The sun had been warm, the palm trees swaying in the warm breeze. Tyler had sat on the warm sand, watching the ocean waves hit the shore. The smell of marijuana drifted around him in a cloud of smoke. Evan laid on the sand beside him, his red and white jacket used pillow under his head. Beside him, Craig took a drink from his beer. The sun was starting to dip towards the horizon, the sky ablaze in pinks, oranges and soft blues.
"Have you thought about what it really feels like to be a Glitch?" Craig had asked, glancing at Tyler and Evan.
"I try not to." Evan said quietly.
"Same." Tyler had nodded. "Being a Glitch means it's over. The party is done and everyone can go home. I don't want to think about it till I'm a Glitch."
"I think that Glitches are still there in some way. They still bleed. They have motives. I don't think the 'party' is over when you become a Glitch." Craig had said, sinking his hand into the sand. Tyler watched his blunt burn, smoke drifting up from the end. He took a drag, wishing that Craig hadn't brought up Glitches. "Maybe they aren't that different from us."
"How high are you?" Tyler had laughed, blowing smoke out of his mouth. "We aren't fucking monsters."
"We all saw what Evan did to Arlan! That's pretty monstrous if you ask me." Craig had muttered, finishing his beer.
"Shut the fuck up!" Tyler had spat. "Don't you dare say that. It was an accident. He didn't know that Arlan would Glitch. We never know when that shit is gonna happen!"
"Yeah come on, Craig. I never trashed you when 'accidentally' pushed that kid off the pier and he Glitched." Evan snapped as he sat up, his eyes had narrowed darkly. "Fuck off." He reached for Tyler's blunt, smoke swirling around him. Craig had sighed, knowing there was no point in trying to fight them. Nothing was worse than when Tyler and Evan were stubbornly against something together.
Tyler had watched Evan lay back down, looking up at the bright sky with his dark eyes. He had seemed sad, a look in his eyes that seemed empty, almost hopeless. Tyler refused to believe that Evan was starting to despair. He looked back at the waves, watching them hit the shore.
"Aren't you scared though? Of becoming a Glitch?" Craig had asked and Tyler had groaned with annoyance.
"Of course I am! Can we stop talking about this though? Fucking christ." Tyler sighed.
"When I become a Glitch…" Evan had said softly, his eyes on the sky above him. "Don't let me suffer."
Now, as the sun started to go down, the sky was full of colour. All pinks, oranges, purples and blues. It was as bright and neon as the city. Helicopters flew overhead, and police sirens sounded in the distance. The group of boys rode their bicycles down the busy street. Their jackets fluttered in the warm wind,the animal eyes of their masks taking in the world around them.
Music drifted from passing cars and spilled from clubs and restaurants that flowed smoothly like the brightly coloured drinks they served. People on the streets paused their conversation to watch the animal boys go past before resuming their conversation again. The sight wasn't unusual to them. Nothing was unusual in this neon city where there were was nothing to lose.
Evan felt like nothing was wrong. Though the world was still strange to him and nothing seemed to make sense, he told himself that it was just his fall that he no longer remembered anything. No one could have gotten away from that without some lasting damage.
He believed Jonathan and Brock and Tyler and Lui and Daithi and Marcel and he should have believed Craig before it was too late. He believed them now about this world where death did not exist. Though there were times late at night where he would lie awake and wonder about those other memories, the ones where he instead of living it, he would play a game like this and his friends were all so far away and he could not live forever. They seemed so odd compared to the other memories of neon lights and blood that were coming back to him more and more with every passing day. He wanted those memories, of laughter, freedom and sunshine to be real more than the ones spent in a dark office in front of a screen.
As his bike took him down the street, he took his hands off the handle bars and believed that he could fly. The wind whipped around him, pulling at his red and white jacket and threatened to pull at his balance too.
He didn't care.
He could do anything in this world. Anything he dreamed of could be possible.
"Oh fuck listen to it roar!"
"You mean I can drive it?"
"It's your car, of course you can drive it! Get in bitch."
Jonathan threw the keys over the black, polished roof of the Lamborghini. Evan caught them, staring at them with wide eyes. A little owl key chain looked up at Evan with bright, yellow eyes. A strange part of him was shocked. That part had no memories of a beautiful car. Another part did. Memories of the black car, and broken glass danced through his mind. He got into the car, still unsure if he really was able to drive it. Evan gripped the wheel, his eyes wide as that still shocked and scared part of him took in the dark leather interior of the car.
"Is something wrong?" Jonathan asked when he saw Evan's wide eyed stare. He shook his head, trying to forget about the excitement that bubbled inside of him. He shook his head, leaning back in his seat.
"It just feels like the first time in this car." Evan said softly.
"Then let's take her for a spin!" Jonathan laughed, closing his door. In his lap, the disturbingly yellow eyes of his raccoon mask stared at Evan as he took his owl mask off. He revved the engine and they both giggled like little boys. Evan looked at Jonathan who smiled brightly, his blue hood pulled over his head and shadowed his bright eyes.
The car backed out of the bright, white garage and onto the neon lit street. Purple lights reflected off the black surface of the car as the tyres squealed on the pavement, dark marks left where it had just been as it sped down the street, swerving through traffic.
"Should I slow down? The cops are gonna be on us!" Evan laughed but he didn't slow down. He didn't want to. The wind whipped through the open window, pulling at his hair and drowning out the music from the radio.
"Fuck no! Just don't fucking crash it!" Jonathan laughed. Evan smiled and sped up.
Evan had never felt so free before. He had never felt so wild before. He never wanted to wake up. Jonathan leaned out his window, his blue hoodie rippling in the wind like a furious river of water, his free hand waving in the wind as neon lights flashed around them.
"Pinch yourself...and you'll wake up." The words flashed in Evan's mind with an urgency that he should listen to them but he didn't.
Evan didn't want to wake up anymore.
The black sports car stopped by the pier, the bright lights reflecting over the water. Evan and Jonathan got out, their masks over their faces. Evan knew they might seem out of place, but he remembered why they wore them and he smiled under the feathered rubber. He felt like he had a family.
"Come on! Let's get some popcorn!" Jonathan pulled Evan towards the pier, the bright neon lights almost blinding him. He walked beside Jonathan along the pier, taking in everything. He faintly remembered being here before, remembered seeing blood reflecting the bright colourful lights and hearing screaming and laughing. He looked away from the wood of the pier to Jonathan who was clearly smiling under his mask, glad to be with the Evan that he knew so well.
As Jonathan got in line for some popcorn, Evan found himself wandering away, towards the arcade. Bright, neon lights flashed, music played and the sounds of games rang in his ears. People laughed and moved around him as he walked through the crowd past the bright arcade games.
By one of the games, a girl with hair so blonde it seemed to reflect the colours of the neon lights around her. She seemed familiar to Evan in many different ways, both parts of him knowing her. She looked up at him green eyes lined in black and sparkles and smiled.
"There's my owl." Was all she said.
"Where the fuck were you?" Jonathan laughed when Evan returned to the car. Jonathan sat on the hood of the car, his mask beside him and his hood over his face. In his hand was a bag of caramel popcorn, the sounds made when Jonathan crunched down on them heard faintly over the music coming from the pier. Evan shrugged as he pulled his mask off, a pink kiss mark pressed to his cheek. Jonathan smiled, offering the popcorn to Evan who took a hand full.
"Get off my car." Evan laughed.
The bright, warm blue sky seemed endless. The streets were busy during the daytime with people. Families with their children at the beach and those who worked sitting at five star restaurant patios in their designer suits discussing the next deal.
Evan wondered if they could die. He wondered if they had had an accident and they came back and what that must have felt like for them. He realised that he had never seen an ambulance on the streets of Los Santos. Only police cars.
He followed his friends as they biked down the path beside the beach, sweat dripping down their faces under their masks. Tyler seemed to be okay with Craig gone but Evan had a feeling that he was acting. He lead the pack, his shoulders high and his dark, shadow filled pig eyes watched the city around him for the next challenge. For the next thing that might turn him into a Glitch.
"Stay back!"
"Stop it!"
"Get away from him!"
Screams rose up from the street. A mother pulled her son away from the bloody hands of a Glitch and ran. The Glitch screamed, the deafening in Evan's ears. The air felt heavy and electric around Evan, his head throbbing with the pain of the fall and the electricity. People screamed and ran, the sounds of sirens becoming louder. People pushed past the group of animal boys, a sudden shove from a taller man sending Evan sprawling to the sandy path when he wouldn't move. His head hit the pavement and the world spun harshly around him. All he could hear was screaming and his friend's yelling around him.
The sirens got louder.
Hands were suddenly pulling Evan back to his feet. Brock held onto his wrist tightly, looking back at the Glitch as Tyler got off his bike, looking for something he could use as a weapon.
The sirens got louder.
Evan could no longer hear the screams over the wail of the sirens. He looked at Brock with wide eyes, wanting to pull Tyler back, away from the Glitch. Though it wasn't Craig, he didn't have to destroy that Glitch. He wasn't responsible for it.
The sirens got louder.
A sudden gunshot crackled through the air. Evan remembered a spilled milkshake on the pavement and the buzz of neon lights. Tyler stumbled backwards.
Then she was there, her hair so blonde it seemed to reflect the warm sunlight.
And there was a gun in her hand.
She raised it, firing at the Glitch's head. Blood splattered and people screamed. The Glitch fell to the pavement and started to get back up again. Suddenly, Cartoonz was there, a sharp metal object in his hand that he brought down in the Glitch's skull. Evan could hear the crunch of bone and splatter of blood and flesh. No one else seemed to hear it.
The Glitch didn't get back up.
"I had that fucking Glitch! I could have taken him! We didn't need you fucking hunters."
"With what weapons? Were you going to destroy that Glitch with a bike?"
"Sydney."
The golden girl turned back to Luke who seemed to tower over all of them. Blood dripped from his hands. "Thank you for wanting to help." Luke said awkwardly. Evan knew he was just being polite. He would have said the same thing as Sydney. "But you should leave this stuff to people who can actually handle it."
"Excuse me?" Marcel snapped. Daithi pulled him back.
"You guys aren't doing anything good with your existences. You just fuck around and try to turn each other in to Glitches that we are going to have to deal with. We don't need your help." Luke started to walk away, clearly done with the group of animal boys. Sydney stayed, her black lined eyes on Evan.
"You guys should be careful...There is a new Glitch in this city that is more powerful than any of us hunters have ever seen. It can hide it's identity as a Glitch so it's impossible to find. Be careful." Sydney warned before hurrying to catch up with her partner.
Evan pretended that he didn't notice his friends' suspicious glances.