Monochrome beat (boyxboy)✔

Beat 18

"Jax? Sure I can't tempt you with a round of Mario Kart?"

I sighed in frustration. I wanted badly to say "one round won't kill". I wanted badly to play games again, to laugh, to interact with humans and not feel dirty or violated. I craved that freedom. I wanted to sometimes just not care about anything but the moment.

I hated that I wanted all that. Nothing good ever came from that.

But...

You once played games and nothing happened. You once went to a party and nothing happened. You once spent time with other people and had the greatest time of your life. Once upon a time, you lived.

"One round," I said.

Orlando indicated for me to enter.

I walked into the beautiful house. The first thing that greeted me was a small person, who ran from wherever she had been to come to the door. I was taken aback. I think I froze.

She thrust her hand in front of me.

"Hi. I'm Kenzie. I'm glad to see you are real. For a while I thought Froggie was hallucinating."

I shook her hand uncertainly. "Froggie?"

"Yeah. He hops," she replied, giving Orlando a closed-lip smile.

Orlando sighed. "Jax, meet the thorn in my life. Thorn, meet Jax."

"I'm also his beloved sister," Kenzie informed me.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be? Preferably your room," Orlando said. "Go away."

Kenzie narrowed her eyes. "Fine. I'm going. Behave kids. Mom will be home soon." She walked away until she disappeared up the stairs.

"So your mom isn't home?" I asked.

"Nah. She went to see some people about some...thing," Orlando said dismissively.

I nodded and looked around. We were standing in the entryway. The living area was to my left.

"So...the console is in my room. Mom would never allow it down here. So we could go up," Orlando said.

I froze for a second. I was going to be alone with Orlando in a room. It was just going to be the two of us, in his territory, his world.

Unaware of my frozen state, he started moving. I noticed he was using his crutches, "hopping" as Kenzie said. That surprisingly calmed me down. Orlando was one limb short. His movements were slow. He couldn't chase me if I ran. He was at a disadvantage.

I followed him up the stairs.

I didn't regret my decision, at least not immediately. Orlando set up the game and we sat on bean bags. We raced against each other and battled. Orlando won three races and I won once.

"Eat my dust Jacky!" he yelled at one time.

"You can't catch me now Orly!" I yelled.

We laughed at the moves we made and got mad at the game when we couldn't catch up. I had so much fun I forgot about my reservations. Orlando seemed to be having just as much fun as I was.

"Oh hell no! One more game!" I yelled after Orlando had beaten me again.

"Aren't you tired?"

"No! I am not getting tired until I win again."

"Okay, one more time," he obliged.

I lost. I lost one more time after that.

"I'm sure you practice every day," I huffed.