Ever After

Chapter 12 - Photo Booth

Chapter 12 - Photo Booth

The concert hall was filled to capacity with shadowed forms. All of them were dancing, singing, or doing both. On stage a rock band was performing. In the middle of the crowd stood Star and Marco, the couple looked to be in their early-50s. The music was loud and the song was one the couple was familiar with. Star, like the rest of the crowd, was fully enjoying the experience. Meanwhile her husband just moved his head back and forth to the beat. Star looked up at him a few times, bumping him with her hip to try to encourage him to dance which he did slightly.

"OK brain, pause concert." Star called out and then turned to her husband. The music had stopped and the crowd around them was frozen in place. "Are you not feeling it again tonight? You're acting like someone killed your puppy."

Marco just shrugged. "This is fine."

"Fine? I would rate your current fine slightly below getting a filling."

Marco sighed. "It's just the third time we've done this concert. I don't know, maybe you're right and I'm not feeling it tonight."

Star shook her head. "What is going on Marco? Ever since your birthday you seem...I don't know...going through the motions. No, it is more like when we were trapped in the photo booth again. We are taking the same pictures but I can see something in you is different."

With that the world around them shifted and they were suddenly inside an old mall style photo booth. The walls of the enclosure were covered in pictures of the couple from throughout their lives.

Star poked his chest. "I've been trying to ignore this but you are in such a funk. I know we are living in ANOTHER pandemic and we can't go anywhere but you were like this even before the lockdowns started."

Marco looked up at the ceiling, obviously annoyed. "Next are you going to dig into my head again? Star, I'm fine. Everything is fine. I don't know, maybe I'm just getting frustrated. Maybe...maybe we are running out of fun adventures."

"Shut your mouth Marco Diaz! We love our adventures awake or dreaming! I mean..." She paused and started to look a little panicked. "...you still love our adventures don't you?"

Marco reached up and pulled down one of the pictures and then laid down on the seat of the booth. "Look at this picture from our daily briefing today. Again, thanks to Mina's friends, we are talking to the same officials about monster hate groups. Same call we had last week. Same call we had last month. Same call we had last year." He signed while still staring at the ceiling. "Star...what drives me? And don't look in my head, just tell me what you think."

Star put on her thinking face. "Drives you? Making other people happy drives you. I drive you and don't you dare make a 'drives you crazy' joke."

"Yes, making people happy but it is really about making a difference for good in the world. Am I still making a difference in the world? Or are we just wasting time we'll never get back on people who are never going to change?" She started to interrupt him but he kept going. "Star, I'm at the age now where I clearly remember my grandparents being when I was a kid. I...I see the end game. We are going to keep slowing down, we might start forgetting things, and at some point we are just a shell of ourselves trapped in a barley function body. Just like what they went through. What are we even doing with this time we have left?"

Star's eyes went all twitchy as she thought about what he said. "That is pretty dark...very dark. Is that what you have been thinking about?" She reached down to hold his hand.

"That and other things." He sighed. "Star, have we already had our best day?"

She looked shocked at first but then shook her head no. "Remember what your dad said about his artwork? The best piece is always the next one. I'd like to think that applies to all our days together. Each day can be our best one."