Child Of The Future

Episode 53: Flares

               "Yeah man, now you're gettin' it!" Percy cheers on when Jesse sputters a laugh, inhaling some more of his fix in the working quarters on the third level of the hacienda labeled 'Paradise', not giving a thought to how high he's become since the morning, laughing at anything and everything that's given the tiniest slice of humor. "You miss this man?"

               "I miss a lot of things Perce. This is...a perk."

               "That's me. Perky Perce. Perky Percy." The black man makes Jesse laugh again, coughing and reaching for a new blunt to do away with when a yell from the courtyard alerts the young male to Rick's call, the early 20's youth crawling over to the window and shakes his head to himself while he watches his leader take off working gloves.

               "What's the deal with that guy anyway? He need a fix?"

               "He needs nothing, he's just like that. He used to be a cop."

               "Oh well, sober up buddy. He might, arrest thee and put thee in pretty handcuffs."

               "Ahaha, that fvcker." Jesse falls to his stomach, his vision blurry and his brain off balance when he looks at the alcohol he left in the other corner of the room. "I better get down there."

               "You know he's just like that manager you had back then Jess." Percy scratches at his tattoo's, smoking a regular cigarette and relaxing in a seat without much care to anything going on around him. "That man, he's just going to bring you down, make you a little b1tch. Happened before." Jesse's green eyes peel and stare intensely to his friend misting up the room. "That the story of your life? Kid?"

               "Whatever." Jesse walks away, going out of the building, trying to screw his head on straight before coming face to face with Daryl, Michonne and Rick, the redneck of the group immediately catching the problem this younger one is carrying and dealing with.

               "Yeah?"

               "Just wanted to ask you, have you seen that girl? Jay?" Rick tilts his head, unaware that Jesse and her had already been intimate the previous night. "Apparently she's Reagan's girlfriend, he's worried about her, can't find her. He was wonderin' if any of us had..." Rick's old cop skills finally pinpoint the issue behind Jesse's manner and inhales to look at Daryl. "You see her?"

               "Mm...no." Jesse shakes his head; barely catching the part about him having sex with a girl that was already involved with the host they're obliged to, the girl that his friend Percy urged him to bed.

               The only thing left to do was nod to the others, encouraging them to give the leader and boy some privacy while they pass the news on to Reagan.

               This was already complex.

               Jesse was still rubbing his eyes from pain to the light and sniffing here and there, out of focus in general while Rick just stood patiently, waiting for him to walk away from his high to ask questions.

               "Everything ok?"

               "Yeah." His throat clears.

               "You're off. Get enough sleep?"

               "Everything's fine." Jesse curtly replies.

               "Jesse."

               "Rick, leave me alone." The tone of the atmosphere swirls to another direction entirely without stop or time to figure out how. "I'm not your responsibility. I'm my own man, so fvck off." Jesse snaps immediately, not aware of what he just said before trailing off, Percy's words more powerful than he gave them credit for as they sink into the earth in front of Rick's boots.