Neon Gods

Chapter Three

Jackson walked down the sidewalk, with the strap of his camera bag pressed into his shoulder in a rather uncomfortable manner. Since he was studying photography, he would often go out to photograph nature, and the sunsets to practice any new techniques recently learned. He knew it could be dangerous for him to go out once it was dark, so Jackson made a point to store a bottle of pepper spray in one of the pockets of his camera bag. He also kept a pocket knife and a flashlight on him, but he would only use the knife if he absolutely needed it. Jackson had been called many things before. Rude, a snob, he had even been called stuck up by a couple of seniors at his old high-school. In reality, Jackson was misunderstood. He was a sweet but shy boy, who often found it easier to photograph and interact with nature instead of people. But once the time was taken to get to know Jackson, and get past his slightly nerdy appearance,
people found that he was genuinely friendly and helpful: and Jackson would try his best to help those who were close to him.
One day, he was out photographing the abnormal cacti he had become distracted with while coming home from college, he heard a commotion. He could hear cars honking, people screaming and shouting at each other, and he thought he heard what sounded like water? Well, that was to be expected he supposed, since it had been storming for most of the day yesterday: it didn't shock him when the flash flood warnings started. As he abandoned the last cactus he had been standing by, he hurriedly stuffed the camera into its bag, and slung it on to his shoulder. Jackson started to walk in the direction of all the noise. As he drew closer, he noticed something else. What had sounded like scraping or something hard grinding together,
and for some reason saltwater.
That's weird, he thought as he walked, has it been so long since i've been to the beach that I'm smelling it here? He was familiar with the smell that came after it rained, and this most definitely wasn't it. As he drew closer, Jackson could tell that he wasn't imagining the smell, it steadily grew stronger and more noticeable as he walked. Soon he was close enough to see that the grinding sound was caused by a couple of boards that had follen scraping together and against some rocks. Jackson saw a crowd standing by something, but he couldn't quite see over everyone.
"Excuse me," he tried to squeeze between two girls as they filmed something with their phones. "Miss could you please move?" He tried again but still didn't get any response."
A man in his forties saw Jackson and walked over. "Hey kid. You hear bout'em too?"
"No. About what sir? What are they filming?"Jackson's face was full of confusion. "The fish." The man answered. "Fish? Where are they though?"
The man smiled at Jackson, "they're in the water." The man pointed toward the front of the crowd. "In there...? Why would there be fish in there sir?"
Jackson was puzzled. "Don't know kid. I only know that there are fish in that water. So, want to see 'em?"

Jackson frowned slightly, but nodded nonetheless,"sure." The man placed a hand on his shoulder, and began to lead Jackson around the edge of the crowd. Once they were a little bit closer,they stopped, and the man pointed to the water again, "you see 'em now kid?"

As Jackson continued to look, he could see some small things moving. As he looked closer, he saw that they were small Groupers and Angelfish.
The man smiled, "now you see 'em right?"" Jackson nodded. "Oh pardon me, i forgot to ask your name. Jackson smiled, "it's alright sir. My name is Jackson, but I go by Jax. What's your name sir?" The man smiled. "It's nice to meet you Jax, I'm Apollo. Please excuse me, I must be going now I'm afraid."
With that, Apollo turned away and vanished back into the crowd of people, leaving Jax to stare at the fish by himself. As Jax continued to stare into the water, he thought he saw something else moving. It looked like a person was swimming in the water. Was that possible? Jax started to walk closer, the other people payed him no mind. As he got closer, he could see there was a man in there.
"Sir, sir? Excuse me sir? Do you need help?" Normally Jax would prefer not to speak, unless spoken to first. But that day was a strangely cold day for the middle of summer, and he wasn't sure how long the man had been in the water. "Are you speaking to me?" The man asked.
"Yes, sir. If i May ask, what are you doing?" Jax's tone was laced with concern. "I've been waiting," was the not so helpful answer to Jax question. "What are you waiting for sir?" Jax tried again, "i am waiting for a mortal to help me."
"You need help? Would you like to borrow my phone so you may call someone?" It was the man's turn to look confused, "what is a phone? Do you mean a cellular phone? I do not have any use for those, I do not have any one to contact." Jax frowned, "you don't?" The man shook his head, "no, but I'm waiting for help."
Jax sighed, "Okay. I can help you for now. What's your name?" "My Name is Paul. Whom might you be?"Jax smiled, "you can call me Jax. Are you sure you don't have anyone you can contact?" Paul shook his head, "no one. I no longer speak to my brothers." Jax nodded again, "okay. Do you have anything else to wear?"
Paul's answer was no yet again. "That's okay. For now I can give you some of my brothers old clothes, and then we can go shopping tomorrow." Paul let his lips curl into a small smile, "thank you Jax." "It's really no problem, are you hungry?"
Paul stood up, and the two started to walk away. No one questioned them, with how big the crowd of people was: and how close they were to the water it wasn't surprising that someone was wet. "Yes. But i do not know what to eat." Jax couldn't help but laugh slightly. "It's alright. We can figure that out too." As they started to walk toward Jax's house, they saw a man with a large bag slung across his shoulders watching them.