InsaniKey 2

“Relax.” Jinxx laughs. “It has an off button in its mouth.”

“Oh that’s reassuring.” I snap.

“Honestly.” He says innocently.

“If I ever get out of this...” I pause. My eye twitches and I stare at the Cerberus.

One of the wooden walls of the crate begins to slide into the ground and I’m left staring down the huge dark eyes of a pissed off Cerberus. I yell an incoherent guttural form of, “AH!” And it mockingly opens its mouth and shouts the same thing back at me.

“Is this thing another one of your holograms?” I see a huge red button in its mouth. I try to focus on keeping calm and put out calm vibes, and it mimics my movements again. It doesn’t lunge at me but begins pacing the room.

“Why is there another red button?” I yell. The Cerberus turns to me angrily and repeats the last thing I said.

What the hell is his fascination with me pushing his buttons?

“Jinxx.” I call out, defeated. “Is this about something I did to piss you off?”

No response. I stare into the eyes of the Cerberus. “You mad bruh?”

It mimics my voice and repeats my words. As lifelike as it is, I can tell it’s made of pixels. I decide to take my chances against pixel Cerberus and silent Jinxx, pressing the red button and watching the beast dissipate.

The sound of another floor sliding begins and I trace the noise to the inside of the crate where a dark staircase descends to I don’t even know where.

“Whatever I did or whatever I said to hurt you...” I begin to say but pause as I recall the last time I said that to somebody. Apologies like that to people like him never work, he wants to know that I’m sorry for exactly what I did to wrong him, and nothing will be okay until I do.

“Jinxx.” I clear my throat and start again. What the hell did I do to him?

I look to where the speaker is. “I’m sorry.” I whisper, doing my best to look sorry.

“It’s too late.” He says quietly as the room falls silent. “We’re so messed up.” He cuts off his sentence.

“It’s not too late.” I try but my voice catches in my throat. After another moment of silence I give up and approach the stairwell in the floor and pause. “You’re the one with the talent, anybody can play drums right.” I try.

“This isn’t about talent or timing.” He replies, still quiet. I can tell by his tone that’s he’s deep in thought but at least I’m reaching him somehow. Sometimes silence speaks more than words can ever say.

Notes