A sane angel and a drunken saint

They are back

LA is a sleepless city, the life flows through it like a wild river. Violent and restless are the noises in the night. It is never to late for you to hear them. Nor to see the young and the beautiful standing by every corner, waiting.
Maybe to be noticed, to rise from the common American life. Or to get paid - for being beautiful and to show the other as much of themselves as they can.
The Guns came back that summer in late eightees. Soon, everybody knew.
Axl backed up and guys quited practicing for a while. They all just drifted apart, rediscovering their homeland.

Saul rented an apartment, not without knowledge, that it's dangerously close to the campus he used to go to. Or more percicely, in which he once had a room, just across the hall from Jade Moore. It seemed like centuries ago and three long years have stolen the sound of girls voice from Sauls memory. Even her face became unclear at one point. But the memory of how he felt with her stayed.

Slash decided to visit the campus on one cloudy Wednesday just about a month after he arrived in the city.

He walked casualy through the well known hallway, his boots ticking on the floor, his hat deep down on his eyes. He found the door he was looking for, but not before he could become a target of meaningful looks of some unknown students that he passed.

At the right number, he stopped. One who would see him now would've thought that he's going mad, putting his hands out and into his pocket again, shaking his head like in a slow denial. 

Then the door opened.

Saul took a step back, but the girl still crashed into his chest like a tornado.

" I'm sor-" she started to apologise, but stopped, when she saw the curls and the hat.

" Are you looking for someone?" she asked instead, watching him carefully. He was  so familiar, but again, she was quite certain that she have never met him before.

Slash on the other hand let the mixture of relief and disappointment overflow him. It wasn't her. This girl was a pretty blonde with a painted smile, nothing like Jades.

" No..." he said, backing up. He decided to leave, starting to think that this was all one big mistake.

" Then, why would you come?" asked the girl, crossing his way. " Walking in your sleep?"

" Actually," Saul turned half way across the hall. " Maybe you can help me. I'm looking for a girl."

" There are many inside." she pointed at the door, laughing. " A name would help, that is, if you know it." she winked.

" Jade Moore. She lived here about three years ago. Maybe even less." 

The girls face showed no recolection. She turned and yelled into her room: " Hey, Cas! Does the name Jade Moore ring a bell to you?" A few moments later a redhead appeared at the door.

" Isn't she the one who got into bad company and had to leave the campus? ... Well, hello, there!" she gave Slash a wide white smile. " You're from that band, aren't you?"

" Yes," he admitted. " What did you mean with bad company?" he didn't notice it, but his hands were now stuffed into his pockets again, clenched into fists.

" I love you on guitar." the redhead, Cas, went on. " True rock n' roll, man. Oh, I think they found some nude pics of her. Something about selling herself, but am not sure, though... I didn't know the girl. Hey, you want to come in?"

Slash turned the offer down and left the building as soon as possible. He rushed into the street, barely knowing what was going on around him. He thought about calling Steven and telling him all about it, but changed his mind. Good old Stevo was probably still squeezed in one of the corners of his house, sleeping heavily. 

It was lunch time and Saul turned into the first restaurant that came across. He needed a warm, safe and by any possibility public place for clearing his thoughts. Only with people sorrounding him, he was sure that he won't do anything stupid. 

He chosed the table by the window and ordered a beer. Then, with a buzzing mind, he leaned back and closed his eyes, letting the darkness absorb him totally. He sat like that for a few moments.

A noise, just like any other LA noise, made his way into his ears and without knowing, he let it go. It was a conversation located at one of the tables near by:

" You don't understand, Tom!"

" No, Maria, I understand it very clearly. You are mockig me, using me for your plans and wishes."

" That's not true."

That voice ...

"But yet you act cold towards me and deny me the right to be a father to your son. Tell me, Maria, where is the problem."

" Tom, I-"

That voice again. 

Slash shook his head to get rid of the ghost inside it, this fantom voice which he recognised in an instant. He opened his eyes, just slightly, distracted by the conversation. Maybe, he just had to make sure that he's been imagining things. Voices.

But there she sat a table away, turning her back to the table Saul sat by. And sitting in front of her was the man in his twenties, with his head, full of dark blonde hair, rested on her hands.

" I want to hear the truth, Maria." he said, his eyes pleading.

Maria? Saul recognised his childhood 'almost friend' by the tension in her back and the stillness of her voice, even when she was begging that man to listen to her. It was Jade. But who the heck is Maria?

" Do you love me?" he asked.

" I d- ..."

" Oh, my god! Guys, it's Slash!" Someone yelled in a high voice just then. The restaurant fell silent and the neon lights seemed to be the only thing that didn't freeze in time.

 Saul didn't get the chance to see from which direction the interruption came. There were only two things he was sure of at that moment. 

The first one was that he just became a target of way to many excited glares.

The second was that when Jade Moore finally turned and faced him with that familiar and ever loved face of hers, her eyes were filled with guilt.

Guilt, disgrace and shame.

Hello, rockers :). I just wanted to say hi... Soo " Hi" , guys.