Arms in the air

  There's something to be said about attraction.  It can be fatal.

 
  "So much for being unplugged" he mumbled.  Jay felt more or less a reject than a defector.  Just this month alone, he saved 100 bucks and managed to take his lady out to the movies, whereas she would take him out.  Andrea wasn't a bit worried about money -too good with numbers.
    It was great for a while, being out of the digital community that everyone seemed to be a part of, but as close as he felt to everyone he was connected to, things were going too slow and time was flying by too fast.  He had a life to live, and there was a price to pay to live it.  Andrea, on the other hand was still connected.  Tacking away on her mobile device to one of her hundreds of friends.  She knew when to quit and return to reality.  Jay would sometimes forget to shower, or worse yet, shower with a waterproof phone.  It was bad.
  They say opposites attract.  Maybe that's why they never broke up.  Or maybe she knew too well how to manage the stress he gave her.  Jay really never thought about that till he just watched her while suffering through his digital withdraws while she typed and giggled away at the phone.  Her happiness meant a lot to him.
 
  She'd just leave when she had to.  They were never big on goodbyes.

  For the next four months, Jay would have to find a way to eat time away from his phone.  He never believed to that fateful day that he would actually try to keep a conversation going with a telemarketer.  It was pathetic, but he did anyway -all 45 sweet seconds of it.  He cleaned and rearranged the house, invited random people just to have a conversation, went to bars even; four months was a long time.  It didn't help that most of his friends lived on the other side of the world.  Digital translators are  a life saver. 

  One day he went to answer the door,and Andrea walked in.  They never validate their time apart.

"Like what you did with the place, baby".  Jay grabbed her stuff and led her to a couch.  It's routine. The longer she's gone, the sooner she needs a place to collapse, and the sooner she needs to get there.

  So he watched her as she slept.  Looked so carefree.  He wondered what she was dreaming about.  She was up in the dead of night and dragged him out of bed -wanted to go to town, and pace through places they used to go.  He went with it.  The next day, neither remembered where they went.  "We have to see a doc about this, Jay."  "Can't.. not with our line of work, we'd both be out of a job."  "Now you see what I was talking about?"  "Andrea.. I.. don't remember what.. but I know what you're saying.  There is a gap"  She nodded slowly.. that's the saddest he'd ever seen her. 
  Without the cell distracting him, the memory gap started to bother him.  Andrea knew when to let it go -as soon as she was done thinking about it.  Jay on the other hand, got obsessive.  All he knew was that he was looking for a hill.  A hill in a city.  He could feel it.  It was close.  In fact, it felt like it was calling him.

  That night, he woke up with Andrea looking down on him as he slept.  She shook her head slowly saying only one thing. "Stay."  All he could see was her silhouette against a dim ceiling, but he could tell she was looking dead in his eyes.  She's never like this.  She knows.  She turned her back on him and took all the sheets before passing out.  He couldn't sleep.  He could feel it.  Whatever it was.  He felt like livestock.  Any given second, he could be nabbed.  He had to stay awake.

  Unfortunately he regained consciousness at noon the next day.  Didn't dream.  Didn't know he slept.  He started going for walks to keep his mind clear.  This new obsession of his was now almost as damaging as the cell phone one.  He had to keep it in check.

  Although, something was bothering him, and it felt quite real.