“I’m coming,” he shouted.

  The second he touched the back of her shirt, all of the monsters and goblins, and the infinite void that followed him like a shadow of death disappeared just like that, and then the whole world felt safe again – kind of.

  “There’s bound to be toys here,” said Isabel.

  The tumult had settled down somewhat; the security guards had made sure of that. Instead of shouting and throwing chairs, the people were hugging each other and crying. There were kids with them; they were just sitting down on the chairs, though, like how Nathan and Isabel had been, looking more bored than anything.

  “Do you think they’ll have somewhere to watch cartoons?”

  “Definitely. I have this friend at school. She’s in a bigger grade but we talk sometimes at lunch. We both prefer Pegasus’s instead of unicorns. So she said she was in hospital in the holidays and she had her on TV in her room where she got to watch cartoons all day and all night.”

  “All day and all night?”

  “Yep.”

  “Woah. Oh, I know a boy in my class and he went to hospital and he had a TV in his room and he watched cartoons all day and all night too.”

  Though they were on a mission to find a television, a toy room, and cartoons, without even wanting to or even thinking about it, Isabel was drawn to the three kids sitting on the uncomfortable metal chairs, their faces shaped like square wheels.

  “Hi,” she said as if they were meeting in a park or a playground or a party for some kind that neither of them knew. “I’m Isabel.”

  Nathan stayed by her side – silent.

  “I’m Sofia,” said the girl.

  “I’m Jasper,” said the boy.

  And the other boy was too young to speak.

  “Wanna play?” asked Isabel.

  “We can’t,” said Sofia. “We have to wait here.”

  “That’s too bad.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Do you wanna hear a joke then?”

  “Do you know a good one?”

  “I have the best one ever.”

  “I’m terrible at jokes,” said Sofia.

  “I’m probably the best person I know at them. Except for my dad. He taught me most of them. He’s really funny.”

  “What’s the joke,” said Sofia.

  “OK, so this one I just made up now.”

  “Really?”

  “Yep,” said Isabel, laughing as she did as if the idea of making up a joke on the spot were so crazy, all you could do was laugh. “Ok, so let me tell you a joke about insecurity.”

  “What’s insecurity?”

  “I don’t know. I saw it on a thing. But someone shouts out ‘Security!’ and then security says, ‘I’m inside you and there’s nothing you can do’. And then she says, ‘Oh no, I’m insecurity’. Wait, no. How is it again?”

  Her face was shaped like a microscope.

  “Wait, wait, wait, wait,” she said. “I got it. I got it.”

  Were the children fish, her words were succulent bait.

  “So she’s inside the security. Yeah, that’s better. So someone shouts out, ‘Security’ and then security says, ‘You’re inside me, I’m gonna poop you out’. Cause she’s insecurity.”

  The kids all laughed; it didn’t matter if they didn’t know why. It was funny.

  “I can’t wait to tell dad that one when he wakes up.”

  Track 32 (Blue)

  The walk home was quiet; no-one said a thing. It was the complete opposite of the fun they were having inside the club. With every step, the discomfort became more and more apparent, and the silence only worsened the thoughts of uselessness and inadequacy in Isaac’s head and the insecurity he felt.

  “So…do you like….stuff?” he said.

  One would hardly suspect they had spent the whole night singing and dancing and holding hands; and that they’d even shared a kiss.

  “You wanna vandal something?” asked The Girl.

  She already had a stone in her hand.

  Isaac immediately panicked. His demeanour changed altogether. Gone was his gooey indecisiveness, and instead, as if he had landed ass-first onto a fence post, he stood upright and alarmed; and for the first time since they had left the club, he actually had something to say.

  “I don’t think we should,” he said.

  His face was shaped like a sea cucumber.

  “Just one small window,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be a car. Here,” she said, passing him the stone. “I’ll let you choose.”

  Isaac quickly threw the stone on the ground.

  “Watch what I do with mine,” said The Girl.

  She barely gave him a second to think before running into the middle of the street, turning with a maniacal grin, and hurling the stone in her hand which, by the sound it made when it smashed the glass of the factory beside them, could have been excused for being a rock, or maybe even a small boulder. Such was the weight she had to use both hands.

  “You don’t have to run,” she said, as the sound of shattered glass echoed like a clap of thunder. “But I reckon you should.”

  She said that and yet there she was, dancing in the middle of the street as if there was music, a disco ball, and hundreds of drunken patrons clapping and cheering her name.

  “You’re insane,” he said, as he joined her in the middle of the street; half dancing and half-listening for the sound of police sirens.

  “You asked if I liked stuff,” she said, her voice louder than the alarm that was blaring from the smashed window. “I think I like this; I dunno. I think I wanna try again – just to be sure.”

  Just as she had gripped his hand all those times before, he gripped hers, pulling her with him as he scuttered along the darkest parts of the sidewalk thinking they would be caught and hauled into jail at any second; and all he could think was, if that were to happen, who would feed his cat?

  “All you need is a bit of noise,” she said. “And you can have all the fun you want.”

  Isaac didn’t have the breath or the time to respond. All he could think of was getting them somewhere dark, quiet, and safe. And then, when they got there, as he was heaved over himself gasping for air, The Girl leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. It rattled him; it took him by surprise. It was unlike any he had ever had before. Her kiss was uncommon; even to her.

  “Are you having fun?” she asked.

  All Isaac could manage was a dim-witted smile.

  ”Nothing ever ends,” she said, stretching and looking around as if she still had a pocket full of stones. “Even when it does.”

  “I can’t tell if I’m scared or having fun,” said Isaac.

  “What’s the difference?”

  “I don’t know. And I don’t care. Let’s do that again.”

  He’d barely caught his breath back and already he was set on losing it again.

  “Let’s break something else,” he said.

  “Nah,” said The Girl, plonking herself on the grass. “It’s no fun when you’re expecting it. C’mon, sit down,” she said.

  Isaac sat beside her, stiff and fidgety.

  “You’re not tired?” she asked.

  “No. Well yes, but no. I know that if I go home then it’s over. At least for now, the world seems ok – better than ok.”

  “Fair enough,” said The Girl. “So, ask me anything.”

  “Alright, let me think.”

  Were this a movie, he would just recite her poetry until the sun came up, and then they could take a hot air balloon over the city and get married in a cathedral, even though neither of them believed in God. He had no idea what to ask.

  “Ok, so let’s say there’s a train hurtling down a railroad track and there’s five people tied to one track and one person tied to the other. You have your hand on a lever to divert the train. You can save one or the other but you can’t save both. Who do you save?”

  “Okie dokie. I thought you were gonna ask me what my favourite band is but….. That’s easy. Save five, let one die.”

  “Give it time. Think it out.”

  “I don’t need to. It’s simple.”

  “Let me guess. The death of one is more shocking. It has more impact. It’s easier to brand and market and print onto t-shirts?”

  “Sure, but no.”

  “OK, brainiac. Why?”

  “Survivor’s guilt,” she said. “No life is more important than the other so you have to scratch that whole argument. It’s not about ethics or morals at all. It’s not a question of right or wrong. It’s about the next day. Let’s say you choose that one guy, he’ll spend the rest of his life feeling shitty and guilty about every little bit of joy that he receives knowing five other people had to die for him to have it; to the point where he might choose to not have any. He’ll have nobody who’ll understand him, no matter how many people are around him. He’ll probably even kill himself down the line. At least the other five have each other. I think that’s more important. You’d want to have someone.”

  “Do you have someone?”

  He regretted it the second he said it, feeling a burning Promethean stone in his stomach. It didn’t matter that it was the dead of night either; he knew that she knew that his cheeks were as red as traffic lights.

  “It’s not what I meant,” he said, tripping over every word. “I mean…. Ah shit.”

  The Girl laughed; and snorted as she did.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to laugh it’s just…”

  Isaac’s face was shaped like a thirsty koala.

  “You’re cute,” she said, laughing and snorting some more. “But yes,” she said. “I’ve got someone.”

  “Oh ok. Yeah, no, of course, you do.”

  He tried to act aloof.

  “He’s a bit of a weirdo and a mega dork but I think he’s cool.”

  “Ok, cool,” said Isaac, wishing she’d ease up on the damn salt in his wounds.

  “He’s a little bit slow, though.”

  He still didn’t catch on. He sat there, cross legged, staring at his fingers as they pulled grass out of the ground, wishing he had the courage to look her in the eyes. And she sat cross-legged too, looking right at him with a big goofy grin on her face, waiting for him to find or fake that courage.

  “Are you always this awkward around girls?” she asked.

  Again Isaac’s face flushed red. This time she could tell.

  “You can kiss me if you like,” she said, completely cool, as if there weren’t an orchestra in her chest, pounding at her heart and plucking on the strings of her wound up nerves. “I like awkward kisses,” she said.

  And she could have kissed him right then and there and got it over with, but she didn’t. She loved the nervous energy. And that’s not to say that she wasn’t nervous either, it’s just that by looking at her, you’d never be able to tell.

  And so Isaac kissed her. It was short and sharp, and it took both of them by surprise. It was probably the fastest thing he’d ever done in his life – that’s how scared he was. He did it, though; he found his courage. And they stayed there for some time, not saying much, just sitting and holding hands and smiling.

  They couldn’t stop smiling.

  “I’m happy,” said Isaac.

  Because nothing else would suffice.

  “Me too,” said The Girl. “But, uh, I have to go,” she said.

  “Now?”

  “It’s getting late,” she said. “You have to be at your boring job and I have to clean my mothership.”

  “Five more minutes,” said Isaac. “Then we’ll go, I promise.”

  “Ok then,” said The Girl, lying back on the grass. “Five more minutes.”

  They lay there for maybe twenty minutes or more, side by side, their hands lightly touching, and neither one saying a thing; not because there was nothing to say, but because there was no need to say it. Their silence covered them like a soft and warm blanket.

  “I really do have to go,” said The Girl, picking herself up off the grass. “I had fun, though,” she said. “A lot of fun.”

  “Me too,” said Isaac. “I’m glad we did this. I’m glad you came.”

  “Me too,” said The Girl.

  “I know the rule and all but….”

  The worry on Isaac’s face was unavoidable.

  “I really want to see you again,” he said. “It was the most fun I’ve ever had. I’m being serious. I felt like we connected. And I’m cool, you know, if you’re not looking for or interested in a relationship or a boyfriend – that’s totally fine. I just….”

  “For the love of God just spit it out.”

  “I mean, if something happens, it happens, it’s just… I don’t want to lose you as a friend.”

  “You won’t,” said The Girl.

  Then she kissed him once more on the cheek and walked off towards the far end of the park, looking as if there was a skip in her every step.

  “Do you want me to walk you home?” shouted Isaac. “I don’t mind.”

  The Girl didn’t even turn.

  “I’m a big girl,” she said. “Have fun at your boring job. Oh, and that kiss was nice, even if it was expected. See ya, Goofball.”

  And that was it. He watched her slowly walk along the grass and into the dense brush and umbrage that dwarfed and camouflaged the other half of the park. He waited until she was completely gone before he turned and walked off in the opposite direction. And though it was the middle of the night, he had to squint from the blinding joy that beamed from his heart.

  The universe was no longer an infinitely lonely place.

  He thought about their kiss a hundred times and though she’d pretend it was nothing at all, The Girl did too. They both walked through the cold dark remembering tonight and looking forward to tomorrow, whatever that might bring.

  Isaac whistled while he walked, listening to the leaves crackling beneath his feet. The Girl whistled too, trying to block out the sound of the crackling leaves, somewhere in the darkness behind her. All Isaac wanted to do was get home so he could paint something that reminded him of the way he felt right now. All The Girl wanted was to get home. Isaac thought of their kiss and The Girl thought of it too. He smiled as he skipped along. He couldn’t wait to see her again.

  He wasn’t smitten; he was in love.

  “Hey there, princess.”

  The car stopped that had been following her stopped.

  “Awfully late to be out here by yourself. Dangerous, some might say. Let us give you a lift. Hate to see a pretty thing like you get hurt.”

  The Girl was still smiling. They wouldn’t take that from her.

  “You can rape me if you want,” she said. “But you’ll never make me cry.”

  Also by C. Sean McGee:

  A Rising Fall (CITY b00k 001)

  Utopian Circus (CITY b00k 011)

  Heaven is Full of Arseholes

  Coffee and Sugar

  Christine

  Rock Book Volume I: The Boy from the County Hell

  Rock Book Volume II: Dark Side of the Moon

  Alex and The Gruff (a tale of horror)

  The Terror{blist}

  The Anarchist (or about how everything I own is covered in a fine red dust)

  Happy People Live Here

  The Time Traveler’s Wife

  Ineffable

  London When it Rains

  The Inscrutable Mr. Robot

  A Boy Called Stephany

  Alex and The Gruff (dawn of the bully hunter)

  The Parasite

  The Case Against God

  StalkerWindows:

  Bedroom Window

  Bathroom Window

  Library Window

  Author Store

  CSM Publishing ©2019

 

 

  C. Sean McGee, Faraday`s Cage

 

 

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