Shimmer (boyxboy/alien)

Chapter 2: Drenched

"Hey...Hey, can you hear me?"

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The rain fell hard from the sky as Joe once again questioned his attire for the party. His denim jacket being the worst water resisting garment in the world as his shoulders began to feel heavy under the damp weight of the raindrops. Alan only had ten minutes left on his shift at the local convenience store, but these ten minutes could make all the difference with the relentless weather as it was. Seeing a bus shelter nearby, Joe heads in that direction to stop himself from getting further soaked. As he settles down on the metal rail-like bench, he pulls out his phone, messaging Alan of his whereabouts before once again pocketing his device. 

He looks up to the blackened sky, noticing how the streetlight seemed to catch every raindrop as it torrented down from the infinite darkness, his mind beginning to drift before being brought back to reality by some people running by, heads under their jackets, laughing out loud and uttering, “Did you see..Freak, like he could come to Jule's party!”  Joe looks in the direction from where they had been running from. A darkened side street. What were they talking about? Joe isn't one hundred percent sure, but he had already heard the word ‘Freak’ once already this week and it didn't take a genius to work out who they may have been referring to. 

Against his better judgement and his usual desire to stay away from anything which would highlight his existence, Joe once again steps out into the rain. His steps, slow and cautious to begin with, soon quicken as he heads into the darkness and down the alleyway to see the slumped body of a person. “Shit” he utters in panic as he hurries up to the seemingly lifeless figure. He squats down and frantically grabs a shoulder with one hand. “Hey!..Hey can you hear me?” 

All of a sudden, the guy’s earring seems to flash…

 Vinnie, Vinnie, we seem to have lost contact!

Joe retracts his hands a little in surprise at the sudden voice seemingly coming from the piece of jewellery. 

 Vinnie..do you copy?

“Uh hello?” Joe finds himself leaning forward a little towards the still unconscious guy's earring and awkwardly answering…”This is  Vinnie’s earring here.” Joe instantly pulls back, frowning at his own ridiculous answer, still not understanding what the hell was going on. 

Who are you, please report , what has happened to Vinnie?

Joe finds himself leaning forwards toward the earring earpiece. “I'm Joe, Joe Turner,  Vinnie is unconscious!” Joe pauses for a moment to look at the guy up and down. Noticing the swelling to his cheek and lip. ”It looks like he has been beaten.”

Beaten unconscious? The voice from nowhere questions.
 
“Yes!” Joe replies, “I can't seem to bring him around.”

Left hand, fourth finger! 

“What?” Joe furrows his brow at the strange nonsensical comment.

He has a ring on his left hand with a red gem on it. The gem contains a serum, pour the serum into his mouth.

Joe now pulls at the said hand, locating the finger and pulling the ring from it. He manages to twist the gem from the gold band and proceeds to tip the contents into the slightly parted lips of an unconscious Vinnie. The pink liquid pools upon the guy's tongue which causes Joe to carefully raise the guy's head onto his knees for fear of him choking. The liquid soon disappears inside Vinnie's mouth, causing a pink burst of light to ripple out and making the guy suddenly gasp and take a breath. 

Vinnie, Vinnie. Do you receive?

Vinnie's eyes widen at the fact that he is staring up at an unfamiliar man and that the man can indeed hear the voice sounding from his ear piece. He hurriedly sits up and scrambles back, before turning to get to his feet and runs back out of the darkened alley and out of sight. Joe is now left on his knees, by himself, trying to get his head around what the hell had just happened.  He suddenly hears a ‘ping’ on his phone.

ALAN

I'm at the bus stop. Where are you?