The Unwritten Sin

Chapter 5

"How is that possible?" Wilder asked in amazement. "In five hundred years it hasn't had a single hiccup. And now it's having difficulties? That's....statistically impossible."

"Nah man," Neptune swung his arms, "improbable, maybe, but nothing is impossible, brother."

Wilder shook his head. "Well," he said, "if you want to come back to the apartment, you're welcome to. It's a mess, but..."

"Yeah, that would be awesome." Neptune blew the hair out of his eyes, and smiled. "I was hoping to maybe pierce my lip later."

The two walked the seven blocks back to Wilder's apartment. The sun had come out, and the air was heavy with condensation. It made it hard to breathe. Neptune had to move his head to look past his shaggy hair every few seconds. Wilder had to ponder this problem with the Machine. It was unusual, to say the least. It made him want to try and reincarnate just to test it.

Neptune kept stopping to go through the dumpsters on either side of the alleyway. On the fifth such stop, Wilder had to ask. "Do you even have a place to stay?" he asked, half anticipating the answer.

"Nah," Neptune sniffed hard once, and dangled an empty aluminum can in front of Wilder, "I find such great stuff in the trash, man, I tell ya." 

"What in the hell is that good for?" Wilder asked. 

"Oh, all kinds of stuff. I could make a wind chime. A dope pipe, you name it."

Wilder rolled his eyes. "You're being serious."

"Definitely," Neptune smiled again, and his crooked teeth made him look remarkably charming.

Wilder kept walking. Neptune trailed behind. The clouds had gathered again, and Wilder hoped they would break soon. A sliver of sweat ran down his back as they walked.

"This is it," he said, unlocking the front door. Neptune wasted no time poking his head in to look around. "Make yourself comfortable, I guess," he said. "Sorry it's a mess."

Neptune was going through a pile of trash on the floor, a huge grin on his face.

Wilder excused himself to go to the bathroom. He stared at himself in the mirror. "What the hell did I get myself into?" he asked the reflection. He heard Neptune break something in the living room, and then a sad noise as Neptune started to cry.

"What happened?"

Neptune pointed at a broken globe on the floor, one of the few personal belongings that Wilder actually enjoyed having in his house. It had come from the first time he and his parents had gone walking on the beach. Neptune cried and sniffled and wiped his nose and cried some more.

Wilder was angry, but he couldn't stay that way for long when Neptune was making such a scene. He swept up the glass. "Why don't we get something to eat?" he asked, trying to change the subject. Neptune perked right up at the mention of food. He crawled to the bar, and shoved a pile of books onto the floor so he could sit on the bar stool. 

Wilder hung his jacket on the peg by the door, and began to rummage through the cupboards.

"I have Chex mix and some marshmallows," he said, dropping them both on the bar in front of Neptune, who acted like he had never eaten in his life. He pounced on the crusty marshmallows as if they were a delicacy. Wilder stared at him in astonishment.

"Hey, while we are here," Neptune said after a moment of shoving his cheeks with marshmallows, "I thought we could stop by the Great Hall to pick up a friend of mine."

"A friend of yours. What in the hell does that mean? Someone is incarnating today? How do you know."

Neptune looked serious for a moment, and his eyes were gray under all that mess of blue hair.

"There are ways to get a body we feel comfortable in," he said flatly. "My friend has been in the wrong body for a very long time."

Wilder sighed and said under his breath, "I know what that feels like."

"There you go!" Neptune shoved a handful of Chex into his mouth, and wiped the dust off onto his shirt in a flourish. "Do you have any needles?"

Ten minutes later, Wilder stood in the bathroom, watching Neptune with disbelief. The crazy kid was standing in front of the mirror, with his forelock in a tiny ponytail on top of his head while he marked a spot on his lip with a pen. "Alright," he said, "ice cube."

Wilder handed him the melted cube, and shook his head. "My life was so simple before this morning," he said softly.

"OW! Son of a BITCH!" Neptune turned around with the needle stuck through his lip, and it was dripping blood. 

"Holy hell," Wilder hurried to hand him a towel.

"I'm kidding, man, I'm a masochist." He poked the needle with a finger, making it jiggle in his lip.