Why do we love? I'm pretty sure everyone has this question invade the privacy of their mind at some point; like those constant ads in dreams nowadays. But have we ever really settled on an answer? The pain and suffering… the betrayal… the death. Is this meal called love really worth it when the usual upsell is a side of heartbreak? Even if that love remains strictly forbidden? Forbidden love… I couldn't help but mutter the words as blood trickled down upon me from the crying full-moon, lighting up the wet alleyway in crimson. The red moonlight called out to my eyes, reminding them of how stunning the night sky could be. This world's creator clearly had an eye for romanticism. It's even said that whenever a red moon reveals itself in all its glory, something peculiar would take place in the hearts of lovers. Is it true? Who knows? I definitely don't. I've only seen this so-called "lover's moon" once before, and back then, love wasn't in my vocabulary, and trust me, with CBK brain implants at our disposal… that says a lot. Suddenly a massive roar erupted behind me, provoking my reflexes to- oh… just a car. Or well, more accurately, thousands of cars, trucks, and other vehicles, with some even being airborne. Nothing less from Serenity; the busiest city in Sector Five. Women, men, me-women and wo-men, children, animals, androids… you name it, and you could bet your central bank digital currency it was here. No, really. You could filter the database in Serenity by "ALL SPECIES" to have a feeling for who or, more than likely, what roamed around you. But even with the hundreds of people, robots, and thousands of vehicles self-driving around, the city seemed deserted. I mean, it bore no cause for complaints considering we preferred less crowded areas… Oh, that's right! You have no idea why I'm in the city, do you? Well, that's because of-
"You're late."
Crimson, much like the moon that night. Her red, silky hair had to be her most noticeable feature, well, other than her mechanical implants. The six foot tall woman, despite having only seconds ago made a poor attempt at pouting, couldn't help but greet me with the most charming smile you'd see. So enchanting, in fact, it may come as a shock to most that she was a cyborg rather than a witch. Although, seeing the metallic, glowing wires and tubes flowing right beneath the surface of her pale skin would probably have been decent enough of a hint. And if those didn't convince the naysayers, then surely her left mechanical eye would have done the trick.
"Sorry, I was busy doing an assignment for Mr. Mason."
True or not, my excuses have always pulled me through every situation.
"Right… Mr. Mayyyson. Lemme guess, he wanted you to go to Venus this time. Or was it a trip to visit Hades in the underworld?" Every situation… but her.
"Oh, no, that's next week. I'm on feeding Cerberus duty. Real messy stuff."
"Hilarious. Look, we both know who's really hassling you and she needs to get off your back. How long have you been married again?" Her left eye glowed a rosier red than usual.
"Just a bit…"
"Even a day is more than enough for a divorce." she pouted.
Her getting closer to me as we carried along our path made it easier to catch the pleasant fragrance spilling from her crimson hair; a fruity scent that I couldn't help but revel in for a few more reasons than one. But, soon enough, the scent went from grapes, coconut and olives to that of piss, feces and low-quality food… or simply put,
"Well, we're here. Hungry?" The perfect diversion from our… not so perfect conversation; food.
"Very. Doubles?" It worked, and she even recommended my favorite food. It worked wonders.
"YES! You took the words right out my mouth. I've been craving doubles for weeks now. I even told my hus-" I got a little too excited there… but luckily she interrupted me.
"Wow. wow. Down, boy. There's a vendor somewhere here, right? But tonight's the lover's moon, so…everyone's prob-" She tangled her warm arms around mine as her mouth carried on its duty; enchanting me… distracting me from the meaning of the words they carried, leaving me-
"-but that's nothing. I mean, I even killed and buried a real human without getting caught."
"Wait. What? What did you-"I know I drifted off for a second, but…did I hear that right?
"Oh, nothing. Two doubles please! Make em' spicy for us." The grimy, chubby, robotic, A.I. integrated doubles vendor nodded and whipped up our dinner in record time; well, at least for humans. With robots, two seconds wasn't anything special- wait. This isn't important right now.
"What were you saying about… killing a real person?" There was no way she didn't feel the nervous aura emitting from my throat. But if that didn't sell my anxiety, the sweat trickling down my neck had to give it away for free.
"Hahaha ha! You're still on that? I was just trying out this theory that if someone isn't listening, you can literally say anything and they wouldn't know."
"Oh… haha ha. Right, I heard about that."
"Really? From who?"
"Common sens- Ow!"she hit me a bit harder than a fully flesh and blood woman would.
From our secret spot, the barren, reddened sky seemed nearly apocalyptic in a beautiful sort of way; and being deserted, the park couldn't have been more suited to us during the lover's moon. After all, we were lovers, or… so we claimed. Truth be told, we've both had flames just as compelling before meeting each other, and those have all but died down. Even so, this felt different… maybe it was the moon; displaying its beauty potently enough to have even hated rivals fall in love. It was powerful, and even more so in the quiet setti-
"God! I swear doubles has to be the food of the divine. And it's crazy how they replicate the taste so well here. Wait, did you finish yours? Already?!" My girlfriend really loved doubles. Nearly as much as me.
"I had mine at the vendor's place while you went on about us doing the couples' thing tonight."
"Oh. Right…" Oh, right indeed… I knew exactly what had her down, and she knew I knew, but…
"What's wrong?" Hopping off of her swing and onto my lap nearly collapsed us both off of my swing, as she pouted unironically.
"Tonight is THE LOVER'S MOON. Once every 365 days and you can't do it with me. Everyone else is out doing it and we're here." It's… not what you're thinking. It's another couple's thing.
"I know… sorry. You know tonight's pretty bad for me. I'm already late as is, and she's…"
"A bitc.."
"Hmm?"
"Nothing. It's fine." She got up off of my lap and dropped herself onto the nearby bench, allowing her gorgeous non-robotic eye to gaze up at the sky to challenge its beauty.
"Well, speaking of couple's stuff…" Other than food, one thing with the authority to calm the storm that is my girlfriend exists.
"OH, you shouldn't have!" She said sarcastically as I handed her a small, rectangular black box from my bag.
"Oh, you shouldn't have my foot. You'd never let me hear the end of it if I passed up tonight. Do you like it?"
"Yeah, it's really cool, but… you spelled my name wrong, again." Looking at the dog tag around her neck, I hadn't noticed the misspelling until then; but her name wasn't exactly the shortest in the dictionary, to be fair.
"What? Is your hand broken?" She asked me sarcastically. Clearly, she'd been in a mood that night. Then again, I couldn't blame her. It was THE night, and I couldn't stay.
"Don't I get a gift too?" I pouted, all the while emphasizing my extended arm.
"Do you? Ohhhh, you mean this?!" she handed me a black plate-shaped device about the size of a small frisbee. Immediately I grabbed it, hugged her and played with the colorful buttons plastered about it.
"This is so expensive! I get three uses out of it too?! How'd you land this?" The rush of excitement got the better of me…again. That hardly happened to me with anyone. Anyone but her; she… really knew me well, even though we'd only met a couple of weeks prior. After tampering with the settings, I threw the device as high into the air as my arm would let me, and sat on the bench near my cyborg girlfriend. Drip. Drip. Drop. Drop. After a couple of seconds, the clear skies called their clouds and had them cry upon us. Seeing this, lightning couldn't help but flash its spotlight on them, causing the sleeping thunder to throw a fit in the process. What an enchanting storm. But one would expect no less from the latest storm bomb products.
"I'm in love." My heart carelessly whispered to my mind as the woman of my dreams gently caressed my hair.
"But…is this really love?" I couldn't help but let the unnerving thought speak its mind to my heart. We'd both sworn that we'd already felt this so called "love". Then again, I'm still married, so maybe I'm the only one who hasn't really felt love before... Some lunatic killed her husband just a couple of weeks after their marriage, so she had all the right to still love him. Maybe she just liked me beca-
"You know… I'm really glad I came to this sector. It's crazy to think about how we met too! Like, seriously." she interrupted my train of thought just in time to prevent its stop at depression and doubt street.
"Yeah, you're right. If I didn't happen across that job, we'd probably be complete strangers."
"No kidding! Ever hear of the butterfly effect?" I hadn't heard of it, but if it kept her lips attached to my cheek while she asked me about it, better believe I was about to be an expert on this Spider something flies effect.
"Gotta head out?" She couldn't help but frown after noticing me checking my watch for the third time in a few minutes; but even wearing her mask of sadness, she couldn't prevent her beauty from ruining the mood.
"Just a couple more minutesssss! Pleaseeee babe!" latching onto my arm, this supposed adult girlfriend of mine had me second guessing if she wasn't a minor posing as a woman. But, with her charms, there was no question she had years of experience being irresistible. More years than a child could have, at least. But not enough years that I'd take such a risk.
"I gotta go… You know what happened the last time I was late for dinner." "I know. I know! It's just… Fine, forget it. I'll just-" I grabbed her and leaned in close, using my lips to seal hers. Coconut meshed perfectly with grape and olive. That pleasant aroma she carried, mixed with the sound of her heart racing against mine, settled it. Yeah… I'm in love. The warmth of her breath pressing gently onto my face as she- suddenly her fruity aroma snuck out of the picture, letting a very different, less than pleasant scent take up the role in its stead. Her body's warmth, now a distant memory, and the beautiful red moon, now left nowhere to be seen. Or more accurately… everything faded into an all too familiar void. Death? No. Something much… much worse.
"Error. Network collapsed. Recommunication attempt in progress. Error. Networ-"