And so he sprawled on the couch. His mind was blank, void of every thought. On his right hand was a bottle of brandy dangling loosely from his fingers and on the left was a forgotten smoldering cigarette the ash about to fall off. For the time being, he sat there brooding unmindful of his friends rowdy laughter over their obscene conversation. From the way they sounded and as far as the how the banter went, they were already foxed which he envied.  He wanted to get awfully drunk that night. He needed a temporary reprieve so he could shove the misery out of his system that left him no choice but to entertain the gnawing ache that flirted with his emotion.

But because his tolerance for hard spirit had reached to an end that he could drink his friends so far under the table they could passed out inebriated while he would still be sober –  he was miserable . On a normal day he would have gloated at the thought of how he could carry his drink well enough to be the last man standing whereas all the rest were down in stupor… but that night was an exception. That night was different from all the nights he spent drinking. For that night he wallowed out in unbridled remorse.

He took a last puff of his cigarette before he stubbed it out and discarded it then he yanked the cork off the bottle and downed the rest of its content. He wasn’t prepared of the slow burning sensation as the brandy worked its way from his throat leaving a stinging numbness that went rushing smoothly down to his stomach. He was on fire. The brandy piqued his awareness and he felt as if he snapped out of his daze. Then he saw her… her beautiful, laughing image conjured in his mind. It was an image he won’t forget because it was how she looked the last time he had seen her.

She wore a peach dress. Her hair was unbound and it fell heavily over her shoulders. To him she was exceptionally beautiful. Her dimpled smile was heartwarming; her glazed eyes practically conveyed vitality that seemed to permeate in his sanity. He sat there transfixed at the intangible fragile figure dancing before his very eyes. He didn’t even attempt to blink he was so frightened to lose her in his sight that his mind fired on all cylinders just to keep her exquisite vision. The figure became more vivid as it slowly came closer moving with agile steadiness almost as if she was drifting in the air.