The Hands of Fate

This is a story all about fate and how destiny can lead us into unexpected directions. The main character Wallace finds himself facing loneliness until he meets the love of his life. She completely changes him and he's positive once again.

The Hands of Fate

            I belted out the song while holding both beers in either hand, feeling like nothing could touch me. Standing on the table probably wasn’t the best idea for anyone this late at the bar, but the bartender didn’t seem to mind anyway. My slurred words to “She Thinks My Tactor’s Sexy” brought out the very best in me, but no one knew that. The next morning I would go back to my empty home with a headache that would remind me of the fun I hadn’t shared with anybody the night before. Wallace was the name. Forgetting was my game.

            “What did I do last night?” I kept trying to stop the habit of talking to myself, it was getting ridiculous. I suppose that’s what happens when you live alone for so long. I think I remembered a fight, but I wasn’t sure. That would definitely explain the bruise on my left cheek. The throbbing in my head wouldn’t cease, nor would the pounding ache that came from my lower back.
“Am I really getting that old?” Dammit. Talking to myself again. I was being a lazy pig. I peeled myself off the couch and into the kitchen to try and wake myself up from the lousy dream I was having the night before. The only thing I remembered was a tree with stretching branches that reached out towards the sun. The sun behind the branches had shone through with a yellow glow that illuminated the rest of the scene. Leaves were blowing about, but the wind was calm and not threatening my happy dream. It was peaceful, and I’d give anything just to float back into my colorful dream. But instead I get to lounge and suffer through another day in this empty house.

            The hangover wasn’t all too bad, although the empty list of missed calls and texts on my cell phone was. I thought back to the time when my phone rang relentlessly as if trying to scream for my attention. My friends and I would go out to TGIF on the weekends and enjoy ourselves like the college roommates we once all were. What happened to them all? They had all moved on and fell in love. Marriage and kids of their own had broken each of us into separate cities and states, with rare text messages or emails including pictures of the new families. Where was I? In the same place they had all left me. I felt like a lump of coal in that poor, unfortunate kid’s stocking Christmas morning. Nevertheless, the smell of wet grass, new flowers, and fresh laundry would soon fill my apartment, along with a sweet smile that would bring me joy each and every day. But I still had no idea.

            I met her at the restaurant I loved to go to by myself after spending the whole day running, as if trying to outrun my problems. She sat there, silently staring at the empty seat that waited across from her. I knew it’d have to be bold, but I wanted more than anything to fill that chair and that empty table with conversation. I waited ten minutes at the side of the bar and then dove into my opportunity. Julia. I wondered how her date could stand her up, she was beautiful. Her wit and intelligence amazed me and still amazes me to this day.

            Now I think back to how one day could change the rest of my life and finally I have pictures of a family that I can send to my former friends that used to be my only happiness. The kids keep me busy, my new job at the local children’s hospital keeps me busy, but more than anything my new positive and optimistic outlook on life keeps me busy.

            I guess the old cliché is right. It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. Before Julia, the darkness that I cursed each and every morning only brought me bitterness and made me an aging drunk. I’m never looking back now, the future is all I, and everyone else, can look forward to.