Walk Through the Park

Zoongash trudged along through the downpour. There was something about the rain that calmed Zoongash's nerves.It was as if the rain washed away all of his problems, allowing him to for a brief moment to put his violent past beihind him. Zoongash decided to cut through the park on his way back, deciding to avoid the splashing cars that roared by. He was half way through when he noticed something underneath the slide. At first he couldn't decipher what the big object was until it suddenly moved. He then realized it was actually a women huddled under the slide, trying to find some shelter from the torrential rains that came down around her. "Maybe I should help," thought Zoongash. It was not often that Zoongash considered acting so compassionately, but it was something about the rain that seemed to change the way Zoongash acted. In the end his bitter cold-heart won out and he merely waved his hand in the direction of the slide and walked away. All the way back to Mo Liquor, no matter how hard he tried he could not put the women out of his head. He tried to justify walking away by telling himself that maybe she had a reason for being there and just wanted to be outside during the storm, but he had trouble believing this himself. Zoongash just shook is head, " Bloody Americans". He doubted that he would have any business until the storm died down, so he decided to order some noodles from Chan's. Within the next hour Zoongash received his food had managed to finish the entire bowl of curry noodles. As he was cleaning up form his meal he noticed that he had yet to eat his fortune cookie. He tore through the wrapper and cracked open the cookie. As he stuffed the cookie in his mouth he read the small text on the paper. "What goes around comes around". As he read the fortune his hands began to shake and images of the woman under the slide began to run through hs head. "Bloody Americans".

Closing Time

The sound of gun shots rang through the air. The cries of children and the screams of their mothers added to the chaos within the burning village. Zoongash stood frozen from shock among the madness going on around him. Everywhere he looked he saw the soldiers rampaging through the village, killing any of the hindu villagers that crossed their path. Zoongash felt something holding on to his leg and looked down to see a young boy looking up at him with dark, pain-filled eyes. The child didn't make a sound and only looked at Zoongash with the piercing dark eyes.

Zoongash awoke in jolt of terror as he began to regain consciousness from his fit-full sleep. "Blood dream." His heartbeat slowly began to return to its normal rate, but not before Zoongash took a swig from the bottle of whiskey he kept next to his chair behind the counter which often acted as his makeshift bed. Wiping the sweat from his brow he glanced at the clock. It read 11:30, time to close up shop. He slowly made his way out of the chair and walked towards the front door to lock up. As he approached the door a woman appeared from the outside darkness. "Sorry we are closed," yelled Zoongash through the glass door as he began to deadbolt the door. The woman appeared to be very shaken up and kept looking around as if expecting someone to come up behind her. "Please, I've had a bad night," replied the woman. Zoongash usually did not take kindly to customers who refused to leave, however something about the woman touched him inside. "OK, but hurry up," answered Zoongash opening the door and moving back towards his post behind the counter. After a few minutes the woman grabbed a bottle of Boston's and came towards the counter. She handed Zoongash a crumpled bill and he noticed a dark red stain on the sleeve of her shirt. He pretended not to notice the stain, which was without a doubt blood, and gave her change. He shook his head as she left the store. "This bloody city."