Expanded Horizons: Beyond the Blue

Greener Pastures: Chapter One

 Karl sat solemnly at the bar, twisting his old wedding ring without a care in the world. Every night, he thought of what he did wrong. Not once did he ever think of anything.

He tried finding her, but to no avail. His coworkers didn't care to help, and he began to suspect they knew what happened. He overheard talk of her running off with one of the artists his label represented, someone who knew what to say to a woman and sweep her off her feet. Karl heard a name a few times and decided if he ever saw the man, he'd kill him. Maybe that was why no one helped him.

Karl sighed bitterly and motioned for the bartender to bring him another drink. Tonight wasn't a night for socializing, but a night to dull the pain in his heart by drowning his senses in bourbon. The bartender, whom he had known for years, brought him yet another drink and stood close while Karl dove in.

"You know it probably isn't how it seems," he said.

"Sorry Hernando, but I've put the pieces together. No raising any extra hope for me any more."

"Come on, you've always been a chipper fella, man. It's just who you are-"

"Who I was," Karl cut him off.

"Why would she just up and leave you for some two-bit music boy, eh? You think about that?"

"Constantly," Karl replied with a dark look in his eyes. "Money, fame, a way with words I never had. Some lowlife scumbag knocked out my knees and nabbed my damn wife while I was down."

"You loved her," Hernando said in a reassuring tone. "She knew that."

"She used that," Karl said. Tears began to well up in his eyes. "She knew exactly what to do to get what she wanted, didn't she?"

"You're giving her traits you got no reason to believe in," Hernando said. "I saw you two together, she loved you! The way she looked at you, the way she held onto you, the way she talked to you-"

"Fake, fake, fake, all of it!" Karl nearly shouted. "How could she do this to me, man? The others, they- they saw her leaving with the guy the day she went missing. She CHOSE to go with him, man. Didn't say a word to me..."

"Karl," Hernando tried to console. "Karl, you gotta have faith, man."

"In what? The woman who up and ditched me for some punk drummer?" Karl snorted. "Right, like that makes sense. I know what I know, I know what I don't know."

"And that would be?"

"I know she left me. I know she didn't say anything. I know everyone says she was hanging off that twat the way she used to hang off me." Karl shook his head angrily. "I don't know why she didn't talk to me. I don't know what she wants from me or him. I don't know what I'm supposed to do now."

"You're young, man. You'll meet someone new-"

"You think I want to?" Karl asked incredulously. "You think I want to go through this again? That I like the pain in my chest right now? That I like being so damn angry I could rip that punk boy's eyes out of their sockets?"

"Easy, man," Hernando said.

"Nah, man. I don't like it. And I am not going to be so easy in the future. Not for anyone." Karl looked up at his confidant with red eyes and tears spread across his face. "I'm not gonna go looking for her, I know she'd get a kick out of that. But if I ever see that boy..."

"I know."

"And if I see her... I don't know. I don't know what I'll do. I just hope I stop loving her enough by then to do whatever I need to." He looked at his finger and slowly removed the ring and set it in his pocket.

"You'll move on, man. Enough that you'll think back to this and wonder what you even meant." Hernando slid another drink over. "This one's on the house. But after this, please, go home and get some rest."

"I'll... I'll be alright."

Hernando stepped away to serve other customers and Karl finished his drink so he could start on his house-provided beverage. Just as he started sipping away, a young lady in maybe her mid-twenties rolled up next to him in search of the bartender.

"Hey!" she called, though she went unheard. "Ugh."

"Busy night," Karl said in a hollow tone.

"I've been trying for a drink for like ten minutes," she said. "Can't get any service here."

Karl looked toward Hernando, busy with his more regular patrons from Karl's office, then back to the young lady next to him. She reminded him a little of his wife; long, straight black hair, with a very angular jaw and soft lips. Deep-set, amber eyes like a gift from the Behemoth itself, surrounded by an army of tiny freckles.

"You want some?" he asked, offering his drink up.

The lady looked at him, then to the glass, then back to him. She could see he had already drank from the glass himself, and he didn't seem to be in the mood to socialize much. In recognition of his spur-of-the-moment choice to share, she had her own choice to indulge in his hospitality.

"Thanks," she said, taking the drink. "What's got you out here tonight? You don't seem to be socializing with your buddies."

"Buddies?"

"You all have the same outfit, don't you work together?"

"Ha," Karl laughed half-heartedly. "I forgot, the dress code makes it obvious, doesn't it?"

"So. Not with them tonight?"

"No. Things have... changed, in the office. For me, at least."

"Sounds heavy," the lady said before taking a sip. "Tough times at work?"

"Partly."

"I feel you. I came here with my girls to get some release from my own problems, but they all cancelled on me last second after I got here."

"Fair-weather," Karl replied.

"They have their own lives to live, their own partners. But that's not me."

"Heh, I hear that." Karl watched as the lady finished the drink he gave her. "Better to stay on your own."

"Yeah," the lady said. She looked Karl over again. "Though... I guess some company every now and again is nice."

"It can be," Karl said.

He looked up into her eyes and the two shared a brief gaze. There wasn't a spark or anything, no hint of held breath. There was only the clear moment of recognition; she wanted something. And Karl was in a position to give it.

"Why don't we get out of here?" he proposed.

The lady smiled and gave him her hand, and he led her out of the bar and through the town. His wife, ex, whatever he would call her, slipped from his mind for the first time in quite some time as he approached a slippery slope he would never be able to climb back up. But that didn't matter to him. Not any more.