The Mortal Fringe by Jordi Ribolleda Page B

walking
for about twenty minutes when I start to think that he has no idea
of where we are going. Finally, he stops in front of a hidden bar
that, unless you know it's there, you would totally walk by and
miss it. We walk in.
    I don't think I have ever been to a
darker place in my whole life. All the tables are wooden made and I
wouldn't be at all surprised if they were older than Jay himself.
He sits down in a table next to the door, and so do I.
    "Here we are" he says.
    "This place is weird."
    He laughs, then looks around and
nods.
    "There's a place like this in every
city in the world. Our community is not particularly fond of
spending hours surrounded by mortals."
    "Well, you are not following tradition
to the letter too well" I joke.
    "Well, you are not just a mortal, are
you? Besides, I've always enjoyed the company of the living.
"
    "So everyone in here is like
you.”
    He nods again and points at someone on
a table nearby.
    "That girl over there, she is mortal,
she is in your situation."
    "How can you tell? She looks exactly
as everyone else."
    "Well, see how uncomfortable she is?
Her hands are shaking, and her eyes tell me she has not yet
bounded" he looks at me "Oh, and I think that green looks good on
you.”
    It seems that he finally understood
that he has to deal with all this in a very different way if he
wants me to be comfortable enough with it. He had noticed about my
eyes, of course, we live together. But not pointing it out, has
been something difficult for him, I'm sure.
    "It's ok, you are the same
person."
    "I'm not sure about that. But thank
you." actually, I'm not sure at all. Much has changed lately, I
can't be the same.
    "I know what happened with Constance.
Do you want to talk about it?" He still needs to work out how to
change the topic of conversation.
    "No, I don't. And I'd appreciate it if
you don't bring that up again. "
    He nods. Someone comes by and presents
us with some drinks, although we haven't ordered
anything.
    "In here you only get this, it's like
beer, although much stronger, it keeps us warm, so to speak" Jay
takes a glass and drinks from it. "Go on.”
    I take mine and I can smell something
sweet. Suddenly, I feel a terrible need to drink it. When the
liquid touches my lips, all my fears and worries are gone. I don't
know what this is, but I want more.
    "What is this thing?" I ask after
drinking my whole glass.
    "We joke about it, we call it
ambrosia. You know, like the thing you say Gods used to drink. We
usually call stuff after what you named them, it is strangely funny
to us. "
    There's a lack of imagination amongst
the Immortal community, but I won't say that. I only want to go on
drinking. This thing is keeping me from thinking about …about
whatever it was that I had thought about for almost a week. I
really can't remember.
    "I'm sorry I had to do this" he says.
"I hope you can forgive me". He stands up and suddenly, he is
gone.
    I start laughing, like if I didn't
care about him leaving me here. But it's actually funny, or at
least it seems funny. Having conflict with my own thoughts is quite
interesting, I will have to drink some more to figure out what's
going on. Wait, no, I shouldn't, why am I alone here?
    "Jay?" I feel as stupid as ever, I
know he is gone, I have been staring to the empty sit in front of
me for over ten minutes.
    "Hello Alex" the sweet, warm voice
comes from behind me.
    I turn and there she is, smiling, as
she always is.
    "Elizabeth! Good to see
you!"
    She sits in front of me, and examines
the empty glasses on the table.
    "Jay made you drink ambrosia so you
wouldn't run away, did he?"
    "Why would I run away, I was aching to
see you!" I didn't mean to say that, I know I didn't.
    She reaches for my hand.
    "Alex, you are drunk. Let me take care
of it, but don't go afterwards, you promise?"
    "I do" I do sound drunk. This feels
excitingly weird. But I like it.
    She touches my hand and all the warmth
of her body comes to my own. I can feel this euphoria leaving