Theo felt blue.
The room was half-bare, and somehow a mess. Living out of a bag. “Extended stay” the sign said. Yeah, for transients.
He laughed in his head at the wordplay.
It was gray as a dull dawn, but the morning was half-past. His head ached, and he ran his hand over his buzz.
The “final straw”, his mom had called it. No more welcome - this wasn’t his home no more. Get the fuck out or she’d call his uncles. His dad had tried to say something and she’d cut him off before he’d managed more than half a word. He’d looked on helplessly from his chair.
Theo had grabbed a bag and run. He’d had the bag ready for months.
But he’d still hoped.
A few clothes. Money. Not much. Maybe a week of black-market T.
It didn’t take long to shove everything back in the bag. The room went back to being bare.
“Late checkout’s extra,” said the man at reception.
“What...? Uh...I didn’t know,” stammered Theo.
“Relax,” said the man, raising his hands. “Bad joke. It’s only two minutes past.”
“Ok,” whispered Theo.
The man looked at him for a moment. Reached behind the desk and proffered a crumpled blue paper.
“Here. Take this,” he said. He looked at Theo’s doubt. “It’s safe, for real.”
Theo didn’t look until he was outside. It was a flyer for the old aquarium. It’d closed when he was a kid. There was a note scrawled along the back. Black marker.
“We can help you be who you are. Safe haven and good advice.”
The gate was unlocked and there were no fish. If you didn’t count the faded pictures on the walls.
Theo looked around. He couldn’t remember if he’d been here. Maybe with dad. It was the kind of place they might have come before he got sick. He wished he could remember more of those outings.
Someone had chalked a big arrow on the ground. It pointed toward a low building that looked half-collapsed. A faded printed sign over the door. “Beneath the sea.”
He made his way to it. Doubtful steps. There were fairy lights around the door. They glimmered ever so slightly in the gray light.
The door swung easily at his push, and he went inside.
More fairy lights.
Much brighter in here. Wrapped around a central pillar. Coiled in corners, piles of light. Shining and making the walls a rainbow of blue.
A slight cough from the other side of the room. Theo jumped.
“Sorry,” said the other person. “Theo, right? I’m Sam.” They had a friendly smile. Freckles and curly hair.
“How do you know that?” Theo said.
“Sorry again. Ray at the motel. He sometimes calls if he thinks we might help.”
“Help?”
Sam took a step into the middle of the room. Still smiling. Hands empty. “Yeah. He’s a good guesser. People do need help sometimes.” They shrugged. “Right?”
Theo dropped his bag. It kicked up dust.
“Yeah.”
“I figured. Come on,” Sam gestured. “I can help you get set up.”
They walked to a room further inside. The walls were lined with empty glass tanks. Sleeping bags lay piled up in a mound in the corner of the room.
“It’s only you and me,” said Sam. “Sometimes there’s as many as five or six at a time.”
“At a time for what?” Theo asked.
Sam looked at him. “Just people. Like you and me. Don’t fit with family. Or the South, really.”
“And you help?”
“Nothing big. Place to stay for a night or two. See if I can find you a ride somewhere. Austin or Houston usually. Some advice.”
Theo shook his head. “For real?”
Sam smiled again, and nodded. “Yeah, for real.”
The fairy lights still cast blue glow and shadows against the wall. It looked like blue waves against the dark.
A story from the Static Drift universe.
Article Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash.