RED PARALLEL

Chapter 8: Nate's Fair Lie

Two weeks had passed and the euphoria still pumped inside him, pleading to be solved. Because he had a problem. He couldn't stay still. He couldn't sleep. He couldn't play with the stereo. He wanted one song only: the one from the show. He wanted to listen to it again and again, so he'd never forget what he had seen. He wanted to replay the dance in his head and he had the feeling that the memory was fading away.

Suddenly, everything was a potential memory eraser: taking shower, coughing, blinking, sneezing, peeing, pooping. He couldn't even walk; too risky. The euphoria turned into extreme tension. Most of the time he was stuffed in his bed, looking straight at the wall. The dance picture was so vivid, so unforgettable, but what about all the hundred moves they did? Traviz was so absorbed trying to recapture the complicated impossible surreal sequence that he didn't realize he was eating the whole pot of bean soup and that he had stopped talking.

"You think he's sick?" Nate wondered to the other boys, watching Traviz's petrified stare.

"Dunno but he didn't touch the stereo a single time this week," Aaron pointed.

"So it's serious."

Traviz would look at his cup of b-soda and stare at the gas bubbles, without taking a sip. Then, he would drink it in one swallow. Sometimes, the image would shower over him like freshwater, and the melody and the beat would follow, so perfect, so- But then he'd get so excited that the picture would start failing and he'd lose the memory again. During night, the moves and the music were clear and obvious, but then the sun would rise and his brain would be terribly empty, the taste in his tongue but no food in his mouth.

He should've recorded, damn! If he only knew how to do what they had done, he wouldn't have forgotten it. "I DO IT DOING!" What did that mean? He didn't get it. Traviz pictured the helicopter taking flight and never getting back, leaving him alone on the stage. The buzz in his head was so loud that-

"Mini-Tiger. Hey, you. Traviz!"

Every time Nate, or Aaron, or Ion, or Goat tried to call him, Traviz would jump on his seat and stare at them with wide eyes. How was that possible? To have spent so much time next to people he had no clue that were awesome, super, mega-

Maybe he was going crazy. Maybe they were ghosts haunting him through the house and who had nothing to do with the dance, and maybe the dance wasn't real, and wait, what? No, no, he saw it, it happened, he had to remember it, he-

Then, the tension erupted from his head and he couldn't take it any more. He was now sweating cold, the sensation of being left in pitch dark and the feeling of not remembering consuming him, he couldn't live one more minute without the vision, he couldn't evoke it completely, what if he never saw something like that again, what if it was all fake and he was already dead, drowned in the river he had thrown the cat...

"You're damn alive. Open your eyes."

But I can't see anything!

It's getting away, it's leaving me, no, no...

In the middle of the night, Traviz jumped from his bed and shook Nate.

"Nate! Nate! NATE!"

Nate jumped from his bed too.

"YO, NIGGA, GET AWA- What? What the fuck you're do-"

"Show that! Now! Show me! I need to see it!" Traviz blurted, pointing at the ground and feeling the air getting rarefied and-

"What? Show you what?"

"T-that dance! From last week! C-call the others!"

"Jeez, what makes you think-"

"NOW! SHOW ME!"

Nate pressed his hand against Traviz's sweaty forehead. Traviz pulled it away, nervous.

"Calm down, Mini-Tiger. You're looking strange these days, I guess Imma call G.Klo'-"

"NO! I need you to show me that thing! Right now, like... How did you do that? How did you do all that? How do you 'do you it doing'? HOW? Where's the fucking song, I wanna hear it, I wanna- arrrgh!"

Traviz crouched on the floor, grunting and pulling his hair.

"So you just crouched. That's not a good sign. Are you gon start crying?"

"Aargh..."

--

(Nate)

Nate was impressed with Traviz's desperation and desire to see the dance again. It seemed tremendously important to him. Almost vital. Nate thought about laughing but that wasn't a joke. That was something. After all, he remembered pretty clear the day he himself had seen G.Klo's epic dance for the first time. He had not gone berserk like Traviz but he remembered he had stalked G.Klo' through the corridors for months, trying to convince him to teach him the moves.

"Sorry, Nate, but I can't show ya."

"Why?"

"'Cause I don't remember, either."

"What? What do you mean you don't remember?"

"I was improvising."

"Improvising?"

"Yep."

"B-but how did you do that? How did you improvise?"

"I did it doing it."

Nate was utterly dismayed and hopeless at that time.

"So that means I'll never see that again?"

"Exactly, kiddo. So I suggest you pay attention next time, 'cause I don't repeat things..."

Which was a lie. Later, Nate had discovered G.Klo' practiced just like every other dancer. For better or worse, since the 'traumatic' lack of memory, Nate did not miss a single step. With that in mind, Nate said:

"I don't remember, Mini-Tiger. I improvised."

Traviz's reaction almost made Nate change his mind and tell him the truth, that they'd show him and stuff. The kid spent a whole week locked inside the room, crying and refusing to eat.

"That was cold, Nate." Aaron sighed. "Why doing that? It wouldn't cost us a thing. You're evil."

"And you what, you gon tell him the truth?"

"That's not my call, nigga! I keep it hundred with my things, you just deal with yours."

"Give him some fresh b-soda," Ion said.

"Wow, Ion. You're a genius..." Nate grumbled.

To Nate's little annoyance, the b-soda worked. Traviz slowly returned to his stubborn normal.

"I don't like your beans."

"I'm aware of that."

"Then do something about it."

"No, too much effort. But, I got an idea..."

"What?" Traviz licked the b-soda from his lips and nodding. He was back to MC Hammer. Good thing. "We gon finally switch rooms?"

"Not yet."

"I hate your ideas, then..."

"Freal? Hm, okay... I was gonna ask you if you're up to go to Levion with us, but I guess you rather drink b-soda and eat beans... All alone..."

"What? Me going to Levion with you guys?" Traviz stood up, dropping the cup and spilling the b-soda over the table.

"Clean that shit and we're out in five." Nate turned around, hiding a grin. "And change your kicks, please."

So they brought Traviz to one of their rehearsals.