inside the door.

“This is your home?” she asked.

“Yep, this is it,” he replied. Hope looked around the living room and was amazed at all the little details that her home lacked; the floor was soft and felt squishy to her feet and was covered with a strange fur-like material. The subtly textured walls of the square room were painted an off-white color and were framed by painted strips of wood that lined the top and bottom of every wall that matched frames of the doors and windows. As Hope continued to look around, she thought Alex’s home was very odd and wonderful.

“Your home is very strange, Alex,” she said inquisitively.

“How do you mean?” Alex asked as he sat down on his sofa.

“It is square for one, and very cluttered. Why do you need all these doors? Is one not enough?” Hope asked her magnitude of questions as she felt the soft, smooth texture of the wall with the palm of her open hand. Alex snickered at her comment.

“I just like to keep the rooms separate I guess,” Alex replied.

“Rooms? How many are there?” Hope asked as she began counting all the doors in the room.

“Well, let’s see here, there are the three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and then we got the kitchen, living and family rooms. Oh and the laundry room and the garage as well,” Alex listed.

“That’s a lot of rooms, are they all like this?” Hope asked eagerly as her eyes began to feel heavy from looking at so many wonderful things.

“Here, let me show you,” Alex said as he closed the front door, locking it behind him. He proceeded to show Hope around the house saving the master bedroom for last. “And this is my bedroom,” Alex said as he led her in, taking a seat on the bed. He patted the spot on the bed beside him, inviting Hope to sit down. As she sat down on the bed, Alex scooted over, closing the gap between them.

“Hope, I have told you lots about me and my house, but what about you? Where do you live?” he asked. Hope, now going cross-eyed from the alcohol, fell backward onto the soft bed.

“My home is nothing like this, Alex, it is beautiful, and I miss it so much… It’s…” Hope yawned as her body snuggled in the soft, fluffy covers. Alex looked over at her as she trailed off.

“Hope?” he said inquisitively as he looked back down at her. Now passed out, she was snoring slightly with her mouth wide open. Alex got off the bed and then picked her up and moved her up all the way, until her head was resting on the pillow. He stared at Hope for a while as she slept on his bed looking more beautiful than anything he had ever seen before.

He walked down to the end of the bed and tried to take off her shoes before covering her up with the bedding, but they would not come off. The laces of her shoes would not come untied either as if they were glued on; Alex just let them be, not wanting to wake her, so he threw the covers over her, shoes and all.

He was a little disappointed that the night had ended the way that it did, but he didn’t feel too bad as one night of sex might have ruined the chance of anything further and, for some unknown reason, Alex wanted more than just one night with this amazing woman, so he grabbed the second pillow off his bed and headed for the couch.