The Visionary

PART II

It occurred to me as we made the short stumble towards Trinity that i hadn't actually eaten anything since mid-day yesterday and that was only some shitty re-heated chicken wrap from the take away place near my work. I had a choice. I could either over compensate for my lack of nourishment through excessive alcohol consumption or i could make what would be largely considered the correct choice and purchase some kind of sustenance from the in house restaurant in Trinity. I made a decision i don't usually make and opted for food.
"I'm really fucking hungry bro," i told Joel as we walked abreast towards the bar.
"We'll go halves in chips and gravy and have em in the smokers area then aye?" he replied. This sounded good to me so we agreed on it.

We sat and ate our chips. Joel was abnormally quiet. He just sat across from me at the bar, his shoulder to me as he surveyed what he typically referred to as 'prey' moving around the building. Tonight was fairly dead, though it was only 7:15 and it usually didn't pick up on Thirsty Thursdays until about 10:00. My favorite three days: Thursday  Friday and Saturday. They were days when my unnatural habits didn't seem so different from everyone else. Days where I could blend in with the rest of the world; as if i were a vampire on Halloween. My drinking level was obviously larger than anyone really knew and here at this bar on this night, my dysfunction could slip right under the radar.
Of course, we both had a generic beer in front of us with our dinner. It tasted terrible with the clashing flavors of the chips and gravy, but i didn't really care. The food kept me alive and the beer kept me sane enough to stay alive. I surveyed the rest of the bar myself. A few older couples, some old men laughing around a keg table, a few children playing while their parents ate. A pretty normal kind of scene. Clearly, if i was going to have any fun before the decay of society arrived, i was going to have to get fuck-eyed.
"Shot?" I questioned Joel, who had now returned his gaze to the behind of one of the lady bar tenders as she bent over to get him another beer.
"Sweetheart, could you grab us two Jagerbombs while you're there?" He asked without confirmation. She turned back to acknowledge him, smiled weakly and moved across to where the spirits were kept. I caught a faint glimmer of disdain on her face when she thought it was concealed. I don't think she liked Joel, but i couldn't blame her. He was a sleaze, he always had been. He viewed women as achievements; things he must collect as often as possible in order to validate his existence  That was something I liked about him. He completed me in a sick and twisted way. I always followed along with his misogynistic mannerisms, but deep down i thought quite the contrary. If anything, i considered the fairer sex to be above me. More important, more valid in such a broken down society. It killed me to see them so willingly sacrifice their own Majesty the way they do.
"Lets do it then," Joel said to me as he lifted the recently placed plastic shots over the glass of Red Bull, ready to drop. I followed and we did a Jagerbomb. Not a drink i particularly enjoy, but it picks me up at the same time as blacking me out so i do it anyway. I swung around on the bar stool in shock as the pungent taste of the hard liquor resonated in my mouth. I shook my head a few times comically and my eyes fell to the back door of the bar. That's when i saw her...