A Visitor 3: Revised

He started to walk around the apartment. Then, he stopped.

-What did she tell you?

-That you raped her.

-Do you believe her?

-Yes.

-It's not true. It's she who seduced me.

-She seduced you?

He sighed.

-Do you have a drink?

-Mike's Hard Lemonade.

-Mike's Hard Lemonade?

-Would you prefer real lemonade?

-Give me Mike's. Tell me, how can you believe a woman whom you barely know?

-She was pretty convincing.

-She's a good actress, isn't she?

-I suppose so.

-And if you can act, she can also be lying.

-What's your point?

-Why do you think she was bringing home a different boyfriend each night?

-I don't know.

-She was trying to make me jealous.

-I assumed that.

-She would make the loudest noises. At first, I tried to ignore it. I listened to calm, classical music, but she would just keep on going as though she were an OPERA star.

-Why didn't you just leave?

-I thought about it, but I really wanted to endure it. I wanted to prove something to myself.

-Prove what?

-That she couldn't win.

-What was she winning?

He took a swig of the hard lemonade.

-She wanted to prove that she was stronger than me.

-Was she?

-I endured one boyfriend and I thought I had won and then she would bring over another. She would drink some wine with him while flirting. Then, they would head for the bedroom.

-Were you watching them?

-I was making sure that the boyfriend was behaving properly.

-Was he?

No.

-Then I would hear noises which would start out small then burst into screaming and more screaming til I could bare it no more.

-She wanted to hurt you.

-Yes, she wanted to hurt me for wanting her.

-Why did you want her?

I took a swig of the hard lemonade.

-I don't know. I had lost her mother. She was a beautiful woman. For years I grieved her death, drinking myself away. She had left me a daughter, Sarah, as you know. During those years of drinking, she was pretty much left alone. I really wanted to die. One day, I woke up and I looked at Sarah and realized how much she looked like her mother. I styled her hair like her mother's. I started to slowly sober up. I sent her to the best schools and began to attend the functions. She had quite a voice. It was sweet listening to her and her voice calmed my nerves. I don't know what I was feeling, but I think it was pleasure, real pleasure in living.

He stopped. He finished the Mike's Hard Lemonade and then opened a new one.

-You find me disgusting.

-No. But didn't you love your wife because she was irreplaceable?

-I didn't love my wife.

-What do you mean?

-I didn't love her.

--Why the need to replace her?

-I wanted to create someone.

-Did you succeed?

-I thought I had. Sarah was a brilliant student, a dancer, a great singer, and an excellent chess player. She was also very beautiful.

-You did succeed. Why did you want her then?

-It was disgusting. I tried to deal with it for the longest time. The funny thing is, I could have had almost any woman that I wanted. Maybe it was the alcohol inside of me.

-Why are you telling me this?

 

THE END