Nex’s

In my introduction, I was hesitant about what if any of my fiction I’d include on this site. But here we are with my first real post and what does it turn out to be? A piece of fiction. Life is wild that way.

I absolutely love meta-fiction. Stories about stories are the kind of self-indulgent fan-service that light up every synapse in my brain. It’s especially fun when meta-fiction is also crossover fiction. There’s something about throwing characters from entirely different genres and universes against each other and seeing what conversations emerge. I also love bars. Bars are one of the only places in the world where strangers will just start talking to each other. Not just talking, pouring their guts out, telling things they’d buried in the deep and dark that they wouldn’t want their closest loved ones to know.

But what the hell? Might as well tell you, right? It’s not like we even know each other’s names.

I’m not even close to the first person to combine the idea of bars and crossovers. One of my favorites was the framing device that the late, great Darwyn Cooke used in Solo #5. It’s mostly about the characters Slam Bradley and King Faraday, who had both featured prominently in his DC Comics work, going to a bar that exists out of time and space. A bar where private dicks and femme fatales might share a drink with caped crusaders and men of steel. There is a line where King Faraday tells Slam that they “took a hard left at Nexus and Continuity” that has never left me.

It got me thinking about some of the characters I’d created. What kind of conversations would they have over a pint of beer or a glass of whiskey? Better yet, what would it be like if some Average Joe walked in and found himself surrounded by all those weirdos? There were a few fun things I learned while writing this piece. For one thing, I found that I had a habit of using similar descriptors for my characters. The line about the vampires was as much my point of view as the narrator’s. For another thing, most of these people wouldn’t be able to stand each other. I’d barely even started before I’d realized what a bunch of jerks I’d written. Oh well, at least they have something to talk about.

Most of these characters are from unpublished works. A few of them still live exclusively in my imagination. I would love to meet them some day.

Nex’s

My back hurt.

It wasn’t really a thought, but it was the only thing occupying my brain as I walked down the street. Seriously, I was only twenty-six years old. My back wasn’t supposed to be hurting at this age. It’s not like my job was even that hard. All I did was sit at a desk typing all day.

So why the hell was I so stressed?

Maybe I needed a girlfriend. My sex life was nonexistent. I barely even had friends. Just a couple of people I drank and talked about dumb things with every once in a while.

Why kid myself? I didn’t have the time, money, or sex appeal for a girlfriend. The closest I could get was that link to a webcam site a coworker had sent me a while back.

As I was resigning myself to another empty evening, I tripped and hit the ground. Papers spilled out of my bag and went flying into the street.

Shit.

I ran after the papers desperately. My boss would murder me if I came in without them. Still, a part of my mind remained completely detached.

“Of course this happened,” it said. “Isn’t this your life now? You might as well just run into the traffic and be done with the whole thing.”

The idea was uncomfortably tempting. Even more uncomfortable was the fact that outside of a general fear of death, I really couldn’t come up with any other reasons not to go through with it. Look at me, chasing papers like an idiot. Who was I even doing this for? I hated my job, I had no clear goals, and no one was relying on me for support. Not a single person would have their life diminished by me not being there.

This wasn’t the first time these thoughts had popped into my head. I recognized that they weren’t healthy, and I had no inclination to indulge them. In fact, I’d even developed a technique to deal with them in the most effective way I knew how.

Once I found the papers, I’d drink all the bad things away.

One by one, I snatched them up. Now I was feeling motivated. There was just one more paper left. I chased it into an alleyway and leapt, planting one foot on it and pinning it to the ground.

Ha, that’ll teach you.

I picked up the paper and examined it. Besides the footprint in the center, it seemed perfectly fine. Ah, well. Drinking time.

I was about to pull out my phone and do a quick search for the nearest bar when I looked up and saw that I was standing right in front of one. Look at that.

There were no windows, just a door with a sign above that read “Nex’s Bar”. Strange name aside, nondescript bars in the middle of a back-alley would still usually raise suspicion. Tonight though? I honestly didn’t have it in me to care. I pushed open the door and walked into the bar. The place was dimly lit. Eight stools lined the bar and a smattering of tables filled the rest of the place. It was more crowded than I would have expected. The tables were all filled and the white noise of a dozen quiet conversations filled the bar. Some of the tension immediately left my back.

I found an open seat at the bar and sat down. The bartender came over to greet me. Something about him went with the bar pretty well. I wondered if he came with it as a set. 

“What’ll it be?”

“Anything you recommend?”

He eyed me for a moment and then gave a small nod. He walked away and got to work without another word.

“Good move,” said the guy next to me. “Nex is a wizard when it comes to drinks. He’ll give you just the thing you need.”

The guy had white hair but a young face. His skin was pale, probably not used to the sun. His face was gaunt and bony too. He wore a trench coat covered in patches, like he’d had to fix it up a few times on his own. He definitely raised a few red flags. Ah, well.

“Come here a lot?” I asked.

“Not often, but when I can. This is a tricky place to find most days.”

“You’ve got that right.” I agreed. “I’m surprised the place is as crowded as it is considering the location.”

The white-haired man smirked. “On the contrary, Nex might just be the best person at picking a location I know.”

“What do you mean?”

The man waved his hand dismissively. “Forget it. It comes too close to talking shop which is exactly what I came here to avoid.”

Whatever that was supposed to mean. Maybe the guy was a real estate agent or something.

The bartender, Nex I guess, came back over with my drink.

“Grasshopper.” he said as he set it down.

He walked away without another word.

It was a martini glass filled with something green. Maybe something minty. I felt a little weird drinking it. It just looked so... dainty. But as I glanced around the bar, no one seemed to have any interest in me so I figured why not and sipped at the drink.

It was minty. there wasn’t much alcohol, but the mintyness filled my nostrils and left me feeling cool and refreshed as it went down. I felt a bit of tension leave my shoulders. Something stirred in my mind as if some large sea creature were moving beneath the ocean of my consciousness, big and powerful but completely invisible to the surface. Had I tried a drink like this before? I couldn’t remember.

“Good, huh?” The white-haired man asked.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “It’s a good drink, but it’s not the kind of thing I’d expect a bartender to just give me without being asked.”

My companion shrugged. “Who knows? Nex can read people. If he made it for you then it’s the drink you were meant to have.”

“Right...”

Meant to have? What was that supposed to mean? It was just some cocktail. It wasn’t even anything that special. Sure it was good, but I came here to take the edge off my day. That wasn’t going to happen if I kept getting weak drinks like this. Oh, well. It was my fault for asking for a surprise. I should have just asked for something strong in the first place. 

“So, you live around here?” I asked.

The white-haired man raised his eyebrows.

“That’s a more loaded question than you might think.”

He seemed to consider his answer for a moment.

“I’m from Philly,” he said.

“Wow, what are you doing all the way out here?” I asked. “Are you on a business trip or something?”

“Or something,” he replied. “It’s more like I’m trying to get away from business at the moment.”

“I hear that.”

We clinked glasses and took a drink. I glanced at what he was drinking. It was red and had been served in a short glass.

“What’re you drinking?”

“An Eclipse. More of Nex’s humor.”

I nodded as if that answer had made sense. I tried to glance around the bar without being too obvious. I was curious about what kind of customers a place like this drew in. At the far end of the bar, a young man was hunched over a notebook and writing intently. He had dark shadows under his eyes and ink stains on his hands. He was using a fountain pen which looked pretty expensive. In one of the booths, a man in a nice suit was playing with cards. I couldn’t make out his face from the angle I was sitting.

Wait. Did this place have booths? I had only seen the tables and bar-stools when I walked in, but sure enough there were five booths lining the back wall. I must have missed them when I’d entered.

I kept glancing around. A muscular, young man with close cropped brown hair who looked like he’d stepped out of an action movie sat with a bookish red-headed woman. They made googly-eyes at each other, their drinks untouched.

Whatever. I finished my drink irritably and was about to call the bartender over for my next order when he appeared on his own, drink in hand.

“Sea Breeze,” he said as he set the drink down.

I frowned. What kind of bartender just forced drinks on people? I’d asked for his recommendation, but this was ridiculous. I tasted the drink and, while I grudgingly had to admit that it was good, it wasn’t that strong either. At this rate I was going to burn through my cash before I’d managed to get comfortably drunk.

The white-haired man seemed to pick up on my annoyance.

“Don’t worry,” he assured me. “Nex is the best at taking care of customers. Just enjoy the drinks. It’ll be worth it.”

I just shrugged and kept on drinking. Again, I felt something swimming around in my subconscious. Why did these drinks have such a nostalgic feeling? Maybe I’d have been better off just buying a bottle of whisky and going straight home.

On the other end of the bar, about seven seats down, a pale guy in his early twenties was sipping at a drink while looking at a book bound in a rich crimson cover. He had raven-black hair and was wearing a black suit.

Man, why was everyone in this place so pale? Did all the vampires gather around here?

Wait a second...

I took a quick glance around the bar. When I entered, I’d counted eight stools going down the line. Looking around now, I counted sixteen stools wrapping around a semicircular bar.

What the hell?

I rubbed my temples. I wasn’t even remotely close to being drunk yet. Was I just that tired?

I leaned over to my companion.

“Hey, I whispered. “How many seats do you count at the bar?”

Rather than answer, he just chuckled.

“Don’t worry about that. It’s your first time here. Just relax and let it happen.”

This place was weird.

In one of the booths, a blonde woman sat with a stack of books beside her as she worked on a paper. A polished cane with a lion carved into the handle was leaning against the table. At one of the tables sat two men. One had wild blond hair. He wore a rumpled suit with a couple buttons undone. He was laughing loudly. His companion wore an expensive, three-piece lavender suit. He had thick white hair which covered one of his eyes. He drank silently, seemingly oblivious to the other man. Their drinks contrasted just as much with the loud man holding a mug of beer nearly as big as his head while the other drank something the same color as his suit out of a martini glass.

Another table was occupied by two women. At first glance one looked to be in her twenties, but there was an ageless cast about her. She wore a black dress with loose sleeves. The other woman was older. There was a hint of resemblance to their faces so maybe she was the younger woman’s mother. She had long gray hair and, unlike pretty much everyone else here, her skin was deeply tanned. She wore a red leather jacket which barely hid how muscular her arms were. A mug of beer sat by her side, a glass of red wine by the younger’s.

As I was observing the crowd, the door opened and a man walked in. I only caught a quick glance outside, but I could have sworn I saw snow. That couldn’t have been right. It was the middle of summer. The man was hardly dressed for cold weather anyway. He wore a dark blue, long-sleeve, t-shirt and worn-out jeans. He had shaggy blond hair that was close to covering his eyes. What did cover his eyes were a pair of goggle-like glasses. They appeared to be tinted, but in the soft, blue light of the bar, it was impossible to tell what color.

He glanced around the bar as he entered. The blonde woman who’d been studying looked up and gave him a small smile. He smiled back and nodded. He looked at the two men in the back. The blond one met his eyes and glared at him. He started to stand up, but the other man at the table put his hand on the blond man’s arm and whispered something to him. The blond man turned around grudgingly and went back to whatever he’d been saying before. The man in the lavender suit didn’t look at the newcomer once.

The newcomer himself seemed unperturbed by this. Instead, he shifted his focus to the two women. He stood there awkwardly and started fidgeting. It seemed like he wanted them to notice him. They didn’t even glance at him, though. In fact, they seemed to be pointedly ignoring him. Eventually, he gave up and walked over to the bar...

...and sat down right next to me.

I felt a surge of annoyance. It wasn’t as if the bar was full. Why did he have to sit right here?

“They say misery loves company, and you look pretty miserable,” the newcomer said as if reading my mind.  “Besides, it always interesting to hear how people end up here. It’s not the kind of thing that just happens by chance.

“I’ll just have the usual, Nex,” he said to the bartender when he walked over.

The white-haired man on my left stood up and put some cash on the table.

“Well, I think I’d better get going.”

“Don’t listen to this guy too much,” he said, “he’ll just get you in trouble.”

“Watch out for stray cats on the way home!” the newcomer called after him as the white-haired man walked out the door.

He grinned at me.

“Don’t mind him. I promise I’m not looking for trouble, just a little conversation.”

I was hardly in the mood to talk, but I guess that’s what you get when you go to a bar.

The bartender came back with a dark drink in a tall glass. The newcomer nodded his thinks and sipped his drink gingerly. He visibly relaxed as he took his first sip.

“Man, you’ve got no idea how bad I needed that,” he sighed. “It’s been a rough week.

“I can relate,” I raised my glass.

He gave me a small smile and tapped his glass against mine.

“Cheers.”

We sat there for a time, sipping our drinks without a word to the other.

“I’ve never seen you around here before,” my new companion said. “We usually don’t see a lot of new faces coming in on their own.”

“I can see why,” I said. “This is a hard place to find. To tell you the truth, the only reason I found this place was because I’d been chasing a couple papers I dropped. I probably would have walked right by it otherwise.”

The man raised his eyebrows.

“No kidding?”

He shook his head. “Talk about your once in a lifetime opportunities. Well, that’s life I guess. One little event can change the whole thing. That’s just part of the fun.”

I chuckled. “It’s a coincidence, sure. But I don’t know about completely changing a person’s life.”

This time it was the other man who chuckled. “We’ll see. The night’s still young. Besides, it’s hard to imagine anyone walking into a place like this and still living what could be called an ‘ordinary life’.”

I just shrugged and went back to my drink. It was good and I was starting to feel it having a pleasant effect on me. Still, I couldn’t shake a gnawing feeling that I was in the wrong place. Things were happening around me that I didn’t quite understand. I seemed to be the only one paying it any mind too. It was as if I was the only one who wasn’t clued in.

“Y’know, if you’re feeling a little lost, there’s a guy who can help.”

I looked at him questioningly. He nodded towards the booths. I followed his eyes to the booth where the well-dressed man sat. From here, all I could see was the sleeve of a black jacket and a gloved hand.

“He’s sort of like a fortune-teller. He’s real good at helping people find a little direction in their lives. You should go talk to him.”

“Thanks, but I don’t want to disturb him or anything,” I mumbled.

I did not want to get stuck talking to some fortune-teller.

“Relax,” the man insisted. “Just go sit down at the booth. He won’t mind. I’m sure he’ll appreciate the company.”

He shoved me playfully and, despite my discomfort, I got up and walked over. I slid into the seat opposite the man and hoped he wouldn’t get too angry.

The first thing I noticed about the man was that he was blind. He wore dark sunglasses and stared ahead in a way that told you he wasn’t really looking at anything. The second thing I noticed about him was that he was old. His dark skin was worn and pulled tightly to his skull. His body seemed very thin and frail beneath his suit. Finally, I noticed the suit itself.  What I mistook for black was actually a deep crimson. He wore a vest of a much brighter red along with a matching tie. In front of him sat a deck of cards. His gloved hands rested on either side of the deck.

I sat there awkwardly, unsure of what I should say. The longer I waited, the harder it felt to speak up.

“Aleister sent you over, did he?” The old man suddenly said. Despite his worn features, his voice was rich and silky smooth.

“Um... yes sir,” I stammered.

The old man’s presence was intense. I was pretty sure I’d tower over him if we were standing, but somehow he managed come off as three times my size.

“He’s always had the same problem. He just can’t resist setting things in motion. He’s like the embodiment of entropy, forcing things to change or die. Half the time, it’s just to satisfy his curiosity. He means well, but he can’t help himself.”

He went quiet again. I spoke up, unwilling to let the silence linger.

“So... Aleister? That’s his name?”

I didn’t know how he knew who had sent me over unless this was something my new drinking buddy put people up to regularly. Or did blind people actually have super-hearing?

This whole thing was weird and uncomfortable.

“It’s one of his names,” the old man said. “I doubt he uses it much anymore, but it’s certainly the one he defines himself by the most. It’d serve him right if I told you his real name. That’d teach him to keep sending people over to me.”

“Look, I’m really sorry for bothering you, sir. I’ll just go back to my seat.”

I started to slide out of the booth, internally cursing Aleister or whatever his name was for putting me in this position.

“Don’t apologize. You’re already here. Might as well get what you came for. Just sit back down and let’s see what we can do.”

He turned his sightless eyes towards me and even though I was confident he couldn’t see, I still felt like I was being intensely scrutinized.

“Mmm, so that’s how it is,” he murmured. “Serendipity is everything, I suppose.”

He spoke to me this time.

“You ever get your fortune told before, boy?”

I shook my head before remembering that the man was blind, so instead I answered that I hadn’t.

“Just as well,” he said. “This place is a bit special and so we can’t just fix the cards the usual way. There’s a special way of arranging the cards in places like this. We’ve got to use five cards. One for you, one representing an important person or persons whom you’ll meet while you’re here, one representing knowledge gained or lessons learned, and two representing different paths that might be taken as a result of what happens here. So don’t go asking me lottery numbers or any of that other nonsense. Is that acceptable to you, boy?”

“Y-yeah, I guess so...” I said.

I didn’t have much interest in fortunetelling, horoscopes, or anything like that. It was weird siting with someone treating it so seriously.

“Before we start, I’ve got a few questions. They’ll make it a bit easier to read the cards.”

“Alright. Shoot.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m a copywriter. Mostly I work in-”

“Next question.”

Well, alright then.

“Do you have a lover?”

“I... no,” I mumbled.

“Last question. What do you seek?”

“I...”

What did I want? Love? Sex? Money? Paid sick days? What was I working for?

“I don’t know,” I admitted.

“No matter. You’ve given the cards what they need.”

The old man shuffled the deck and drew a card.

“The Reverse Fool,” he said as he set it down. “Squandered potential, lack of direction. That’s you.”

I cringed. It wasn’t like I could argue with that.

I looked at the card and a realization struck me. How did he know which card it was? As far as I could tell, there wasn’t anything like braille on it. Was it just some sort of trick, like stacking the deck?

“Next card.”

He drew another card and set it down.

“The Magician. Keeper of knowledge and powerful secrets. Unsurprising, given the venue. It’ll be someone who knows how to make good use of their knowledge, so certainly not Aleister.”

He drew another.

“Death.”

A chill went down my spine.

“Relax, boy. It’s not literal. Change, metamorphosis, a turning point. Tonight matters, boy. Take it to heart.”

He drew the fourth card.

“The first path, The Lovers. Exactly what the name implies.”

I got a little excited by that, despite myself. Was I really that lonely?

“Final card. Hmm...”

“What? What is it?” I asked nervously.

“The World. Understanding, enlightenment, the Final Destination, Journey’s End.”

I waited for him to continue, but he didn’t say anything else.

“So, um... Is that an either/or thing?”

The old man sighed.

“Look boy, you’re surrounded by crazy people from crazy places. One of them is going to teach you something which you’re going to take home with you and use to make a change in your life. That change might bring you love, a family, white picket fence, all that jazz. Alternatively, you might find something much bigger.”

“Bigger how?”

“Can’t say for sure. There’s a lot of different kinds of big out there. Alright, there’s your fortune. Let me drink in peace.”

I got up and walked numbly back to my spot at the bar.

What the hell was that?

The man, Aleister I guess, gave me an amused look as I sat back down.

“That bad, huh? The old man really doesn’t know how to pull his punches.”

I eyed my drink. Screw this. It was time to finish up and go home. This place was miserably weird and I’d be better off just putting it behind me. I had no interest in “fateful encounters” or “turning points”. All I wanted was to have a damn drink in peace. Why was that so hard?

As I finished my drink, I got ready to call Nex over and close out, but before I could, the door opened yet again.

I looked down and prayed that it wouldn’t have anything to do with me.

No such luck.

“Hey, doc! It’s been a while!” Aleister called.

I felt someone pass behind me and take a seat beside him.

“I usually don’t get off this early, but Iman insisted I take a break,” a woman’s voice said. “Honestly, sometimes it feels like she’s the one who runs the place.”

“Maybe that means it’s time for you to retire,” Aleister let out a chuckle which immediately turned into a yelp.

I finally worked up the courage to look and I saw Aleister rubbing his arm and an annoyed woman sitting next to him.

I found it hard to place her age. She didn’t look much older than I did, despite her silver hair. I supposed it could have been dyed, but as I got a better look I saw pronounced lines around her eyes which hinted at greater years than the rest of her face would suggest. Besides that, she had an air about her. The kind of vibe I guess you would expect a doctor to give off. She seemed... wise, I guess. Like she’d been around the block a few times and she knew how to take care of things. She was wearing a white shirt and black pants which meant she’d probably just come from work.

She glanced over at me curiously, and it seemed like we were both waiting for Aleister to introduce us. Unfortunately, he seemed completely oblivious to how awkward this was getting. After a minute, she seemed to lose interest and started focusing on the drink Nex had brought her. It was dark, in a short glass with an orange garnish. She sipped at it greedily and let out a sigh.

Aleister smirked. “Be careful, Felicia. If you unwind too much, you’re going to break.”

Felicia shot him a glare and he flinched back, covering his arm.

I decided I liked Felicia.

“I hope he hasn’t been causing too much trouble,” she said to me. “He’s got a bad habit of getting too involved in other people’s business.”

I shrugged. “So far, all he’s really done is make me talk to a fortuneteller.”

“I didn’t make you,” Aleister protested.

Felicia glanced over at the old man sitting alone and turned back to Aleister with a dark look.

“You don’t know when to quit, do you?” She snapped.

Aleister shrugged sheepishly.

“It’s not like I brought him here. He wandered in on his own. Something seems to be happening. I’m just trying to grease the wheels a bit.”

“Grease the wheels,” she muttered. “One of these days you’re going to realize the world doesn’t revolve around you.”

I just sat there forcing myself to look at the glass in front of me. I tried to catch Nex’s eye so I could pay and leave before anyone noticed, but he was busy making drinks.

Rude as it may have been, I slipped out my phone to check the time. Maybe I could use it as an excuse to leave if I made it look like someone was texting me but, as luck would have it, my phone turned out to be dead.

I scowled. I could have sworn there had been at least fifty percent left on the battery. Man, new phones barely lasted a few months anymore.

Aleister glanced over at me.

“Oh, yeah. Reception’s a nightmare here. Normal service doesn’t cover places like this.”

He smirked as if he had made a little joke.

“Here,” he offered. “If you need to make a call go ahead and use mine.”

“Thanks,” I said, waving him off. “I just wanted to check the time. I think it’s about time for me to be getting home.”

“You sure? Not one more drink?” Aleister asked. He sounded disappointed.

Felicia rolled her eyes.

“Let him go. I’ll rest easy tonight knowing at least one person got away without being caught up in your web.”

Aleister sighed dejectedly.

“But he wandered in here on his own! C’mon, that has to mean something!”

Felicia just shook her head.

“Maybe it just means life is weird. It doesn’t have to be anything big or apocalyptic.”

Looking over at me, she said “you seem like a nice guy. Go home and get some rest.”

I nodded and looked up at Nex as he walked over with the bill. Pretty cheap all things considered.

Aleister looked at me with puppy dog-eyes, but I ignored him and made my way to the door.

That’s when I bumped into her.

Her red hair was neck length and brought out her green eyes nicely. She was wearing a red blouse and black leather pants that accentuated her figure.

She had just entered and was blocking my way out.

She looked up at me with a sweet smile.

“Sorry about that. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“Oh, um... ok.” I replied smoothly. Really smoothly.

She looked at me curiously.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.”

“No, uh... it’s my first time,” I stammered. 

Her eyes lit up. “Really? I’ve heard that hardly ever happens. Do you want to grab a drink? I would love to hear your story.”

I stopped. I thought I could hear Aleister snickering behind me.

She was gorgeous. And I don’t know if it was the fortunetelling nonsense or what, but I could just imagine a whole future spinning out between us.

Something beautiful and magical.

Something Fantastic.

“Sorry, but I’ve really got to go,” I said.

I stepped past her and walked out the door without looking back. I didn’t stop until I’d turned the corner I was pretty sure I’d come from. My heart was pounding. I tried breathing to calm myself down, but it didn’t make a difference.

What the hell was I doing? A beautiful woman just invited me to have a drink with her and I walked away? Who does that?

I immediately regretted walking out that door and, gathering my courage, I turned around and walked right back to...

Nothing.

There was no door, just a brick wall. A dead end in an alley.

What happened? Had I made a wrong turn?

My heart raced frantically as I started running through the alleys, trying to find that door. It wasn’t any good. I must have gotten well and truly lost, because there didn’t seem to be any way for me to find it.

I sighed and leaned back against the wall.

Shit.

The next day, I did a search online for “Nex’s Bar.” I couldn’t find a thing though. No reviews, no website, nothing. I tried asking around a bit to see if anyone else had ever heard of it, but no one had. It seemed like whatever had happened the previous night had been completely lost to the land of what-ifs.

In the weeks that followed, I made a point to wander around those alleys. I tried familiarizing myself with every nook and cranny in the hopes that I might somehow stumble onto that bar again. But I never did.

Eventually, I even found myself questioning whether I’d even been there or if it had just been a strange dream. Finally, enough time passed that I stopped thinking about it all together. Even so, years have passed and yet I still find my dreams haunted by a life in a world of magic and wonder where a beautiful woman with red hair and green eyes stands by my side.