Façade (DISCONTINUED. Revised and redone as a webcomic)

Chapter 4: Dreamer

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Day 001 9:00pm
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Outside the house, there was the usual thundering of the CEL's megaphones telling people to beware of Adlets as their armoured vehicles patrolled up and down the streets. I glanced at the digital alarm clock sitting on my desk next to the computer monitor.

9:00 PM.

I sighed, rolling over in my bed to face the wall with the sickening image of the mutilated human fresh in my head. The smell of blood, of raw meat. The stench of ruptured digestive organs and their contents. I shuddered, gripping my own shoulders and drawing my knees close to my body.

I wanted to melt into the grey and beige comforter below me, but of course I couldn't. Hiro's—no, Triumph's gentle smile found its way into my head again, followed by the crushing helplessness of being forced to shift form against my will.

The door opened and I flinched at the sudden noise. I was easily startled by loud or sudden noises, and thunderstorms made me fly into a blind panic and I'd try to hide. No, this was not because I was technically a type of dog, but it had something to do with my PTSD.

"Yo, I made some macaroni. Mom should be home in five minutes, so eat before she gets home and eats your share."

Distance's blunt voice.

I didn't move as I replied,

"I'm not hungry."

"You haven't eaten since noon. You've got to be hungry."

He countered my flat comment with a sharp tone.

As if in response to his words, my stomach growled for a full five seconds. I sighed.

"What's wrong with you? Talk to me."

Distance yawned, sitting on the edge of my bed and tapping my back with his closed fist.

After a short few seconds, I complied and sat up with my feet flat on the floor. He held two plates of macaroni, and once I had moved into a sitting position, he placed one in my lap. I grasped the fork he provided and used it to move the pasta around my plate.

"I can't stop thinking about the dead person there. Just the smell and the sight alone...it makes me feel sick."

I explained quietly.

Distance stared at me for a moment, then sighed,

"That kind of stuff doesn't really bother me, so I can't relate. I guess all I can say is pretty insensitive, but just try thinking about happier things. Like, um..."

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, unlocked it, opened YouTube, and checked his subscriptions.

I watched his fingers busily move about the screen until he tapped on a green logo sitting in the list of subscriptions. He chose a video at random, then as the rambunctious YouTube gamer shouted his intro in a heavy Irish accent, Distance hesitantly explained,

"Whenever I have a shitty day, I watch this guy and his happiness makes me forget my own fear and depression. I wanna meet him but he can't come here with all the restrictions and war."

I slowly found my appetite and ate a single noodle. That made me realize my own hunger and I began wolfing down the food. No pun intended.