The man, Ben, sat at the bar, nursing a drink.

The brunette behind the bar looked up.

“Sam, I’m taking a break”, she said. “Can you fill in for me?”

“Sure, Alex, no problem”, he said.

She walked round the bar and slowly, deliberately, sat next to Ben and wrapped her arms around his right arm.

“What’s up, kiddo?”, she said. “You’ve been down all evening…”

“Oh, it’s sort of an anniversary”, he said. “It’s exactly a year since I killed someone…”

Alex was taken aback, but she still hung on to him. “What? Who? Were you in the military, or something?”

“He was my best friend. Orders came down from ‘up top’ that he had to disappear.”, Ben continued, as if Alex hadn’t spoken. “I was the one that was told to do it, as it was easy for me to get close to him.”

The man took a swallow of his drink, steadied himself, then continued.

“I met up with him in this very bar”, he said. “We had a really fun evening. I absolutely thrashed him at pool, and he thrashed me at darts.”

He stopped, and stared off into the distance, his voice faltering.

“I really miss him…”

Alex wasn’t sure what to do.

She’d known Ben for what seemed like her whole life. She’d never have thought him a killer! She refused to believe it, despite what Ben was saying. It must be the drink talking…

“You can’t be serious”, she said, concerned. “You’re not a killer…!”

“I might as well be”, Ben said, sagging. “My best friend ceased to exist in this bar, a year ago, and it was my doing.”

Alex was getting really worried. She’d never seen Ben like this.

“It can’t be like that!”, she said. “That’s not you. You’d never hurt anyone, let alone a good friend…!”

“I did something to them without their consent. Once I did it, they ceased to exist. Surely that’s hurting them, or killing them…?”

Alex could see that, whatever had happened, it was tearing Ben up inside.

“Let me take your mind off of it”, she said, rubbing closer. She considered Ben a real friend and, maybe, something more…

To her amazement, Ben flinched and pulled away. Hurt, Alex also pulled back. “I’m sorry! I thought…!”

“You’re just making it worse, Alex”, Ben said. He then just got up and left before she could stop him. By the time she had headed outside, Ben had disappeared into the crowd…

Alex was shocked.

She didn’t know what she had done wrong. Why had Ben acted the way he did, and how had she ‘made it worse’?

Upset, she went back into the bar. Now it was Sam’s turn to try and cheer her up…

She went back to her flat that night still thinking about Ben. What did he mean, he had ‘killed’ someone? Also, why had her trying to cheer him up make it worse, somehow? Trouble was, she really fancied Ben. She had done, for ages…

The next night, Ben didn’t show, nor the night after.

The following night, however, he was back in.

Alex was exhausted.

She had been pulling continuous shifts, as she didn’t want to miss Ben’s visit.

Before she could say anything, however, Sam went over and talked to Ben.

“What are you upsetting my girl for, man?”, he said. “She’s been worried sick about you, trying to help, and all you’ve been is rude and abrupt toward her. What’s your problem?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know”, said Ben. “You might be surprised.”

“That’s no answer!”, Sam said. “Now, if you can’t be civil towards her, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I don’t like people bullying my staff.”

“Bullying! Hah! She’s torturing me…!”, Ben replied.

Alex couldn’t stay back anymore.

“What the hell are you talking about!”, she cried. “I’ve done nothing to you, except try to be kind and supportive. All you’ve shown me is standoffishness and downright insulting behaviour.”

“You just don’t understand…”, Ben said, his face twisted. Alex suddenly felt a shiver down her spine…”

“Who was your best friend?”, she said, hesitantly, “Who did you ‘kill’…?”

Sadly, Ben looked her straight in the eyes.

“You…”, he said, tears in his eyes…

With a muffled wail, hand in her mouth, Alex ran out of the back of the bar, tears in her eyes too. The memories suddenly came flooding back…

Just over a year ago, Alex had been working as an accountant for a big legal firm in the city. It had been there that he had come across the ‘irregularities’ in the books. Being the young innocent type that he was, Alex had reported it.

He had also talked it over with his best friend, Ben…

Alex shook her head, confused. Everything else looked familiar in these memories, but why was she a man? Also, an accountant, no less. She’d never finished college; that’s why she was working in the bar, to make ends meet.

Her head spinning, Alex sat down on a chair in the office. The memories were coming faster, now…

Ben had suggested that they go into the very bar she was now working at to talk. At the time, Ben suggested that he could have been mistaken; after all, he was handling a lot of data. He had argued that he knew his job by now, he was working there for long enough…

Alex struggled to her feet and went back out into the bar.

Barging past Sam, she grabbed Ben and slammed him against the counter.

“You bastard! What the fuck did you do to me!”

“I’m sorry! It was the only way to make you ‘disappear’ without something more permanent!”

“Why? You think I’m happy like this? In a dead-end job, no friends, no life?”

“At least you still have a life…!”

“What…?”

Slowly, Ben explained.

“I’m not a killer, as you worked out”, he said. “I’m a ‘fixer’. I get rid of peoples problems for them. I also ‘erase’ them. As such, I ‘erased’ you…”

Alex hauled back and hit Ben, hard.

“I couldn’t kill you!”, Ben said. “I love you! So, I came up with the best solution I could. Don’t hit me again, and I’ll explain.”

“My instructions from ‘up top’ were to take you out of the picture, however I could. One of my contacts worked in covert ops. He had a camouflage suit that would do perfectly, and he also had the right drugs and a friend who was an expert in hypnosis. I slipped something into your drink that evening and we went back to my flat together. The others were waiting for us and Alex Grant, Accountant, became Alexandra Bailey, bartender. It was only after I closed the suit that I found out it was permanent, we’d used the wrong one. Effectively, I’d killed Alex Grant…”

Ben stopped, staring at the floor.

“I’d just killed my best friend…”

Slowly, I put my hand under his chin and lifted his head.

“You did it for the right reasons; it was either that or getting rid of me completely, and then you really would have been a killer. At least this way I’ve got a life.”

Alex stood up and held out her arm.

“Hi, my names Alex. Pleased to meet you…!”