RECONCILIATION

Before the clock struck midnight, Max had already arrived at his rented apartment and had already taken a hot shower inside his bathroom to warm up his cold nerves which helped made him feel very comfortable in his abode erected in the midst of two other blocks way taller and larger than the apartment that faced a nearby dock yard at lake Geneva which wasn't too far from the main land of the city. He took his time to relax himself in the living room of his apartment watching a rugby match in a loose fitted night robe that kept him feeling comfortable on the sofa as he looked wearily upon the television whose brightness in the fairly dark room almost blinded his eyes since he had switched off a few lights in the compartment except for a lamp that had a lampshade to diffuse the lamplight in his bedroom after he finished eating his meal which he devoured more hungrily than what barely satisfied him in the morning.

He was about to doze off from feeling a lot conformable on the sofa when he heard a hard knock on the door from outside which woke him up from giving in to sleep. At first, he was hesitant to get up from where he sat down with his eyes staring angrily at the door and wanted to be sure that he actually heard the strange knock on the door instead of a noise that may have come from one of the troubsome neighbors living next door, whom he as well as the other people living in the same floor with them knew to always disturb the quiet peace in the block especially at night where loud but incomprehensible shouts would be heard inside their cubicle which often resounds into the hallway outside his doorstep accompanied by the pestering noise of tumbling heavy objects falling on the ground within his neighbors home.

The knock resounded again on the door, enabling him to decipher what had been the cause of him waking up from getting a good sleep even while the television channel was still on, displaying a wild team of rugby players tussling hard to retrieve the spherical ball from their opponents after it was tactically intercepted by the players of the other team who seemed to be dominant in the entire half of the game.

He reluctantly got up from the couch and wore his soft pair of slippers before heading to the door where he unlocked the latch but he paused to take a quick peep at the intruder through a narrow hole on the door, only to see the broad face of Jeremy who stood outside in the bright hallway with his outfit looking a bit haggard which he could barely see through the narrow hole since the magnifying refractive glass covering the narrow hole vividly magnified the intruder's Visage very much closer to the door though the visitor was standing a bit farther away from the door.

"Jeremy, Now what do you want?",

"Max, is that you?",

The listener questioned instead of replying.

"Goddamn, it's me. what the hell are you doing outside my door, huh?! I thought I told you to go back home",

Max cried out from behind the door

"Sure you did. Please hear me out",

"Here we go again",

Max murmured to himself and flung the door opened revealing Jeremy standing in front of him the same outfit he wore to the club, all tattered and torn from top to bottom while his exposed bare feet was missing his expensive shoes that he wore to the club few hours ago

"I could barely recognize you, What happened to you?",

"It's a long story. Can I come in?",

"You can't.......",

The words could barely come out Max's mouth when Jeremy walked straight in without getting permission.

"I left like you told me to but I couldn't find my keys in my pockets",

"Your keys?",

Max replied shutting the door behind him.

"Yeah, my keys which I think must have fallen off somewhere else probably at the club",

"Okay, let's say it did fell off from your pockets at the club or elsewhere , how did you end up looking like this?",

Max questioned switching on the lights which exhibited Jeremy's tattered clothing and his rough barefooted legs that had tainted the carpet below his feet and scanned his old friend from head to toe, gazing directly at Jeremy with his eyes.

Jeremy suddenly burst into tears and stumbled over to a nearby couch which caught just in time to prevent him from falling flat on the ground leaving Max completely dumbstruck and bereft of words.

"Tell me what you went through after I left you alone on the street",

Max ordered regaining himself from the shock which had left him gaped his mouth open in utter surprise after being overwhelmed by Jeremy's tears that came rolling from his eyelids.

The victim wanted to say something about his mysterious encounter but no words came out his lips even when he tried to hold back the tears that came flowing out of his tear ducts as well as the repugnant drooling of semi-liquid mucus in the form catarrh whilst fidgeting vehemently.

"I....met...some...damn touts!",

"Slow down and take a breath. Let the tears out and clearly explain to me what happened out there",

Max advised after he came closer to placate his friend. Five minutes later, Jeremy had somehow stopped himself from crying thanks to the comfort Max rendered in giving him the courage to forget his vulnerable encounter with some vagabonds in the street under the darkness which he narrated to Max who was furiously bewildered and unhappy at himself for leaving his friend behind alone on the quiet street that was fraught with danger despite Jeremy's plea to come with him to his house as a result of his unforgettable anger with the victim for having betrayed his trust but now, he regretted his actions more than ever.

"Shortly after you left me standing alone on the roadside near the bus stop, I stalled for some time, sitting on the bench where the bus usually pick people up hoping that you would come back with a change of heart and to get myself cozy on the bench while waiting but you didn't care to come back at all. Then I decided to go home just like you told me to and I had somehow traced my way home even though every street corner was kinda dark and lonely with the cold getting worse out there in the street that was empty without anyone outside their homes. But before I could reach my apartment, some darn lucky voice inside of me told me to check my pockets for my keys which I took with me when I went to the club with Vanessa, only to find it gone, Max. It wasn't there when I tucked my fingers inside every damn pockets in my pants and I felt stranded on the street with nowhere to run to even when I decided to retraced my steps back to the bus stop where you left me, thinking it might have fell off on the sidewalk..... ",

Jeremy explained getting himself more comfortable.

" And then how did your nice outfit suddenly transformed into this overnight?",

Max questioned after interrupting the victim's side of the story.

"I got unfortunately unlucky and vulnerable, that's how!",

Jeremy replied in fury but quickly changed his demeanor to a more quieter fellow. He continued when he saw that Max was at all affected by his outburst that died down soon after it came.

“Like I said before, I started to trace my way back to the bus stop with the help of the pale moonlight rather than most of the street lights that weren't turned on like they used to and I somehow took a wrong turn around a neighborhood way silent and isolated than the other areas. That's where I met some homeless hooligans whom I presumed were already hiding in the dark alley across the next street and must have seen me searching for something on the road in the dark and must have fancied my outfit especially my shoes which attracted their attention a great deal since it has a glossy surface that somehow shone in the night. Fully engrossed in my fervent search for my keys, I didn't quite notice that I was completely surrounded though I perceived that I saw the shadows of four odd figures around me and before I could take my eyes off the road, two fist struck me on the face out of no where which made me almost lost my senses. Then one of the bigger thug grabbed me by the collar and lifted me up from the ground with his hefty fist whilst the other three assailants began to search frantically for something valuable inside my pockets but all they could find was a bunch of cigarettes and two dollar notes in my wallet….“,

Jeremy paused and took a glance at Max's face which showed no expression at all before continue his story.

“I knew at once that they were really mad at me the moment they found that I had nothing of priceless worth with me. And I could see the scowl in their faces after they opened the empty wallet and took out the only money I had with me when I took Vanessa to the club especially the huge fellow who still had his filthy hands, grasping me by the throat till one of them pointed at my expensive pair of new shoes I bought recently and a malicious grin gleamed brightly on their faces undoubtedly told me that they wanted my shoes. The leader of the hoodlums ordered one of the two smaller men to hold my hands behind my back which he did and the other stood watching the hefty man pull off my shoes even I tried to wriggle myself out of the clutches of the man who held me tightly. After he took the two shoes away leaving me barefooted to feel the coldness of the tarred road, they started to beat the hell out of me before letting me go looking wretched and full of bruises. I was left alone to wander off in the streets still lost in the dark night with no footwear to warm up my feet since I was barefooted walking around looking for somewhere else to pass the night till I decided to find out your apartment if you still live here and it turns out that you do and you haven't moved into another apartment like I had thought you would after I went to New Jersey six years back “,

Jeremy finally ended his narration and searched for answers in the faces of Max who peered at him with a real sense of regretful disappointment in himself for having refusing to take his old pal home at least, to spend the night with him before going back to his house in the morning which would have saved him from falling into the hands of those who had robbed him of his shoes and his money even though the he had meager cash with him when he was assaulted. What pain Max the most, was the fact that Jeremy was beaten up very badly in the street and he wasn't there to defend him from the merciless assailant.

Max felt tongue-tied with nothing to say to comfort Jeremy since he knew that he had erred against the victim and he forcefully walked to take his seat in the couch beside Jeremy.

“I'm not totally sure of what to say to you but I'm gonna have to make it up to you for my shortcomings and for me failing to realize that I could have let you spend the night in my place which I mistakenly did not”,

Max said with an even more deeper pain than what he had felt the entire time Jeremy was telling him his ordeal with the strange vagabonds.

“Don't be too hard on yourself. It's not your fault, You really did not know anything like this would happen”,

“But I could have done better by giving you a place to sleep in my house only for the night. If only I..... ”,

Max cut himself short getting a bit too emotional and very much unable to let his deeper emotions get the best of him.

“If only what, Max?“,

“If only I had let go of my pride to forgive you.... of what you did to me in the past, then you.... wouldn't have been beaten up badly”,

Max stuttered finally letting out the words flow from his heart through his lips.

“Well, you're right about it but I'm not angry about what you did because I would have done the same if I was in your shoes. You merely acted based on your instincts and you can still help me out by treating my wounds. And for the record, I'm sorry about what I did to you in the past. So, let's forget about it and move forward with our lives”,

Jeremy advised offering Max an handshake which the latter shook with his right palm.

“Alright, man. Let me get you something to eat”,

“Sure, dude”,

After serving the victim his supper that was intended for the next morning, Max wasted no time in tending to the wounds of the victim thanks to a first aid kit which he used in plastering the bruises all over Jeremy's face even though it wasn't enough to bandage the rest part of his body but he only had to use iodine solution with cotton wool on areas that were still yet to be covered by the bandages. Eventually , Max had the victim spend the night in his bedroom while he slept on the couch in the living room where he thought of what happened to Jeremy before drifting into profound slumber.