The Old Alexei Bar

James sat on a bar stool at the old Alexei Bar and - sometimes - club. He twirled an unlit cigarette between his middle and index finger, chewing anxiously on his bottom lip. Thoughts of what he did last week…and last night swirled in a pattern of agony repeatedly in his mind. He had long hopes about his family and his image, and whether or not they would come to terms with what had happened and how inescapable it all truly was. They had known his behavior in the past, they had understood exactly the type of person he had always been. He hoped that was enough to make them believe him, at least at first.

A brute of a woman slid in the stool next to him, her presence announced more by the stench of her sweat and perfume than the noise her exposed legs made against the leather of the seat. He saw her tousled mane of red and blonde hair gleaming with glitter in the overhead light, her colorful clothes that seemed to glow underneath the counter’s lip where it was dark, and thought it best to ignore whatever she was selling.

“I know what happened to you,” She stated frankly. No introduction to who she was, not even a polite ‘hello.’ This was enough to capture his attention. James wasn’t necessarily unknown or mysterious, but there weren’t any bystanders at either event, he had made sure of it. There were no people connected to them by any means.

He glanced at her nonchalantly, attempting to sniff her out. If she knew the truth, he may not make it out of this one unscathed; possibly without even a breath to give.

“I know who you are, James. I know what happened,” She paddled on. So the little thing knew him, a lot of people did. He scoffed, “Yeah, and what was that?”

“I know about Elliot and Norma. I know that they lied to you.”

She was being vague on purpose. There weren’t hardly any bodies left inside Alexei’s, they’d all floated to the roof or patio by now. A firework show was to happen at precisely midnight and a lot of people came down to see it from, as the New York Times quoted “the best viewing spot around,” so there was no reason for her to speak like that unless she had something she needed from him and willed him to give in through curiosity and nerves.

“I don’t know who these Elliot and Norma fellas are, but you sure as hell think you know a lot,” James rebutted.

The girl leaned in to him, her body a mere few centimeters from his. She whispered gently at him, “I sure as hell know a lot more than you think, and you can sure as hell face me when I’m speaking so I know you aren’t being evasive.”

Frustrated by her demanding tone, James shifted on the stool aggressively, turning his body towards hers.

“That’s better, big boy. Now, tell me, what do you know about it?”

That question didn’t add up to anything else she had said. He thought that maybe she was trying to leech him of information to sell, perhaps trying to pin him to something different than what actually took place those nights.

“Why don’t you tell me what you know since you say you know so much. There’s no reason to hide.”

She smirked at him playfully, her expression more attuned to that of a wily cat than anything else.

“That’s the James I know so well. Never cutting corners, always being secure.”

He furrowed his eyebrows and stared at her hard, trying to gain any recollection of who this woman was. He was positive he’d never seen her before.

“And who are you, Miss?”

She laughed something fierce, “Let’s just say, I know you but you don’t know me.”

“That much is obvious, so who the fuck are you and why are you pestering me.”

She stared at him for a moment, thinking decisively over her next statement. She twirled a piece of hair around her finger and smiled, “Well, let’s just say I’m deeply connected to you.”

“Cut the vagueness, tell me your deal,” James demanded, anger poking through in place of the gaps in his knowledge.

“Fine,” Her face fell, bemused at him avoiding her game, “I’m Sheila Posner, a friend of Eustice.”

The gears began to turn in James’s head, Eustice was an old buddy of his. One day he went out and never came back. That’s part of why James got involved like he did.

“What d’you want?” He inquired, not intending to get roped in any further. He did his business, he had shit to do, and he had no place on his list to add anything more.

“Such a gnarly tone for someone in your position. Though, I suppose it’s justifiable,” Sheila took a long breath, “I have reparations to pay for Eustice. I need your help to do it.”

Precisely what he wanted to avoid: more shit on his list. The thought of turning her away seemed all too tempting, but the look of fear in her eyes made him indecisive. What could she be afraid of? What did she have to repay and to whom? Eustice was gone, forever, and that was a fact anyone who was close to him would know, so it couldn’t have been him she was after. It wasn’t in his nature to help, but he could tell she wasn’t honest in her tough act from earlier, and probably didn’t know anyone else who could help.

“What do you need help with?”

“Agree and then I’ll tell you,” Sheila said firmly.

“If you know me, then you know that isn’t how I roll with people I don’t know. So tell me what you need me for, or I’m walking out of here.” Sheila gripped her hands together so tight her knuckles turned a pale off-white color. She broke eye contact for the first time since she gained it from James by hanging her head low. Minutes ticked by while she sat reflecting. James didn’t dare budge, he gave her due patience.

“I need you to deliver me to Norma’s sister’s house and then take me home. It has the next step for me to follow. I can’t get there by myself.”

Sheila released a shaky breath at the confession, but James only grew more perplexed. What business could she possibly have there? Nobody knew Norma even had a sister - well, except for him and Eustice.

“Fine.”

She beamed at his agreement, bouncing on the stool like a giddy child.

“Thank you sir, I’ll meet you here tomorrow and we’ll go at midnight.”

Sheila extended a hand forward, but James declined it, “No need to shake on this business. I’d rather keep it locked down under with the rest of it.” She nodded along, and scampered away into the crowd. James shook his head and finally lit his cigarette.

~

The next night rolled around like a dry leaf on concrete. James stood in a dimly lit corner, waiting for Sheila’s arrival. He wanted to see what she’d do if he didn’t reveal himself on time. If she’d flip her lid, if she’d leave, if she’d reveal anything more about herself. Her case was fine enough, but she didn’t prove much by way of being trustworthy. He didn’t really know why he had agreed to aid her, yet some piece of him felt a pull towards it, it demanded him to.

Minutes ticked by and she hadn’t shown. James felt a little impatient at the sentiment of him doing her a favor and her being late. He peered around the room, wondering if she sat somewhere different than before. Just as he craned his neck to the left of him, a voice nearly startled a jump from him.

“Hi-ya James. Been here long?” Sheila.

“Don’t sneak up on an armed man like that,” He quietly threatened, annoyed at her entrance and how it foiled his plan.

“Armed? What were you gonna pop me one in the dome for startling you?” She laughed at him. The little thing had balls, he’d admit that. Most people didn’t.

“Let’s just go.”

From the second they were out the door, Sheila babbled incoherent words to herself. Her feline-esque demeanor gave way to her tough-guy act yet again, and James felt a strike of worry waft over him like cool wind.

“So are you gonna tell me what this is about?” He asked, feeling uncomfortable in her presence as the car veered onto the road.

“I thought you didn’t need information,” She stated simply.

James nodded. She had a point, he never preferred to have information about anything he did; a preparation technique for busy-bodied policemen.

“What I will say is that your conscience should be wiped clean after this.”

That troubled him even more. Eustice may be gone, Norma and Elliot may be gone with a guarantee, but how did she play into any of this?

“What d’you say that for?”

Sheila lowered the overhanging mirror and wiped at her lips, giving a moment for him to stew in his emotions. She flipped the mirror back up and stared ahead at the road. After a minute, she spoke, “It’s reparations for both of us. Me to Eustice, you to Norma and Elliot.”

He peered at her, thinking about what she had said. Norma’s sister was long cold, simply bones and worms by now. She passed away a long time ago - cancer. Her house was still run by her daughter, who was barely reaching adulthood by now. Her daughter, Alessandria, had been taken care of by Norma and Elliot throughout the years. Though both are with Norma’s sister, James made sure she was still taken care of. It felt right for him to be the one taking up the job for her; he owed it to both of his closest partners.

“How so?”

“Mr. Questions tonight, are you?” Sheila slumped down in the seat, “You will know someday. Just not right now.”

With a hurried jerk, James pulled the car over and parked it. He turned to Sheila and stared at her intensely, “I’m tired of this mysterious act. What the fuck are you trying to get me into?”

Sheila shifted her frame to match his, “I’m not getting you into anything. I’m helping you more than myself. So sit back and drive. We’re nearly there.”

The ice in her eyes compelled him to do so, but he restrained against it.

“No sweetheart, I don’t know you enough to trust that. Tell me or else I’m knocking your body off here and driving back home.”

Sheila stood his testing gaze with one of greater power, though the fear returned from the night before.

“Please James, just drive. I’ll tell you on the way,” She pleaded, loosening her resolve.

James merged back onto the road, but watched her more intently through his peripherals, “Start talkin’.”

“As I said before, the key for me to move on is at Norma’s sister’s house. It’s information I need.”

“Does Alessandria know you’re stopping by?”

“Alessandria has been expecting me for quite a while.”

James slowed to a crawl and stopped in front of the house. He didn’t park, nor did he look at Sheila. Her vagueness won him over as a sudden rush of tiredness took over him, overpowering his suspicion. He’d check up on Aless tomorrow. She unlocked the door but didn’t open it just yet.

“Thank you James, really. You’ll find this deed has brought you great things.”

Before he could even look at her completely, she was gone. Suddenly, like a shadow in the dark. He drove home in silence, refusing the radio. Something about him felt off. The tiredness grew as he neared his house, and weighed him down as he climbed the stairs to his door. Normally a short climb, the stairs seemed to extend distantly and widely, the stairs steep and spaced unnaturally far apart. The moment his head hit the pillow, he was unconscious.

Visions of blinding lights and gunfire stirred him in his slumber. He saw Norma’s face, crying out to him. He reached for her, but there was nothing but air to the touch.

“I’m sorry James!” She screamed as tears streamed down her face, falling in heavy drops on the cold dirt. The earth weighed her down, swallowing the entirety of who she was. Her body sank low until it deteriorated into nothingness, leaving a dusty imprint behind in her wake.

“I’ll miss you,” Elliot said from the backside of James, unnerved at his own demise; just as he always was in tough situations. James whirled around to watch his best friend sink away from him. His death was quicker, quieter. He died with dignity and grace as the earth swallowed him whole. A death fit for the person that he was.

James tossed and turned on his bed, tearing the sheets up from the corners, dragging them into him with aggression. Sweat beaded atop his barren skin, rivulets dampening the naked mattress.

Sheila appeared next to the graveyard, looking serene as ever. Her figure was stiff and still as she stared at the ground below her. James watched her stand there, frozen, shackled at her mystique. She reached into a pocket he didn’t know she had, and pulled out a singular match. She struck it against her front tooth and dropped it when it caught flame. She watched it burn on the dry ground, and closed her eyes as it went out.

“All for you my dearest children, a cry, a pain, a march in the rain. My breath devotes itself to you. I am your victor, you are mine. My lungs are yours. You have my body, my soul, and I give it to you with purity. I stomp your deaths with the greed of life. James is mine now, and I shall witness untempered. I defend and I destroy. Here you have my deepest ploy. Thank the sands, the sun, the moon. You have my gratitude, my undying wish. Here I am, your lowly vessel.”

Sheila chanted the same string of words over and over again until James felt like his ears were bleeding. An enormous ring of a bell invoked the fabric to split and the sheets fall in shreds around James’s bed. His head flew to one side and Sheila was suddenly beside him, laying on her side, her hand caressing his chest. His eyes were wide and he couldn’t move.

“My dear James, what have you done?” She smiled warmly at him, smudging sweat around his skin in shapes he couldn’t quite decipher.

“You’ve changed the course of everyone’s lives around you. You’ve seen too much and for that I give my deepest condolences, but I must admit that I am grateful for it. Eustice thanks you for your noble sacrifice.”

His voice got caught in his throat and his vocal chords burned like acid when he tried to speak.

“Shh, it’ll all be okay soon.” Sheila leaned over and placed a soft kiss on his lips. Meanwhile, sheets slinked silently up the sides of the bed, raveling around his limbs until the feeling drained from each one. He felt the tightening of his airway at last, and then he heard the voice he never thought he’d hear again.

“Thank you my dear friend, my daughter will be so grateful that you brought me back to her,” Eustice spoke through a smile, patting James on the hand kindly.

He met his eyes behind Sheila, “Norma and Elliot didn’t want to lie to you about me, but they gave themselves up for this. They fought so bravely against me, but they didn’t really have a choice when I showed them the oath you made to protect Aless. It’s really too bad that you didn’t read the fine print.”

James thought back on this oath. He made it in blood, vowing to be the sole responsibility of Aless should anything happen to her mother or guardians. Eustice was gone by that point, there was no possible way for him to even know.

“I know what you’re thinking, how am I here before you right now,” He chuckled almost mockingly, “You see, it was because of you that I died. I met Sheila down under, and she told me that I could have my life back if I were to take yours. She found Elliot and Norma, coerced them into believing that I was alive and that I needed you to make this oath under the impression that you told me you would. They convinced you to make it, thinking they were helping me while I was gaining safety in my refuge. They made an oath to Sheila to do this, they just didn’t know that they would die if they told you the truth behind their conviction.”

James felt his body give itself to him again and fought against the strips of fabric.

“Fighting can’t save you this time, old friend, you aren’t going to live. Sheila has given you the sacred blessing already.”

The fabric around his neck tightened and James’s vision began to blur. Eustice’s figure was nothing more than a shaky outline and Sheila disappeared out of his peripheral vision altogether.

“I’ll have Aless send her condolences.”

With one final surge of attack, James fell limp against the mattress, fabric slipping away into a pile on the floor like nothing had happened. The room, now empty, was silent and cold as his body disintegrated into the darkness of the afterlife.

A note floated down onto the space where James once was, written in blood, it read of apology to his family, and held admittance for everything he has done over the years. The disappearances of Norma and Elliot belonged to him now. One final oath to end the cycle, the oath of ownership.