Miguel O'Hara / Butterfly Effect

Prologue: Part 2

Three main animals that still existed within the year of 2099 were the common street dog along with crows and similar species of birds and finally, cats. While almost all other exotic species of animals had died out either by climate change or hunts, these three common ones still remained. Oh, and rats.

Therefore, while in the neighborhood,you could see a couple of dogs running about in the slightly smaller streets, barking at cats that stood up high in fences, unable to be reached while they looked down upon at the attention seekers.

Having a house closer to a more Latino influenced community, the redhead girl had her work cut out for her when it came to communication. She barely knew any Spanish, mind you, she was trying. Trying to find an actual open spot of free time within her line of work to study and trying to find someone relatively close to work or around her neighborhood to actually practice, but those didn't exactly came up much often.

That was until I introduced her to Miguel O'Hara.

Old, familiar and friendly Spanish music could be heard across the neighborhood. A mix of Puerto Rican, Mexican, Dominican and Cuban playlist among many others. A party seemed to be in its process.

It was past 5pm, making the sky have still a decent amount of light that wasn't hurtful to the eyes. Laughter, some chatty banter and arguments were in the making as a decently big group, ( around fifteen people ) were all together in a backyard.

The yard itself was illuminated by one of those long wires that had lightbulbs hanging from them that wrapped around the fence and the edge of the roof from the two floored house.

A small smoke tower could be seen and the mix scent of meat with alcohol could be perceived. The small tower of smoke came from a spot that was close to the building, a grill. Long strips of steak along with something that was covered in a very long leaf and seemed to be stuffed were in the process of being cooked.

You could see a couple, dancing rhythmically to one of the Spanish songs that played on the radio. The couple swerved, turned and twirled dexterously, with drinks at hand.

There were a couple of white lawn chairs about, as well as a combination of beach chairs. Some coolers and around four children running about and playing with each other in the grassy backyard.

—

Miguel and I were standing just outside Alicia's house. The front door was open, light came from the inside, but there was a screen door as well that was kept closed.

"Alright Miguel," I began and turned to face the taller and much broader man. He was wearing a casual dark red shirt and a brown waxed cotton jacket above it. Jeans and some brown casual shoes to go along with his outfit. I could smell the hint of aftershave and a little bit of shampoo on him. He at least made an effort and cleaned up good to be here. It was better than having him stare at the party from a nearby rooftop.
"Remember, no talking about Spider-Man, no outbursts, a lot of patience and whatever you do, do NOT punch somebody in the gut, yeah?" I said, stating my little rules while I stared at his face.

He had given me a small frown, followed by a light chuckle. "Essentially...lie about my entire existence, what I've been doing for the past years." He casually said. He had been used to it by now anyways. "You think this is my first social interaction as a normal person?"

"Yes." I deadpanned, staring at his face with the most poker face imaginable.

"Well it's not..." Miguel replied, sounding a little bit offended by that. "Can we just go in already?" He said with a grumble on his throat. He had prepared for such a little gathering and had skipped his lunch earlier today to actually make room and try to enjoy today's evening.