u p h e r e ↬ m.f. & s.m. [completed]

SOMETHING STUPID

CHAPTER FIVE

Wed. 31st August 2016

"I don't really want to become normal, average, standard. I want merely to gain in strength, in the courage to live out my life more fully, enjoy more, experience more."

-Anais Nin, The Diary Of Anis Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934

"Mark?", he slurred.

"Mhm?"

Cars were dashing down the streets as if it wasn't 11pm. Lights were shining just as bright as the summer sun but not nearly as beautiful. When the sun set, humans try to escape the darkness. No matter how advanced our technology is going to be, he read, we should never be able to capture the natural light. We can create all sorts of colors that'll shine bright. Just as the advertisements that lined up on the streets as if a race was about to start. A summer breeze gently washing trough their hairs, was announcing the slow up come of autumn as both boys were going down the road.

Maybe we are able to create light, but we can't create darkness. There's no such thing as the opposite of a flashlight. I wonder if there's even such a thing as darkness, or is it just the true absence of light. If we bold our hands to fists there is no light in them, it's dark. But did we create darkness or did we just shut the light out?, he read. Though his eyes had hard times focusing on the paper, as he had drunk nearly four cans of beer and at the same time he was trying to stay on the pavement, for he did not want to play with the cars on the street, which, he was sure, did not take note of his existence anyway, he understood every word that was written on the page. (he was not drunk at all, just maybe a little bit more tipsier than usual). And if he would walk on the street by accident Mark would help him up on the safe ground, yet once again.

"I wanna talk about this."

"Not now", he frowned. And just maybe he did not even notice that he grabbed the other boy by his wrist to drag him along the way, for he did not know the way and should not get lost, until he noticed Jack walking slightly faster to keep up the paste. As he then let go of his wrist, not wanting to exhaust or rush his friend, both boys missed the feeling of each other on their skin, even if it their touch only lasted for a couple of seconds. And both were either too stubborn or too sober to let the other know. It was truly miserable to see them; wanting the same; a warm feeling of an emotion none of them yet understood and it may be that they never would; a touch, of 36 degree Celsius (97°F), two body heaths matching each other as perfect as the last two pieces of a puzzle that were perfectly placed next to each other for completion; a touch that if it would have just lasted longer could cause a salty layer of sweat that would not be perceived as uncomfortable.

For Jack, they reached the small basketball field too soon, for he would have just wished for a few more minutes of indirect silence; a silence that only existed in situations that were not silent because there were no sounds but because the person simply did not recognized the sounds as such. "You can get a burger if you like, I don't think I've brought my wallet", Mark lied. "I have enough to buy something for the both of us, just say what you want"

***

Mark watched the play with his burger in his hands. And Jack watched Mark as if his face was more interesting. Until they heard a voice coming from a man in his 30s, approaching Mark. "You work today, kid?"

"Do I look like I'm working?", he asked, holing up the burger in his hand, furrowing his eyebrows in anger. "Well, tell me, little boy.", the man sat next to Mark on the small benches that were placed in front of the field. Nobody really seemed to mind him but Mark. The players were still tossing the ball to each other, and the light in the fast food restaurant was still shining revealing some red chairs on the inside. Everything was going on such as before. The world itself stayed the same but Mark's world was drowning in disgust as the man placed an arm around his shoulder. As soon as he felt the hand of the stranger, he shrugged it off, his teeth grinding as he turned to him "I do not work here anymore."