A light bled into the closet room, forcing Enok's eyes open, standing before him in a strung-out pose, his dear friend Jessie. 

Fatigue pressed on Enok, but he knew what consequences would come if he let his eyes close. Jessie's nosebleed agreed.

Jessie lidded his eyes and flashed a smile. A thick cigar almost cut off at the stomach, clenched between his teeth. He snatched the cigar from his lips and blew smoke out of Enok's line of sight.

"Good morning," He crooned through his teeth. "I need you downstairs."

"Isn't it nighttime?" Enok bellowed. He felt his weight shift to the side, persuading back to sleep.

"Don't play that shit with me. You've been out for a damned, near half-week!"

Enok threw his hands on his ears, Jessie softened.

"I'm sorry, this is serious. There's this kid, and he's gonna be in the house. I couldn't wait. I can't afford to wait." 

"I understand, Jean." 

Jessie crouched and drifted his knuckles against his cheek. He grimaced as he felt Enok's skin respond like paper. He threw his cigar aside.

"How are you feeling right now? Besides sleepy." 

"I don't remember much of our plan."

"What of it do you remember?" Jessie interjected himself. "That's why I need you downstairs, come on."

Enok pushed his weight with his arms but struggled to pass a limbo position. Jessie pulled him up with his arm and lead him downstairs, hands interlocked. He assisted Enok onto the couch and stood behind. Tending his fingers across Enok's hair, he returned to interrogating.

Jessie set it in motion, "Why did you leave again? You know, whenever you leave, the plan fails again."

"I didn't leave." A mass of dread formed in his throat.

Jessie pressed his lips near Enok's ear. "Don't bullshit me. I know you think you're hot shit, but you're just as much as a bastard, like me." murmured Jessie. Enok chewed his lip.

"But I didn't, I just slept."

"Alright, fair. You slept. Why did you sleep?" Enok heard Jessie shift behind him, his agitation fastened his head forward.

"Its something beyond my control, Jean. Your father failed to pinpoint a pattern, we know as much as you do."

"Can you try to find out what makes that shit h-"

The door swung open, denting the wall, adding another puncture to the collection. Using the door and the wall as a crutch, the woman limped inside. An odor of barley and hops followed her inside. 

"Hey, Jessie. Hi, Enok." She cooed, approaching them with her back bent.

"Hello, can you, uh, close the door behind you?" Jessie stammered, rejoining Enok on the couch.

Ignoring him, she continued. "Jessie, we need to buy Enok some more clothes~!" 

She pointed at Enok's member, murmuring like a fool. Enok gazed somewhere else as she giggled and choked on her spit.

"We're working on that, would you please close that door." 

"Okay, okay, captain," She chuckled, swiping the door closed with all of the power her arm gave.

She turned to them, clothes ill-fitting, drool slipping from her mouth, and her hair knotting together in desperation. Despite her freshly drunken gaze, she could read Enok's anxiety. A pressure faded from her forehead. She scrutinized the two. 

"Jessie," She moaned.

"Ivana?" He responded

"What are you doing with that poor boy?" 

Enok turned to Jessie to check his reaction- patches of red formed on a face devoid of emotion.

"You know, what I've been doing for, I dunno, months since he first woke up?"

Ivana's weight drove into the wall. "You gotta leave him alone," 

"No. Yeah, you need to fuck off." 

Jessie walked into the kitchen and feigned preoccupations while Ivana followed after. 

"No, 'cause you gotta listen to me, listen," She persisted, dragging behind. "Maybe he doesn't want to be a... poster man, boy, for this stupid science shit. Maybe..." 

Jessie turned, offense written over his face. "You think this is for fun and games? You think I'm dressing him up so he can get his taint licked for giggles?"

"That's, that's what's gonna happen, though! Do you see the government, the only reason crime doesn't happen here as much, is because everyone else is their own police!" 

"Answer me this, sweetheart. Is a group of respected scientists a government?"

"...And the 7 governors for each country,"

"They're not called governors, idiot."

Jessie stormed back into the living room. Ivana dragged after. "You're gonna let me speak?"

"Yes, let's let the 36-year-old drunk skank speak! Let's amplify her voice!"

"Yeah! Let's let me talk. The..." Ivana's consciousness slipped, drool flooding out of her mouth.

"Fucking repulsive," Jessie spat, pushing himself beside Enok. Enok tried to keep his expression neutral, but couldn't iron his smile.

"Shut up! Everything is dying, okay!" She shrieked, arms failing about. "Everything is closer and dying! This is what you choose to do with your time?!"

"Nice and dandy, love. What does that have to do with scientists? The scientists and the government aren't associated, Ivana."

"They're just as immortal though."

"Immoral?"

Ivana noticed Enok's gaze through her peripheral. "Enok, please come with me. You're being used." 

Jessie leered and turned to Enok. "What do you think, Enok? You being abused?"

"I said, 'used'!" 

"I'm not comfortable." Enok whimpered, watching the ground.

"See, if I'm so bad, why isn't he jumping into your arms?"

"'Cause you brainwashed him! Plus, he said he's not comfortable with you."

The door swung open again, landlord grimacing at the stench. Silence seeped into the room.

"What's going on here? Again?" The landlord groaned, spotting Enok naked. "What did we say about your Micheal Jackson brother wearing clothes?"

Jessie threw a pillow onto Enok's lap. "Don't call him that, sir, I—"

"I bet you called him that." Ivana sneered, folding her arms, leaning on the wall again.

"He did." The landlord replied, his sight clasped to his phone.

Enok turned to Jessie. "What does Michael Jackson mean?"

Jessie whispered in his ear. "We'll get you some clothes, I promise."

"You monster! How dare you call your own brother that!"

"Look, one of y'all gotta leave. People are trying to sleep."

"We'll leave, this bitch has some sobering up to do. Enok, get my shit from my closet, take some of my clothes. Get the envelope on the dresser, too. We'll continue talking."

"Look, you both can bitch and whine and whatever, but do it with your inside voices."

The landlord slammed the door behind him and left them to it. Ivana drew closer to Jessie, trying on facial expressions. None of them provoked a reaction.

"You really are using him!" She whimpered.

"I'm not, we both agreed to do this for the sake of my father. This was his dying wish."

"What did you say to him to make him think that way? What did you leave out?"

Enok padded into the living room with a wife beater and pants hanging from his midriff, envelope fit into his hands. Taking it as his queue, Enok walked out of the door.

"We'll finish this later." Jessie rejoined with a touch of worry.

Ivana watched him disappear behind the door and folded into the couch. She picketed the walls, dozing off to daydream.

Jessie and Enok took up trekking to a diner. It stood a one-mile distance from the apartment complex. Enok spotted loiterers scattered around the building. He tries to swallow the onslaught of paranoia.

"It's really crowded, Jean." 

"Yeah, I see that."

"Please, could we-"

"Wait, those are just drones."

"What are drones?"

"They don't pay for food, they're just hanging around."

"Why isn't the store owner disciplining them?"

"Beats me. Don't look afraid of them, and they won't take advantage of you."

Jessie and Enok exchanged smiles as they approached the door. Then Enok picked up bits and pieces of the laggard's conversations.

"So many deaths this month,"

"Crazy, that's how it is now. That's what they be choosing for themselves, though!"

"Most of them were hopped up on drugs, I heard."

With the push and close of the glass door, their words fade. Enok's hand dug into Jessie's pocket and persuaded his hand to hold his.

"You alright?" Jessie muttered, digging into his pockets. 

"I'm scared."

"There's nothing to be afraid of, just don't talk to them."

The cashier interceded. "Can I help you two today?"

Enok pestered, "What were they talking about?"

"Not right now, okay? I have to talk now."

"I'm scared."

Jessie ordered as much as his back account allowed; two hamburgers, aged to ruins. They sat down on a table near the entrance, as requested by Enok.

"You were saying something?"

"They're talking about people on drugs."

"And?"

"They called them casualties."

"Neo-Reds?"

"I don't know."

"Neo-Reds."

"What are those?"

"Nothing you have to worry about. Good thing they're dead. Did you get the envelope? I wanted to talk about this on the couch."

Enok handed it to him. Jessie pulled the paper from the envelope and held it by the tip of his thumb and pointer. 

"You're going to give this to Evelyn Greene. She's the short broad with blonde hair and a mole." 

"Right."

"She's gonna push you away, but all you have to do is explain."

"And if she's not there, I should ask the receptionist for her."

Jessie's face turned a-glow. "Gorgeous. Do you actually know what to say, though?"

"I have an idea."

"Great," Jessie replied, checking his phone. "Ideas are nice."

On his phone's lock screen, two notifications notifying of missed calls. 6 minutes apart. Ms. Candida. 

He dialed Ms. Candida and waited for her call, greeted with whining. Jessie put the phone on speaker.

"Hey, Ms. It's been a while. Is everything alright?"

"I fear...I fear for your life."

"Hey, what? Excuse me?"

"Come home, she says. God will strike us both down!"