red-cyberpunk

[red-cyberpunk]

Announcement

Starting yesterday, I will be posting the current draft of RED here. Since I tend not to consider chapters when writing, I will be posting once a month, both so that I have time to write and so that I have time to consider where to end the chapter. I will keep this blog up and occasionally post RED-related artwork.

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Sorry for not updating on here, I ended up becoming unsatisfied with the comic version and postponing work on it until further notice. Instead, I’ve gone back to working on it in a fully-written format, which has been coming along pretty well, I think. Here are the two pages I finished with the comic version. If you still want to be updated on what I do art-wise, you can follow me on Instagram.

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Sorry again for not posting much here, I’m still kind of stuck in that rut. It’s because of that that I’ve decided to start making RED into a comic sooner than I had intended to. I’m not sure if I’ll post it on here, but I’m gonna try to get multiple pages done first.

I still have a Patreon and a Ko-Fi, if anyone’s interested in donating.

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Sorry for still not posting new story updates. I’m in a bit of a rut. Here’s a drawing in its place.

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I hadn’t drawn Matt in a while, especially not in color, so here’s one I started the morning with. Also, I’m posting drawings mostly daily on my Instagram and Twitter. I haven’t posted them on here since they’re not related to the story.

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Excerpt: Freeway

Sorry for not posting in a while, I’ve been working on a third draft. Here’s a short excerpt from it.

Did you ever hear that talk back when we were kids about a bunch of towns being made into one big city? That was this one. The biggest city was apparently the center one, where Medi’s central building is. Apparently, it used to be general purpose before they made it into the corporate building. That was before they made the four buildings with specific purposes.

Before then, they had a way smaller building. That was when they just made medical appliances. They did all of their research and development there. That’s why they’re the Medical Technologies Corporation. Might as well just change their name to the Medical Corporation at this point with all the stuff they’re doing now.

While I was wandering around, some time before you found me after that fight, I heard a guy talking about how Medi’s the reason why this city is like this now. That they paid off politicians to get it to happen. Said he lost his old home because of it. That it used to be where one of the huge freeways that connects the Medi buildings is now. He grew up in that house, he said. That his dad and grandma grew up there, too.

Normally, I’d pass up the political stuff as just conspiracy theory stuff, but, I dunno. With what I’ve seen, I’m not that sure anymore. That guy, though, definitely lost his house. I could hear in the way he talked how bad he felt about it. He sounded like he could cry at any moment. He talked about memories he had as a kid, playing in his yard with his siblings, of parties he had with his family. He said it wasn’t a big house, or anything. It wasn’t fancy, or anything, but that wasn’t what mattered about it to him. Even with how small it was, how dusty it always smelled, how much the floor always creaked, it had all his memories in it. The memories of his family.

The smell of alcohol started getting to me, so I left before I could hear him go on more. Really, though, that’s not why I left. Not really. The hollow feeling in my stomach was the real reason. The feeling on my eyes, like I could start to cry along with him.

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Boy’s Name

           My dad named me Mateo and my classmates named me Matthew. No one really minded my name at first, at least as far as I could tell. I was only a kid, so why would it matter to me? Why would I pay attention? Eventually, though, the same question kept coming up.

           “Why do you have a boy’s name?”

           I didn’t know what they meant at first. Boy’s name? Why would it be a boy’s name? It’s my name, so it’s a girl’s name, right? Or a name that anyone can use? But I had never met any other girls with the same name as me, so maybe not. But what did it matter, right? It’s my name.

           Eventually, though, as we started to get a bit older, the questions shifted instead to rumors.

           “I heard her dad named her that because he wanted a boy” was the one I heard first and most often. Of course, I didn’t think that was true. He wouldn’t be raising me if he didn’t love me the way I am, right?

           I couldn’t ask him. My dad wasn’t intimidating, or anything. I wasn’t afraid of him. He never raised a hand at me or yelled at me, but I just couldn’t bring myself to ask why he named me this way. What if just asking disappointed him? Or what if he actually did want me to be a boy?

           I held onto that anxiety for years, letting it fester like an unclean wound. I became more sensitive to the rumors being passed around, all of which escalated once I decided to cut my hair short.

           When I told him how short I wanted to cut my hair, he agreed to it without question. “If that’s what you want,” he said. I guess he couldn’t think of any reasons I would want a haircut besides just to look different. So I got it cut. Buzzed. Throughout the whole process of getting it cut, I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. I never let them out.

           “Apparently she wants to be a boy.”

           “What? I heard she wanted to make girls think she was a boy.”

           “I heard that she’s always staring at the other girls during gym.”

           Stuff like that started spread afterwards, during my seventh-grade year. I tried to ignore it, but I could feel a heat starting to build up in my guts. It was like my insides were starting to boil, and it felt like my frustration might spill out once it got too far.

           There was this one girl in some of my classes that I never talked to. Estrella something, her name was. The only blonde girl in our mostly Hispanic school and everyone’s favorite. Outwardly, she seemed nice, like she got along with everyone. She knew she seemed like that, too. I knew she did.

           Every once in a while, I would notice her and her friends laughing and would look up to see what was so funny. Once they would notice me looking at them, they’d laugh more. I wanted to tell the teachers, but why would they believe me? Estrella was friendly with them, and I never even talked.

           “Estrella said that your dad made you cut your hair so you could look more like a boy, is that true?”

           I didn’t answer, but that gave me all the evidence I needed to confront her.

           During lunch, I saw her laughing at me again. Over all the chatter of the other kids, I asked her what she was laughing at, standing up and moving towards her. It seemed like the cafeteria got quiet, but I was too focused to be sure.

           “Don’t worry,” she said, her strong Mexican accent clear to anyone. “We weren’t laughing at you.”

           “Bullshit, you’ve been laughing at me for months already.” The words spilled out of my mouth like vomit, but more acidic. “I already heard you talking about me, too.”

           She denied it. Her friends did, too. Of course they did, why would they admit that they’ve been spreading rumors about me? But that denial just brought the heat in me higher, caused more words to be pushed out of my mouth almost against my will. It felt like actual vomit might come up, too. Eventually, the pressure from the heat in me made her crack.

           “Well, maybe if your dad gave you a girl’s name, like a normal person, no one would talk about you!”

           Most of what happened immediately after was a blur, but the cafeteria was almost definitely silent then. All I remembered was something hitting my balled fists, back, and head and the bruises left on my body afterwards.

           They called my dad in to talk to the principal. Of course, he defended me. “Mateo wouldn’t lay a hand on someone unless they laid a hand on her. She’s been taught that much.” I never denied his defense, never said anything else about the fight to him, even when he would ask. “I don’t want to talk about it,” I would tell him.

           More and more, I became reserved at home, avoiding talking to my own father whenever I could. At school, though, the reverse happened. Whenever I felt like someone was messing with me or talking behind my back, I’d confront them. I’d tell them if they were gonna be talking shit about me, they should do it to my face or else we could take things outside. Some of them, of course, would back off straight away. I never accepted that they didn’t do anything, but I let them just go.

           There were other kids, though, probably just as frustrated about something as I was, who agreed to fight me. Usually we waited until afterschool hours so we wouldn’t get caught, but there were some who’d get into it right then and there. The few times that happened and I was caught, my dad was called in. He’d ask if people were messing with me, if something was wrong.

           “No, I’m fine.”

           His wanting to help made me feel like shit and only made me resent him more. The heat in me stayed steady into high school as I continued to think people were messing with me and talking about me behind my back. I kept it in at home and only let it out at school. To keep up my image at home, I kept my grades up, but even that started to piss me off.

           There was one guy in some of my classes, Aurelio, who I noticed kept looking at me. I thought he had something against me for the longest time, that he was trying to intimidate me somehow. Then he came up to talk to me, to ask me if I’d go out with him.

           I didn’t know how to answer him. Did he actually like me? Or was he put up to it by someone trying to make fun of me? In my mind, there was no way he, or any one else, could genuinely be into me. Someone must have put him up to it.

           Again, the words spilled out of my mouth before I could even think of what to say. “Are you messing with me?”

           He denied it. Of course he would, why wouldn’t he? He wanted me to let my guard down so he could invite me out on a date, then just stand me up. I knew he did, or at least the person who put him up to it wanted him to. So, no, I pushed him away like I did everyone else.

           Eventually, my dad found out that I was the one starting the fights I was in. For the first time, he actually scolded me, telling me that he expected better from me. For the first time, the heat I’d built up inside of myself started to overflow at home. I bit back at him. I knew I had nothing to defend my actions with, but I tried to anyway, and he wouldn’t hear it.

           I hated it, hated that he wouldn’t listen. I tried to think of something that he would listen to, but had nothing, so the heat decided on what I should say.

           “Yeah, well, sorry I wasn’t born a boy like you wanted!”

           In that moment, I could see his expression change multiple times, from confusion, to realization, to guilt and regret. The last one hit me the worst.

           “Mija, I-“

           I left the room before he could finish, shut myself in my bedroom to try to escape that look on his face. I wanted to go out and apologize, but couldn’t bring myself to. What help would it do, anyway? So, I just sat there.

           What seemed like a couple hours later, after I’d wrapped myself in my covers in an attempt to cut off my own senses, he knocked on my door.

           “What?” I asked, sounding more abrasive than I had meant to.

           “Can I come in?”

           “Do what you want.”

           There was a long pause before I could hear my door open. “Mija,” he said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I caused you that kind of pain. I just wanted to let you know that I didn’t name you for that reason. I named you after my own father, your grandpa. He was a man I respected greatly, and I knew you could be just as great as him, maybe even greater. I still believe you can, Mateo.” He put his hand on my shoulder, then left my room, closing the door behind him. Even just his apology made me feel worse.

           I hated myself. How could I mess things up this badly? I withdrew into myself again, just like when my classmates first started asking why I had a boy’s name back in elementary.

           The first day back from winter break during my junior year of high school, I was approached by someone I had fought just the semester before. She wanted to fight me again, but I said no. I couldn’t even bring myself to look at her anymore.

           “What, are you a pussy? Scared I’ll beat your ass this time?”

           I just shrugged. “Maybe.”

           She didn’t say much else, just walked off, probably confused.

That continued, people who I’d messed with wanting to mess with me back. I declined as best I could, accepting their mocking words or even the cheap blows they’d give me. It was the least that I could do to make up for it.

           I still felt people’s eyes on me. Whether they were mocking or not, I didn’t care. What did it matter anymore? I pushed them away, so it makes sense they’d do the same to me.

           “Is it alright if I talk to you?” I went up to Aurelio after class a couple weeks after the semester started.

           “Yeah,” he said, obviously hesitating.

           “I’m sorry. About how I acted that time, I mean.” I hesitated to bring up the question I’d come to ask. “Do you still want to go out with me?” I couldn’t bring myself to look him in the eyes.

           “Yeah,” he said.

           I smiled as best I could. Even after I’d treated him badly, he was still open to dating me. Why? Still, that question pulled at me. Why would he want to go out with me? I tried my best to push that question out of my mind and told him that I would go out with him. We exchanged phone numbers and held hands.

           A few months passed. We went on dates, kissed, talked. I learned his favorite TV show, his favorite music artists, his favorite movies. He seemed happy, and just that gave me some amount of happiness.

           “Maybe a nice girl like you will help straighten him out,” his parents said when I met them. I saw his face go red, shame fill his eyes. I didn’t ask what they meant, but I was pretty sure I knew. I pushed it out. I couldn’t just be suspicious all the time, I had to trust that people were being genuine with me. If I didn’t, I’d end up how I was before.

           He invited me to his house. His parents would be out for a while, he said. I knew what he meant by it and agreed to go.

           For a while, we just sat side by side in the low light of his room, not saying anything, not doing anything. His face was red and I’m sure mine was, too. Eventually, he asked if it was fine if he asked me to undress. I just nodded and got to it. I didn’t pose, didn’t make a show of it, just undressed as if I were getting ready to take a shower, then stood in front of him when I was done. I didn’t say anything, just looked at him, my expression almost blank.

           He didn’t look at me.

           I moved towards him, put my knee onto the bed, brought my face close to his.

           He put his hand on my shoulder, gently pushed me away.

           “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice wavering. “I’m sorry, I just thought that, since you look like that and have a guy’s name, then maybe I’d be okay with it, but…”

           I just stood there, staring at him, staring through him. “It’s okay,” I said. I sat back down next to him, put my arms around him, told him again that it was okay. I didn’t say anything else, didn’t try to comfort him, didn’t get angry, blame him, forgive him. I didn’t do anything but sit by him and hold him.

Part of me was happy nothing happened, was even relieved that we didn’t go as far as we could have. The other part of me was worried that I’d never get another chance to make that intimate of a connection with someone again, that I’d somehow mess something up sometime in the future and push even more people away.

Eventually, I stood and wordlessly got dressed, getting ready to leave.

           “Is it fine if we just hang out, just for a while longer?” he asked me. “It’s alright if you don’t want to. I would understand.”

           I tried my best to smile and said okay. Until my dad called me to come back home, we watched movies. Or, we looked at them, at least. I couldn’t pay attention to them.

           Once I did start actually getting ready to head home, Aurelio asked if we’d still be able to be friends.

I said yeah. Of course we could. I wanted that to be true, but I felt like I was lying. Was I? Or did I just want an excuse to distance myself from him? Then why couldn’t I just tell him that I felt like I couldn’t be around him?

           I went home. I tried to cry, felt like I was going to, but couldn’t. I couldn’t sleep that night, either, no matter how hard I tried. Couldn’t cry myself to sleep.

           I started talking to people less and less, both to my own dad and to Aurelio. I would only talk to them when they would talk to me, and I’d still barely contribute to the conversation. I tried to smile, but I knew they could tell it wasn’t real. I hated that they could tell.

           The people I fought with eventually stopped talking to me. I blended into the background, just another student who usually sat alone. I still participated in group assignments, but didn’t let myself get close to anyone I worked with. Their phone numbers, if they gave me one, went unused after whatever assignment we did.

           Aurelio still texted me, invited me places. He asked me often if I was alright and I’d just say yes. Sometimes I’d agree to go places with him, to see the latest movie or hang out somewhere, but usually I gave an excuse not to. I met some of his friends. They seemed nice, but they were loud. I couldn’t bring myself to talk to them much because of it, didn’t feel like I fit in with them much.

           The second semester of senior year came and we all were pushed to apply to colleges. I only applied to out of town and out of state ones, even if I didn’t think I could get in. I couldn’t stand to live there anymore, not with my dad still there. I couldn’t let go of the feeling from the argument.

           Aurelio asked which college I was going to. I told him that I didn’t know. Even after the rejection letters came in, I told him that I didn’t know where I’d go. The only acceptance letter I got was for a university further south. Aurelio told me he got accepted out of state. I congratulated him, secretly jealous that he would be able to escape that city, but also relieved that I wouldn’t have to feel the same guilt I felt every time I saw his face.

           We both graduated, hugged, said our goodbyes. He tried to stay in contact. I didn’t.

           Once it was time to, my dad helped me move my stuff into my dorm. He cried, but I couldn’t bring myself to. He left, and I met my roommate, a brown-skinned girl named Beatriz. I introduced myself as Matthias, not wanting to hear my old names anymore. She listened to her music through her laptop or phone speakers, but otherwise was fine. I didn’t talk to her much. I didn’t like being there, though, so I got a job so I could save up to try to rent an apartment.

           One of my classmates, a girl named Teresa, offered to let me stay at the one she was renting with her boyfriend if I paid part of the rent, too. They would share a room. I agreed, so that’s where I am now. I’m halfway done with the basic courses, but I don’t know if I can keep up with both this and my job, especially when I start having to do the stuff for my major. I don’t even know what I’m gonna study yet.

Teresa said she might be buying a house with her boyfriend soon, so I don’t know what I’ll do about rent. I don’t want to just put out an ad online or in some building of the university, since I have no idea who’ll respond to them. I don’t have any friends I could ask and the classmates I’ve asked either live in the dorms, live with their parents, or don’t have jobs. I’m considering just dropping out and focusing full-time on work. I don’t want to go home.

Here’s another side story. It’s a lengthened version of a flashback with some details added in. These details will carry over into the main version of the story, too.

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Announcement: Patreon

I made a Patreon page, if any of y’all are interested. Mostly I just made it because of those changes that are being made soon, but still. Just thought I’d advertise either way.

Also, I probably will post that other thing I was talking about in my last post. I might go back and re-edit it first, though. It’ll be written as a side story and part of it has been used as a flashback, both in my current draft and the draft that’s been posted on here. It just expands upon it.

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Just so y’all know, I am still working on that rewrite. I might not post it online, at least yet, but I do have something I’m considering posting.

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Sorry for not posting much. I still haven’t finished the drawing I’ve been meaning to finish. Here’s a part of the WIP. It’s a cropped version of a screenshot, so it’s a bit low quality. The full image is from about the knees up. I’m continuing to rewrite the story in the meantime.

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City

A while after I moved here, someone told me about how this city used to be more than one.

Some decades ago, the Medical Technologies Corporation built their first building in the Valley. It was in the center city, just a plain, rectangular structure. At the time, they just made medical appliances. Heart monitors, IV stands and bags, catheters, that kind of stuff. Eventually, though, they wanted to be more.

“We want to be able to reach everyone in the Valley, and to help them prosper.”

So they built their first medical research center. It was massive, towering above everything else like an obelisk among ruins. Soon, even the buildings around it began to grow, moving closer as if they wanted to feed off of its power. None reached even a quarter of its height.

After they knew their first building was successful, they built four more, each with its own purpose. To the north, they built a mental health center; to the east, their cancer research center; west, a massive hospital; finally, the south building, their prosthetic and medical robotics engineering center. I’ve been told the south building can be seen from across the river, in Mexico.

Just as with the first building, buildings began to rise and crowd together around the new ones. This presented MediTech with a problem: how were employees supposed to get from one building to another in a timely manner when there was so much new traffic.

Obviously, the solution was to make a series of massive expressways that ended close enough to each building to connect them. Sure, they’d have to displace some families in the process, but it’s fine if Medi pays part of the price for new houses, right?

No one cares. It’s not their problem.

Eventually, some politician, maybe a few, or maybe some money between them suggested that they should merge all the small cities encompassed by Medi’s expressways into a single city. And so they did.

The new city was given a name, but now goes by many. Asclepius, San Cosme y Damian, Valley City and Ciudad del Valle, each name of the old cities, all still painted on their old water towers. Mostly, though, people just call it “the City”.

I felt a bit bad not posting anything yesterday, so here’s something I’d written a few days ago. This is part of a possible rewrite, specifically the beginning. For now, though, just think of it as a side story. I’m working on some art to post possibly next week.

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Here are some Matt sketches from this morning.

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Notice

Due to being unsatisfied with the quality of my recent updates, I’ll be postponing further updates until further notice in order to revise and maybe rewrite. In place of the updates, I’ll try to post art.

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Story Post 21

               “What would you do if I left?”

               Dai asks me this days after we arrive at the apartment in the city on the coast, past open fields and windmills. Staring deep into my eyes, she asks me this with an unblinking gaze.

               “What? What do you mean?”

               “I mean what I asked. If I left right now without saying anything, what would you do?”

               “Well…left where?”

               She doesn’t answer. “Where” isn’t important in this question.

               I just shake my head and say that I don’t know. The thought never crossed my mind. What would I do if she were suddenly gone? Would I go home? I don’t have a home. Not one I’d want to go to, at least. Would I move on? I’m not sure if I could anymore. Then what?

               She doesn’t move, doesn’t move her eyes away from me. She won’t leave until I answer.

               “I’d try to find you, I guess.”

               “Why?”

               An answer comes to me, but I can’t say it out loud. “Because I care about you.” I don’t know why, but my body doesn’t let these words come out of my mouth. All I can do is try to avert my gaze from the intensity of her one good eye, blue and bright like a lens held up to the sun.

               “Do you think you could?”

               Her words pull my eyes back towards her. “What?”

               “Do you think you could find me? If I were to suddenly be gone?”

               My heart starts beating fast in my chest, like panic is starting to set in. For a while, I try to think of an answer, but none come to mind. Instead, words start to spill out of my mouth against my will.

               “Even if I can’t, I’ll keep tryin’ ‘til I’m dead.”

               I think this is the first time I’ve seen surprise on Dai’s face. Her eyes widen, but not much else changes in her expression. She turns from me and gets her phone out of her pocket just as it makes a notification noise. Probably Eli saying she’s on her way back with the new hard drives for Dai’s computers.

               She checks it and says, still turned away from me, “Good. It’s good to know you’re dedicated.”

               Just as she begins to walk away, I ask her if she asked Eli the same thing. She doesn’t answer.

               “You’re not gonna plug it in, D?”

               Dai shakes her head.

               “Why not?”

               “Need to see if what they put into the system spreads anywhere.”

               “How long will that take?”

               Dai shrugs.

               “What if it only does anything when connected to the internet?”

               She shrugs again.

               “Alright, well, I’m gonna go to the grocery store. If you need anything, just text me.”

               She nods.

               After a bit of silence, I speak up.

               “Do you know anything about Eli?”

               “Why?”

               “I just…feel like I don’t know her.”

               “About the people at the restaurant.”

               “Well…Yeah, and other stuff.”

               “Ask her yourself. All I know is she knew them already.”

               “Already?”

               “When I found her.”

               “Well…can you tell me how you found her?”

               “I asked her to help me while I was homeless. She said yes.”

               “That’s it?”

               She shrugs. “Ask her.”

[red-cyberpunk]

Story Post 20

On the way east, back towards the coast, we stop at a restaurant. A small Mexican one on the side of the road advertising fresh seafood. When we enter, Eli greets every staff member and they greet her, hugging and shaking hands.

               “You know them?” I ask.

               “Yeah, they’re basically like family to me! They helped me out of some real rough patches back in college.”

               “How so?”

               “That’s…not really something I should get into. At least not now.”

               “Oh, uh, okay.”

               I look towards Dai, sitting between Eli and the wall in the booth we’d picked out. She’s looking down at her hands, pressing on the little black pads along each of her fingers and her palms. I hadn’t really noticed them before, but they look kind of like paw pads. I assume they let her feel things.

               “What’s wrong, Mary?”

               Mary?

               “Nothing,” Dai answers. “I’m fine.”

               Eli puts her arm around her shoulder. “It’ll be okay, M.”

               Dai nods.

               After a bit of quiet, I begin to speak up again. Before I’m able to, though, the waiter comes up and asks for our drinks. He calls me “sir”. Eli gives the order for the food with it, asking for the seafood botana.

               “Anyway, what were you saying?” she asks once he leaves.

               “Oh, uh, I was gonna ask why,” I motion towards Dai. “Why ‘Mary’?”

               “Well, I couldn’t just leave my own cousin out when she wanted to meet you so bad, right, babe?”

               She smiles, obviously trying to steer the conversation from the subject.

               “Oh, uh, yeah, I guess.”

               The waiter brings the drinks.

               “Well…are we close to where we’re going?” I ask.

               “Maybe. I’ll let you know in a bit.”

               I really want to ask what she means. All this vagueness is getting to me, I need to know what’s happening. She probably has her reasons, but still. I hate this.

               All I say in response is “Okay.”

               Eventually, the waiter brings the tray of food; fried and non-fried fish and shrimp, the usual food that comes in a botana, and French fries. I haven’t had something like this since when I would go to the beach with my dad when I was a kid.

               “Gracias,” Eli tells him. She slips a small piece of paper out from under the tray.

               After looking at it she passes it to me. It’s an address in a city further north from the previous place on the coast that we stayed at. Based on the “apt.” on the second line, it seems like it’s an apartment this time. After reading the address, I hand the paper back to Eli, who shows it to Dai, then puts it into her pocket.

               “Well,” Eli says. “Let’s eat up so we can head out. We can take whatever’s left over for dinner Or lunch tomorrow.”

[red-cyberpunk]

Story Post 19

I apologize for the delay the queue didn’t post this at the time I set for some reason.

I dream of my limbs shattering.

               “Matty.” I feel my shoulder being gently shaken. “Matty, get ready, we’re leaving soon.”

               I sit up and try to bring my arms out from under the covers. They only lift at my shoulders, everything past that not responding.

               “My limbs aren’t working yet.”

               “Do you want me to help you up?”

               “Nah, I���m fine. It just takes a bit sometimes.”

               “Alright, well, tell me if you do need help.”

               “Alright.”

               I eventually am able to lift my arms over the covers. They’re rigid, looking almost like hard plastic. I try to bend any part of them, but they don’t move at all, feeling like I have my hands and arms stuck in a cast, or something. I try shaking them, but they stay stuck.

               I hadn’t noticed until now, but Dai had come up to me sometime when I pulled my arms up. She’s staring at them just like she did when I was first showing them to her.

               “Do you know if this is normal?” I ask her.

               She looks at me, then back at my arms. “The docs said they can harden past the ‘bones’. I don’t remember it saying anything about it hardening this much.”

               “Oh. Did they say anything about forcing them to harden?”

               She nods. “They said some of the people they put them on could do it, but that it wasn’t intended.”

               I guess trying to make it happen was the right thing to do then. Maybe that’s why the Recruit’s first punch broke my arm so easy.

               “Don’t harden it all the way out.”

               “Yeah.”

               “You want me to pack your stuff, Matty?”

               “Nah, I never unpacked. Though, maybe I should take a shower first. Do we still have time?”

               Eli looks at the clock, an extremely old digital with a red LED display. 10:36 AM, it says.

               “Yeah, about an hour twenty minutes ‘til we need to check out.”

               “Alright, I’ll be as quick as I can be, then.”

               “Do you need me to bathe you?”

               I try to bend my fingers, elbows, and knees. They’re a bit stiff, but they should work fine. “Nah, I’m alright.” I get out of bed. “I should be able to move alright.”

               I head into the bathroom with the backpack Eli’d packed some clothes into for me yesterday. As I do, I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My face is all bruised up. Lifting up my shirt, it becomes clear that most of my body is, too. I get undressed, my sides hurting as I do, and get into the shower. The hot water helps a bit.

               I get out of the shower and dry myself off, getting dressed after. A T-shirt and jeans aside from my underwear. I stuff my dirty clothes into a separate pocket of the backpack and leave the bathroom.

               “You ready, Matty?”

               “Yeah.”

               “Cover your arms up,” D says.

               “Yeah, my jacket’s over there.”

               After I put on the hoodie, one of the ones Eli had bought for me, we leave.

               “Where are we going now, anyway?”

               “Uh, hold on a bit,” Eli says. “We’ll talk about it after we check out.”

               “Oh. Alright.”

               Eli leads us to a car, a different one from the one she took me in from the Medi building. It’s just as unassuming, but a completely different color. A light blue instead of grey. I guess she switched them out, or something. She unlocks it for us and we climb in.

               “Be right back, I’m gonna check us out.”

               I’m left alone with Dai again.

               “So, you recognized that movie, then?”

               She nods. “Only the first one. I think they played it over there, too.”

               “Where is ‘over there’?”

               She shrugs. “Somewhere in the city.”

               “I more meant what place was it. Was it a school?”

               She shakes her head. “Orphanage. Foster home. Something like that.”

               “Oh.” So they took her from there, then. I want to ask more about it, how they were able to get her, but that probably wouldn’t be a good thing to ask considering her reaction from just trying to remembering that place.

               The driver’s side door opens, and Eli gets in. She talks as she drives.

               “Okay, so, to answer your question, Matty, we’re heading out east again.”

               “Oh. Well, where east?”

               “That’s all I can say right now.”

               “What do you mean?”

               “Just it’s all I can say right now. I’ll tell you when we’re getting close.”

               “Oh. Okay.”

[red-cyberpunk]

Story Post 18

About ten minutes later, a knock that sounds more like a soft kick comes at the door.

               “D, it’s me. Can you open it? My hands are really full.”

               Dai stands from the bed and heads to the room’s door. The hallway where it’s at is out of my view, but I try to sit myself up and move myself towards the end of the bed to get a better. Before I do, Dai opens the door and Eli comes in.

               “What happened?” I ask her.

               “The guy was still out by the time I got back, so I called the cops on him. I tried talking to him, but he wouldn’t say anything. He did wake back up when the cops got there. Matty, did he talk to you in Spanish?”

               “No, why?”

               “Well, the guy didn’t know English. When he woke up, he pulled off that helmet and looked really freaked out, like he had no idea where he was. He kept begging me to let him go home, and…” She sighs, looking defeated about it. “Well, I really wanted to, you know? I really felt for the guy, but I wasn’t sure if he was just making stuff up. The police picked him up, I packed up our stuff, and now…” She lifts up the two bags in her hands, each with the logo for Greatburger. She sets them down on the small table across from the bed I’m on and plops down next to me. “But, anyway, are you doing alright, Matty?”

               “Yeah, though I’m having a hard time moving. Are you okay?”

               “Oof, I’m sorry. I’ll give you a massage when we’re done eating. But, yeah, I’m alright, just a bit…I dunno, shaken up, I guess.”

               “Why’s that?” I ask.

               “Uh…Well, I don’t really feel like talking about it right now, y’know? It’s kind of stressful to think about, and I don’t really need that in my life right now. Maybe later.” I nod in understanding. “But, anyway, are you alright, D?”

               She shrugs.

               “D, you know you can talk to me. Are you okay?”

               Dai sits next to Eli, almost climbing onto her lap. “I’m scared.”

               Looking at Eli, she seems like she’s stunned, just sitting there for a second with her mouth almost hanging open. She puts her arm around her and pulls her in closer.

               “It’s alright. Me and Matty are here to keep you safe.”

               From what I can tell, D seems like she’s trying to hold herself back from crying, with her lips pressed tight and her eyes nearly shut. I don’t know why, though. She let herself cry in front of me, so why not with Eli? Maybe she’s trying to show she’s strong to her, or something. I don’t know.

               “You can get your food if you want, Matty.”

               “Yeah.”

               So I do, slowly from how much physical pain I’m still. Out of one of the plastic bags, I fish out the box where they put chicken strips in. The people who work at Thatburger, I mean. They put them in boxes, for some reason. They do that at at least one other place, too. After getting the box, I reach into the paper bag in that plastic bag and pull out one of the containers of French fries. Out of the other plastic bag, I pull out my drink — a large cup of iced tea — which I definitely won’t be able to finish in one sitting.

               I push the bags to the side to give myself room to eat at the small table, sitting on the rolling chair that had been tucked under it. Even facing away from them, I can hear D holding back sobs and Eli talking quietly to her.

               “C’mon, let’s eat.”

               I hear the two of them get up off the bed and look back at them as they come up to either side of me, picking their food and drinks out of the bags.

               “Hey,” Eli says, “How ‘bout we watch some TV together? We can have, like, a movie night so we can relax a bit.”

               I nod. “Sure. I haven’t really watched anything at all in a while.”

               “You up for it, D?”

               She shrugs. “I wouldn’t really be able to leave.”

               “Alright, then it’s settled. We’ll watch some movies together while we’re here, have ourselves a little girls’ night in!”

               I nod and pick up my food, rolling the chair until the TV’s in view so I don’t have to move as much. Eli and Dai take theirs to the bed it’s in front of.

               Eli scrolls through the pay-per-view movie options, eventually deciding on an older animated movie from when we were kids.

               “Aw, remember this one, Matty? I remember they would show it all the time when I was in daycare!”

               “Yeah, they’d play it when I was, too.”

               Dai doesn’t say anything, but there’s a very clear sparkle in her eyes. It seems like she recognizes it, too.

               We watch through that one and its less well-received sequels, mostly talking over them. I’m pretty sure I even catch a glimpse of Dai smiling a bit. Eventually, though, both she and Eli fall asleep on the same bed, and I’m left to watch the last of the series alone. I could just switch it off or change the channel, but instead I just lower the volume and turn on the subtitles, moving onto the unoccupied bed and watching it until its anticlimactic, unearned happy end.