Plaid Ties and Neon Lace

"Sorry about that. Just ... well, everything hit me all at once. Kind of too many thoughts in too small a space."

She nodded and then, sitting up, looked down at me while caressing the side of my face in a deliciously caring way. For a girl with blue hair, she had eyes that seemed to have seen too many years. I'm sure they must be similar to mine. Old souls? Then Abigail smiled and it was as if the sun had come into the room.

"So, what next?" She bit her bottom lip and teased my nipple between her fingers. "I can guess we're both going to be fired come Monday."

"Quite possibly."

"So, what shall we do?" She sat up next to me. "I've only ever worked for my dad's company, but I'm sure I can find a job doing the same thing I've been doing. Researching. I'm good at it."

"Well, I was thinking about a slightly different idea but ..." Pulling myself up in the bed till my back was against the headboard, I put a pillow under my arms, against my chest, and rested my chin on my hands. My lease on this apartment is coming up, I've been putting off renewing it. Meeting you and the raves has me thinking back to my glory days. My life was ... well if not better, at least more fun back then. I've missed that. Maybe I'm bored with the nine to five grind. I don't know."

"So what are you thinking of doing?" she asked.

"Going back on the road. Follow a band, maybe." I shrugged. "That has always been a way of life for me I enjoyed, well what I can remember of it anyway."

"Sounds fun."

"I can be," I said. Éponine jumped up on the bed and snuggled down next to me, content after her meal. "What do you think, old huntress? Want to go back to livening in a van down by the river?"

"Meow."

"Exactly." I scratched her furry ears.

"You're going to live in a van?" Abigail asked surprised.

I nodded. "Lord knows, I did it for years. It was romantic when I first started doing it. A nomadic gypsy, chasing music from city to city. But, by the end, I got burned out on it a bit." I laughed. "Got tired of always waking up on dirty blankets, smelling of patchouli, some girl's stale perfume, and my own dirty clothes. But that was as much the drugs as anything. So long as I stay clean and sober-ish it's a wonderful life."

"How do you make money doing that?"

"Well, back then I worked as a roadie. Helping set up for the bands, or sometimes working as security. Now, well now I can always work on the internet. Good money can be made doing things on there if you have my skill set."

"Would you take me with you?"

And there it was.

"Are you sure you would want to live that lifestyle? It's not easy. Imagine living in a hundred square foot apartment with another person."

"But the freedom!"

I nodded. "True. It's a world all its own. It's wonderful but at the same time it's filled with every type of thief, prostitute, drug dealer and vice you can imagine."

"I hate my life."

If I had a dollar for every time I've heard someone say that, but to hear it from someone so young and who had, to date, lived so privileged a life. It burned my heart. Angered me and released a dozen other emotions as well. No one so young should feel hate for anything. Least fo all their own life. And yet I had. I had hated my own life when I had been her age. I had followed the path of the vagabond and it had stood me well. Perhaps ...

"Yes. If you wish."

Abigail gave a squeal and threw herself into my arms. I caught her naked lithe body and enjoyed the contact. I equally enjoyed the soft smiling kisses.

"So that's what will we do! Find a band to follow, drive all day, drink and party all night? Make love under the stars every night. Like a twenty-four-seven rave. Just move and live and have fun."

As she settled in beside me and softly mumbled the words to a song I didn't know, I could not help but feel protective. I also began to feel like a bit of a shit-heel. I was going to lead this innocent girl down the rabbit hole and into a wonderland that more than a few never escape from. Then I began to think back to my friends from those days. Friends now long gone, drifted off like distant figures in heat mirages. Would I be like those wonderful people to her? Was I going to be the man Abigail, years from now, would look back on as the love of her life?

Or would I be the demon who led her into a nightmare she could never awaken from?

The demon called Nos.

Who I had never been able to escape from myself.