Alone Again Or | Page 7

man's eyes run up and down Somnam. He began to
feel more like a pervert, and felt his anger rise towards the man.
Why, he thought, did they make her wear that little uniform?
"The metro," Somnam said, her voice stronger and louder than the one
she'd used on Syd.
The man nodded and punched a string of numbers into a keypad next to
the elevator. The door opened. The man stood in the way, the gun still
in his hand.
This is like meeting a prostitute, Syd thought. This is wrong. This was a
bad idea.
He pictured Somnam sleeping next to him and smiled. He felt sick to
his stomach in response.
Fucking uppers, Syd thought. My mind is moving to fast.
"Card?" the man said.
Somnam pulled a card out of the waistband of her skirt. She gave it to
the man. She took of a small black band ring and handed it to the man.
He gave her a shiny one in return and she put it on.
Fucking nice wedding band, Syd thought.
The guard stepped aside and they got into the elevator.
"You sir," the man said as the door closed, "are a very lucky man."
Syd felt terrible. He wanted to tell the girl to go back to her dorm and
wait for someone else. He looked at her and saw she was looking at
him.

He gathered his strength to tell her.
"He always talks like that when girls get leeched out," Somnam said,
"don't feel bad. You made him get out of bed and come down here to
let me out."
Syd didn't like the word she'd used twice, "leeched out." It made him
feel worse.
I'm a fucking sexual predator, he thought.
"Listen," Syd said, looking at the floor, "this was a bad idea. You
should go back."
She threw herself into him, embraced him. She felt warm against him.
"I'm a virgin," she said into his neck. He felt her breath on his skin.
"You can do anything you want to me and keep me. You can deflower
me."
Syd pushed her off from him. The elevator felt small and hot.
"Coming here was wrong of me," he said.
He saw Somnam begin to cry. Her eyes glowed like cat eyes under the
elevator lighting. Saline streamed past the corners of her mouth onto
her thin white shirt.
"You don't think I'm pretty?" she said in a warble.
"I think you're very pretty," he said. He knew his voice sounded small
and forced.
But you're not crying because you want me to think you're pretty, he
thought.
He wanted to say it, but couldn't.
"I don't care what you are," she said, rubbing her eyes and straightening

her back. I don't want to go back. I just got out. I don't know anything
about you, but you can't be worse than this place. Please give me a
chance."
Syd looked at the elevator floor for the second time.
This elevator takes forever, he thought.
He wished that he'd never entered the agency building.
The elevator doors opened.
Somnam took his hand and pulled him out of the elevator. He noticed
how smooth and pale her legs looked under the bright lobby lights of
the first floor.
They walked past another guard to the outside. Somnam took off the
ring and threw it against the building. Syd heard it tink against the wall
and watched it fall into the few feet of manicured lawn before the city
street.
He looked at Somnam in the night air and knew he desired her. He felt
bad.
The lights inside the dorm room spun in green and red circles in time to
the music which dripped out of the boy's quadrasonic speakers. Skulls,
birds, and tree leaves vortexed through the air, and someone was inside
the walls, fighting to escape the liquid brick surface. On the bed,
Jennifer struggled to arouse the boy student with her hand while she
kissed him. She knew he was too high to fall asleep right away.
The restaurant was not a cheap one, but with the profit from his foc
sales Syd didn't mind. It was the best place he knew of that was open
this late at night. The industrial workers wouldn't even be getting out of
bed for a few hours.
He watched Somnam. She had been looking all over the restaurant
since arriving, and not at Syd. Syd did not mind. He did not like

making eye contact with her.
He noticed that some of the men in the restaurant were glancing at her
when they could. Her uniform was small. Syd wondered if she was
cold.
I'm a fucking pervert, he thought.
The restaurant