Storyteller

You walk in the same time every night. Take your same seats. Order the same drinks. And wait patiently. I figured that if I didn’t go back up on that stage you all would stop coming. But I guess I was wrong, or maybe I didn’t wait long enough. But it’s been a month folks and I really do hate to disappoint an audience.

nervous laugh

For over a year now, I’ve been telling you their stories. Little by little. Who they were before they met, and who they became. I even delved a bit into my own past, a place that I would rather never return.

nervous laugh

But then again I suppose my present life isn’t much better.

…

Some nights I sat up here speaking hours about the good and bad times. I remember once that I was sitting here all through the night telling my story. I remember getting three hours of sleep in after everyone left before I had to open again for my morning patrons. Some nights I sat up here for barely fifteen minutes. Some recollections are short, but boy they can sure carry an impact.

A month ago, I thought I had reached the end of my tale. I thought I had finished. I never planned on returning to this stage and continue on. I didn’t feel there was a point. But then…Well, here I am again. A storyteller until the end, I suppose.

Some of you here. You’ve been coming in since I started telling this story a year ago. You sat just where you are sitting now and I said that I had a story for everyone. Over the past year I have seen more of you enter in at that same time every night: one hour before Caritas’ closing time. I have certainly been asked more than once why I tell my tale. My answer is always the same: If I don’t who will?

I took this tale as far as I wanted to go a month ago. I know I’ve already said this tonight, but I didn’t want to continue this story. I didn’t want to go on any further. I told you who made it to the final battle. I told you who all met up in that alleyway that dark cold night, and the odds they faced before them, and that’s where I ended it. That’s where I stopped. And I had no intention of every going past that point. Until tonight. I cannot tell you how long my tale will be. Because, I don’t know. It might be hours. Or it might only be five minutes. I just don’t know