What a Douchebag

You’d really think that someone who had been reborn three times now, would have his life back together.  After all, he’d had several lives to work things out.  But somehow, things always seemed to crash and burn, leaving him feeling lost.

He had worked a few magic shows here and there, nothing special like he had done back with Jay and Vernon, or even back in his days of being in a cirus, but the memories of repeating the charade without his old crush or friends year after year as if he was stuck in a loop was painful.  He did a few tarot readings in bars and scrapped together enough cash to pay his bills but he still couldn’t stop feeling himself sinking into a mindless depression.

The only time he was actually happy was on the rare nights that he snuck into Fates house to sleep on her couch.  She didn’t seem to mind, or if she did, she didn’t show any signs, but he still couldn’t bring himself to continue to break in.

So he vanished for awhile.  He hopped on the first bus that came and ended up taking a vacation in New Mexico, living in a hotel in a desert and eating quesedillas and burritos for breakfast and dinner, trying to collect his thoughts.  And thats where he went while he was gone and I don’t wanna hear any arguements about it.

When he got back, he stepped off the bus stretching, and still feeling sandy from the trip, so he walked into the first department store to grab a quick change of clothes.  

If he hadn’t followed her, he might have been trapped like the others, screaming and dying.  But as luck, or maybe even Fate had it, he thought he saw Fate for a moment, going to chase after her, wanting to talk to her again after being so long, and considering she was probably his only friend.  But as she turned around away from him, he realized that her hair was brunette instead of Fate’s beautiful golden blonde.  Her hair color was practically her trademark, so it couldn’t possibly be her and he paused, slightly disappointed.  

But he had followed her to the doors already, and as the building burst into flames, he dodged out of it, taking off his jacket that had caught aflame before it had a chance to burn him and tossing it down an ally where it laid on the ground smoldering.

That was all it took to snap him into reality.  He may have the ability to revive himself, but if he happened to accidentally die, his life was over.  Like down in the basement when he had been shot, every day he lived a life as a he-witch was a gamble with his life.  And he couldn’t be positive that Fate would bring him back a second time.  

He sold his house and all the memories that he would never remember in it.  He had long given up on his memories coming back and there was no use clinging to the forgotten past any longer.  He packed away all his magician things and bought a small antique shop from an elderly couple moving to Hawaii for retirement.  He was old enough to know first hand most of the things in there, able to easily tell an objects value or if it was a fake within a few seconds of looking at it and every time he walked down an isle it was like literally walking down memory lane.

The antique store was ironically renamed “Magic of the Past” and had an iron spiral staircase in the back that lead to moderate sized apartment above the store where he could live.  It was basically a one bedroom with a bathroom that was big but more narrow than wide because of the cramped quarters that it was built in.  It had a kitchen as soon as you stepped up from the stairs, but the rest was open space, the kitchen tile turning into hardwood floor.  He set up his bed in a corner, and then used two large bookcases to close off his bedroom from the living room where there was just enough room to fit his couch, coffee table and tv.

Leaning against the window that looked down at the street outside, he looked around the apartment.  It was all he needed, filled with only his most personal belonging and nessecities but it still felt empty.  He was the only thing living in this ancient store and it was still lonely.  

He thought about getting a cat or a dog, but once again, as luck may have it, while he was coming home from the grocery store one day he heard something rumaging and clattering through the trash cans in the ally and went to investigate, finding a small black fox pup searching for food.  Grinning as he looked around, he picked it up and carried it inside, making it a ham sandwhich as he tried to think of a name.

Something about his turn of luck with his new pet sparked the memory of the brunette woman before the fire, and gave him the urge to see Fate, the need to see her and make sure she was ok for some reason.  But when he broke into her house this time, he found it empty and her book laid discarded on the table, something that she never left the house before.  Unease settled in his stomach as he left her house, heading back home and trying to not worry about the Greek woman.