Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Short: E.R



A short(maybe?) About a world where people drink for clarity and those who don't drink are perpetually drunk.
Originally Written: 4/26/13

Chapter one:
E.R

The room was spinning. A plethora of colors swirled around the room as it was full of an ominous laughter. There were two types of people. The drunk and the sober. The  ones who face reality and the ones who can’t possibly imagine living in it.

Montgomery observed all of this, noted that there was not many people sober tonight, which was unusual for a Friday. He eyes stopped on Elliot Woods, sitting in the corner of the bar slumped over with his head in between his knees. His leg was shaking constantly, as if it was ready to start a race. The raven black hair crowed his face, making his eyes not visible, though his mouth was moving. Montgomery craned his neck sides to see if he was talking to someone, his view obscured by the myriad of people crossing in front him. Giving the allusion that Elliot was a candle, flickering in the irrelevant room.

He began to move towards him when a hand clasped his shoulder, the fingers digging in, forcing him to turn around. He half expected to have some words thrown nastily at him but instead saw a familiar crooked smile. That smile knew everything he was planning to do in that second.



"Man-" the young man started, his eyes flickering behind Montgomery's to look at Elliot.
"I know." Was all that montgomery muttered, feeling defeated before he even started.
"Come over and join me and X at the table," he smiled hopefully, " we got the good one by the veranda". His hand made a sweeping motion to the back corner of the room which had one solitary light above it. It seemed pointless to Montgomery to have the booth was next to the Veranda if they weren't even going out on it. Furthermore, the fact that the night coated the world outside them made any view impossible to see as it was drenched with the leering darkness. Xavier looked up and saw them, raising a glass of water, then leaned over and whispered to a blonde haired girl who giggled and then looked at Montgomery.

Aiden began to lead him over, pushing his way through the people. Montgomery look one last time over to the bar. Elliot was gone, the candle had gone out. His eyes could make out two figures in the booth as they walked over, before he had time to even wonder who they were it became clear in the orange casted light.

"hey man! Me an ace have been lookin' for you all night-"
"it's only half past six."
"which is all night!" he chuckled happily, looking over for confirmation of his humor at the girl, who continued to giggle. His arm was around her shoulder as his fingers began to trace circles on her shoulder.

"Your drinking tonight? Me too." Aiden confirmed, lifting up a class and pointing towards the one Montgomery was holding. Suddenly Montgomery felt totally and utterly pointless. The bar seemed entirely small and frivolous with all it's people, music and the wafting smell of some sort of spicy food that was floating around.

"I'm not," xavier answered happily " how boring it is to live in reality". Montgomery paused for a moment, trying to remember the last time Xavier was sober. As if he heard his thoughts, xavier added "havent drank in over 5 years." a big grin across his face, the girl next to him seemed impressed and whispered something in his ear.

"I'm bored," he shouted rather loudly, suddenly standing up "I'm going to go get some food". He sauntered away, his suit loosely swaying with his stature. The crowd quickly swallowed him as he crossed his way over to the bar.

They sat and waited in silence, feeling the air of the night on their skin. Aiden turned a poker chip restlessly in his thumb and forefinger, the blonde picked at her nails, Montgomery sat-looking at the audacity of everyone in the room. Without a word the blonde got up and left joining the crowd, undoubtedly because she wanted to keep at eye on her well wanted prize.

Montgomery felt the need to talk but had nothing to say. He didn't know why he chose tonight to have a clear mind, tonight just seemed like the night. He didn't want to socialize or be apart of anything that resembled the uniformity of stupidity.

Aiden began to open his mouth, then frowned and closed it, his eyes on the trail of someone in the room. Montgomery turned to look but before he could Aiden asked, "so lanz, have you seen Lynn recently?"

"No"
"shes back in town"
"oh?"
"just though you would like to know."
"fine."

Montgomery looked down at his hands, cracking the knuckles with ease. Clearly aiden had not drank as much as him and was still a little chatty.

"I'm going to find E.R." Montgomey muttered, feeling the need to deel with someone else's problems. Whether he was actually going to find him he did not know. E.R woods, or Elliot Rei Woods, was constantly in a state of of self hate, which often caused problems, especially with his lack of the want to remember anything. Elliot was given the nickname E.R because he was know to knock many people's lights out by the end of the night, often sending them off for medical attention. He was an irrational, bi-polor miscreant, with the faulty of being too sympathetic. Hurt by one, now hurting many others, E.R was perpetually searching and on the move. Whether it was for something or someone the group never knew.

Aiden got up without another word, making eye contact with Montgomery, their eyes establishing an agreement. aiden pushed his long hair out of his face then quickly stuffed both hands in his pockets. Montgomery had already felt that Aiden had even up on the search, he had given up looking for E.R the second he met him. He was very much so the person that felt that people had to deal with their own problems, even though he had lived here for years and still not a U.S citizen in attempt to completely avoid his family. He had a long face, his chin prominent and where his straight dark hair stopped

The crowd suddenly all began to form and move, weaving in and out. Montgomery realized there was a circle forming in the middle, where two figures was prominte. Aiden figured it out before he did, moving quickly and immersing himself into the crowd. Montgomery followed, apologizing profusely to everyone he bumped into. Nobody cared. Finally they reached the inside circle, the yellow light above illuminating E.R and another man neither Montgomery or Aiden had even seen. Both men in the circle had wild eyes.

E.R stood on one side, standing nonchalantly as his fingers curled around a cigar in his left hand. He waved it around in the air like it was riding a wave, taunting the man across from him. A measured smile spread across his lips turning into a smirk. Everything about him seemed to be radiating, his eyes glowed from the orange of the lights and from his own self deprecation. The orange light seemed to only act upon E.R, as if it was singling him out. Perhaps, it was E.R who controlled the light. The crowd seemed pleased enough, if not enticed by E.R. Their own eyes anxiously watching the scene not for concern but for their own selfishness. Suddenly E.R’s back arched as his head leaned back in a large, cackling laugh, which others seemed to attempt to join in on or just echoed in the decayed room. The man across from him was now looking more disgruntled than ever, obviously affected by imposed laughter. He was posed in such a position that looked like he was ready to pounce, though his eyes never wavered from the cigar E.R was holding, his lips were moving but Montgomery couldn’t hear anything over the crowd.

Aiden was close to the other man, still trying to make his way around to E.R who was more alive and awakened than ever by the orange light, the careless people and the petty cigar. Montgomery finally realized that he must have taken the cigar from the other man, combined with a few choice words, brought them to this. He left out a sigh of discontent, not surprised by E.R’s behavior, but more simply annoyed with having to deal with the situation. After pushing past a couple more nameless people, Montgomery was only a couple people away from E.R. He looked up just in time to see a profile view of E.R, whose smile had gotten even more crooked as he lifted the cigar to his mouth. His chest rose slowly as he breathed in, the cigar end glowing as if it was imitating the very thing that he was. Once again E.R craned his neck upward, the orange light fully illuminating his face as he let the smoke free into the air. It floated for a while, then almost against it’s own will, sinked down towards the man opposite of him. The mans face changed again, his lips now appearing to snarl. This time montgomery heard his words, which cut loudly across the incandescent atmosphere.

“You lil’ shit,” he roared with his dark, croaking voice. To montgomery his voice appeared to go hand in hand with a frog or a fly if either one could take on a human state. That explains his fighting position, so to speak, he chuckled darkly. “I’m goin’ to kill yah, right here, I’m gon’ do it!” He continued to shout almost incoherently. E.R barely took notice of the words, his head slightly turned toward the crowd as if his attention was somewhere else. His disposition had changed within seconds, the smile gone, his face emotionless. Without a word, the cigar dropped from his fingers as if it was water in a tired and bored waterfall. Nearly a second after his boot crushed downward on the cigar, sending little sparks and ashes around his foot. The man, at his wits end, leaped forward toward E.R. Before either Montgomery or Aiden could react, E.R’s knee swept upward, making contact with the mans lowered jaw. At the same moment that hand that had been holding the cigar came into a sweeping motion blocking the mans oncoming attacks. E.R’s was completely and wholly focused on his fight, his eyes watching the man trying to fight with ease.

Aiden managed to get into the circle, which had already tightened since the fight had begun. People were now yelling in a disoriented chant. E.R was holding both of the mans arms behind his back, pushing further down as the man yelled in terror out of the fear he would break his arms. Montgomery pushed through the last barrier of people and without another thought after taking in the scene, pushed E.R backwards. Aiden joined in, both of their hands anchoring around E.R shoulders. Though E.R was stronger purely for the amount of fights he had been in, he could not face both of them. The other man fell down the floor gasping, then finally spitting out blood the color of wine, which Montgomery assumed was from his probably now fractured jaw. The fly like man scrambled into the crowd, easily being immersed into the waves of people. The crowd seemed to quite down, though babbling loudly like a river about the fight.

Montgomery and Aiden had now managed to get E.R to the door, his body no longer struggling - if anything he was more at ease now that he had fought. his body was less tense and his face seemed calm. The orange lights above only glinted off of him, no longer being possessed, they still belonged there, deep down in the recesses of E.R’s mind. As they entered the cool night air, E.R began to chuckle again, this time his voice was softer, almost pleased. Aiden hastily pushed him up against the brick wall on the outside of the establishment, “What the hell is wrong with you!?” He demanded, his cool eyes searching E.R’s face for a response- he only stared blankly back at Aiden.

“It was only a Cigar, was it necessary? ” Montgomery echoed, his voice bouncing off the nearby buildings, perhaps the only things that were actually listening.

E.R grimaced which at first Montgomery thought sincere, then broken with his mocking imitation of “only a cigar...”. After which E.R laughed loudly as he had done previously in the bar, his laughs repeating over and over down the street from the echo, combined with Montgomery’s previously spoken sentence made him shudder.  Aiden, equally discomforted, quickly let go of E.R, as one would recoil from a burn.

“Of course it was necessarily.” A smooth voice answered, who they all instantly recognized. Xavier was standing behind all three of them, his dark suit slightly illuminated from the pathway of light from the bar. “The mind never stops tormenting itself, don’t you understand?”

E.R threw up his hands in the air as he responded, still in his mocking tone, “Finally, somebody understands me!”, which everybody ignored. It was habitual, either everybody was focused on E.R or not at all, there was no inbetween.

“Where’d the blonde go?” Was all Montgomery answered, already feeling his clarity wearing off since he had not had a drink in a couple hours. Xavier shrugged and responded without thought, “Too clingy”.

“I thought you liked them like tha-” Aiden started but was quickly cut off.
“-Whos ready to get out here?” Xavier interjected, “I already called around my driver”. For someone who so enjoyed the night light and not drinking, it was surprising to Montgomery that Xavior always was ready to leave earlier and at a moments notice. As if he was playing a role all along, that he never really cared about the girls or the people. A black car pulled up to the curb, its engine purring and feeding of off the night. Everyone has to have a car service, it is required for everyone to have one by the time they are able to drink and realize the misery of reality. No one in the group really knew what Xavier did for a living, all they knew was that it allowed him to have a nicer car service than everybody else.

Xavier jerked open the car door, not bothering to wait for the driver to open it for him. The familiar smell of leather wafted out, something they were all accustomed to for these kinds of nights. They all ended with the leather seats in Xavier's car. “Get in, Gents” Xavier announced, motioning his hand inward towards the car as the other held the door open. Aiden slid in the car with ease and Xavier followed. Montgomery held onto the door, as he got ready to go inside he noticed E.R walking away with his back to all of them.

“Where are you going?” Montgomery protested, feeling the edge of annoyance on his voice. E.R didn’t respond as he continued walking, “Come on man just get in the car!” Aidan's voice shouted from somewhere inside the car. E.R stopped walking immediately under a streetlight, turning around to face them, his face looked haunted with that same orange color than had given him life earlier. He spoke softly, his voice no longer making an echo in the streets, Montgomery had to strain to hear him.

“You can’t control anything. There is something sad about those who think they can with their own illusions.” He turned on his heel, leaving the light and was devoured into the darkness. Xavior called onto the driver to move as he reached over Montgomery to slam the door.

Montgomery wanted to protest, and say to E.R that he was the one with illusions, but it was too late, the car had already taken off.  As they drove the exhaust from the car clouded the view behind them of what was left of E.R.

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