This story written at the request of u/otakuman and was inspired by image "Neon Hallway" by u/BenjamintheFox : http://ift.tt/2zQB2hg Sounds and Visions In the air I smell dried cement, and the scent of artificial roses blooming from vents in order to mask the cold, wet texture of the bar. If you watch carefully from my spot, you could even catch the faintest pink mist and residue seeping from the grates, floating in the room like dust coughed out from some fellow on his deathbed. I turned my head sharply back to the bar, facing the tower wall of luminescent and brightly colored bottles of liquor. Neon loops surrounded the frames of space, and I unconsciously traced them across the ceiling until they fell below the floor and disappeared into the space below. I felt the illuminated walls vibrate and bend in and out all around me, and saw the bright pinks and greens sinking into my peripheral vision. By my hands I heard a thud as a deep glass of tinted gin was set down in front of me on the bar, all they serve anymore. “Ten eighty four” cried the barkeeper over the sounds of music and electricity, his massive red and silver eye gazing at my face as it focused and refocused on my image. Fumbling in my jacket for the change I dumped some assorted coins into his open hand without bothering the count them, and with a grunt made my way down the side of the bar and to my booth in the corner. Behind me I heard him yelling something but I waved him off, already sipping my stale tasteless drink and getting ready to swallow some ice to wash it out of my mouth. As I walked the tight and narrow path between the upstairs bar and the railing, I glanced downwards into the pit, seeing all the kids down there arrogantly drinking and spilling their gin on one another. From up on the rafters I could see how the floor beneath me was illuminated in a magnificent florescent blue, sweeping over the columns, tables, and faces of those ratcheting up their high. There was ethanol in the air as people fired up their jets and shot the chemicals into their noses through plastic tubes, giggling in ecstasy at the electrical feeling. Mingling between the crowd were the cats, holding high trays with tall of glasses of neon green liquor and flirting with whoever they made eye contact with. It wasn’t too long before the lights of blue and green blinded my vision so I was forced to look forward again and continue walking down elevated platform. At the end of the rafters were stairs leading down into the pit, wide enough to hold six men side by side, and filled with folks leaning on the handlebars and gulping down their clear gin. Next to it was a small platform which sat two booths, one empty and the other filled with these three guys gambling and holding close their cats. I watched as the girls whispered into their man's ear, telling him the next move he should make, and I saw each man’s eyes grow wider, twitching with excitement. I silently collapsed into my booth and shut my eyes tight, breathing heavily and trying to fall as deep as possible into the artificial leather crafted into seats. Against my eyelids I saw the muddled yellow and red lights, and when I finally decided to open them I saw through a window the massive neon billboard, advertising Sgt. Ralph’s Prepackaged and Pristine Meals. I stared at it for sometime, feeling my stomach heave with hunger, and soon the hologram switched to advertising the New Unity Virtual Reality Server. The lights on the building shine and sting my eyes as I read “You Are Your Own God.” As I angled my vision further down the window I saw brick apartment buildings being covered with the blue titanium finish, and in the single lighted window, a man making love with his high definition and tangible hologram, programed to his exact image. Beneath that were only clouds. Tearing my attention away from the night life outside, I turned to my drink and began to timidly sip at the edge, hoping that this time there would be some flavor. Again I tried to shrink from the images around me, to blot out the messy pinks and blue and focus on my own dark and tan complexion, but the lights were too bright, too invasive that my attention was constantly drawn over the railing on towards the pit. When I looked down I saw an older man stumble out of the side hallway, and I watched as the lights enveloped and corrupted his image and seeped into his skin. Even from so far away I saw his hands tremble and his eyes search frantically. I watched curiously as he stumbled around, knocking into a few others and mumbling to himself the object for which he was searching. Before too long several cats came from the hallway and put their hands on him, moving their fingers down his arms to calm him down. I saw his face wash over with relief as the girl slowly and assuredly tugged him away, someplace far away, leaving only some some broken glass on the floor in his wake. When I set down my gin I put my hands flat against the table, breathing heavily and looking up to see if I could read the new neon signs hung up along the walls, the filaments bent into characters that never made sense to me. From the booth beside me I heard a victorious cry and then the sounds of metal scraping wood a the winner raked in his coins. There are short exclamations of anger and commotion as the other two kids got up and shuffled out from their booth, walking into the hallway and directly into my field of view. They turned around and spotted me, and I saw in subtle horror as their faces switched from agitation to a wide grin and sharp teeth. They backtracked and started to seat themselves by my table, and although I didn’t say anything I stared at them, silently and contemplating what was to come. For a while they sat across from me, arms folded and expectant. Then, finally, the one with the bright orange T shirt shirt leaned in real close right up to my face and said “what the fuck are you looking at, old man?” I saw his eyes laugh hysterically as his pupil changed from black to white like a shutter, and then enlarge as he zoomed in on my features with a low almost inaudible buzz. When he blinked I heard the click and he grinned wider than before, picking up my drink from underneath me and downing it all in one impressive gulp. He sat back and let out a cackling laugh, shared with his mate across the table, and on cue the two stood up and walked away, picking up another glasses from some cat’s tray and then hooking the girl by the hip. She obediently followed without a word. For a long time I refused to move, and let the lights from the pit and from out the window dance over my face, distorting as the billboards outside flickered different holograms. I heard digital laughter and giggles coming from the booth besides me, and the smell of ethanol as the winner got high with his cats. I reached into my pockets and felt only the rough and poorly sewn ends of my pockets, and then a small hole. Shocked I quickly dropped under the table, searching the ground for the coins that had fallen through, and then surfacing with a single silver piece. I gripped it tightly in my hand and bowed my head in thought, contemplating how pathetic, how painful and pitiful it is to sit here as I am. When I looked up there was a cat standing at the end of my booth. I stared at her in disdain while she patiently stared back, faceless and protected behind that smooth pink mask. Her suit was on tight, and I could see her form curve in and out like an hourglass, and when I looked at her hands I saw them tapping lightly on the table, as if playing a piano. Covered in that fluorescent fabric, I lost my guard and began to shake as she continued to stare at me from behind that lense, not breaking her gaze for a second. Slowly, she began to reach across the table towards me, fingers softly crawling soundlessly across the wooden surface towards my own hand, of which it took a gentle hold. She began to open my fist, one finger at a time, and from my exposed palm I let her lift the silver up and clasped it between two of her gloved fingers. Elegantly she tucked it away somewhere in her suit and, still holding my hand, began to slowly pull me from my seat and out of the booth. I followed like the stray dog I was, never breaking eye contact with her. As I left my sanctuary I turned around for a moment to look into the other booth, where I saw the kid, eyes closed with a pile of coins and jet on the table in front of him and the three cats all beside him, caressing him while not letting out a sound. I was led down the stairs and into the chaos of the pit where the smell of ethanol ruled the floor and my own senses, blotching out even the subtle smell of roses, seeping from the vents. My cat guided me across the floor, maneuvering between the other patrons, to the neon hallway at the end of the room. Here the sounds evaporated behind me and my heart no longer beat in my chest but now heaved my temple. I gasped and stole my hand away from hers, bowing my head down in shame, shrinking under the neon images and doorframes which now seemed to tower over me. I shut my eyes tight and trembled, afraid now more than anything, fearing my first free moments of ecstasy, ill equipped in my condition: do I deserve it? To think, I should not be alive and I should not have lasted so long to see the world laugh in my face and move on without my consent, it breaks my knees. But if it’s a trick, and I’ve now fallen down, forsaken my life and liberty, not mine but masked behind neon lights, artificial sounds, and visions! I feel her hand moved across my face, feeling its way past the wrinkles and the folds that no man today should bear. I opened my eyes to find her face floating inches from mine, and I gazed into the dark void that was her mask and I fell for her once more, heart waning and weakened, waiting for escape. And when she carefully reached out and pulled me through the door, I knew I would never return to the concrete hell that was everyday life. Down the hallway we soared, and when she showed me the room where I would fall and rock and holler I nearly broke with joy. There was something in the air, something under my nose, which fired my bones and brought me to collapse in ecstasy under welcoming deep and dark lights. Feel it like the lights which now swim in my skull and seep into thoughts like a gorgeous wildfire in a dry forest. Feel it like sandpaper, something which has torn your skin and has ripped flesh to reveal blood, but now is smooth-- the edges has worn off and everything is so very smooth… There’s no longer the stale taste of gin in my mouth. There’s something exotic, with colors I can breath and exhale in a nice pink mist to the rest of the room. The only sound which rings in the room is my own, for I am my own god, a master of my world and now I realize that hell awaits for those who tell me otherwise. See all that I can create in one room, all the art, the pictures, the faces of people I once knew resurfacing in front of me, all those I’ve lusted after as mine to take now and never before. It’s a glorious evolution we find ourselves in, a pinnacle to the way we perceive and play our lives, a state of freedom. I’m sinking farther and farther into the fabric, and find my cat over me, staring at me in her faceless beauty, her head tilted to one side. I sweat and I feel the rush from underneath me and my eyes get hot and by heart beats fast, ripping outside of my chest and flying, lifting itself lighter and lighter. It even begins to ache with all the colors and faces, and it first gets me on, wanting to rush harder, faster as I jump off of each of the neon walls of the room. I wrapped around my girl and press my forehead hard against hers, feeling the glass surface of her helmet. But when I open my eyes and look closely at the lense I watch as the lens catches the bright serene above me, and behind the mask I see the pale shape of a face. I stared at the face of my cat, watching as the features of grey skin and wrinkles slowly become apparent until I saw the eyes, lifeless and only a solid white. I tensed up with horror and threw myself off the walls and land against the metal floor, my spine feeling as if it snapped in half. I run down the hallway, with the rings and lights bearing down upon me, waiting to slam down and crush me for good, so I run faster. I break into the pit and I’m shaking all over, my eyes are burning and I can’t seem to blink. All around me people are dancing and laughing and playing with their cats, ignoring me as I desperately turn about. I hear a bottle of that generic gin fall and smash, but when I smell it I’m struck suddenly, because now it smells like fresh berries, and my head begins to twist and tighten. I bend down and dip my finger in the gin, and now it tastes fresh like fruit, and tickles the edge of my tongue. I bend down and the floor and begin to scoop the puddles of liquor into my mouth, my mouth dry and parched. From behind me I feel hands reach over my back and begin to stroke me and massage my tense shoulders, relaxing the muscles, pulling my somewhere down, feigning and falling away under that florescent light. I see my cat walk towards me and carefully place her fingers under my chin, lifting my head up, and now behind that glass I see the girl, her eyes the color of emeralds and her face smiling at me, cheeks flush with life. I smile right back at her, never breaking eye contact as the cats slowly pull me off the ground and back to my room.
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