there can be only one of us. The other one’s got to go by Bogdan Dragos

noise never attracted
me

it always did the
opposite,
so when this bar too
got noisy

I got out of
there
and went back home

Well, life is strange this
way. When you walk
away from something, you
find something else

Like a pesky
street magician shoving
cards in your face,
begging you to
pick one,
the universe likes to present
you things,
events,
people

There was more noise in
my apartment building
than at the bar

Someone was
throwing a
lousy party

I didn't  have a problem with
the party in itself.
It was the music
I couldn't stand

The music was
shit

And just as I make my way
up the stairs
I see this girl seated
ahead of me,
dressed for the occasion.
Black high heels with
crimson red soles,
black skirt and some black
tank top. Her hair was
done in voluminous curls,
the makeup was thick
and she was
drunker than I

She spoke first.
"Hey, you came to the party?"

"Am I invited?" I asked

She stared at me
with dark rimmed eyes

frowned

and then just shrugged

"Why aren't you at the party?"
I asked. "You look
like you could be
the soul of it, no kidding."

She was silent for
a moment longer
and then she
said, "If I go there..."

"Yeah?"

"If I go there
I'm gonna murder a
motherfucker."

"Okay," I said, "I believe you."

"Well, you really should.
I'm gonna do it."

"Damn, and who's the
endangered guy? What did
he do?"

"It's my dad," she said, no
emotion in her tone

"Your dad? Oh, I see. Well, we've
all been there, haven't we?"

"Not like me, you haven't.
I'm really gonna do it."

"Alright," I said. "Well, I guess
the local news
are gonna be interesting
tomorrow.
Take care."

And I resumed my
climbing of the stairs
and attempted to pass
by her
but she said,
"Wait. You're going to the
party, right?"

"I don't know," I said. "Should I?"

"Look, if you go in,
can you please bring me, uh,
something to eat? And
a drink maybe. If I go and
get them myself..."

"Yeah, I know, someone's
gonna die.
Well, I'll see what I can
do."

"Aw, you're an angel. Really,
I'd get up
to kiss you... If you didn't
look so much
like my father, that is."

"What? Do I look like
the man you're
about to kill?"

"Hell," she said, "if I didn't know
better I'd say we're
related. You resemble
him perfectly. Your head
is his head exactly, only
with less stubble."

"Damn," I said, "well I guess
there
can only be one
of us. The other's got
to go, right?"

She laughed. "It's a promise!
You'll see."

I passed by her
and went up another
flight of stairs
and got to my apartment

Got in

Seated myself at the desk

I wanted no devices
on around, no
screens

I just turned on the
light,
got a can of beer from
the fridge
and decided to write some
poetry
old style,
with the notebook
and pen

I do that sometimes

Sometimes it even
works
miraculously. There's some
magic in handwriting,
I'll never deny that.

But... not that time.
That time nothing came up
and the more
I tried to squeeze it
the more nothing came

I never force it too
much. If it doesn't
feel like playing a game
then I quit for
the moment and do
something else

I don't know how
professional that is, but
it's what I do.
For me, force doesn't solve
anything in writing

So I gave up

The shitty music
I kept overhearing from the
party didn't help either

I went back to the
fridge

opened it and took
a good look
around. There was no food,
at least nothing that could
be served on the go

But there was drink. So I took
another can of beer
and held mine in the same
hand
and went out
and went down the stairs

but alas,
she was no longer there

How strange,
now that I think about it,
she had no perfume. No smell
whatsoever.
Normally people and especially
girls would apply
some for such an event,
but not this one apparently

It smelled of
nothing
on the stairway

Well, surely she went in

The music still
blasted
and I listened for
screams but heard only
more muffled chatter

I went back into my
apartment
where I finished my beer
and then opened the
other one
and drank it too

The party ended just
when I fell
asleep. Another dreamless
night.

In the evening
when I awakened, I got out
and asked a neighbor
I met on the stairs
about last night's party

"What party?" he asked

"You mean you didn't
hear it?" I said.

"Say, are you joking now?
Cuz I don't get it. What party
are you talking about?
Here in the
building?"

"Yeah. Pretty sure it was in
that apartment yonder." I
pointed the door.

My neighbor laughed.
"Okay, buddy. Whatever you
say. But just know
that nobody lived there
for years. It's empty. The
owner's not even
in the country. Even if someone
broke in, there's no
electricity or running
water or anything."  

"Ah, well, then I guess I
was mistaken."

"You're not very sociable
with the neighbors," he said.
"Don't know much
about what's going
on in the building, do you?"

I thought about it. "Honestly,"
I said. "I don't even
know where you live."

He laughed. "Yeah, I thought
so. Well then, I'm off, gotta
pick the kiddo up.
See you around."

"Yeah," I said. "See you."

Welp, some events
come into
one's
life
only to offer a reason to
write about them.

I'm wondering if this
is one
of 'em. 

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