Not for the Good, Not for the Wicked, and Not for Those in Between by Bogdan Dragos

it was 01:30 AM

but he would never

know

The last time he had

a watch

was when he got jumped

in the streets

for it

He didn’t hide it well

enough. Wanted

to pawn it

for liquor money

but all he drank

that night was

his own blood

This night however

he didn’t have

even that

He wasn’t in the

streets anymore

but in the cool basement

of some abandoned

building

scheduled to be demolished

A noise woke him

up

His heart calmed down

only when his eyes

saw that it wasn’t human

He’d rather

be visited by a ghost

but it was just the black

cat that roamed around

the building. She always

found something

to eat in

the dumpsters nearby

and was friendly to

humans, even

accepted pats sometimes

“I wish I could be

like you,” he told her

in a ragged whisper