The God From The Machine

Elsewhere

The bottle of whiskey fell to the floor with a loud thud amidst the smoke filled basement. Jack usually charmed Riley into partying with him after jam sessions, but this time they had gotten especially rowdy. Heavy metal blasted through the air, vibrating her bones. Jack was plastered to the leather couch alongside her, taking a drag from a joint that would probably end up being a mistaken addition to their current cocktail. “Lemme see that.” She only barely heard the words as they navigated through the smoke and into her ears. It sounded like Jack was talking into a pillow. She bursted out in laughter, falling over sideways into his lap. She laughed so hard that her abs started to hurt. What’s so funny? She wondered while her body carried on laughing on its own. 

“Nothing in particular.” He said calmly. 

Did I just say that out loud? Riley shot straight up as bad vibes made her stomach sink. Oh fuck. “What did you just say?” She asked, her voice so small and faint beneath the pounding of her heart. Her whole body felt like it was numb. She closed her eyes and lost track of her position in space. She wasn’t her body- she was a crystal somewhere deep in her chest, rotating at the base, tracing an invisible circle beneath her. Every breath she took was wind, bending imaginary trees at the shoreline of an impossible beach. The waves crashed into the sand with the drumline of the music. As her breath began to match the waves, flashes of light exploded in her mind. 

“I said, lemme see that,” Jack said, ripping her from that place and back into her body. “The bottle.” He elaborated. 

“I’m so fucking high dude.” Riley said while laughing at herself, as the music faded back in and her perception of reality sharpened. She handed Jack the empty bottle. He grabbed it and after examining it closely, put it in his lap. “Yeah,” He said, shaking thick tufts of black hair out of his face. “Same…” He stared down at the bottle in his lap for a while before looking up at her. His eyes pierced deep into her soul- like he could see the crystal, and the trees, and the beach. “You know, if I were to just always do what I was feeling, you would hate me.”  

“What do you mean?”

“Just… Like if I acted on my feelings all the time. You’d fucking hate me.” 

“How do you know? Try me.” 

He furrowed his brow and looked down for a moment. She watched him in anticipation. “You sure? I’m not myself.” He asked, still staring into his lap. “Do it.” She said firmly. He clenched his jaw and took a deep breath. Suddenly he grabbed the empty whiskey bottle and threw it at the wall with all of his strength. It exploded into a thousand tiny crystals which flew through the air in all directions, glimmering with light to disguise their dangerous nature. She looked back to Jack and saw him staring at her, breathing heavily. She felt something drip onto her hand and looked down to find a tiny, crimson circle on her knuckle. Jack came very close to her and rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip, and she felt a slight twinge. He pulled a small piece of glass from her lip and dropped it on the floor, his fingers covered in her blood. There were no thoughts in her mind as he came closer and licked her lip to taste it. The trees creaked and the wind moaned as he pinned her down and kissed her deeply. She closed her eyes and the crystal spun and spun in concentric circles. Flashes of light pulsed rhythmically throughout the landscape as the wind grew heavier. The waves pounded harder and harder into the shore, drifting out to the horizon to deliver more when they returned again. Thunder began to build in the sky, rumbling more violently as the waves continued. Finally, an explosion of light wiped across the sea from the horizon, rolling through the trees in an endless torrent. The crystal was bathed in the light that it had been craving, and it rang out with a scream.
It began to rain.