Day Twenty-Six
Night has fallen over the city, with the only light being the one in the bar. It was almost like it was a light house stand in the middle of a dark ocean, guiding the people to safety. Among those were Anthony and Vincent, sitting next to the barkeeper and drinking one drink after another. Their faces looked very faint and tired, as if they just arrived from an expedition through mountains.
But, of course, it was something else.
„So we're really that close to the end, aren't we?“, Vincent wondered, exing another drink.
„From what I've gathered, yeah“, Anthony replied, looking into his empty glass.
„But why should we be so sad about it?“ And another one was exed. „We knew it all along that it's going to end.“
„There seems to be a difference between „knowing that it's going to happen“ and „the event actually being close to happen“.“
Vincent sighed, about to ex another drink.
„If you continue like that, you're going to die due to alcoholic poisoning“, Anthony warned him with a serious voice.
„It's going to be over soon, anyway, so why not go to the limits?“
Anthony didn't respond, but instead ordered another drink. The atmosphere was so heavy and depressing that neither of them could make a witty remark about anything. It was as if they got silenced by getting their tounges torn out.
Thankfully, Frank arrived at the place, as he at first stood there for a while, looking at the two. His legs felt as if they were frozen on the spot, and something told him that he may not be greeted by them, but rather getting his head smashed in with Vincent's Gatling.
Slowly moving one foot infront of the other, he hoped that they weren't going to spot him until he reached them. But it was hard moving as quielty as possible, as his legs didn't want to do what he wanted them to do. Just as he reached them, Vincent turned to him and asked:
„What are you doing here, Frank? Shouldn't you be planning what you're going to do to Gerald tomorrow?“
„Wait, you know what's happening, too?“ Frank was visibly surprised by this.
„Of course we do“, replied Anthony, drinking some more.
„...why wasn't Gerald know anything then?“
„Because he probably wasn't supposed to. As with everything he's involved in“, Vincent guessed, about to ex another one.
„Is that even healthy?“, asked Frank, pointing at Vincent's glasses.
„I already tried to stop him“ answered Anthony. „Don't bother with it. Has no use.“
Frank proceeded to just stand where he was, looking at all the glasses standing on the desk. Anthony didn't seem to care anymore either.
„Why don't you take a seat?“, Anthony wondered.
He glanced at the chair standing left to Vincent, then looked back to Anthony. „Seriously?“
„Hey, the end of the world is coming. Then we might as well let you still hang around with us.“
With a relieved look on his face, Frank took the seat and quickly ordered a beer. The atmosphere started to lighten up.
„Say, Frank“, asked Anthony, having red cheeks and starting to talk pretty incomprehensibly, „do you remember the time before all that nonsense happened?“
„You mean, before Gerald showed up here?“
„Exactly“, confirmed Anthony with a big grin on his face. „It was a lot easier back then, when we didn't have to worry about weird – or at least too weird – stuff happening.“
„Before Gerald actively changed what happened?“
„Yeah, everything was easier before that moment“, said Vincent, who looked like he was going to fall over every second. “So much more... predictable.“
Suddenly, the three froze hearing these words. Complete silence, as the barkeeper kept polishing glasses without saying a word. None of them dared to say anything wrong, as the rest kept thinking about what Vincent just said.
„Predictable...“, Frank whispered. „Is that the only reason we're tolerating all of this? Because it's predictable?“
„I can't see anything else at the moment“, said Anthony as he moved one of the glasses standing on the table around. „We just don't resist because we basically know what's going to happen.“
„But is it a worthy price for being forced to do anything?“, wondered Vincent, who suddenly couldn't even look at alcohol anymore. „I think I'm gonna... Back in a moment.“
He almost fell from his chair when he tried to stand up, as he moved funnily towards the bathroom. Frank and Anthony on the other hand were still able to control himself, though Anthony looked like he could be joining Vincent very soon.
„Unbelievable...“, Anthony mumbled, supporting his head with his arm. „That is the only reason why we can stand live here?“
„There needs to be some other advantage to that“, Frank added. „There is some added bonus to the knowledge of the near future when we're not acting.“
„But what could it be?“, asked Anthony. „Sure, we basically can see into the future, but what do we gain from it if we can't prevent it in case it's something we don't want to happen?“
„Good question.“ He got up.
„You want to go already?“
„I need to prepare myself for the encounter at the morning“, explained Frank. „If I have to do it, then I'm going to do it the right way.“ He had problems standing, too, though not as bad as it was the case with Vincent.
„And you're sure you can go home like that?“
„I'll be able to control myself, don't worry.“
„Shouldn't I at least accompany you on your way home?“
„You should look out for Vincent first in my opinion. He's off way worse than me, isn't he?“
And so he went through the door, before completely disappearing in the darkness, as if it swallowed him.
Anthony on the other hand continued to sit there, watching the barkeeper cleaning his glasses as he did every time he saw him, when he wasn't fulfilling his orders.
„Some water, maybe?“, Anthony asked him. „Probably gonna need some if I want to be sober again.“
„Just a moment“ was the reply he got.
„Oh, and twice please.“
After he got the two glasses, he grabbed one and drank as much as he could, before putting it back down again. Coincidently, it was that moment in which Vincent happened to come back from the bathroom, looking very weak, as if he was going to collapse in the next few seconds.
„I guess I shouldn't be asking now if you're fine“, Anthony said jokingly, before he handed Vincent the other glass.
„Where did Frank go?“, asked Vincent, looking into his glass as if he was going to puke again.
„Went out. Said he wants to prepare himself for tomorrow.“
„What is there to prepare?“, Vincent wondered. „From what I've gathered, they don't even know how the fight's gonna look like.“
„They're probably going to improvise something. You know, so that it at least feels like we are the ones responsible for what we're doing.“
„They already know that we all have no choice. I bet it would really surprise them if the story ended in some other fashion.“
„You mean that... we should do something as well? But what if that's exactly what we're supposed to do?“
„Maybe we're never going to find out, but we probably don't have much of a role anymore anyway. Also, we're only existing for one more day at most, so we should use the time as long as we can.“
„And... do you have an idea what we should do?“
„I'm sure we're going to get some ideas when we're sober again“, said Vincent, drinking more of the water.
„I don't know, really. We might even act in favor to the plot!“
„So what? Remember, only one more day!“
„I got that the first time, thank you.“
Anthony proceeded to drink more of his water, which made his mind clearer and clearer. It's almost as if he never drank at that evening at all. Vincent on the other hand didn't seem to get any more sober, but remained with his tired and weak look on his face. „So, what are we now going to do?“ he asked him.
„We're going to only watch at first“, Vincent explained to him, as he still struggled a bit with his head. It's as if the alcohol didn't want to leave him alone anymore.. „We need to know what they're doing first before we're going to react.“
„What do you want to accomplish with that, anyway? I mean, I guess you're going to help Gerald, but else... Honestly, I have no idea why.“
„If we knew why, it would probably mean that it's part of the plot.“
„That... sort of makes sense. Even if it's the most bizarre way imaginable.“
„Better than nothing.“
While they were sitting there, the first signs of the upcoming day were showing up. With the time, the buildings on the opposite street were visible again, as the enviroment got brightened with a calming, red-orange colour tone. When Anthony randomly turned to see the clock hanging above the door, the rests of alcohol swimming in his blood suddenly just vanished as he pulled on Vincent's jacket.
„We need to get ready if we want to get them!“, he yelled. „We might miss them!“
They rushed out, trying to find a good place to watch the battle, before they rushed into a sidestreet opposite to the barm, where they decided to stand behind the garbage cans.
„How can we be sure that they are going to show off here?“ Anthony asked. „They could face each other in any street!“
„Because shut up, Anthony. This is fiction, isn't it? If we're lucky, the power of coincidences is going to aid us in that regard!“
They stood there for a while, waiting for anybody to pass by, but unfortunately, noboby showed up.
„Why doesn't this surprise me?“, Anthony said to himself.
„We could still search for them. The city isn't this big“, Vincent said, scratching his head.
„If we're unlucky, the writer is making the city ten times its size! We can't waste any more time there!“
And there they rushed through the streets, trying to find the two.
