It was a cold Floridian night in late October and black clouds loomed high in the sky. On the fourth floor of a large apartment complex the windows flickered with vibrant flashes of blues and reds. Taylor, Adra and Nero sat lazily on the couch, controllers in hand, playing yet another late night game of Halo 3. The room was dark, and the rapid flashes of gunfire were the only source of light. The click-click-click of fingers hitting buttons and the dull, speedy thud of automatic weapons echoed throughout the unlit room. As their game came to an end Taylor took a quick glance at the coffee table and decided he would sit out the next game to clear off the empty chip bags and crumpled soda cans-replacing them with full cans and unopened bags. He gathered the garbage in his arms and made his way to the kitchen to dump them in the trash, taking a quick second to brush a strand of his long blond hair from his face.
Taylor considered himself an average teenager when presented with the topics of physical appearance. He stood about five foot eight and had shoulder length blond hair; anyone who took the time to look however, could still see the slight hue of an aqua blue, the remnants of his high school days. He was skinny even by guy standards weighing only 130 pounds at most. This was further shown by his slim fitting wardrobe; as he often adorned a tight black button down with sleeves rolled to his elbow.
As he scoured the refrigerator for an ample source of drink he heard a loud bang from the living room, followed by a wave of vulgarity. A devious grin flashed across his narrow face as his cold blue eyes looked back to the living room. This was a sound he knew all too well, the bang of rockets into a jeep, and the disgruntled fallout of whomever would have occupied that jeep. He soon found his prize and scooped into his arms a few cans of Sprite and gracefully made his way back to the couch Walking over to the couch, he plopped the can’s down with a thud, sighed loudly and sat down himself.
“Hurry it up; I’m jumping in next game,” said Taylor impatiently.
“Yeah Yeah Yeah, cry about it,” replied Adra with his customary sarcasm.
“Oh hell yeah, more soda!” chirped Nero as he reached out for a can.
Seeing his chance, Adra grabbed the controller and sent his digital avatar into a mad rush for the overturned Warthog that Nero had been taking cover behind…
Pulling the trigger as fast as his long fingers would allow, Adra unloaded a full clip blindly into the side of the Jeep hoping to tag Nero with a few lucky shots before he came into sight. Nero, however, saw the movement on screen and sent himself flying for his controller. Opting for a more personal weapon he swapped his pistol out for a battle rifle; then quickly sent his character into a sidelong dive landing gun drawn on the far side of the jeep. He quickly ran along the far side of the toppled jeep trying to get a bead on his opponent. He soon saw his target. Adra was running feverously, unloading clip after clip on Nero’s position. As he saw the flash of his enemies visor he dropped his rifle and threw his rocket launcher onto his shoulder. Focusing in on Nero, Adra let a sly grin wash over his normally stoic face; it was soon replaced with a frown as he heard the all too familiar click of an empty weapon. Nero too heard this and ran forward, firing burst after burst into Adra until the lone Spartan dropped limp to the ground. The game came to an end with Nero at fifty kills and Adra at forty-nine.
“Faggot” sighed Adra as he took a sip of his Sprite.
Having won the battle, Nero reached over and claimed his prize. Cracking open the cold sprite he stretched his arms wide and yawned. He stood up with a sigh and shuffled over towards the bedroom. Nero also considered himself average, standing about five foot ten, his short black hair spiked with gel. His skin was much darker in comparison to Taylor and Adra’s ghostly complexions. His eyes were a dark brown and had the gleam of childish innocence. Wearing a dark T-shirt under a baggy black hoodie, the legs of his cargo pants brushed against each other as he made his way to the bedroom. Much like his appearance suggested he was the kindest of the three; however that didn’t necessarily say much. Nero was best described as the most obnoxious shy person you’ll ever meet. Glancing back to the couch, Nero saw Adra and Taylor slouched over a pile of DVD and game cases, looking for a good movie to watch before they called it a night. Letting out another yawn, he decided that he would opt out of the nightly movie and go straight to bed.
“G’night niggas” he said lazily.
“Later Home slice” replied Adra
“Night Bro” said Taylor.
Adra stood up and scratched his head confused, “I swore the DVD was here this morning” he said puzzled.
Slowly making his way across the apartment, “I’ll check my room” he said.
Adra was taller than both Taylor and Nero, at about five foot eleven. He had short black hair that was usually just combed to the side, and being the tallest, he often leveled out due to an apathetic slouch. Wearing a black T-shirt adorned with a red Punisher skull, and straight leg blue jeans; his gaze was a combination of cold stoicism and condescending sarcasm, which reflected much on his personality too. Those who knew little of him would label him quiet and timid, however close friends like Taylor and Nero would be quick to refute such a claim. They knew him as the sarcastic devil he was, a title Adra found himself ok with having. His dark emerald eyes slowly scanned the small bedroom, searching every inch of the floor and bed he saw the DVD lying contently at the edge of his bed. Sighing loudly he picked up the movie and started towards the living room, stopping suddenly as the room light up with a flash of white light. Dismissing the thunder storm with a resounding sigh, he made his way to the living room and dropped the movie on the table.
“I knew I saw it somewhere,” said Adra as shuffled to the couch.
“Nice, should we make popcorn?”
“Depends, does we mean you? Cuz’ there’s no way I’m getting up”
“You’re so lazy!” Taylor chuckled.
“You get me,” said Adra through a grin.
Reaching over to grab the DVD Taylor paused to inspect it for a second, curious as to what they were watching. A pleasant smile drew itself upon his face as he saw the cover, and he placed the disk into the DVD player. Yawning loudly he walked past the coffee table, pausing briefly to pick up the remote before joining Adra on the couch. The two of them slouched lazily on the couch as the opening credits danced across the screen. A deep, familiar voice broke the silence of the room…
“Space, the final frontier, these are the voyages of the starship Enterprise…”
The friends had only moved in a week or two ago, and yet they found themselves all feeling more at home here than they ever had in their old town. Granted they had left a lot behind, good friends and fond memories, but what they had escaped far outweighed the rest. They looked forward to the coming days of college and programming. It would be hard, but they had come so far, there was no way that something as simple as difficulty was going to stop them. The games have just begun.