Somewhere Else

Chapter 6: Kenneth

Malachai was finally just able to relax and breathe deep. Resting on the mattress on the floor, he was ultimately listening for Kenneth to get home. At ten until seven he finally heard him barge into the apartment. Even though he’d left no clear indication he was there he spoke out to him in his heavy Spanish accent. Or maybe he had a habit of speaking to the thin air whenever he came home. This time, there just happened to be someone present to hear his crazy ramblings.

Some people that knew him from years ago said his mental state deteriorated considerably after his marriage dissolved. He said he was a wanderer at heart and thought he’d done a great job for what was expected of him. Some days he didn’t believe Kenneth was married at all. Maybe that was part of his mental state, making up shit to explain years gone missing of his life.

“Dressed! Get dressed, we’re going to a show. A show and some drinks hombre, we’re going to have fun.”

Emerging from his room, he had to see if he was really talking to him (as the ramblings were somewhat relevant, as he’d always been called hombre) or if he’d maybe brought someone home with him. When he realized Kenneth was alone he sighed and pointed to what he was already wearing: A black shirt, baggy black pants, black shoes, a black collar, two leather bracelets that were…black, a recurring them actually.

“This is going to have to do. I haven’t got anything else here and you’re too—“

“Don’t even say it.”

“…short for me to wear any of your stuff.”

“Fuck man, you don’t listen for shit, do you?”

They weren’t actually all that different in height. It was just that Kenneth had a smaller build than him, despite being buff, and their waists weren’t going to measure up to be anything similar. Next to Kenneth he felt huge.

“Nevermind. Let’s go and try to walk a little faster tonight fat ass.”

If he’d been married at all, which was still doubtful, there was no way in hell he’d been married to who he said he was married to. No one spent two years with a multimillionaire with no financial gain whatsoever. In fact, the story sounded fishy all around. Kenneth claimed he’d actually built a car for his husband, transformed it into some sort of racing car since that was his passion. He said this all happened when he lived in London. He couldn’t imagine Kenneth living in London more than he could imagine a fish living in a sandbox.

“One of these days you’re going to have to get a set of wheels.”

To Kenneth, that was the dumbest thing anyone had ever said to him. He had a closet full of wheels. He had skateboards of every kind. That’s where the most of his money went these days. If Malachai knew how to skate, they’d really be in business, but he couldn’t keep his balance to save his life. So walking it was.

The theater they were going to was new but the company was not. He’d been introduced to Elijah before and he’d stumbled upon Reese a time or two. That kid creeped the hell out of him and it wasn’t even because he could pass for a female as easily as he did. If anything though, he was hoping he didn’t run into Todd. Even though he was a crossdresser, he still retained most of his boyish looks. It was his tongue he was afraid of. He never had anything nice to say to him. Out of all the freaks in this place, Todd was the worst.

Kenneth pretty much ditched him to hang with Elijah. The show would start soon though, so it didn’t really matter. It’s not like he’d be gone long.

The room offered a stage and huge throw pillows all over the floor. No actual chairs could be found in the establishment, except for out in the greeting room. There were old style theater chairs spread out in the otherwise empty room. A projector was found behind where they sat and they used a blank white wall as a screen. Otherwise pillows were found in lieu of actual comfortable chairs. Hippies they were, the whole lot of them.

Every play put on here was written by one of the kids or young adults that came through the place. The actors were sometimes older though, depending on what the cast called for and how big of a production it was going to be. Some of the plays were just ways of expressing their natural artistic side without outside criticism. Alex would love this place if he’d ever bring her here. Right now he was savoring any sanctuary he could get.

As he settled in, he caught sight of yet another strange looking guy. His hair stood spiked all over his head rather than just down the middle like he wore his own. Almost every color of the rainbow was featured in his hair, no spike near another sharing the same color. Every one had to be repeated at least three times though. A very intricate pattern, if he did say so himself. If the hair wasn’t enough to grab the attention though, his face sure was. He had metal studs on the bridge of his nose, through his nose, at his eyebrows, through his lip, and then beneath his lower lip as well. His ears didn’t look like ears at all, not with all the rings and barbells. The guy liked his metal.

A minute after the lights dimmed he felt Kenneth taking a seat next to him. No wonder it was such a big deal they came tonight – it was Elijah’s story, Elijah’s performance. The story went like this: Elijah met his girlfriend when he was young. He worked hard to support them so that they could live together, to keep her happy. His first jobs were all manual labor because they brought home bigger paychecks than working in a fast food joint. This kept them afloat so that his girl didn’t have to work herself. In the beginning, everything was great. They had ideas about getting married, having a family, doing the whole American thing. Then one day someone approached Elijah, telling him he had a face the cameras would adore. With light blue eyes naturally accented by dark thick lashes, long black hair, and fair skin everyone could see the guy was right. Rather than modeling though, he took to acting. He signed up for night classes so he could figure out how to channel his energy, how to impress those who cast for local plays, and he found his true passion. All of this was done without her ever knowing. In time, he landed the lead in a community play. He didn’t tell her until he’d been paid. Money talks. She was so thrilled she didn’t care what he was doing, so long as he was bringing home fatter and fatter paychecks for her to play with. He took on more and more roles, until he was able to swap acting for construction, able to live and make money doing what he loved most. The critics loved him. The cast loved him. The public loved him. When everything was going so great, he decided it was time to pop the question. He spent a week trying to find his girl the perfect ring. He came home early, wanting to surprise her. Hearing her in the bedroom, he felt this was the perfect time. He opened the door and found her fucking another guy. Stunned, shocked, repulsed, and infuriated, he slipped away without a sound. Elijah wasn’t the sort of guy to cause a scene. He pocketed the ring and never did give it to her, but never broke it off with her either. Despite how hurt he’d been, he knew he’d never love anyone like he loved her. To exact his revenge though, he decided it was about time to act on those tendencies he’d had while working in theater. The stress of his home life took a toll on his performances though, and his ratings dropped. He couldn’t land as many rolls as before, and even his lover James could see the difference in him. Disgusted by the opinions of the others, he turned to alcohol and to drugs. His world came crashing down. Finally, after he nearly destroyed himself on a drug and alcohol binge, an angel came to save him. The boy sparked something in him, some good, and forced him to clean up his act. Essentially he saved his life. Anyone that knew Elijah today knew that he and the boy were still together. Love conquers all.

Amusingly enough, the boy that’d actually helped Elijah clean up his life was none other than Todd. Some people even said that Elijah gave him the ring he meant to give his girl. He could be seen wearing it sometimes, usually when he was dressed up as a girl.

When the play ended, Kenneth disappeared once more. There was a good band playing a few rooms over though, so he figured he’d go catch them. At ten o’clock, he ventured out of that room in search of Kenneth once more. Literally running into one another, he was given permission to go on ahead without him. After seeing such a moving play about his love for Todd, he had to wonder what the hell Kenneth was doing with him so much of the night. Not his business he knew, nothing he really wanted to know about, so he didn’t bother asking.

A little disappointed that he’d been ditched so easily, dragged here for no reason, he thought he might go see if Alex was home yet. This wasn’t really his scene to begin with. Shoving his hands in his pockets he kept an eye out for Todd. He wondered what his reaction might be if he told him that Kenneth and Elijah had spent the whole night together. He was afraid it might be taken out on him though so even if he did see him, he wasn’t going to say anything.

Because he stood so tall and weighed so much, he was never terribly worried that any trouble would come to him, no matter what time of day he walked around. The dark alleys were usually his friend and so he didn’t give it a second thought when taking to one in order to get home faster. Tonight was one of the rare times he wasn’t alone on his walk.

Out of nowhere someone stepped in front of him. He was actually an inch or two taller than him but probably only a third his size. His skin was so pale he practically glowed in the dark. A hand lifted and he swore he saw claws. He was obviously unnatural. Before he could get a better look though, his eyes focused on the barrel of the gun aimed right at his forehead.

“There will be six.”

He opened his mouth to say something, to plead maybe, or at least to scream. Before he could make any noise at all though, the pop of the gun was heard and the impact of the bullet tore through his flesh and burrowed through his skull and came to a skidding stop in his brain. Malachai went down with a thud.