Mirkalla

I’m sitting with a beer on my hand on a makeshift sofa against a wall in a well known alternative bar. Metal music blares loudly making the walls seem to vibrate and people all around are having fun with their friends. As for myself I wonder why the hell I came here in the first place and, most of all, why I came alone. I take a sip of the beer and take my phone out of the pocket, it’s 3 AM and there’s no network reception in here so I can’t even play one of those dumb online games to pass my time. I put the phone back in my pocket, sigh while looking at the floor and take another sip of beer. I should probably just leave, why the hell did I even try? It’s not the same here anymore.

‘Hey, are you alone or something?’ My thoughts are broken by a voice. I look up startled and find a young woman looming over me. Dark brown hair with bright green eyes, she’s wearing some jeans and a black t-shirt. She’s about 1,60m in height and is wearing unlaced combat boots on her feet, she smiles at me when my eyes meet hers.

‘Erm... Do I know you?’ I ask coldly without meaning to.

‘No... So? Does that mean we can’t talk or something? I was just being polite, sorry to bother you.’ Saying this she starts to leave.

I get up and tap her arm ‘I’m sorry, I’m just having a bad day. That and I actually have a bad memory and sometimes forget people. Sorry if I was rude, I didn’t mean to.’

‘It’s ok’ she smiles ‘So you never answered, are you here alone? I saw you lurking over there like the world was ending or something.’

‘I am here alone yes, as sad as that might sound. I was bored at home and thought this place might cheer me up. Turns out it didn’t work.’

‘Sad? I wonder... Are you trying to tell me I’m a sad person? Because you know, I came here on my own as well and I go out alone quite often.’

Way to go retard... Why do you always screw up every conversation you have?

‘That’s not what I meant... I mean, some people think it’s weird when you come to these places all on your own.’

‘I was joking.’ she laughs ’But does it even matter what those people think?’

‘Yeah, you’re right. It doesn’t really matter.’ I smile and looking at my glass, I realize it’s actually empty. ‘Do you wanna grab something to drink? My treat for making this night a little bit better.’

‘Sure. Oh, and I didn’t catch your name.’

‘I believe I never said it but it’s Silesius, nice knowing you Miss...’

‘Mirkalla, my name’s Mirkalla.’ saying this she starts walking towards the bar and I follow.

Her smell hits me then, a smell I somehow know all too well and it triggers some flashes in my mind. That smell, that name spoken in that way brought some weird images to my mind I couldn’t really tell what they were. It was like some long forgotten memories that I really couldn’t remember well.

What the hell is going on?

Reaching the bar I call for the barman which greets me with a handshake. Shaved head with broad shoulders and slightly shorter than myself, he’s been a barman on this place since I can remember it and once upon a time I was a regular costumer of the place.

‘Long time no see Silesius, have you been here long?’

‘Since it opened but I was sitting over there and I believe you weren’t here yet. How’s it going?’

‘Same old, I actually haven’t worked in here for a while and just recently came back. So, what will it be?’

‘I’ll have a beer.’ I look at girl then ‘What would you like to drink?’

‘I’ll have the same thank you.’

The barman serves the drinks and I take a sip, I stare at the girl and I feel an awkward silence settling in.

‘So do you come here often?’

Dude, what the hell? You’re so crappy at this. Get your shit together and think of something nice to say right now...

‘Here? No, I just recently moved to this city and found out about the place. It’s quite nice. What about you? You seem well acquainted with the people that work here.’ she replies interrupting my line of thought.

‘Not anymore, I used to come here very often before though. This is probably the best bar of this kind around these parts, not that there are many choices anyway. There used to be but the alternative bars are dying nowadays, it’s kinda sad really. Oh but there’s another one really good that’s not that far from here, you should check it out one of these days.’

‘Sure, maybe you could take me there someday? But I totally understand what you mean, still better than where I lived since there was nothing quite like this there.’

Wait, did this girl just say she wanted to go out again one of these days? Am I dreaming or something? These things don’t happen and much less to me, I mean...

‘There you go spacing out again, what is it with you and thinking so much?’ she giggles breaking my thoughts once more ‘Come, let’s dance for a bit and see if we can take that sadness from your face. It’s getting annoying.’ she grabs my forearm and pulls me towards the dance floor.

I wake up, a strange ceiling stares back at me. The sun light shines bright trough a window to my left. My head hurts and my mouth and throat feel very dry, the sun light seems too bright making it hard to keep my eyes open. Only then I realize that at my side the young woman from the bar sleeps soundly with her left arm over my chest. Under the covers I can feel that we’re both naked.

Where the hell am I? Is this her room? How the hell did I get here? Last thing I remember we were having shots by the bar... I look around the room, her clothes and mine are all around the floor and among them an empty bottle of Tennessee Whisky. I try to get up without waking her up and fail miserably. She yawns, opens her eyes and smiles at me.

‘Good morning Wolfie, did you sleep well?’

Wolfie? What the hell did I tell her last night... I certainly couldn’t have told her that, not that.
‘I did yes, hope you did as well.’ I smile back ‘But what did you call me?’

‘Wolfie, don’t you remember what we talked about last night?’ she stares at me inquisitively.

‘I... I’m sorry but I actually don’t, I had too much to drink and sometimes I can’t remember things very well the following day. What... What did I tell you?’

Shit... I spoke too much. When will my drunk self learn to keep his mouth shut. Seriously? You actually went and told her what we are?

‘Don’t look alarmed, it’s not like you told me anything I didn’t know already. You’re a wolf, anyone can tell that by your smell. Well anyone that’s... different like us anyway. I’m one as well, don’t tell me you didn’t notice.’

Yes, she kinda smells like a wolf... c’mon man, surely you noticed it before? That’s what probably was so familiar about her scent last night. And yet... there’s something different with it and with her, something I can’t quite grab.

‘I did notice it yes, I just don’t usually go around telling people I just met those kind of things. Actually, I don’t usually wake up in a strange bedroom either...’

She laughs ‘Yeah, last night you actually told me that you might say something along those lines when you woke up. And also that you might not remember much since you were piss drunk. But I can revive your memory if you want.’ saying this she bit her lower lip ‘But we can get to that later. Tell me, how’s your head? You look like you have an awful hangover.’

‘That’s because I actually do... And that’s the reason why I was trying to get up, to get some water.’

‘You just lie down Wolfie, I’ll take care of you. I got some medicine for hangovers that will treat most of the symptoms. We wouldn’t want you wandering all naked around a stranger’s house, would we?’ she smiles.

‘Thank you Mirkalla, I actually don’t even know where the kitchen is in the first place. Guess I hadn’t thought it through properly.’

‘Good, at least you remember my name.’ she giggles ‘I’ll be right back, I won’t take long.’

She gets up from the bed and I can see her naked body for what was technically the first time, her skin is pale white and makes her hair look almost black in contrast. Her body isn’t skinny nor fit or fat, some stretch marks can be faintly seen on her back. Also, she had seemed pretty in the bar but now on the light of the day I actually realize she’s prettier than I had realized.

‘What you staring at Wolfie? Are you gonna start drooling or something?’ she jokes realizing I was staring at her and I blush like some teen kid. She laughs ‘Don’t go all shy on me now, I’ll let you see more later if you want.’

She dresses up her pajamas and leaves the room. I lay down with an arm beneath my head staring at that strange ceiling again.

What the hell happened? What am I doing? This doesn’t happen... not to me anyway. What a weird night that was and even though it’s day already I believe the weirdness isn’t over yet.