❦Rose x James❦

The huge hologram moved its fake face showing a big smile. The advertising sign showed a new beverage artificially flavoured: “drink Fizzle and enjoy today”

Through the bus window, James Thorne looked at it and realised how much he hated it. He hated those stupid ponytails the figure had, the forced smile, the magenta eyes. Everything.

He turned his head and looked at the other side of the street where some teenage girls and boys were in group reading under a tree. He asked himself if were old enough to take the pill already. Probably they were because all of them had the same empty facial expression.

The killer. That was how people called it even if its legal name was Adamaresin. They called it the killer because it killed your soul. A drug that was created to transform people in robots, maybe not literally, but almost. The first citizens that were obligated to take it at the beginning of that madness had been dead for a very long time now. The generations that followed simply accepted the fact that the killer was necessary for their lives as air and water were.

The first time he took it was fourteen. Twenty-one years ago. He remembered his schoolmates being excited about it because it means they were officially part of society now. Treated like adults, with proper rights. When you take the pill for the first time it is a reason to celebrate. A postcard is sent to your house or flat to congratulate you for that.

But that's the last time you are excited about something. Soon boys and girls equally start to behave like the adults they're going to be. Life in the eyes disappear and it's replaced by the drug.

The difference between a child and a teen was beyond physical. It was like the morning after taking Adamaresin for the first time the adolescent become a new person but it was expected to happen. No one ask the new adult how was feeling because every other adult knew it and it was expected to happen and he wasn't the exception. James remembered that he celebrated his 14th birthday with a glass of water waiting for him when woke up and the white pill next to it. That was his gift that year.

The bus continued its way and three stops later, James went down to finally returned to his flat, not without buying food first.

The building had a face scan that allowed those living there enter or leaving their apartments. James looked at the black screen for a moment and then moved away. A green light that appeared indicating that the door was opened so he pushed it with his free hand. The main hall was empty and in silence except for the sound of his own footsteps over the marble floor. The intoxicating smell of bleach mixed with lavender welcomed him.

The elevator was open waiting for him, but he ignored it and used the stairs. Looking at his own reflection on the mirrors inside it wasn't something he wanted to do. Not that day at least.

He lived in the seventh floor with a privileged view of the city. At night, when he couldn't sleep he liked to sit in the balcony to look at the blue and purple lights shining behind him while his mind was going to journey he couldn't control and if he had to he honest with himself that was very frequently, insomnia was getting worse those days. He could like to blame humidity and the horrid heat but it wasn't the reason.

James threw his belongings in the nearest sofa and went to the kitchen to microwave the food and then sit down to watch some movie. Those white and black that were so old that it was hard to imagine that people lived in the same world they were living now. Black and white movies were the only ones people could get because all the rest was destroyed, they said. Apparently colours showed life in the eyes of the actors dead long ago.

"We'll always have Paris," Humphrey Bogart said. James had seen that movie so many times that could repeat the lines by heart and yet, still enjoyed it like the first time. Especially those times where she still was with him.

"Where I'm going, you can't follow…"

Involuntary his hand went to his tight, where the ghost of her head used to rest when they were watching it. For a moment he could feel the texture of her curls in his fingertips. The smell of her shampoo in his nostrils…

"Where I'm going, you can't follow…"

Life could be solitary sometimes, she used to say. Going out to drink something, maybe dancing or just walking under the stars with a friend was good. It could make the difference between an ordinary day and a special one. Most adults lived alone, but some decided to live together because that was part of human nature. No love, but company and James had found that in her. But she wasn't there anymore.

Not all people needed to take the pill, some were born with some kind of immunity. Like that people who were immune to certain sickness and she was one of those. A special one. When Government wanted her, they called her. Her arms showed marks of the times they took her blood. Spots James loved to kiss.

"Fuck," he distracted and part of the hot soup burnt his leg. James put the bowl aside and went to the kitchen looking for some cloth to clean his jeans.

Since the moment she left, James stopped saying her name. It was like a wound he wanted to heal but it never happened. She was… she. Just she. The girl that used to lived three floors under him and that he met a winter morning when he helped her to moved in to her apartment. She was different. Never had seen that kind of eyes, even if they were brown like many others he had seen before. It wasn't that. It was the life that were inside them, life he had only seen in movies because despite what the government said even in black and white films that people were alive.

"Fuck," he repeated but this time for a different reason. James rested his arms on the kitchen counter and let out a sigh.

----

"You're wasting your time, sweetheart," Rose said coming back to her dusty, flat. Also overheated and probably with rats as her neighbours but her place nonetheless.

"Tell me again, who's the lucky one?" a man that been following her said. He wasn't a threat, he was just a younger man that was trying to be amicable in a flirty way.

"His name is James. My sweet James."

'"Lucky bastard," the other say. "It's your loss, Rosie!"

"Goodbye, Dan, there's a lot of girls and maybe men who could love to take a chance on you."

"And if I give you a kitten?"

"Not even with a kitten. Bye Dan," Rose said pushing the door with her hips, as her hands were full.

The laughs coming from one of the apartments made her smile when she was entering. Two women lived there and apparently they were having a good time together. She knew them, sometimes she joined them to play cards and eat a pie that one of them baked. Unlike the modern building James was living this one didn't have an elevator, maybe had in the past, but now was just a hole that was sealed long ago. A pity because in that moment she needed it.

Rose left the bags and papers on the table when she finally entered in her flat and opened the faucet to drink water, then splashed her face, too. Freedom had a price and in this case was the lack of ventilation. There was a time where she liked summer, but not anymore.

The sandwich she prepared was well received by her stomach. All day was busy and couldn't stop even to think, so this one was a little reward she needed.

"Something in you changed…"

Rose remembered the words the old doctor said to her when a morning a year ago they called her to do some new analysis. Something in her had changed and she knew it. It changed after spending time with James Thorne day and night. It changed the moment she woke up a morning in her bed and realised that hated to be there alone, when she'd be in his hed with him hugging her.

It changed when she realised that wasn't immune anymore and after all her life being a laboratory rat, that night they gave her a pill box with the infamous Adamaresin written on it. Take one in the morning. Thanks for your services you're completely useless now.

Fuck you, she said and threw the box through the window.

The following day was evicted. Sent to the underworld where the outcast lived and James was left with almost no answer. And it hurt her. The easiest thing to do was stay there, taking the pill same as him, but feeling nothing. But the perspective of forgetting that feelings he caused on her was something she wasn't ready to let them go. One of them needed to be awake and she knew for now James wasn't ready, so it was up to her. So she left, heart in hand an crying blood but determined to find him again. Rose finished to eat and unrolled one of the papers she brought with her. It was a map. If that was the underworld then they forgot that was something else under them: the drainage system and it was going to her passport to the city.

James was trying to forget her not saying her name but failing at it because everything reminded him of her. The inexplicable emptiness inside him that couldn't be compared with the apathy he felt all his life.

The huge hologram moved its fake face showing a big smile. The advertising sign showed a new beverage artificially flavoured: “drink Fizzle and enjoy today”

Through the bus window, James Thorne looked at it and realised how much he hated it. He hated those stupid ponytails the figure had, the forced smile, the magenta eyes. Everything.

He turned his head and looked at the other side of the street where some teenage girls and boys were in group reading under a tree. He asked himself if were old enough to take the pill already. Probably they were because all of them had the same empty facial expression.

The killer. That was how people called it even if its legal name was Adamaresin. They called it the killer because it killed your soul. A drug that was created to transform people in robots, maybe not literally, but almost. The first citizens that were obligated to take it at the beginning of that madness had been dead for a very long time now. The generations that followed simply accepted the fact that the killer was necessary for their lives as air and water were.

The first time he took it was fourteen. Twenty-one years ago. He remembered his schoolmates being excited about it because it means they were officially part of society now. Treated like adults, with proper rights. When you take the pill for the first time it is a reason to celebrate. A postcard is sent to your house or flat to congratulate you for that.

But that's the last time you are excited about something. Soon boys and girls equally start to behave like the adults they're going to be. Life in the eyes disappear and it's replaced by the drug.

The difference between a child and a teen was beyond physical. It was like the morning after taking Adamaresin for the first time the adolescent become a new person but it was expected to happen. No one ask the new adult how was feeling because every other adult knew it and it was expected to happen and he wasn't the exception. James remembered that he celebrated his 14th birthday with a glass of water waiting for him when woke up and the white pill next to it. That was his gift that year.

The bus continued its way and three stops later, James went down to finally returned to his flat, not without buying food first.

The building had a face scan that allowed those living there enter or leaving their apartments. James looked at the black screen for a moment and then moved away. A green light that appeared indicating that the door was opened so he pushed it with his free hand. The main hall was empty and in silence except for the sound of his own footsteps over the marble floor. The intoxicating smell of bleach mixed with lavender welcomed him.

The elevator was open waiting for him, but he ignored it and used the stairs. Looking at his own reflection on the mirrors inside it wasn't something he wanted to do. Not that day at least.

He lived in the seventh floor with a privileged view of the city. At night, when he couldn't sleep he liked to sit in the balcony to look at the blue and purple lights shining behind him while his mind was going to journey he couldn't control and if he had to he honest with himself that was very frequently, insomnia was getting worse those days. He could like to blame humidity and the horrid heat but it wasn't the reason.

James threw his belongings in the nearest sofa and went to the kitchen to microwave the food and then sit down to watch some movie. Those white and black that were so old that it was hard to imagine that people lived in the same world they were living now. Black and white movies were the only ones people could get because all the rest was destroyed, they said. Apparently colours showed life in the eyes of the actors dead long ago.

"We'll always have Paris," Humphrey Bogart said. James had seen that movie so many times that could repeat the lines by heart and yet, still enjoyed it like the first time. Especially those times where she still was with him.

"Where I'm going, you can't follow…"

Involuntary his hand went to his tight, where the ghost of her head used to rest when they were watching it. For a moment he could feel the texture of her curls in his fingertips. The smell of her shampoo in his nostrils…

"Where I'm going, you can't follow…"

Life could be solitary sometimes, she used to say. Going out to drink something, maybe dancing or just walking under the stars with a friend was good. It could make the difference between an ordinary day and a special one. Most adults lived alone, but some decided to live together because that was part of human nature. No love, but company and James had found that in her. But she wasn't there anymore.

Not all people needed to take the pill, some were born with some kind of immunity. Like that people who were immune to certain sickness and she was one of those. A special one. When Government wanted her, they called her. Her arms showed marks of the times they took her blood. Spots James loved to kiss.

"Fuck," he distracted and part of the hot soup burnt his leg. James put the bowl aside and went to the kitchen looking for some cloth to clean his jeans.

Since the moment she left, James stopped saying her name. It was like a wound he wanted to heal but it never happened. She was… she. Just she. The girl that used to lived three floors under him and that he met a winter morning when he helped her to moved in to her apartment. She was different. Never had seen that kind of eyes, even if they were brown like many others he had seen before. It wasn't that. It was the life that were inside them, life he had only seen in movies because despite what the government said even in black and white films that people were alive.

"Fuck," he repeated but this time for a different reason. James rested his arms on the kitchen counter and let out a sigh.

----

"You're wasting your time, sweetheart," Rose said coming back to her dusty, flat. Also overheated and probably with rats as her neighbours but her place nonetheless.

"Tell me again, who's the lucky one?" a man that been following her said. He wasn't a threat, he was just a younger man that was trying to be amicable in a flirty way.

"His name is James. My sweet James."

'"Lucky bastard," the other say. "It's your loss, Rosie!"

"Goodbye, Dan, there's a lot of girls and maybe men who could love to take a chance on you."

"And if I give you a kitten?"

"Not even with a kitten. Bye Dan," Rose said pushing the door with her hips, as her hands were full.

The laughs coming from one of the apartments made her smile when she was entering. Two women lived there and apparently they were having a good time together. She knew them, sometimes she joined them to play cards and eat a pie that one of them baked. Unlike the modern building James was living this one didn't have an elevator, maybe had in the past, but now was just a hole that was sealed long ago. A pity because in that moment she needed it.

Rose left the bags and papers on the table when she finally entered in her flat and opened the faucet to drink water, then splashed her face, too. Freedom had a price and in this case was the lack of ventilation. There was a time where she liked summer, but not anymore.

The sandwich she prepared was well received by her stomach. All day was busy and couldn't stop even to think, so this one was a little reward she needed.

"Something in you changed…"

Rose remembered the words the old doctor said to her when a morning a year ago they called her to do some new analysis. Something in her had changed and she knew it. It changed after spending time with James Thorne day and night. It changed the moment she woke up a morning in her bed and realised that hated to be there alone, when she'd be in his hed with him hugging her.

It changed when she realised that wasn't immune anymore and after all her life being a laboratory rat, that night they gave her a pill box with the infamous Adamaresin written on it. Take one in the morning. Thanks for your services you're completely useless now.

Fuck you, she said and threw the box through the window.

The following day was evicted. Sent to the underworld where the outcast lived and James was left with almost no answer. And it hurt her. The easiest thing to do was stay there, taking the pill same as him, but feeling nothing. But the perspective of forgetting that feelings he caused on her was something she wasn't ready to let them go. One of them needed to be awake and she knew for now James wasn't ready, so it was up to her. So she left, heart in hand an crying blood but determined to find him again. Rose finished to eat and unrolled one of the papers she brought with her. It was a map. If that was the underworld then they forgot that was something else under them: the drainage system and it was going to her passport to the city.

James was trying to forget her not saying her name but failing at it because everything reminded him of her. The inexplicable emptiness inside him that couldn't be compared with the apathy he felt all his life.