THE NEONPRINT

WELCOME TO ATROX

"C'mon, B. Take a seat."

Just how that letter confused me in ways that would cause my brain to freeze. Probably Ace knew exactly what he was doing with it. He played with that damned consonant, sometimes he would stress the last "E" sound to make sure my ears caught the signal. He would elongate it, lower it and growl it. All that mattered was hearing it from him.

The rain dared to disrupt the dinner held by his parents, the Cotremos, where I was invited as a guest. Still in my head from a nightmare I had a night before: Ace was married to a girl and had zero memories of me. He came into my apartment uninvited and like a whirlwind he disturbed my peace. He played hard to get, uninterested, I felt like his slave, he was the master I could never please but would do anything for. He would talk to me, enough to make the dream feel as vivid as burnt coal on the skin. It seemed like days passed, and on the last one which was the third, he sat himself on the bed with me. Even after that, there was still no response. He was on his phone looking at pictures of what seemed to be what I feared most. Why would you do that? is what I asked myself in a compulsive manner. We had a short dialogue.

"I think I'm going to leave now." he said.

But why, why would he tell me that? If he didn't speak a word for 2 days, why would he hurt me with that sentence? Seeing him walk out my bedroom door was excruciating, I knew there would be no color in my life without his icy eyes. Still in a haze but suddenly woken up by Ace's father, Obie: "Cervo, I heard about your new job as a songwriter. That's amazing, my boy!"

Maybe he would've considered me less than a nobody if he were aware of the feelings I had for his son. He had a robust body, bald head and a long and swollen nose, thankfully Ace did not take anything from him. "Thank you." I said while putting my fork down pretending that Ace's mother's food was edible, her name was Lilith.

"Lilith, this chicken was absolutely delicious!" I lied in a smooth voice trying to avoid Ace with my gaze from across the table.

"I'm so glad you're here, Cervo!" she said while collecting the plates from the table to put them in the sink. Something about the crimson red lipstick that she always wore without any style was disconcerting. Her red hair, slim figure and the blue eyes that Ace inherited were just a facade.

I did anything but look at him, I just wanted my ignorance to hurt him as much as that nightmare hurt me. How could he? Maybe he saw me just as a friend, or maybe he saw me as everything. But I did see him as a friend that night because I was quaked by the thought of him disappearing. And as much as I wanted to lash out at him for just existing and making me feel miserable for not ever tasting his alluring lips, I never did. Last thing I needed was him hating my volatile nature and fulfilling my worst nightmares.

I asked Ace to pass the salt, he did and we touched hands. I wanted to ask him to pass me the pepper, the sauce, the knife Obie never used but Lilith still put next to his plate. If I could only touch him by asking him for things, I would've asked him to pass me every object in the world that he could possibly lift. But, of course, those strong arms of his could do anything. The way his veins trailed his biceps like he was struck by a lightning bolt haunted me. And like in any scary situation, you want to go and examine, see what quivered you, everyone wants the adrenaline until it's too much and you give in to the temptation. He was the only existing thing that could've made me give in.

"B, you alright?" he said.

From how my hand stopped in the air for a minute not taking the grip off the salt cellar he must've thought something was wrong. I snapped out of it "Yeah, I'm alright." He smiled.

"Let's see what's going on in this town." said Obie. He picked up the remote control and turned on the TV on the news channel.

There he went again, probably looking for a reason to start an argument. Obie loved to watch the news and just talk his frustrations out, but he never engaged in anything that would've probably changed the situation he was so mad about. Since the Rift in our universe which changed the laws of physics and everything we knew about the world, enhanced people started emerging from everywhere. I thanked God every day that I didn't transform into anything, Ace either. Obie hated them, but I knew in the pits of my consciousness that the world needed a resurrection. And I was a little bit relieved, finally people drifted away from my kind and hated something new, the enhanced people. The whole world called them "Outcasts". It wasn't given by the government that protected them, but by the people that feared them. What was there to do? They took the name and ran with it, I enjoyed it. It reminded me of myself, about the stories of my parents leaving me. It was like a reminder that some are destined for loneliness and pain.