One Continued

"Wow. Well, this was fun. Thanks." My sarcastic comment slid right off him, and with his eyes still trained on whatever was going on outside, he quickly gathered himself and ran out of the restaurant. I hadn't even sat down. He hadn't yet paid for his ice tea.

I fiddle around in my purse until I find my phone. My phone had been full battery two minutes ago but now wouldn't turn on. I felt my stomach sink. This was some weird shit.

"No... no!" How was I supposed to call Amanda? I bought a car so that I wouldn't have to pay for a taxi. I was the one who paid the insurance. She only chipped in on gas sometimes. I frowned at myself in the black screen's reflection. The powers that be really didn't want to work for me. I should have just stayed home.

"God damn it, Gwen." I referred to myself in the third person. It's something I do often. Mostly just as a way to proclaim how stupid I am. I stood up and made my way outside. I went up to the front desk and paid for Zeke's drink. I had literally just arrived and now I was done? Was I going to go home so soon? You know I have to think if there was just something wrong with me. I can respect that I was like a 6 and Zeke was definitely at least an 8, but it was just a stupid date. Did he run off because of me? I was tired of my thoughts.

I asked the waiter if I could make a phone call. I first tried Amanda, but she didn't pick up. I called for a taxi and then waited by the road for it to come. I was in my own world, just a little cold in my skirt. I was just thinking of how I could explain this to Amanda without hurting her feelings when some yelling caught my attention. I looked back towards the sound, an alley behind the restaurant. I took a few steps to the right until I could see what was going on.

There was a gang of guys beating someone up.

My first instinct was to get out of sight so that I didn't have to get involved, but something inside of me (the stupid part) (which is all the parts) told me to walk closer. I saw that the one guy wasn't being pummelled to death and that in fact, he was... beating up four guys at the same time. The more steps I took, the more I realized that it was fucking Zeke who was beating up the guys, and he was... pretty violent.

I wasn't sure if I should call the police for Zeke, or for the poor guys getting the beating. If I thought Zeke's skin was surreal, his fighting was akin to dancing. Except, you know, a little bloodier.

I should have turned away, or maybe just closed my eyes, or anything else. There were so many decisions I could have made which would have led to me not seeing what I was about to see.

But it was too late.

Zeke grabbed one of the thugs by the head and proceeding to stare him in the eyes. The man started screaming, and I watched in horror as his eyes melted out of his skull. They didn't really melt like wax, they kind of just became water. Zeke's eyes were glowing, and not the pretty, 'oh I'm pregnant' glowing, but the magical, 'not supposed to exist' type. I saw the other men try to run for their lives, scrambled to their feet, but each got picked off one by one. I saw their brains drip out from their eye socket.

I turned around and vomited.

I was ugly crying, shaking, and my mascara was smudged all over. I must have looked as terrified as I was feeling, but I could not find it within me to be self-conscious about my appearance when Zeke dropped the last man and looked towards the sound of retching. The icy feeling in my pelvis was fear, cold and hot, and I didn't know where to run or how to scream. I don't understand what compelled me to just stand there and wait for him to notice me. The taxi wasn't due for another two minutes at least, and considering the traffic, I had no hopes of a getaway vehicle.

"Oh geez, you saw that huh." He was oddly nonchalant for someone who had just magically killed four people. Me on the other hand, my head was swimming, and I felt like I had entered the twilight zone. This can't possibly be reality- I must be dreaming.

"That's alright, easy fix-" I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out. Zeke walked up to me and touched my forehead, almost like a tender caress. It was like I wanted to run, but I didn't feel like I was allowed to. My legs were trembling, until my knees gave out. He caught me and helped stand up straight.

"Are you okay?" I felt something come back to me, my ability to breathe maybe. It was like a switch went off in him because suddenly he was this super nice guy.

"Am I okay? You just killed four people. Why were your eyes glowing? Are you going to kill me?" Zeke's expression went from concerned, to confused, to panicked.

"You remember?"

"What- what do mean, I remember?" I was a jumble of emotions. I debated running and screaming. I also wondered if maybe I should just swing my purse at him. Swing purse, run, scream, and then call police sounded like a good idea.

"It didn't work? Oh, fuck."

"What the fuck! What the fuck? What the fuck!" I started hitting him with my purse. The intention to run was still there, but now I was so confused, I found myself content with just hitting him and cussing him out.

"This is not what it looks like." Not what it looks like?

"So, you didn't just kill four people? Oh my God, are you going to kill me next? Amanda set me up with a psycho killer. Oh, my God. Oh, fuck me-" With one hand he covered my mouth, and with the other, he dragged me back into the alley, past the bodies, behind the dumpsters, and out of sight from the road and any taxi that would come.

I think I was just screaming into his hand at this point. I also think I tried to bite him. I was kind of in a daze.

"This doesn't make any sense. This doesn't make any sense. How did I fuck up this badly? What went wrong? What do I even do now?" He was mumbling under his breath; except he was right in my ear and I heard clearly.

"You annoying human piece of garbage, why don't you work?" He started shaking me as if to get me to work. Tears streamed down my face. I could taste them in my mouth.

"Can you stop with the screaming already? I'm not going to kill you. Those guys were demons, okay? As in, bad guys. That makes me the good guy. Chill out." He let me go, and I fell. I wanted to scream, but I felt numb. I wanted to run but I didn't think I could stand. I wondered if this was how I die.

Zeke was panicking. I'm assuming that's his real name. He was pacing back and forth, running his hands through his hair. I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that he killed four people with his eyes. His fucking eyes. I mean maybe he didn't use his eyes to kill them but his eyes glowed. I thought I didn't believe in shit like this. I guess it's hard to explain rationally what I saw. What does he mean by demons? Actual demons? As in, hell and the devil? Like Satan? Fuck man, I'm not religious.

Maybe he's one of those schizophrenics that think people are demons. I think I read that somewhere. I fully respect that schizophrenia is a serious mental illness, but that would not explain the glowing eyes. Or maybe I was just hallucinating. There had to be some logical explanation.

Zeke looked over and me again, and shoved his hand on my hand. He looked into my eyes intently, waiting for... something, but nothing happened. I starred back, frightened, confused- tired. I didn't dare look at the bodies just a couple of feet away from me. Why was it so difficult to just run away?

"Why won't you forget?" He muttered under his breath, gazing at me with the same bewilderment I was at him. Except, minus the crippling fear.

"What?" I whispered. He frowned. He grabbed my hands and pulled me up to stand. My legs shook like it was the first fucking time I ever used them.

"You should go home, your taxis here." He twirled me around and pushed me towards the road, where you could hear the taxi approaching. I wanted to ask questions- or maybe I just wanted to nap where I stood- but I did neither. I didn't move a muscle. Somehow, it felt like I shouldn't.

"Go. Home." The finality in his tone was obvious and threatening. I tripped over my feet on my way to the taxi. I didn't look behind me.