Thursday, December 9, 2010

post 6

When Hans awoke, the world was covered in ice. Cold, wet, unforgiving ice. The ice mirrored the feelings inside of Hans. Königin was not here to warm him. Hans looked down at his hands; they were bright red from the cold. As red as her blood the night he killed her... It had all happened so quickly: Leona crying, his hand striking her just as he had struck Königin, Leona's scream as she fell, all crowded inside his head. The Ultimate Nightmare. Hans blinked. Something lay in the street. Something small and flat. Hans picked it up and examined it. A sock?
Hans looked up the street to where an overweight man was walking slowly down the street, looking at the ground and muttering to himself. "I know I dropped it somewhere..." The man glanced up and, for a brief moment, the eyes of the two men locked. Then the moment passed and the little man did what most everyone did when they saw Hans: he ran away. Hans moved to chase him, but slipped and fell. As Hans sat up, he tasted blood. Tears welled up and began to fall. They mixed with blood from the cut lip and dripped bright red onto the snow.
A rough touch on his face made Hans open his eyes. There stood Königin licking away the blood and tears and whimpering softly. Hans could only wrap his arms around her neck and hold her. Slowly, the warmth from Königin's fur faded the cold, redness of Hans's hands.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Post 5

Hans stood up slowly. He was alone. The rain had soaked him through and the cold had touched him much deeper than the goose bumps on his skin showed. Königin was gone. He looked around the rain soaked streets and realized how hungry he was. Slowly, mechanically, his muscles moved his body off to find food. As he wandered past a restaurant, he watched a man with no pants on wander inside. What a fool. That happy smile on his face embodied all that Hans had found to be naive and childish in the world. He thought he had chance. He thought people would listen to him. The world never listened to anyone who didn't have several million dollars and an army behind them. Hans- Georg was proof of that. All those years, scraping and working his fingers to the bone had been repaid with nothing. He had had no choice. His theivry had been his only choice. Leona had changed that though. Leona... Meine Königin...

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Post 4

It was pouring rain. Again. The man with the eye patch had taken refuge under one of the awnings of the church. The shadow hid the part of his face that his hair had left free. The dog sat next to him, never barking, never trying to run away. A woman and her child ran by in the rain. The child saw the dog and broke away from her mother, wanting to pet her.
“April!! Where do you think you’re going?”
The mother sounded frightened when she saw the man standing next to his dog. His face did not convey a very safe feeling. The man looked down at the child and said something to her. The girl smiled and nodded.
“APRIL!!!!!”
The girl turned back and ran to her mother. The man and the dog both watched her go. At the end of the street, the little girl turned around and waved. Then she shouted:
“Goodbye, Hans!!”
Then they were gone. Hans stared after them and, for a moment, it seemed that tears rose in his eyes. Then he stepped forward into the pouring torrents of rain. And for the first time since he had come to Watershed heights, Hans- Georg threw back his head and laughed. He laughed at the rain, at the sky, at the church, at people who passed by on the other side of the street, and (though no one knew this) he laughed at himself in all his loneliness. Then suddenly he stopped laughing and fell to the ground sobbing. He pounded the ground until his hands bled. Königin began to lick at the blood and Hans struck out, hitting her in the head. Königin fell with a howl. Hans- Georg froze, looking at the dog.
“Nein… Nein, Leibshön. “
The dog looked at him. Then turned and ran away, leaving Hans on his knees, alone.
“Leona…”

Monday, September 13, 2010

post 3

Night falls quickly over Watershed Heights; almost as though it wants to get its job done and move on. Nobody wants to spend much time in Watershed Heights; sometimes not even the people who live here.
And on this particular night, I certainly didn’t want to be here. The rain was pouring and my jacket had too many holes to offer any real protection. Someone had parked a limo out behind the Vietnamese restaurant where I had spent the last hour looking for food. Vietnamese food was one of the few good things about being in America. Still, I missed Germany...
Königin had gone off to find herself food and I missed her. She was the only thing keeping me going now… now that Leona was gone. Gone. Forever. Königin was my last hold on her memory. Ever since that night she showed up, the night after Leona fell down the stairs… My fault. Very few things hurt as deeply as knowing that you killed the one you loved.
A trash can fell over with crash.
“Königin?”
My only response was a low chuckle. Then with another crash, Leeroy Jenkins ran off into the night.
Leeroy was a strange sight, running around with his clothes off. What allows a man to do that? Only someone with nothing to hide would do anything so free. I placed my hand on my side and felt the scar underneath. Lucky Leeroy. Anyone who felt bad for him was an idiot. That kind of freedom should only be envied.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

post 2

She looked like a mannequin. Her heels were too high and she wore too much eye makeup. Honestly though I felt bad for her. Women who did that usually felt insecure about themselves. The look of pure disgust she gave me made me smile though. My appearance was not so savory as perhaps it once was. Her eyes took in me and Königin in one horrified glance. Then she turned and went inside. It was her mother’s house, I think. A few moments later, raised voices came from inside the apartments. I crept to the window and looked in. Frauline Corbie was seated in her rocking chair with her daughter standing above her, looking furious. Then the daughter turned on her heel and left. I crept back around to the front of the house. The daughter stood there, by her car, crying her eyes out. I approached softly.
“Entschuldigung, Frauline.”
She turned quickly, wiping tears from her eyes. The tears were replaced by an accusing look.
“What do you want?”
“Perhaps I can help?”
“You? Help me? It is because of people like you that the world has problems.”
“Perhaps, Frauline, you are too worried about the world’s problems about which you can do nothing. Perhaps you are not concerned enough about those problems which you can solve.”
For a moment, a thousand emotions stormed behind her eyes. Then she got in her car and drove away.
Königin nuzzled up against my hand. I smiled down at her.
“Danke, Leibshön.”

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

post 1

It was a dark and stormy night. The dark of the street moved around the corners of the houses. Rats scurried, dogs barked, and cats howled in the allies. 2nd chances strip club shook with music and drunken laughter. In the deepest shadows among the doorways, a deeper shadow moved. A man stood, watching the night club across the street. His face was difficult to read; a mixture of incredible sadness and a dark, ironic humor. His hair was dark and disheveled, and hung long to his shoulders. An eyepatch covered his right eye and a scar ran across his left cheek. His beard was grey and dirty, his eye a grey-blue and so lonely in its expression, that one could scarcely bare to look at it for long. His clothes were old and worn with no spark of style or color about them, save for plain gold wedding band on his left ring finger. He stood for a moment then whistled through his teeth. A large, white wolf appeared from the shadows and stood staring the man in the eye. The wolf was beautiful: clear, blue eyes and a pure white coat. When he saw her, the man's expression became something that might almost have been a smile. Then, the look was gone and his eye turned to look at the noisy night club across the street. Hans-Georg spoke softly to his only friend in the world: "Kommst du Königin. Wir seid Hause gehen."