Drunken Soul

She was drunk.

She was so drunk that she had stopped trying to hide her drunkenness. She had left the inn only moment before and stood outside in the cool, dark night. A few lanterns and the light from the inside the inn cast a circle of light, clearly showing the inn to people in the street trying to find a room for the night. However, it also hid the people in the streets from Liss as she stood leaning against the wall. It was as if the darkness was stronger than the light today. It was the darkness that consumed the light, and not the light pushing away the darkness.

Liss lifted her left arm to her mouth as she felt a sneeze coming. She did not notice that it was her left arm that supported her weight until she lay sprawled on the floor. She hit her head on a cobblestone, but noticed no pain. All her senses were delayed, and it she seemed to live a few seconds into the past. Liss started thinking that maybe the tiny people inside her carrying messages from her arms, legs and eyes, were drunk and neglected their duty. And the messages arrived too late, and only by coincidence, those that did arrive, that is. She lay there watching the stars, there were so many of them, twinkling high up in the sky, like lanterns in the wind far, far away. At closer inspection they did look an awful lot like lanterns. Liss struggled to her feet and stood there swaying, lost in this new discovery. Maybe they were not that far away after all. A thought occurred to her: she should take on with her home; it would look good in her garden. Carefully she stretched her hand toward one of the stars. She could feel its warmth on her fingertips as they got nearer. Suddenly she the warmth turned to a painful burn. She retracted her hand as if stung by a thorn. Her vision blurred, and she had to lean on the wall for support again. After a few seconds her vision cleared up, at least as far as the alcohol would let it. The tip of her right forefinger was black. Liss realized that she could not take the star home with her, it belonged in the sky. It would be awfully lonely without the other stars for company. She could take them all, that way they could all be lonely. Then she remembered the sting of her finger and thought better of it.

The noise from all the people had vanished lessened, as people left for their homes and their rooms, yet the voices and the sounds of glasses ringing still roared in her head. She had not really noticed the people leaving the inn even as they went straight past her. Some even tried to speak to her, but she paid no heed to them. She could only keep one thing in her mid at the time, and she had no say in what it was. One moment something caught her attention and everything else passed her by. Now her attention was ripped away from the stars. Someone was shaking her shoulder. Her whole world shook as she had no strength to keep her neck straight. She looked up at him. At least she thought it was a he.