He Was the Air

1: Loose Ends

It was raining hard that night. Fer watched it falling in sheets on the pavement outside. If the wind kicked it just right, the rain swept sideways. Wretched. Inside the apartment lobby, Sven dropped their keys into the after-hours box. They landed with an unceremonious clank.

"Well, that's done," he said to Fer.

Backpacks on their shoulders, they marched bravely into that torrential downpour. Water beaded down their arms.

"I won't miss this place," Fer complained, "burning even with the rain on you, and it smells like shit."

Sven laughed. "Well, that's the spirit. 'Cause this is it I guess."

"I hope it's better out there somewhere," Fer said, head bowed against the rain.

Sven nudged him. "All we can do is try, yeah?"

"True," Fer replied.

"But we have one last night, you know? For old times."

"For old times," Fer repeated.

Fer truly hated how the rain felt on his skin, but the bus shelter was only moments away. They stepped under that greasy steel and poly-carbonate structure, plastered with political propaganda and the faded ghosts of old band stickers.

"Finally," Fer groaned, wiping the water off his arms with his damp shirt. "Do you know when Omega's coming?"

"I'll check on her," he said. He pulled out his personal device and called. "Hey babe, how's it going?"

Fer absentmindedly listened to Sven and the pause between his phrases.

"You still picking us up at the bus stop by the apartment?"

Fer gazed into the night.

"Alright, then see you in a bit." Sven tucked the device back into his front pocket and rummaged hastily before asking his brother "Hey, do you have any smokes?"

Fer dug into his own jeans. "Yeah, I have a few." He produced one for each of them.

Sven took his and lit it quickly. "Thanks, I'll get you back."

Fer lit his too. "Don't sweat it. It feels like the least of my worries right now."

After a long drag Sven coughed. "I know. We'll figure it out. There will be so many others doing it too. It's got to work out for us somehow."

"Yeah, I hope you're right."

"Often enough," Sven said.

Fer and Sven were a striking pair. Sven was the older one, and slightly shorter. Fer's hair was an artful mess of curls worn in a trendy shag and Sven kept his own hair cropped and colored. They were a good-looking duo, if a bit eccentric.

Fer threw his spent cigarette on the wet concrete and crushed it under the sole of his boot.

"It really does smell like shit out here," Sven said.

Fer laughed. "Think you'll drink tonight?"

"Eh, probably a little." He fidgeted in his pockets again, anxiously. "I know I keep my head about me pretty well, but I'm apprehensive too."

"Yeah, I guess you'd have to be."

"I know," he admitted. "I just get tripped up by everything feeling out of our control."

"Yeah, but like you said, it's gonna be a whole ship full of people more or less like us. That's got to count for something," Fer offered.

Sven rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Yeah, unless this is all just a convenient human sacrifice!"