Matthew sat on a bench. He was alone and cried. He knew that sitting still for too long in the streets of Twilight was a dumb idea. That being in motion was the best way of evading getting mugged. But he frankly didn't give a damn. He just wanted to cry until he died of dehydration or... anything else, really.
He was dressed in black exept for the tie that was dark-blue with black stripes. Appropriate for a funeral. What wasn't appropriate was blowing your nose in your speech to said funeral. Also, not very confortable when you considdered the kind of paper it was written on.
Matt looked miserabel. And the blue neon light that illuminated the street made him look even sadder.
"Hey, you. HEY!"
Matt stopped sobbing and looked up. He couldn't for sure say that the man who looked at him with annoyance was homeless, but his dirty jacket and his buggy that was filled up with anything BUT a baby kinda made him jump to that conclusion.
"Buddy, you sitting on my bench." The homeless guy said. He spoke with a thick accent of some sort, had light brown skin and he smelled.
"Sorry, just..." Matt dried his eyes and nose with his sleeve. "Just give me a second. I had a bad day."
"YOU had a bad day? HA!" The homeless guy said with harm in his voice. "You tell me you had a bad day? I stink and live on a bench! How could your da-"
"I made an ass out of myself at my wife's funeral. And she was lesbian."
"Ouch." The homeless guy sat on the bench next to Matt. "Okay, you win." He then fetched a bottle from his buggy. "Need a drink?"
"Dear god, YES!" Matt grabbed the bottle and took a swig. "God, I needed that. Thanks... um..."
"Ismael."
"Right... Thanks..." Matt sniffed. And then, he went on crying. The kind of crying a little kid makes when they fell and hurt their knee.
"Easy, buddy. Easy." Ismael padded Matt on the shoulder. "Is it really that bad?"
Matt dried his eyes and nose once more in his dirty sleeve. "Oh, I wouldn't bother you with the details..."
"Please do." Ismael said. "Not like I'm a busy man. You telling me your wife was gay? How does that work?"
Matt sighed. "... Well... Me and Julia, we knew each other since kindergarten. I guess I was in love with her since second grade. Or as much in love as you can be when you are just a kid. But I never had the guts to tell her. But we were best pals. But then... Then, one day, when we were 19... She tells me two things. First of all, that she was... that she was in love with someone... and... and that she liked women. Meaning... Meaning that I would never have a change."
"So..."
"So she asks me for a favour. A really big one." Matt took another sip from the bottle with the funny-tasting liquor. "She tells me... she tells me that her parents are suspicious. And that she doubts that they would be... be... be nice about it. So she wants me to be her pretend boyfriend."
"Ouch."
"Eventually... we got married. And... And we got two kids. But..." Big tears fell from Matt's eyes. "But it was all pretend. Whenever she... she could, she went to see that... that woman she was... was in... that she... really loved."
"Ouch."
"But... I was okay with it. I didn't mind. I had a family. I didn't have her love, but her... companionship, I guess? Something like that. She told me that I could have my... my own... affairs, I guess. But... But I just couldn't because..."
"Take another sip, buddy."
Matt did as he was told. "And now... now, I know that... that it meant NOTHING to her. I gave her my best years, and it meant NOTHING to her. Because... Because... that woman... the one Julia REALLY loved? She died."
"And then?"
"...." Mat sighed. "I didn't expect anything romantic, naturally. I just hoped... hoped that we could be there for each other. Not love, but... but companionship. We had lived together, raised our children together. All those years... That should mean something, right? Do you..." Matt checked the bottle. It was empty. "You understand?"
"I think I do."
"But it meant NOTHING to her!" Matt threw the bottle to at the empty road. "Absolutely NOTHING! Not even 24 hours after we found out that... that the... other woman had died..." Matt's breathing got heavier. He wasn't drunk. Just frustrated. "I found her... Julia... Julia lied in the bed... lifeless. I checked her pulse, and she was cold as ice. There was a letter at the bed table. It said... said..." To Ismael's shock, Matt started to laugh. "It said; Please tell no one that I took poison. Tell them it was a heart attack. The truth is too embarrassing."
"That woman..." Ismael asked. "The one you wife had an affair with... her name was Jacqueline, right."
"Yeah... Yeah, that was her name... I'm not even sure why I'm telling you all this..."
"That I can explain." Ismael stood up and helped Matt lie down on the bench. He no longer spoke with an accent. "You see, that bottle I gave you was not alcohol. It was truth serum, mixed with some slow working sleeping potion as well."
"Really?" Matt yawned. His arms were dangling as he lied on the bench. "How interesting."
"Yep, and I can guarantee you that you won't remember anything about our chat when you wake up. But I will ask you two favours that I know you won't be able to deny me when you wake up."
"What's that?" Matt was close at falling asleep.
"Whatever she demanded you to do after her death, whatever last wishes she had... ignore it. You don't owe her anything"
"Yes, sir..." Then, Matt fell asleep. And it seemed like he had nice dreams.
Ismael whistled by the use of two fingers, and Twilight's only taxi arrived.
"Greg, bring this poor bugger home, he had a long night." The pretender hobo said to the goblin who was the chauffeur. The two of them got the sleeping widower inside the old-looking vertical. "Lock yourself into his house, and keep an eye on him. But make sure to leave right before he wakes up."
"And what you do?" Greg asked as he turned on the engine.
Cat took off his disguise. "I'm going to do something Matty here should have done YEARS ago...”
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