The Last Bar Selling Absinthe by Brown M W

Author:Brown, M W
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crazy Ink
Published: 2022-12-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Cassie stared at the outstretched hand. Of course, Matt had a slim, pretty, blonde girlfriend half his age. He probably thought any woman over forty was considered over the hill. He had probably traded in a wife the same age as him for a younger version. Surprised at her irritation towards him, she shook it away and smiled. It wasn’t Lania’s fault.

She took Lania’s hand. “I’m Cassie. You must be Matt’s girlfriend.”

Lania shook her head. “I don’t have a boyfriend or know a Matt. You must have me muddled up with someone else.”

Cassie frowned and then remembered Matt had said it was where he’d first met her. In her panic, she’d forgotten she was having a weird hallucination. Everything seemed so real. The smell of the sea, the warm evening air…the terrifying monster chasing her. How was it that she was sucked into Matt’s happy memory and still got stuck in a nightmare? She sighed. She shouldn’t have expected anything else.

“Sorry, I thought you were a girl I knew.”

Lania rested her chin on her folded arms and turned her gaze back to the sea.

“Have you ever wondered what it would be like to swim out into the ocean, and just keep swimming until it swallowed you whole,” she asked dreamily.

Silver moonlight streaked the water. Inky silhouettes of small islands broke up the shimmering surface. The only noise was the gently lapping water on the rocks. A peaceful calm settled over her. She didn’t feel the need to lie.

“I have.”

“You understand, don’t you? Everything’s so noisy…all the time. The loud voices…constantly…all around and in our heads. There’s so much pain and anguish.” She lifted her head. “Out there it’s so peaceful.”

“I guess so. No one to shout at you,” Cassie said, mesmerised by Lania’s soft voice and the calm water.

“No one to hurt you,” Lania said, getting to her feet.

“No one to tell you your worthless.”

Lania stepped forward. Her toes curled over the edge of the rock. “No more painful memories.”

A strong wind whipped up around them, blasting Cassie’s face with dusty air. She shielded her face with her hands and squeezed her eyes shut. Her nose filled with the heavy smell of aniseed.

As quickly as it had appeared, the wind dropped. Cassie opened her eyes and gasped. The moon had turned a deep green, casting an eerie glow on the landscape. Water no longer ebbed at the edge of the gentle sloping rocks but crashed against large boulders at least a hundred feet below them. Her fingers grabbed onto the rocks as her body jolted at the shock of being so close to such a high ledge.

“So peaceful,” said Lania, gently swaying at the edge.

“Get back,” said Cassie, trying to keep the panic from her voice. “I don’t know how but look how high up we are. You’re going to fall.”

“I’ll fly like a Gannet and plunge into the peaceful water.”

“No, you won’t. You won’t survive.”

Lania turned to face Cassie with a serene smile and sad eyes. “I can’t survive in this world.

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