Mark knew his pills were starting to lack a certain potency. After many months of taking the cerulean capsules, Mark was starting to worry that the power of the medicine was wearing off. He was starting to feel that awkward, transitional state of a person that does not know his own feelings. Sometimes, he felt his head was lost in a sand dune at a beach, and he was a wandering beach bum, searching with a metal detector for it. A sudden urgency would wash over him, as if the tide was coming early, and he started to feel anxious and snapped easily.

It did not help matters that he was in an enclosed taxi cab with two wasted individuals, singing as hoarsely as possible.

Fortunately, his doctor's appointment was coming the next day, and he couldn't wait for it much longer. Actually, he was close to jumping out of the cab, hoping the two in the car would roll farther and farther away from him like a snowball dropped at the summit of large mountain. Mark wiped his forehead and crossed his arms while the two people next to him swayed to the turning of the car. His cool facade was one he had mastered for a long time. He thought these situations were exercises of his self-control, and he would hate to lose a game to anybody, let alone to himself.

"Your words are hazy, Your thoughts are hazy, but this is one thing I'm sure of." Silvia sang like a chocking seagull.

"Everybody needs a best friend." Arthur sang with his words slurring the air around him.

"And I'm happy I'm yours." Arthur and Silvia leaned on Marks lap and whipped their heads towards each other. Silvia had a giant smile on her face, and continued singing a mile a minute, while Arthur swayed in place, rubbing Mark's arm incessantly. He turned his head towards the man in the middle and narrowed his eyes.

"What're you lookin' at, you bloody sack of salmon." Arthur said.

"Just thinking of selling you to the government as torture devices." Mark said as he covered his mouth with his hands and coughed. Silvia stopped her singing briefly to catch a giggling fit. With Arthur beginning to pour on curse after curse, Silvia singing faster than a rocket-launched Frisbee, and Mark stringing along threats and promises towards the two, the cab was bursting at the oil-soaked seams with the stench of alcoholic breath and out-of-tune caroling. The cab stopped in front of the Skyfall Condominiums, and Silvia ran out. She flew towards the double doors and waited in front of the elevator by hopping in place with a smile pasted on her.

Arthur stumbled out of the cab and limped towards the revolving doors. He tripped on his own red-sneaker wearing feet and lays flat on his back. He squints his eyes and thrusts his arm out at Mark, who was looming above him.

"Help me up, you silly wanker. Everything is spinning."

"Nah. Helping you up would only make it worse. You'll just have to crawl." Mark said with a smirk on his face.

"You-you idiot. Help me up, or i will force the devil upon you and cause the worst death imaginable."

"I've already seen all the Transformers. Plus, sleeping with you should be punishment enough."

"That's exactly what F-Francis said after that one night. How do you know that?"

"I secretly filmed you. Gotta make a living somehow."

Mark reached down and heaved the drunk Brit onto his feet and put an arm around him. Arthur leaned on his shoulder and rolled his head back and forth like a bobble head on permanent nodding mode.

"Iggy, Bring him over here. Hey Mark, it's like, really warm in here. Can we just get some drinks. I mean, it's really sunny in here." Silvia said in a rapid fire ramble.

"If we can get to my room, we can do anything you want."

"Did you here that Iggy? Looks like were having a fun night." Silvia rolled her tongue and and leaned towards young Englishman who was succumbing to sleep. Silvia tilted her head and leaned in further to see Arthur's eyes disappearing behind his wrinkled eyelids. Silvia took her hand and placed it on Arthur's face. She shook it vigorously and he moaned in confusion.

"C'mon Iggy. Don't sleep. The night's still young. Mark," Silvia sprung her back straight and looked straight at Mark's slightly dilated eyes."We're gonna need to borrow your apartment, and make me coffee.

"Make your own coffee. We're all going to my bed so no one sleeps with someone on accident."

Silvia giggled again and rocked herself back and forth on the back railing of the elevator. "You're so silly Mark. How can we not sleep with each other. We are the most attractive people in the world!"

"Well, I guess we could always try handcuffs."


Mark knew he was going to have trouble sleeping tonight. The young, slightly distressed man looked at the two drunk figures dancing in front of him in front of the illuminated outline of the skyline, barely emanating an orange glow. Silvia was speaking as fast as a raging rapid in the Amazon, and Arthur was crawling towards his guitar, yelling about being in the American Revolutionary War. He looked at the empty picture frame on the marble counter and bit his index fingernail. he shifted his lazy gaze towards the two, and saw that Arthur was using his guitar as a musket. Silvia laughed like she saw a dinosaur juggling a jeep while repetitive carnival music played in her head.

"Okay, you!" Mark pointed to Arthur who was still on the ground, clutching his guitar. "Stop reenacting Platoon. You! Take some Nyquil suppositories. We're all going to bed."

"Whoo! About time. Iggy! It's time to go."

"But, what about my America?" Arthur said in a high=pitched voice like a five-year-old who missed out on the Easter egg hunt.

"You can grovel for it later. We are all going to sleep, Silvia."

"But, I have so much energy. I mean, look at it." Silvia gestured towards the large window. "There's s much to do here, and it's only three in the morning. What about all that graffiti. Can we paint on walls, Mark? I just want to dance."

"No. We're going to sleep. We can try all of your stuff later."

"You can't stop me, Mark. I can't...stop...dancing!"

Mark dumped a blue oval tablet into a purple cup and filled it to the plastic brim with tap water. He rushed to Sylvia who was still jerking her arms in a punching style. He walked behind her and grabbed her by her shoulders. Mark pressed his forearms onto Silvia's slender ones, causing her to stop moving. He took the cup and tilted it towards Sylvia's mouth while she looked down at the inside of the cup. She did not resist and took in the cups contents. She took the cup into her hands and threw her head back, draining the cup. She turned around and smiled at Mark as she rubbed her hand on Mark's chest.

"Mark. Your suppose to take the blue pill. Not me!" Silvia barked out a laugh.

"It's sleeping pills, Silvia. I don't need help in things like that. Now, lets go to bed." Mark prodded the Hispanic woman towards his bedroom. He reached down and forced Arthur's hand away from the red and blue guitar. Arthur growled in frustration and tried to fight off Mark's diamond-strong grip. Mark reaffirmed his grip and yanked Arthur's blue neck collar, causing Arthur shout in pain.

"No! London!. Get me back, you bloody imbecile. I'll decapitate you like that stupid church-rat!" Arthur shouted as he lunged towards his guitar.

Mark trudged on towards his room. He entered it and flung the stumbling Arthur onto the bed. He gingerly pushed Silvia and she plopped onto the bed like an apple falling off of a tree with soft thudding sound. He looked up and turned towards the open window of the dark room. The monotonous buzz of the soft breeze mixed with the few scurrying cars rumbling in the distance invaded the room. Mark sat on bed and looked at the two laying down. Arthur was on the verge of passing out, and Silvia was also starting to nod her head in a meaningless attempt at staying awake.

"Mark, you want us all asleep? That' s, like, so weird." Silvia drew out the sentence, dying like a trumpeter losing breath.

"You're all going to sleep. I'm staying up." Mark said as he stood up and moved towards the open doorway.

"But, wait. You'll be by yourself." Mark turned around and saw Silvia's elevated head over the pillow. Arthur was dead to the world, as far as he could see.

"Yes. Finally. Now, can you just behave. You'll feel better in the morn-actually, you'll probably feel like crap. So, best to sleep now." Mark moved through the doorway and closed the white door. He stood there for a second, inspecting the air for any stray sound waves that lost themselves from Silvia's mouth. After hearing the placid silence, he walked over to the large expanse of his living room and turned on the television. He threw himself onto the couch, and grabbed the small book on the coffee table, losing his train of thought to the flat words on the white pages.


The sharp scream caused Mark to jerk the mug holding his scalding coffee and splash on the porcelain rim. The small droplets steamed as they fell towards the previously immaculate hardwood floor. Mark grimaced in disdain at the small mess, but he snapped out of his reverie and put the mug down. He ran towards the source of the scream, and he flung open the door to find a frazzled Latina women in the corner of the room and pointing at the Brit on the ground that was rubbing his head, a look of manufactured pain glazing his face.

"Jesus Christ, you want me to get kicked out, don't cha?" Mark said with a hint of anger in his voice.

"Where am I? Did I just sleep with you two? Oh my god. I just gang banged, didn't I?" Silvia said faster than tornado mowing down the plains of mid-west America. Mark looked at her like she was dog with three heads; his watermelon-green eyes flickering from the huddled woman in the corner to the groaning Brit still laying on the floor.

"Woman, calm down. Nobody did anything or anyone yesterday." Silvia was not

"God! Give me back my virginity!" Silvia ran out of the room with her hands placed on the side of her head. Mark turned and saw the bed stripped of most of it's sheets. He approached Arthur, who was laying on the floor, moaning in pain. He covered himself with the dislodged sheets and was face-down. His light blue blazer was thrown to the far corner of the spacious room, and he was in a white undershirt and black dress pants. His blond hair was in spiky layers and poked through the edge of the sheet he used to half-covered himself. Mark reached down and flung the sheets onto the bed and loomed over the grimacing Arthur.

"What the hell did you do on my bed last night?" Mark asked.

"That girl is insane! She kicked me off the bed and just ran off like tha-."

"Answer my question. Who did you do last night?" Mark smirked towards Arthur as he slowly lifted himself to his feet with the assistance of the sturdy bed.

"What? Are you insane like that crazy girl? A gentleman doesn't do anything in a state like that."

"You robbed a hot-dog stand, urinated on a taxi cab, and grinded everyone at the club. And since when are you a gentleman?" Mark added nonchalantly.

"Wh-what? No, absolutely not. Don't tell me I did any of that." Arthur's face turned tomato-red and he held his head in his hands.

"Okay, you actually didn't do any of that. But, you did jump on a stage and pretend to be a revolutionary soldier. By the way, have better fantasies. That's just awkward." Mark pushed Arthur towards the door and he shouted in surprise. He held onto the door frame before walking out as gingerly as an injured deer. Mark followed closely behind him as they walked into the room, lit by the invisible sun that was shrouded in the grey blanket of clouds that plastered the sky. It was Fortunate for the two hungover individuals, who would have practically melted if they were blinded by the giant light bulb of the solar system.

Silvia was running like a chicken without a head around the large room. She was blabbering Hispanic nonsense into the thick, alcohol infused air. Currently, she was on her knees and poked her head underneath the couch before shooting up like a rocket to her feet. She ran towards the marble counter and scanned the top while rubbing it with her hands.

"Where's my purse? I need my phone!" Silvia shouted in despair. She turned to Arthur and Mark.

"Well, maybe you lost it at-" Arthur slowly started, but he was interrupted by a livid Silvia

"Don't talk to me, you pervert! I thought I could trust you." Silvia pointed at the shocked Englishman.

"I told you I did nothing. We didn't even take our clothes off." Arthur gasped and rubbed his forehead.

"Okay fine. I'll check later. Right now, I need my phone and some Aspirin. My head is killing me." Silvia groaned and rested her head onto the cool counter top, feeling a small reprieve in her steel-hard hangover.

"I'll call it." Mark said

Thumbing the cool screen of the phone in his pocket, Mark pulled it out of the rough pocket interior. He pressed Silvia's number that he received the day before, and heard the monotonous ring tone filling the dearth of sound in the hostile room of alcohol-induced pain and sexual tension. Soon, he head a crackle of life, and a voice funneled into his ear canal. Mark softly greeted the voice.

"He says he knows you." Mark said to Silvia, whose head lifted up from it's resting position in curiosity like a cat hearing a strange noise. Mark continued to talk quietly into the phone.

"Yes. I am. I'm glad she's talked about me so much in the day I've known her," Mark nodded his head. "Yes. Yes. I am. Oh really! I didn't know that." Mark turned his head toward Arthur, whose head was in his hands as he sat on the snow-colored couch. "So, you wanna talk to him or her first? Oh, okay. Here he is."

Mark took the phone and touched Arthur's pale knuckle with it. "It's for you."

"Arthur furrowed his thick eyebrows and sighed in exasperation. "Why the bloody hell would this person want to talk to me for. Just give it to Silvia."

"He says he want's to talk to you." Mark shook the phone in his hands.

Arthur took the phone and almost crashed it onto his cheek, inadvertently pressing the speaker button on the phone. "Hello, who is this?" he asked.

Mark had thought the voice over the phone was benevolent enough. He had seemed kind, and was genuinely worried about Silvia. It caused Mark to reflect on the niceness of the stranger, and he decided that he had deserved to talk to anyone that came into contact with her the night before. However, Mark was put into a state of confusion when the voice flew out of the phone and into the tense atmosphere of the apartment. What had surprised Mark, however, was not the phone's speaker being turned on, but Arthur's reaction to the voice. He gasped his shoulders bulked up in shock, like he had seen a ghost pop out in front of his very emerald-green eyes. His knuckles and cheeks became pale-white and then almost instantaneously turned into a mysterious beet red.

"Angleterre! How are you mon ami!" The cheerful voice blasted out in broken, European accent laced English.

Mark became worried when Arthur slumped over his knees and became limp as he dropped the phone onto the cool floor.


A/N: Well, another chapter down. As always, don't be afraid to leave any suggestions and ideas for the newbie, and review! It's quick, easy, and even fun! Good Luck.