Miss. Morix

34

     My fingers wrapped around the bars loosely. They were dismally cold. On the other side of the iron Lex sat distractedly. Ding Ding Ding he'd mutter sporadically. He was dressed in the typical orange jumpsuit, and his head was shaved bald. He looked fragmented, almost as if something had switched off in his head.

"Lex..." I whispered through the bars. He looked up at me. "Lex how are you?" my voice sounded weak, it sounded feeble. My arms began to feel frail. "Lex...answer me."

     Slowly he stood up, and made his way over to the bars. He was silent. Our faces were inches apart. I noticed snot dripping from his nose, and his eyes were fixated groggily on me. The smell of rust filled my nose. "Lex..."

"You won Lex, you're powerful." He simply nodded. There was a pause. "I don't think you're a fool. I don't think you're cracked." I assured him. He rested his head on to the bars, his hands wrapping around the bars below mine just as loosely. I felt a gentle sigh trail from his nose linger in my fingers. I rested my forehead on the bars in-between us as well. "Lex...I brought something for you." I whispered almost inaudibly. "Of course, I kind of smuggled it. But it's easy to, it's small." I tried to get him to smile. His expression stayed still, he was looking at me dejectedly.

I tug in my pocket, feeling around with my fingers. I gazed at him, and he returned it.

"Could you do something for me?" I asked nicely. He nodded. "Can you close your eyes?"

     I watched as his eyes fluttered shut. I wanted to kiss his eyelids and sing him to sleep. He looked so helpless to me. I was the only one on the planet who felt sympathetic for him. I was the only person on the planet who wanted to spend the night in his arms. We were the only people on the planet who actually wanted the other one in their life. With my fingertips I picked and played with a wrapper. Untangling it from the candy, I pulled it out of my pocket. I held it up through a gap in the bars, letting it graze his lips.

"It's cherry." I guaranteed.

     Gradually his lips parted, and he held the candy between his teeth momentarily. I smiled sheepishly at him, placing my forehead back on to the bars. A grimace appeared on his face as his eyes met mine again. I smiled back at him as cheerily as I could. As if out of embarrassment, he self-consciously wiped the snot with the sleeve of his jumpsuit. To the world he was a demon. To me he appeared to be a bashful angel. His hands returned to their positions, as did his forehead.

"It's not a lab coat." He finally uttered.
"No, no it's not. But, you still look just as sophisticated."
"You think so?" He said modestly.
"I think so Superman."

His eyes widened. "I'm sorry I can't kiss you." The words rolled off his tongue and on to my lips.
"Ah, I'm sorry too." I giggled.
"You know you're my first and only visitor, my love?" His finger reached from it's grip on the bad to delicately tickle my chin.
"That so?"
"Morbidly so. You'd think people would be bowing by the locks!"
"I could kneel. Don't know that you'd get the outcome you want though with this between us." I shook the bar a bit. His smile became a smirk, and for the first time his cheeks tinted pink.

     We stood there, silent, for a few moments. It was comfortable. I felt oddly secure. Maximum security monitoring and I felt secure. Pattering, moderate pattering echoed from the roof. Gradually, it became louder. Until it was obvious, it was raining outside.

"Mr. Luthor?"
"Yes dear?"
"How opposed would you be to me visiting often?"

He inhaled deeply. "Opposed huh?" He said through his exhaling.
"Opposed. Against. Not in favor of."
"I think I'd be supportive of it. As I always have been."
"Good to know."
"I'll be in here a long time you know. I'm going to have to count years, not days. Conspicuously, you better live an exciting life!"
"So I can update you?"
"So I can ravish in the story-telling of my entrancing enchantment."

I blushed.

"Lex, can I ask you a question?" I stuttered a bit, suddenly unsettled.
"Well, dear, I suppose it's only fair. The last time I was graced with your touch I asked one." There was a pause as I closed my eyes.

"Lex...do you...do you think I'm good enough to. I don't know. Do you think maybe you—"

"Love you? Are you good enough for me to love?" I nodded. It sounded like such a silly question. But the one to love me last was buried. "How could you think anything less?" I shrugged. "You know what I loved before you came along? Motorcycles and Kentucky Mash. Erm, never together but you know. Then this woman, about your height, thank goodness because I'm certainly not six foot, stepped in my lab. You know what happened? She became the only person I invested trust in. And you know what she didn't do, that, obviously, everyone else did?" I shrugged again, with a smile creeping on to my face. "She showed me unquantifiable amounts of intelligence! And never, not once, broke this trust." I nodded. "So do I love you? I love you exponentially, my dear. I'm sorry it had to be me, but let me tell you the thing I've learned and contemplated with every investment. Enlighten me, sweetheart, have you ever sat unimpressed with yourself because throughout the work load you dreamed of holding the one you cherish most beside you?"

"I...yes, of course."

"Well, you know what my mundane and scholarly escape artist attempts revealed to me undeniably anyway?" He paused, fixating his eyes to inhibit all that is stern.

"The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire. When I gaze deep into your mind, yes your mind dear, I am met with the beauty of a thousand diamonds. When the world ends, I hope you to persist with me if at all conceivable."

His hand caressed my cheek, and mine did his. A few moments passed in silence, eyes shut lightly.

Then the bell rang. My ears cringed themselves when the guard rang a bell, indicating I was to be escorted out. My time was up.