Ominous Subconscious
Wake up.
Jack’s eyes snapped open, and he made to push himself up in a moment of panic—for a few moments he held the dream in his hands, and that blissful understanding that came with sleep… but then he remembered where he was, and sank back into the sheets. He saw the graffiti and paint-splattered walls of the run-down hotel room. The Green Room. Right. As the events of yesterday came back to him, the shock of the dream was already slipping past his mind. And as his thoughts sharpened, cleared, those fragments of color and sound drifted back into his subconscious and out of memory.
He discarded the blanked and swung his legs round to touch the concrete floor. He hovered on the edge of the bed for a moment, feeling the reassuringly cold, firm ground beneath him. He wiggled his toes.
I’m going to need some clothes, was the first impulse he had. He rubbed his eye, gently pressing against a matured bruise on his cheek. Is it weird to be worrying about clothes at a time like this? He wondered. Should I be more preoccupied with remembering what happened before yesterday, or this whole “other city” thing, or the fact that I somehow landed in the future--he rubbed his sore arm--not too gently?
He let a rumble of air between his lips.
No shoes, no shirt, no clue.
He smiled faintly, and stood. Even in the dimly lit room, everything was more colorful than he could possibly imagine before yesterday. Even the shadows had tones to them. He had never seen a true sunrise before, until he sat on t he rooftop with Darc. he had never felt more alive.
Or more confused. He had managed to gather a bit of information from Darc, but it was just like learning to play a song when you only know half the chords. Frustrating.
He pressed his hands against the bathroom sink, and let his forehead rest against the mirror. Clunk. He stared into his own eyes, sighed. Most of the ‘irregularities’ of his color palette had faded over night. Here and there were freckles of red and purple, and there was the occasional splotch of blue on his chest. Most of his skin had dulled into a neutral, pale-yellow. There were so many colors to this world, more colors than he had names for. It was the subtle tones that caught his attention the most—how the grey smudges on the sink weren’t really grey at all, but a pale purple, a murky brown. Nothing was as grey as the walls of the City of All Cities.
But not all cities at all, apparently.
----------
The halls of the Green Room were all identical—cold concrete and green-carpeted floors. Some doors were busted in, or nailed shut, but most were perpetually colored green, pulsing with color doodles and names. There were elevators at the end of each long hallway, and no staircase in sight. The halls were quiet. There was no one around, and for a moment Jack tricked himself into thinking that he kept turning down the same hallway each time…
As he stepped up to one of the elevators, the metal doors slid open, slicing tinted green light into the hallway. Jack entered it carefully, reassuring himself that this was light from the lamp and not some tangible color. There weren’t any buttons on the walls. There wasn’t anything in sight. Jack looked around for some sort of switch when––
“Yo!” Arken’s voice surrounded Jack as the doors closed. “Where ya headed to?”
Jack spun slowly, looking for the teen… but he was utterly alone in the elevator. The phrase repeated again, exactly as before, and Jack picked up on the slight tint of static in the recording.
“Up or down, c’mon we don’t have all day!” Arken’s voice came from the walls.
“Um… down… to the lobby…” Jack said nervously.
In the next second, the doors opened. Jack felt a slight bump in his stomach, but besides that it didn’t seem like the elevator moved at all.
“See ya!” Arken’s voice called as Jack stepped out. The high-ceiling lobby was brightly lit, and nearly deserted. Jack could hear voices echoing off the walls. He stepped to the top of the marble staircase and looked down upon the Green Teens. Crash, Il and Jade were all standing in a wide circle. As Jack watched, Il held his empty hands up and made to pitch a ball. As his arm swung out, a sphere of dark green shot from his fingers. The color sped towards Crash, who guided it with both her hands towards Jade, who in turn passed it back to Il. As the ball of light went around, it grew in size and saturation. This seemed to be a harmless game for them, but Jack could still feel the bristling power of the color building up. It was almost sickening.
“Yo, Jaq!” Crash called up to him as she spun the green ball behind her back.
“G’morning.” Jack made his way down the stairs, rubbing his bare arms.
“Naw, it’s not the morning anymore,” said Il, who nodded towards the front doors. Although the hall was lit up, outside the darkness contrasted, pressing against the glass doors.
“Wow… how long was I asleep?”
Crash turned to him, and spoke carefully, “Three days.”
“What? You’re kidding me!”
“Crash!”
“Oh shit!” The girl ducked as a huge ball of green light flew over her head, to splatter like an electric shock against the wall.
“Crash loses again,” Jade said confidentially, sticking her tongue out at the other girl. But Crash didn’t seem to see… she was lying on the ground, clutching her gut as she laughed.
“Oh, you should have seen your face!” Crash pointed at Jack, squirming on the ground in a fit of giggles.
“Uh…” Jack raised his eyebrow, and walked up to the group. “So, I haven’t been asleep that long?”
“Naw, just for the day,” Il replied, extending his hand to Crash, who grabbed it and sprung to her feet. “Not a big deal though… everyone around here’s nocturnal. Not much to do in the daytime.”
“Oh.” Jack hugged his arms, letting this shivers jump up from the marble floor to the roots of his hair. “Um. Can I borrow some clothes? Unless you want to watch my nipples turn hard.”
“I don’t mind!” Crash called.
Jade danced over to Jack with an air of excitement about her, and a mischievous smile. “Right this way, dear.” She hooked her arm around his, and dragged him off into another room, ignoring Crash’s protests.
----------
Ten minutes later, Jack emerged with a positively punk emerald outfit and a stupid grin on his face. The lobby was still deserted, but the friendly company of music filled the loneliness. Jack spotted a few amplifiers in the corners. The music lingered in the back of their minds, like a hand resting comfortingly on their worries.
“Where is everyone else?” Jack asked, taking one of the chairs.
“Twitch is on his ‘shock runs.” Crash was sprawled out on the couch, and looked at Jack upside-down. “Ace is escorting him. Darc is… uh, what is Darc doing?”
“Whatever he was doing last night, I imagine,” Jade said. “It may be something for the Gurus that they don’t want to talk to everyone about quite yet. Netto is in her room, supporting Darc.”
“We’re just holding down the fort,” Il flopped his arms up. “Arken’s gang got the fun job tonight!”
“Job?” Jack shifted uncomfortably in his chair. All of a sudden, the weight and warmth of that comforting hand was itching him, incessantly, nagging that part of his mind.
Il jerked his thumb upwards. “The Gurus assign the gangs missions. The boys up top––”
“Boy and girl,” Crash corrected.
“Whatever. Krono and Kremlin are the Green Gurus.” Il cocked his head, examining Jack’s curious expression. “You’re not shitting us, are you? You really don’t know a thing about the street!”
“Nope.”
“Well…” The so-called gangsters glanced at each other, their own questions bated on their hesitant lips. Crash finally spoke up.
“Darc told us the situation.”
“Oh?” Jack’s heart sank. He had every right to be nervous, thrown into this new city with these eccentric gangsters and no clue how to get back, or what he was supposed to do here, or how the hell he even got here. But that wasn’t what bothered him.
“Yeah.” She gave him a look that didn’t help with his nerves. “He said we’d let you stay here until your debt was paid, until you can get back on your feet.”
“But how am I supposed to repay my debt?” Jack bit his knuckles. There was something tugging on the hairs at the back of his neck. He could feel the music playing out from under the amps near him.
“Look, we’ve all been there,” Il said light-heartedly. “He took us all in, up from nothing. We all remember––”
“Speak for yourself!” Crash spun on him. “I had a place of my own!”
“It was a trailer, dearest,” Jade replied lazily.
“A fucking nice trailer!”
“Point being!” Il shouted over the girls. “You can trust Darc. He must like you, for whatever reason, cause you seem damn useless to me.”
But Jack wasn’t listening to them.
He had stopped his pacing, and tuned his ears very carefully to the music. It was slow, and sweet. There was a woman’s voice, broken only by the ta-ta-ta of a soft flare drum. An electronic bass buzzed in the background. He could sense the motions of that sound, the wave billowing up with each note. He could feel her voice against his skin, taste the cold colors in the curl of his tongue. The music was rooted in his third eye.
He knelt before the black amp in its nest of wires. He held the edges of it, staring the song in its eyes and saw… nothing.
Jack turned to the others, petrified. “What’s wrong with your music?”
Wake up.
Jack’s eyes snapped open, and he made to push himself up in a moment of panic—for a few moments he held the dream in his hands, and that blissful understanding that came with sleep… but then he remembered where he was, and sank back into the sheets. He saw the graffiti and paint-splattered walls of the run-down hotel room. The Green Room. Right. As the events of yesterday came back to him, the shock of the dream was already slipping past his mind. And as his thoughts sharpened, cleared, those fragments of color and sound drifted back into his subconscious and out of memory.
He discarded the blanked and swung his legs round to touch the concrete floor. He hovered on the edge of the bed for a moment, feeling the reassuringly cold, firm ground beneath him. He wiggled his toes.
I’m going to need some clothes, was the first impulse he had. He rubbed his eye, gently pressing against a matured bruise on his cheek. Is it weird to be worrying about clothes at a time like this? He wondered. Should I be more preoccupied with remembering what happened before yesterday, or this whole “other city” thing, or the fact that I somehow landed in the future--he rubbed his sore arm--not too gently?
He let a rumble of air between his lips.
No shoes, no shirt, no clue.
He smiled faintly, and stood. Even in the dimly lit room, everything was more colorful than he could possibly imagine before yesterday. Even the shadows had tones to them. He had never seen a true sunrise before, until he sat on t he rooftop with Darc. he had never felt more alive.
Or more confused. He had managed to gather a bit of information from Darc, but it was just like learning to play a song when you only know half the chords. Frustrating.
He pressed his hands against the bathroom sink, and let his forehead rest against the mirror. Clunk. He stared into his own eyes, sighed. Most of the ‘irregularities’ of his color palette had faded over night. Here and there were freckles of red and purple, and there was the occasional splotch of blue on his chest. Most of his skin had dulled into a neutral, pale-yellow. There were so many colors to this world, more colors than he had names for. It was the subtle tones that caught his attention the most—how the grey smudges on the sink weren’t really grey at all, but a pale purple, a murky brown. Nothing was as grey as the walls of the City of All Cities.
But not all cities at all, apparently.
----------
The halls of the Green Room were all identical—cold concrete and green-carpeted floors. Some doors were busted in, or nailed shut, but most were perpetually colored green, pulsing with color doodles and names. There were elevators at the end of each long hallway, and no staircase in sight. The halls were quiet. There was no one around, and for a moment Jack tricked himself into thinking that he kept turning down the same hallway each time…
As he stepped up to one of the elevators, the metal doors slid open, slicing tinted green light into the hallway. Jack entered it carefully, reassuring himself that this was light from the lamp and not some tangible color. There weren’t any buttons on the walls. There wasn’t anything in sight. Jack looked around for some sort of switch when––
“Yo!” Arken’s voice surrounded Jack as the doors closed. “Where ya headed to?”
Jack spun slowly, looking for the teen… but he was utterly alone in the elevator. The phrase repeated again, exactly as before, and Jack picked up on the slight tint of static in the recording.
“Up or down, c’mon we don’t have all day!” Arken’s voice came from the walls.
“Um… down… to the lobby…” Jack said nervously.
In the next second, the doors opened. Jack felt a slight bump in his stomach, but besides that it didn’t seem like the elevator moved at all.
“See ya!” Arken’s voice called as Jack stepped out. The high-ceiling lobby was brightly lit, and nearly deserted. Jack could hear voices echoing off the walls. He stepped to the top of the marble staircase and looked down upon the Green Teens. Crash, Il and Jade were all standing in a wide circle. As Jack watched, Il held his empty hands up and made to pitch a ball. As his arm swung out, a sphere of dark green shot from his fingers. The color sped towards Crash, who guided it with both her hands towards Jade, who in turn passed it back to Il. As the ball of light went around, it grew in size and saturation. This seemed to be a harmless game for them, but Jack could still feel the bristling power of the color building up. It was almost sickening.
“Yo, Jaq!” Crash called up to him as she spun the green ball behind her back.
“G’morning.” Jack made his way down the stairs, rubbing his bare arms.
“Naw, it’s not the morning anymore,” said Il, who nodded towards the front doors. Although the hall was lit up, outside the darkness contrasted, pressing against the glass doors.
“Wow… how long was I asleep?”
Crash turned to him, and spoke carefully, “Three days.”
“What? You’re kidding me!”
“Crash!”
“Oh shit!” The girl ducked as a huge ball of green light flew over her head, to splatter like an electric shock against the wall.
“Crash loses again,” Jade said confidentially, sticking her tongue out at the other girl. But Crash didn’t seem to see… she was lying on the ground, clutching her gut as she laughed.
“Oh, you should have seen your face!” Crash pointed at Jack, squirming on the ground in a fit of giggles.
“Uh…” Jack raised his eyebrow, and walked up to the group. “So, I haven’t been asleep that long?”
“Naw, just for the day,” Il replied, extending his hand to Crash, who grabbed it and sprung to her feet. “Not a big deal though… everyone around here’s nocturnal. Not much to do in the daytime.”
“Oh.” Jack hugged his arms, letting this shivers jump up from the marble floor to the roots of his hair. “Um. Can I borrow some clothes? Unless you want to watch my nipples turn hard.”
“I don’t mind!” Crash called.
Jade danced over to Jack with an air of excitement about her, and a mischievous smile. “Right this way, dear.” She hooked her arm around his, and dragged him off into another room, ignoring Crash’s protests.
----------
Ten minutes later, Jack emerged with a positively punk emerald outfit and a stupid grin on his face. The lobby was still deserted, but the friendly company of music filled the loneliness. Jack spotted a few amplifiers in the corners. The music lingered in the back of their minds, like a hand resting comfortingly on their worries.
“Where is everyone else?” Jack asked, taking one of the chairs.
“Twitch is on his ‘shock runs.” Crash was sprawled out on the couch, and looked at Jack upside-down. “Ace is escorting him. Darc is… uh, what is Darc doing?”
“Whatever he was doing last night, I imagine,” Jade said. “It may be something for the Gurus that they don’t want to talk to everyone about quite yet. Netto is in her room, supporting Darc.”
“We’re just holding down the fort,” Il flopped his arms up. “Arken’s gang got the fun job tonight!”
“Job?” Jack shifted uncomfortably in his chair. All of a sudden, the weight and warmth of that comforting hand was itching him, incessantly, nagging that part of his mind.
Il jerked his thumb upwards. “The Gurus assign the gangs missions. The boys up top––”
“Boy and girl,” Crash corrected.
“Whatever. Krono and Kremlin are the Green Gurus.” Il cocked his head, examining Jack’s curious expression. “You’re not shitting us, are you? You really don’t know a thing about the street!”
“Nope.”
“Well…” The so-called gangsters glanced at each other, their own questions bated on their hesitant lips. Crash finally spoke up.
“Darc told us the situation.”
“Oh?” Jack’s heart sank. He had every right to be nervous, thrown into this new city with these eccentric gangsters and no clue how to get back, or what he was supposed to do here, or how the hell he even got here. But that wasn’t what bothered him.
“Yeah.” She gave him a look that didn’t help with his nerves. “He said we’d let you stay here until your debt was paid, until you can get back on your feet.”
“But how am I supposed to repay my debt?” Jack bit his knuckles. There was something tugging on the hairs at the back of his neck. He could feel the music playing out from under the amps near him.
“Look, we’ve all been there,” Il said light-heartedly. “He took us all in, up from nothing. We all remember––”
“Speak for yourself!” Crash spun on him. “I had a place of my own!”
“It was a trailer, dearest,” Jade replied lazily.
“A fucking nice trailer!”
“Point being!” Il shouted over the girls. “You can trust Darc. He must like you, for whatever reason, cause you seem damn useless to me.”
But Jack wasn’t listening to them.
He had stopped his pacing, and tuned his ears very carefully to the music. It was slow, and sweet. There was a woman’s voice, broken only by the ta-ta-ta of a soft flare drum. An electronic bass buzzed in the background. He could sense the motions of that sound, the wave billowing up with each note. He could feel her voice against his skin, taste the cold colors in the curl of his tongue. The music was rooted in his third eye.
He knelt before the black amp in its nest of wires. He held the edges of it, staring the song in its eyes and saw… nothing.
Jack turned to the others, petrified. “What’s wrong with your music?”