Fever Dream Red

13

I sat there for a while. I'm not sure how long. Long enough to be able to see clearly again. The melodramatic masterpiece was over.

I vaguely remember the sun setting, the blood red dissolving on the beaten horizon.

I was sitting perfectly still, in a sort of lucid state, when I heard Danny padding over to me.

I knew it was Danny because I saw his lanky shadow creeping up on me like a monster. I heard his converse, interact with the sand. I heard his heavy breathing disturd my state.

He had obviously ran down to the beach.

Without saying anything, he sat down next to me, staring straight ahead.

"We have to stay." Danny said simply.

I hoped Sunny hadn't ran her mouth off to Danny.

"Oh yeah?"
"I agree with you." He looked at me."This place is wierd as hell and I don't want to stay here either."
"Goo-"
"But we have to." Danny finished.
"Why?"
"Nick is forcing us to."

I then looked at his face properly. Translucent tears spilled onto his cheek.

We had properly put our foot in it.

"How? How can he force us to?" I stood up and looked at him, my anger flaring up again.
"They pulled a gun on us!" Danny stood up too, almost shouting at me.

I looked at him, hardly processing what was coming out of his mouth.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Either we go along with what he says, or we get killed."

"Why. Why is he doing this?"
"I don't know."

Danny raked his hand through his hair. He was in a state. Danny was never in a state.

"I don't know." He muttered quietly.

Without any words, he pulled me close to him. I could feel his wild hearbeat on the other end of the line.

It was awkward. But it was all I had.

It's strange how things can change so suddenly.

No one would come and save us. It was just us. All laws had gone. It was the wild west now. They could do anything to us and we could die at the pull of the trigger. No sirens would be heard. No investigation. No prison. No justice.

Only death.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. It sounded strange, something so sincere coming out of someone so funny.

Then the men came in their flash suits. Tore us apart, and then put a gun to both of our heads. The rough of it collided with the gentle fabric of my skin.

They tied my hands behind my back and we started the long walk back.

In my mind, I surrendered. My mind was as white as a suit shirt. This would be my life now, until I rotted inside out or I took a step out of line and became familiar with the compact killing machine.

I wanted so much more than this. I had hoped for a proper home and a fulfilling life. It was all falling out of my reach, as if I was losing at a simple video game. But this was no game. This was life.

We slowly apprached the gardens which I had, a few hours ago, admired. It now looked like a very pretty thing to look at while I faced death.

Waiting on the steps was Sunny, Alfie, Doug, Zack and Inez. They had their heads bent, perhaps from the force of the guns that were at the back of their heads like some kind of death crown.