Abyssal Red (and other short stories)

Abyssal Red

When I first met Jay, it was at a bar near the centre which I used to frequent at the time. Jay's appearance definitely stood out among the others. He was clearly a foreigner although when one listened to his speech there could not be detected any hint of an accent. His clothes were old and loose which only made his figure appear even smaller. Combined with his short stature and youthful face, he could easily be mistaken for a teenager. 

He was in a quarrel with some other customer over a spilled drink. The man was insisting he paid for it but Jay was all out of money. Nether of them seemed to back off. I don't remember what even pushed me to step in but thinking back on it now I'm glad that I did. I paid what Jay owed which broke the fight. At that moment I didn't even suspect I'd actually make a friendship, especially not one as peculiar as this one.

''Thank you... but really you shouldn't have done so...'' Jay said to me as he looked out at the direction the irritated man was walking away in. ''With how rude this guy was I probably would have refused to pay even if I had the money.''

Unsure how to answer that comment I simply said it was no issue. Unbeknownst to me how, form there we struck a conversation and my initial impressions of Jay were confirmed: Jay was a sharp-tongued guy who seemed who couldn't be farther from the type that never shuts up - in fact he was rather too quiet. His honesty, however, made him appear rude even when he meant well.

Apparently, he had only recently came to the capital as previously he used to live u a small town nearby. I did not press any further on the topic of his origins at the time as somehow that completely escaped my mind (or perhaps I just didn't find it that important back then).

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Before I made this unlikely acquaintance, I lived  somewhat if a lonely life. I had few connections. none of which I could truly call a friend. The same turned out to be true for Jay.

Latter, however, I learned that the cause of our solitude was different. For me it was simply my own introvertness that kept me a loner while in Jay's case it was the others lack of understanding for his strange personality and views. Jay was generally disliked by whoever I happened to meet that knew him for a reason I could only define as that. Truly, he was a difficult person but being condemned to isolation simply for being such seemed too harsh of a punishment (if one was even needed to begin with in such a case).

I feel like I must say this so no wrong interpretations are made but it was not pity for his situation that made m want to hold onto that friendship and work on it. I had already developed an interest in getting to know him far before I became aware of this fact.

''So does that make us best friends?'' I half-jokingly said to him hen that topic was brought up, sometime a week or two after our initial meeting. 

''I don't know about you but I won't go as far as even calling us friends just yet.'' was his cold answer hat might have offended someone else but I knew better than to be. ''You shouldn't trust people so fast... or get attached to them so easily.'' 

It was a cryptic answer that obviously did not spell out all that Jay had on his mind concerning the topic, something that was out of character for him as far as I knew but he refused to speak further on it so I dared not to press any further at that point in time. That short conversation was my very fist glimpse into Jay's soul and I already felt addicted. I couldn't help but wonder what it was that made him so afraid of attachment and so untrusting towards others.

The mystery behind Jay's past, as well as the answer to the question would soon be revealed unexpectedly without me having to even ask for it.

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