Chapter 5

Jordan, Joan, and Kenny were all sitting together on a small couch they found on the beach. They were watching an old black and white movie, all of the lights turned off, flooding everything with the gray tones and hues.

The TV began to flutter, as if on the verge of turning off.

Jordan’s eyes flashed for a second as a bolt of electricity shot out, keeping the TV on.

“Good job.” Kenny said.

“Thanks…took a long time to get down.” Jordan replied.

The front door opened as Tristan very slowly stepped inside.

“How you doing?” Kenny asked, not even looking over at him.

Tristan shut the door and walked past them without saying anything, heading to his bedroom and shutting the door.

“Must have had a rough day.” Jordan said.

Joan turned to look back at the shut door, slowly getting to his feet and making his way over.

Joan got to it and knocked softly.

“Tristan?” He asked.

“Go away.” Tristan replied, but it was heavily muffled.

Joan opened the door, but was suddenly pushed back by a strong gust of wind that shut the door with him. Joan rubbed his hand, which was slightly hurting due to the push.

“Can we talk about it?” Joan asked.

“No.” Tristan replied.

“What if I bring you some chocolate?” Joan asked.

There was silence for a few seconds.

“Milk or dark?” Tristan asked.

“Semisweet.” Joan responded.

The door suddenly opened as Joan stepped through very cautiously.

“How did you know semisweet was my favorite?” Tristan asked.

“We sat together on a double digit hour plane ride. We talked. Do you really not remember?” Joan asked.

“Honestly, I remember next to nothing that any of you said.”

Tristan sat up on the edge of his bed. His” hair was a mess and his eyes were heavy. He wasn’t crying, just tired and sad. So much weight on his shoulders pushing down, but he did his best to stand and hold it without letting his body crumble.

“So…did you get dumped or something?” Joan asked.

“My girlfriend is a fish.” Tristan replied very dry and serious.

Joan opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out. His face rapidly twitched and changed expressions as he tried to come up with at least something to say.

“I’m…um…sorry?” Joan asked.

He looked nervous, like that would cause him to be sent flying out of the room.

But Tristan cracked a smile, breaking into restrained laughter and chucking.

“It’s alright. I mean not really because what the fuck…but I think I’ll adapt to it.” Tristan replied.

“So like…an actual fish or?” Joan asked.

“Give me the chocolate and I’ll tell you.” Tristan joked, moving over to one side so that there would be room for the both of them to sit.

“Alright, I’ll go grab it.” Joan left the room and headed for the kitchen.

As he walked, Kenny and Jordan were still sitting together and watching the movie.

“How’s he doing?” Kenny asked, not even turning his attention away from the screen.

“His girlfriend’s a fish.” Joan replied, going to the cabinet and grabbing four chocolate bars.

“Yeah alright.” Kenny replied, as if it was a completely normal thing to say.

“What kind of fish?” Jordan asked, also making sure to not divert his attention away from the TV.

“No idea, but I’ll let you know.” Joan replied.

Joan went back into the room, the door shutting behind him due to a gust of air. The only light in the room was coming from the window, shining a large amount of natural moonlight from both the sky and reflecting off the ocean.

“Jordan needs to get the electricity sorted out.” Tristan joked.

Joan tossed him two of the bars. Tristan caught one, but then seemed caught off guard and dropped the other one.

“I don’t think any of us have any experience or knowledge about how to wire a house.” Joan replied.

“Dude can control electricity. He should know how to use it. I got accepted to a ******* science program in college, which I was only going to do so I would know how to use my powers. Hell you look at my report cards and the only classes I have any sort of good grade in was science. And PE of course, but I mean…look at me.” Tristan said before ripping open one of the chocolate bars.

“Yeah, definitely the star athlete.” Joan joked.

The two softly laughed as Joan was awkwardly standing by the door.

“You know you can sit down. I’m not gonna hurt you.” Tristan said before biting into the chocolate, his eyes closing in approval.

“God this stuff is good.” Tristan said.

Joan sat next to Tristan, being a lot more careful with tearing open the bar, as if trying to preserve the wrapper as much as he could.

“How are you doing?” Joan asked as he took a very small bite out of a single corner.

“I’ll be okay. I mean the whole fish thing will take some…” Tristan started.

“No…not about that.” Joan interrupted.

Tristan stopped.

The two sat in cold silence.

The room is completely still.

Tristan’s face was only just visible due to the pale moonlight shining in. But Joan could spot a tear running down his cheek despite his forced smile.

“I…” Tristan started, but had to stop due to immediately choking up.

Joan reached out, putting his hand on Tristan’s upper back to rub in soft and slow circles.

“It’s okay…I’m here…” Joan whispered softly.

Tristan wanted to speak again, but he broke down crying. He dropped the chocolate bar onto his bed and buried his face into his hands, sobbing but trying to stay as quiet as possible as he did.

Joan scooted closer before wrapping both of his arms around Tristan, hugging him soft and loose but holding him close. Tristan was sitting and crying for a few minutes, the overwhelming weight he was carrying finally causing him to break and fall apart.

“I killed…so many people…” Tristan whined and mumbled as he cried.

Joan kept hugging him, softly rubbing his back up and down.

“I just…I want it…to go away…to be forgotten…but it never will…I’ll always see it…feel it…I want to block it…and distract myself…but nothing works.” Tristan spoke while coughing and gasping for air in between every few words.

Joan reached up and grabbed Tristan’s hands, trying to pull them away from his face. As he did, Tristan quickly turned so that he was facing the other way. So that Joan would never be able to see his face.

Joan kept his hands down.

“It’s okay Tristan…you can look at me.” Joan said.

Tristan kept looking away, refusing to turn his head even slightly.

“I know what it’s like.” Joan said.

“How could you possibly know what it’s like?” Tristan asked, growing angry as he finally turned to face his new friend.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Jordan asked.

“No idea.” Kenny replied.

The two were still sitting on the couch, watching the movie very intently. Their eyes were locked to it as the room was flooded with the black and white light, as if making the real world the same, colorless void.

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