Karl the Great

Three weeks later Karl was taking a break from work and finally came back to his home town, which was Astoria, Oregon. He was quite excited about returning to town, because he hasn't been there for almost two years, but the moment he got out of the taxi near his old apartment and took a deep breath of Seoul's air, Karl got sad. He suddenly felt extremely lonely, like a lost puppy. He had no idea what he should do now, when he's off work and had a free will to do whatever whenever. After wandering for ten minutes in the same spot, where he got off the cab, Karl threw his back-pack onto one shoulder, took his luggage into the right hand and headed towards the apartment.

The moment Karl unlocked the door and stepped into the place, he held his breath. Just as Karl expected, his apartment was full of dusts and felt so empty, so dead.

“Oh God... It's been damn too long”

When Karl left his home, he had no clue that he would be back only a couple of years later. After one offer, there came another, then another and another one, until travelling from one side of the world to another and vice versa became a routine to Karl. London, New York, Barcelona, Paris, Madrid, Rome, São Paulo, Milan, Los Angeles, Berlin, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Moscow, Venice, Sydney – Karl has been everywhere but home. Castings, fashion weeks, catwalks, photo shoots, parties, liquor pools, drugs, lots of sex – a total chaos. And now? All of it was behind, probably not for long, but still Karl felt like fish out of water.

Karl left his luggage in the living room, next to coffee table and blue sofa. He wondered what he should do. Clearly there was nothing to do at home, except cleaning, but Karl didn't feel like taking a housewife's role.

“Okay, man, what are good places in this town?” – he asked himself loudly and then even shouted out of excitement – “Dirty Duck!”

It was and old pub, probably the oldest one in the city, that has been there before Karl was even born. He used to go there with his high school buddies and spend there most of his time. Karl changed his clothes: put on skinny jeans, red and black checked shirt, black sweater and jumped into black sneakers. He went to the pub with high expectations of meeting his old friends or getting new ones, maybe even getting laid, though he had no idea whether the pub was still in business. To get to the place, he took a cab.

Luckily, Dirty Duck was still working and, since it was already a late evening, there were lots of people. Karl looked for familiar faces, but nothing caught his eye. However, he wasn't ready to give up, so he went to the bar and ordered a beer. While waiting for bartender to bring what Karl ordered, he turned to the stage, to where just came a few guys and a girl. Karl couldn't see her face, but the body looked familiar to him, so he got interested and didn't notice, when the beer was brought to him. The moment the girl on stage turned to the crowd, Karl's heart dropped.

Long and blond-dyed hair, ending at the waist; light blue expressive eyes, trapped with black circles made of eye-liner; slim body; long legs; and that voice... that energetic voice with an ability to raise the dead, which once would whisper sweet love words into Karl's ear through the night. It was Zoe Carnero. Karl's Zoe, whom he had left behind two years ago, when he went on his 'little' fashion adventures. Within a first few minutes seeing the girl for the first time in such a long time, Karl could easily sense a huge difference in her. First of all, she was performing on stage. Karl could have never guessed that Zoe had such a good voice for a singer. Secondly, she was trapped in short tight dress and stood in black high-heeled boots. The image of his precious Zoe that Karl still had back in his mind had her in cute girly dresses, that she used to wear. And what shocked Karl the most, was that as soon as Zoe turned to people, she lit a cigarette and took a big sip of beer. She used to speak Karl out of drinking and always went somewhere else, when he smoked.

“What's up, guys?” – shouted Zoe to the mic and the crowd cheered. Karl assumed it was not a first time Zoe was performing at Dirty Duck.

Men behind Zoe started the beat and sharp sounds rolled out of Zoe's mouth. Her voice was low and edgy. The show lasted for about fifty minutes and Karl spent all that time looking only at Zoe. Karl was never the one to care for other people, but he got really concerned about Zoe. She was the sweetest and shyest girl in the entire world a couple of years ago and now she looked like some goth princess. As soon as the show ended, Karl elbowed his way through cheering and clapping crowd to the stage. He just wanted to shake Zoe and ask her what the fuck has happened to her. He couldn't believe what he has seen that evening but he didn't know that he hadn't seen it all yet. When there were only three meters left for him to finally get to Zoe, the horror struck him even more. Karl could clearly see that the girl was getting drugs from some guy. It was a small plastic bag with white powder and it obviously couldn't have been anything else but drugs.

“Zoe?” – Karl shouted, willing that she would hear.

And apparently, she did. She would have heard Karl even if he called her name from the moon. Zoe turned to Karl with a clear confusion on her face.

“Can... can we talk?” – he asked, coming closer.

“Oh, so now you want to talk” – girl laughed to his face.

Karl didn't say anything, he simply had no idea what to say.

“Fuck it, let's go” – Zoe said after a short pause and grabbed Karl's hand.

She dragged him to the backstage. Without any words Zoe took her bag, changed her clothes, not caring that people were going back and forth the place, and headed out of the bar, Karl following after.

“Where are we going?” – the guy asked.

“To my place, it's fucking cold” – she said without even looking at Karl.

He couldn't understand. It was mid of spring and it wasn't cold outside.