It's been a while, hasn't it? Don't worry, I've been working on a new project I hope to start posting in 2022, a sequel to Atomic Rebooted following a new protagonist who ends up entangled with Titanio, a mysterious character from the first one. Here's a quick excerpt:
Emerging from the smoke in a dark silhouette, he wasn’t dressed like your stereotypical supervillain. He had a mask, sure—but it looked more like one a cyborg might have, not the typical domino ones you saw nearly every hero and villain in New Kingsbury wear. Over his black X-men style jumpsuit was some cool custom jacket, color-blocked in green, red, white, and black like a professionally-designed movie costume.
Titanio.
I dug my fingernails into the vinyl of the retro-style red chair. My knuckles turned white.
How dare you?
Memories flashed before my eyes. Two kids splashing around in the community pool not far from my neighborhood. Nimble fingers and a red glow as the broken electronics in my handheld game console wound their way back together, good as new. A treehouse filled with all the symbols of nostalgia, shared secrets and toys.
A green-eyed boy who sat in the back of the classroom, but always followed around the girl with red hair and the sunniest smile. Promises whispered so adults couldn’t hear with pinkies intertwined.
Blood on my favorite tank top with the pink strawberry print. The taste of salt and iron in my mouth. His mother in sweatpants with dark circles under her eyes, the last “see you tomorrow” echoing in my head as she spoke, but I couldn’t hear one word she said. Except for six.
“He never came home last night.”