The Blow.
Note: Inspired by The Three Day Blow by Ernest Hemingway.
It was a dark and stormy night, dark and stormy and conflicting. That night was an almost accurate representation of Nick's state of mind. The wind was roaring, as he was, in drunken stupor. His tears were falling down his face, as the clouds cried with him, the rain trying to comfort him, but instead making things even worse. He trashed around, as did the trees. In the rainy storm, Nature sympathizes with him, along with his best friend.
Bill knows that Nick does not want to discuss about it, so he does not say anything. They, as all young boys do, get drunk and discuss about things that really does not matter. Their conversation, muddled by the whiskey are incoherent, jumping from one thing to another, and so is Nick. They talk about many things, but not that, not her.
When Nick finally brings his ex-girlfriend up, he is too drunk to care, and too drunk to think about it. He doesn’t think, he just talks. He wails and he cries, the rain does the same. Before, he wouldn’t talk about her, trying to avoid the subject entirely, now he wouldn’t stop talking, his thoughts are occupied by her, once more. Bill listens, as a good friend would. He sympathizes with Nick, he offers advice when needed, but most importantly, he listens. Nick howls and cries with the wind. He suffers and he lets it all out.
Nick and Marge were inseparable, they were immortal, at least in Nick’s mind. She was his love, his soulmate, if you will. They were supposed to be together forever, at least that was what she always promised him. He was not supposed to be wailing, half-drunk, in his best friend’s house while the said best friend was comforting him. He was not this pathetic, but he couldn’t stop his tears from flowing, he couldn’t do anything except drink it off and wail.
It rained all night. The storm was what one would call ‘a three day blow’, a particularly heavy one. It was a big blow to Nick’s heart, a heart-breaking blow. Truly, he was broken, broken and shattered and crushed. So much, that he truly believed that he would never heal again. The wind was howling, raindrops shattering down into the ground, and so was he, drunk and depressed.
After a heavy storm, everything is clear, the sun is shining and there is calm. Nick finds his own calm in that peaceful weather. His brain is no longer fuzzy, he just is a little hungover. His heart no longer shattered into a million pieces, just a little broken. Most important of all, he is no longer too much pathetic, just a little.
The three day blow has ended, and so has the blow inside Nick’s mind. The sun is shining after a particularly dark and stormy night, and a small smile graces Nick’s lips. For now, that much is enough.
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