7/20/08 09:32 pm
#1: The room was dark and cold, periodically lit through the slat blinds by the flashing of a neon sign across the street, illuminating the rumpled bed, the spare night table, the dark TV. The only sound, aside for the blaring car horns and the sounds of traffic from the main streets was the deep and slow breathing of a sleeping man.
Max Payne shifted in his sleep, throwing an arm across his eyes to shield them from the red glare, burying his narrow face further into the pillow. The summer heat was stifling in the small room, his skin slick from sweat and humidity, making the thin undershirt and cotton boxers cling. The light bathed his exposed limbs in a red patina before blinking out and leaving them the alarming white they normally were.
#2 The call was what woke me up. I had been fast asleep in my baking apartment, trying to stave off heat exhaustion by removing as many layers of clothes as possible and collapsing into bed to catch a few hours of shut eye.
I take it back- it was the sign and the call that woke me up. Both of them together made for a damn nasty, heart pounding alarm. I had been half expecting to hear the raspy mystery voice echoing out of the recesses of my memory, the room bathed in my family's blood.
Except a couple of seconds later, it was only the old, asthmatic rotary phone and the stark absence of the amazingly bright neon light. I had never figured out how they got it to glow that hard. I tried to coax my heart down from its goal of a heart attack while I fumbled for the source of the ringing.
I passed a hand over my face, wiping free of sweat and humidity, and mumbled, " 'lo?" My undershirt clung uncomfortably to my chest and back.
Max Payne shifted in his sleep, throwing an arm across his eyes to shield them from the red glare, burying his narrow face further into the pillow. The summer heat was stifling in the small room, his skin slick from sweat and humidity, making the thin undershirt and cotton boxers cling. The light bathed his exposed limbs in a red patina before blinking out and leaving them the alarming white they normally were.
#2 The call was what woke me up. I had been fast asleep in my baking apartment, trying to stave off heat exhaustion by removing as many layers of clothes as possible and collapsing into bed to catch a few hours of shut eye.
I take it back- it was the sign and the call that woke me up. Both of them together made for a damn nasty, heart pounding alarm. I had been half expecting to hear the raspy mystery voice echoing out of the recesses of my memory, the room bathed in my family's blood.
Except a couple of seconds later, it was only the old, asthmatic rotary phone and the stark absence of the amazingly bright neon light. I had never figured out how they got it to glow that hard. I tried to coax my heart down from its goal of a heart attack while I fumbled for the source of the ringing.
I passed a hand over my face, wiping free of sweat and humidity, and mumbled, " 'lo?" My undershirt clung uncomfortably to my chest and back.
