Warning: nothing explicit, but this story is very subject to change as I am not satisfied at all with how it is currently. However, it meets the word limit and keeps me in the running.
Word Count: 1,134
Spoiler! :
A list of things that Isaac Campbell Loyola should be doing:
1. taking medication
2. living at home
3. trying to reconcile with his mother
4. working at some local fast-food joint
5. going to school
A list of things Isaac Campbell Loyola is currently doing:
1. none of those
Isaac sits on the bench next to Benji. The way the streetlamps reflect off of the Bellagio fountain is poetic in nature, if that even makes sense. It’s just so… powerful. He places his hand on top of Benji’s, and Benji squeezes it once as reassurance. A car rattles down a nearby street. Someone lets off an elaborate string of curse words as it goes by, tossing the remainder of their drink into the street.
“Are you cold? Because I’m cold.” Benji opens his backpack and pulls out a blanket to wrap about his shoulders. “It’s the air off the fountain. We should’ve picked a better spot to spend the night. Like that warehouse we stayed in, back in Carson City.”
“We can’t just stroll back into Carson City in one night. That was almost three days’ worth of travel on foot.”
“Well. We could at least find somewhere warmer for tonight. Maybe a homeless shelter, something like that. Just somewhere that we won’t freeze to death.”
Isaac shrugs his shoulders. He can’t take his eyes off of the blue-tinted bursts of water. “So go. I’ll be here in the morning.”
A thick stream of water near where they sit sprays them both with a fine mist. Benji shakes his head, and runs a hand through his thick brown hair.
“I’m not going anywhere without you. Best friends, remember? We go together.”
“So we’re staying here.”
A list of things Isaac Campbell Loyola should be thinking about:
1. whether or not it’s a good idea to be outside at this temperature
2. whether or not Benji is mad at him
3. whether oor not they’ll get arrested for spending the night outside the fountain
A list of things Isaac Campbell Loyola is currently thinking about:
1. the lights off the water
2. the Effiel Tower replica, and how he’d love to see the real Effiel Tower, if he survives long enough to get and job and be successful
3. the fact that he’ll probably never travel
Benji huffs. He wraps the blanket a littler tighter around his body as more mist rains down around them. Wealthy patrons of the nearby hotels and casinos cheer as the fountain shoots up gyser after gyser at mesmorizing speeds. So many people. The police can’t make Benji and Isaac leave, so long as they’re sitting up. For all anyone knows, they just want to see the shows. Isaac picked the perfect spot to stay.
“So you’re not going to leave?” Isaac asks after a while.
“Nah. We left hom together, so we have to stick together. It’s the bro code.”
Isaac laughs. “I doubt the bro code has a section about teenage runaways.” He throws his arm over Benji’s shoulder as the next flood of water bursts upward. If only the Strip would go black, just for a second, the liquid would look so beautiful against the stars. Isaac hasn’t seen the stars in a long time.
“Does too,” Benji retorts. He shrugs Isaac’s arm off. “Article thirteen, section eight, clause five.”
“You’re just making up random numbers now.”
“Does it matter if it’s in the bro code or not?” Benji unwinds from his blanket to stand. He picks up a rock and throws it into the fountain. A satisfying splash accompanies the action, and Benji smiles as a couple of twenty-year-old girls get splashed my the impact. “Listen, if you’re trying to get me to leave you behind in the Land of Drunks, it’s not going to work.”
The girls turn and begin to cuss Benji out, but Benji isn’t paying any attention. He smiles in their general direction, before motioning for Isaac to stand up too. Isaac stays firmly planted on the bench. The light colors underneath the water change, like a galaxy, almost, and so gorgeous… oh yeah, and he can feel his legs going tingly, getting numb again.
A list of things that Isaac didn’t bring with him when he left home:
1. food
2. a warm wardrobe
3. his MS medication
A list of things that Isaac has now:
1. a good friend
2. a pretty fountain
3. paralysis
4. regret
Isaac’s had plenty of MS episodes before. Some days, it’s just one side of his body. Other days, it’s the whole thing. He used to panic, but now he doesn’t. The new cocktail he recently received was doing a good job of stopping them, except he left his pills on the bedside table when he left the house. Not going to do him much good there, huh?
Benji reads the look on his friend’s face. “No, no, no. Not tonight. Not tonight.”
Isaac stands up, propping himself on the bench. “Relax. I can still walk. We can walk to the other side of the fountain. I bet it’s warmer over there.”
“No, we need to walk to a hospital.”
“Please. I’ve had episodes before. They wear off.”
“When you’re on your meds they do. Damn it.”
Isaac sits back down on the bench. It’s just his legs that feel the tingle, just his legs.Not his full body this time. Still, the moment is less than opportune. “Don’t get all upset. I told you I wanted to stay here for the night. We’ll just stay here, and we’ll think about what we have to do in the morning.”
“Severe fatigue is number one on the list of MS flare symptoms. Damn it. You get ‘roids for that kind of thing, right? The hospital gives you a dose so you don’t go all boneless.”
“Yes, but I’ll be alright. Here, you can go out for help, and I’ll stay on this bench. Then you can come back and find me.”
“Like hell I will.” Benji sits back down next to Isaac. “I told you, we stick together. Me and you.”
The group of girls seems to overhear a bit of this conversation, because they pass by way too close to Benji on the bench. They talk to each other in hushed tones, and one of them produces a mobile phone from her back pocket.
“They’re going to call the police, aren’t they?” asks Benji.
“Probably,” Isaac says.
“They might take me home.”
Again, Isaac suggests, “You could leave now, be gone before they get here.”
“We’re sticking together.”
A list of things that Isaac Campbell Loyola hates:
1. Child Protective Services
2. walking
3. MS
4. nosy girls
A list of things Isaac Campbell Loyola finds tolerable:
1. Benji Adams
“Yeah, we’ll stick together.”
1. taking medication
2. living at home
3. trying to reconcile with his mother
4. working at some local fast-food joint
5. going to school
A list of things Isaac Campbell Loyola is currently doing:
1. none of those
Isaac sits on the bench next to Benji. The way the streetlamps reflect off of the Bellagio fountain is poetic in nature, if that even makes sense. It’s just so… powerful. He places his hand on top of Benji’s, and Benji squeezes it once as reassurance. A car rattles down a nearby street. Someone lets off an elaborate string of curse words as it goes by, tossing the remainder of their drink into the street.
“Are you cold? Because I’m cold.” Benji opens his backpack and pulls out a blanket to wrap about his shoulders. “It’s the air off the fountain. We should’ve picked a better spot to spend the night. Like that warehouse we stayed in, back in Carson City.”
“We can’t just stroll back into Carson City in one night. That was almost three days’ worth of travel on foot.”
“Well. We could at least find somewhere warmer for tonight. Maybe a homeless shelter, something like that. Just somewhere that we won’t freeze to death.”
Isaac shrugs his shoulders. He can’t take his eyes off of the blue-tinted bursts of water. “So go. I’ll be here in the morning.”
A thick stream of water near where they sit sprays them both with a fine mist. Benji shakes his head, and runs a hand through his thick brown hair.
“I’m not going anywhere without you. Best friends, remember? We go together.”
“So we’re staying here.”
A list of things Isaac Campbell Loyola should be thinking about:
1. whether or not it’s a good idea to be outside at this temperature
2. whether or not Benji is mad at him
3. whether oor not they’ll get arrested for spending the night outside the fountain
A list of things Isaac Campbell Loyola is currently thinking about:
1. the lights off the water
2. the Effiel Tower replica, and how he’d love to see the real Effiel Tower, if he survives long enough to get and job and be successful
3. the fact that he’ll probably never travel
Benji huffs. He wraps the blanket a littler tighter around his body as more mist rains down around them. Wealthy patrons of the nearby hotels and casinos cheer as the fountain shoots up gyser after gyser at mesmorizing speeds. So many people. The police can’t make Benji and Isaac leave, so long as they’re sitting up. For all anyone knows, they just want to see the shows. Isaac picked the perfect spot to stay.
“So you’re not going to leave?” Isaac asks after a while.
“Nah. We left hom together, so we have to stick together. It’s the bro code.”
Isaac laughs. “I doubt the bro code has a section about teenage runaways.” He throws his arm over Benji’s shoulder as the next flood of water bursts upward. If only the Strip would go black, just for a second, the liquid would look so beautiful against the stars. Isaac hasn’t seen the stars in a long time.
“Does too,” Benji retorts. He shrugs Isaac’s arm off. “Article thirteen, section eight, clause five.”
“You’re just making up random numbers now.”
“Does it matter if it’s in the bro code or not?” Benji unwinds from his blanket to stand. He picks up a rock and throws it into the fountain. A satisfying splash accompanies the action, and Benji smiles as a couple of twenty-year-old girls get splashed my the impact. “Listen, if you’re trying to get me to leave you behind in the Land of Drunks, it’s not going to work.”
The girls turn and begin to cuss Benji out, but Benji isn’t paying any attention. He smiles in their general direction, before motioning for Isaac to stand up too. Isaac stays firmly planted on the bench. The light colors underneath the water change, like a galaxy, almost, and so gorgeous… oh yeah, and he can feel his legs going tingly, getting numb again.
A list of things that Isaac didn’t bring with him when he left home:
1. food
2. a warm wardrobe
3. his MS medication
A list of things that Isaac has now:
1. a good friend
2. a pretty fountain
3. paralysis
4. regret
Isaac’s had plenty of MS episodes before. Some days, it’s just one side of his body. Other days, it’s the whole thing. He used to panic, but now he doesn’t. The new cocktail he recently received was doing a good job of stopping them, except he left his pills on the bedside table when he left the house. Not going to do him much good there, huh?
Benji reads the look on his friend’s face. “No, no, no. Not tonight. Not tonight.”
Isaac stands up, propping himself on the bench. “Relax. I can still walk. We can walk to the other side of the fountain. I bet it’s warmer over there.”
“No, we need to walk to a hospital.”
“Please. I’ve had episodes before. They wear off.”
“When you’re on your meds they do. Damn it.”
Isaac sits back down on the bench. It’s just his legs that feel the tingle, just his legs.Not his full body this time. Still, the moment is less than opportune. “Don’t get all upset. I told you I wanted to stay here for the night. We’ll just stay here, and we’ll think about what we have to do in the morning.”
“Severe fatigue is number one on the list of MS flare symptoms. Damn it. You get ‘roids for that kind of thing, right? The hospital gives you a dose so you don’t go all boneless.”
“Yes, but I’ll be alright. Here, you can go out for help, and I’ll stay on this bench. Then you can come back and find me.”
“Like hell I will.” Benji sits back down next to Isaac. “I told you, we stick together. Me and you.”
The group of girls seems to overhear a bit of this conversation, because they pass by way too close to Benji on the bench. They talk to each other in hushed tones, and one of them produces a mobile phone from her back pocket.
“They’re going to call the police, aren’t they?” asks Benji.
“Probably,” Isaac says.
“They might take me home.”
Again, Isaac suggests, “You could leave now, be gone before they get here.”
“We’re sticking together.”
A list of things that Isaac Campbell Loyola hates:
1. Child Protective Services
2. walking
3. MS
4. nosy girls
A list of things Isaac Campbell Loyola finds tolerable:
1. Benji Adams
“Yeah, we’ll stick together.”
Gender:
Points: 171
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