Andallatine Engine

"Would you like an order of happy fries with that?" as a short, portly woman screwed up her face in concentration. Outside, it was raining. No, the sky was vengefully drowning the restaurant.

"No... I don't think," the woman was saying. "I
mean... Isn't it fattening?"

Lady, if you eat these fries you'll explode.

"No ma'am," he lied.

"Good! Then I'll take two orders!" The woman practically split her red-wide face in two.

"Thankyouandhaveagooday" He said in one word.

"You too Benny!"

Benjamin or Benny, as his nametag read, almost reached across the counter to slap the woman; instead, he gave her a strained smile. Ben, though exuding waves of apathy and teen angst, was a beautifully crafted human being. His light and unnerving blue eyes contrasted his dark hair which usually hung about his face, was pulled back, however grudgingly, into a ponytail.

Ten minutes later he watched the woman greedily inhale her two glory burgers and two orders of happy fries, pausing only to slurp down her drink.

"Disgusting," Ben said under his breath. He wasn't talking about the woman, though he did note the food all over her face. He was referring to the weather outside which was getting steadily worse as time went past. He couldn't even make out his dingy red car.

"Don't you just love this weather?" thunder shook the building and Ben spun around, his pupils too dilated to pretend he wasn't startled.

"Jesus," he breathed.

"Samantha," said the red-head as she passed with mop and bucket in hand.

"What ever," Jay shook his head, the brightly lit restaurant ruining his dark mood.

"Oh... another I'm-too-good-for-my-coworkers," Samantha grinned. "They never last long."

Benjamin said nothing, seemingly extremely interested in the buttons on the register. It was getting late and the process of cleaning up had begun to prepare the store's closing. He had been assigned register for any late customers. The restaurant itself was green and yellow and plastic, seemingly clean. Chair and plants smiled happily at him as he leaned on the counter.

The lady was still there licking her fingers and an old man in the back, reading a newspaper from the day before. Their manager, Matt or "Matty" as his nametag read, declared that they close early because the weather was getting dangerous. "Besides," he said "I've got some sleep to catch up on."

"Yeah right, " Samantha muttered as she slapped the mop down onto the floor. "Sleep as in "with a lady."" The mischievous grin that Samantha gave Ben wasn't returned as he continued to stare out of the window. "You could at least pretend to laugh," she frowned.

The next few days were just as wet as the first and, again, the only two people who sat in the seating area when it was time to close was the old portly woman getting portlier and the old man getting older. It was as if the two were a fixture at the brightly lit but still dreary restaurant. A person was even assigned the duty of getting rid of the 'king and queen.'

"I'm not going to do it," said Samantha as the manager approached her with the question. "They're creepy." Matt couldn't make her do it because, technically, it was his responsibility. Unfortunately for the establishment, his personal skills were lacking.

"I'll do it," Devin said, sighing. Devin had been hired a few days before and his nametag still read 'Devin' as Matt couldn't find an appropriate "happy" name that didn't make him sound like a girl: "Day" and "Dana" seemed to be the only ideas he could come up with.

As Devin stepped from behind the barrier that separated the service counter area to the kitchens, Ben's silence seemed to intensify.

"Mmm, I'd like an order of that," Samantha whispered in Ben's ear as Devin headed towards the royalty. He had to admit, Devin was extremely attractive in a "I'm the football captain" way. He stood about the same height as Ben but emanated a calm pleasure of life rather than Ben's contempt.

"Whatever," Said Benjamin automatically. He suddenly became extremely aware of the filth on the counter and began to rub at it furiously with his sleeve.

The restaurant lights flick off and the remaining workers huddled just under the overhang, trying not to get saturated in their outdoor excursion. Matt stepped out of the door and opened an umbrella, causing a collective groan. Their umbrellas had a special bucket next to the back door. Apparently the garbage man had taken the bucket and tossed it.

Benjamin shook his head and was about to step into the curtain of water cascading off of the roof when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Devin smiled slightly.

"D'you think you can give me a ride to my car?" he asked. "I had to park a few blocks away."

"If by 'park' you mean stall," Samantha
giggled.

Devin shot her a hateful look and turned back to Ben. "I mean, since giggles won't?"

Benjamin hesitated. On one hand, he did hate all of humanity and its creations, sharing no love for republicans. But on the other if he needed a ride... And besides, it wouldn't really ruin his reputation.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever," he said as he stepped into the pre-emptive soaking and headed for his car.

The vehicle was meant to transport something that resembled a human but with no comfort or style to speak of. He didn't really have any reason to apologize but as they got in, he did so.

"Don't worry about it, " Devin smiled and brushed his darkened brown hair out of his face. His smile lit up the drab interior of the car. "At least yours works."

"Your car's broken down?" Benjamin started the car. The roar of the engine barely competed with the onslaught of the rain. They had to speak up to be heard over the rain.

"Less broken down, more, piece of moving junk." Devin's attempt at a joke bounced off of Ben's apathy.

But the words must have reached him because Ben responded as they turned off of a main street onto a freeway where the world became grey with water, intermittent with the yellow flash of safety lights. "You need a ride home?"

"Might as well since you already turned onto the freeway."

Ben's expletive momentarily muted all other sounds in the car. The silence didn't last long.

"Don't worry about it, " A hint of amusement in his voice. "Turn off here."

--

A trip that would have taken fifteen minutes took the better half of an hour as the weather caused the city to slow to a crawl. The only animals seen were either road kill or soup on the side of the road. Either way, it was not uncommon to see a drowned chipmunk float down the gutter.

"You live here?" Ben asked as he turned into a parking lot of a run down apartment building. "Andallatine Suites."

" Yeah, it's nether Suites nor Andallatine, whatever that means. It's not the best..." Devin started uncomfortably.

"I live here too."

Silence.

"I haven't seen you around. What floor are you on?"

"Top," Ben said as he pulled into a parking spot.

"On the topmost floor..." Devin trailed off.

They stood before the elevator of the fifteen story building. The notice on the golden and tarnished sliding doors read "Out of Service."

In the reflection of the golden doors. Ben could see how his clothes stuck to his body. Happy Yellow button shirt and happy white slacks. He glanced over at Devin's reflection then looked away before he got a happy erection. They both looked frankly pornographic.

"-the heck are you supposed to get to the top floor?" Devin was saying. Seeing that Ben was paying less attention than he usually was, he slugged him on the shoulder, his fist making a loud SLAP sound as he hit the wet fabric.

An expletive echoed through the dingy lobby.

"So?" Ben winced.

"So what?"

"I got it, jeez." Ben walked to the back of the
lobby where the once beautiful mahogany desk stood behind which a uniformed man would have sat, greeting every guest who entered. Instead, all that was left was a few cobwebs and an old phone. Behind it, an old looking door stood slightly ajar. Ben opened it.

Behind the door was a dark pit. Next to it was a row of buttons just inside the doorframe.

"What are you doing?" Devin asked as Ben pressed a button. The sound of mechanical whirring echoed from the building and, after a moment, what appeared to be a gigantic birdcage, human sized, dropped down into the pit, the doors sliding open like and elevator.

"How did you... when did you find this?" Devin asked, eyes wide.

Ben shrugged and stepped into the device and Devin followed. When he'd arrived at the building, looking for the rental office, he'd stumbled upon the little room. When the cage that they were now moving in did not occupy the small pit. He'd pressed the first button and discovered this little convenience.

"What floor?" Ben asked.

"Seven."

Despite its loud and clangy arrival, the elevator moved silently through what they could guess to be the walls. The sounds of television and music and arguing slid past as they slid up to the seventh floor.

"Here," The cage stopped and they stared at the wall.

"Um-" but before Devin could point out that he didn't live on a wall, the cage moved to the right and the familiar gold of the elevator doors loomed into their vision. A ding announced their arrival. Devin again smiled. "I owe you," he said as he stepped out of the cage and onto his floor. He started down the dingy hallway.

Ben paused then called out tentatively "H-hey, If you, you know, need a ride back or whatever..."

Devin looked at him then smiled again. "Sure, I'd appreciate it." He paused as if to think then smiled. "Listen, a bunch of my friends are coming over later... watch a movie or something. You want to come?"

Again, his apathy fought against his social and lost brilliantly. "Whatever." but not too brilliantly.

"Cool, 708 at around eleven thirty?"

--

Benjamin sat in the empty living room staring at the snow on the small television fifteen minutes later. The combined glows of the mini TV and his computer monitor was enough so that he didn't need to turn on the lamp.

Quietly he reflected on how he put himself into this position. College had been easy, at least, the classes themselves were. Waking up for each of them was another matter. He'd missed so many classes that though his work was sound, his teachers failed him anyway.

His friends had become the most important thing to him during his time there. And it was not as if he sinned by preferring them to his work. He felt he could be mostly himself with them and so stayed up late each night, talking with them.

He wished, silently, for he would never tell anyone that he actually had feelings, that he'd spent a little time focusing on school.

But now was not the time to mope or feel sorry for himself, and he locked away these feelings of regret and want, relishing the feeling of calm and serenity that gently washed over him.

--

Twenty till twelve on Friday night, a normal kid Ben's age would be at the local night club or at a party getting piss drunk. Ben, like other normal 'kids' was going to 'hang out'. Unlike most social adolescents, Ben never hung out until his first year of college. So his experience was limited.

His family moved around about once a year without regard to his input or feelings. After a while, he just sopped caring about trying to lay roots where he lay. He stopped caring about meeting new people or learning about the neighborhoods. He found solace in the quiet that he was able to draw around him.

He stood in front of the door on the seventh floor. Behind it, he could hear the sounds of music and laughter, general merriment. not drunken stupor like he'd expected. He cracked his knuckles nervously and reached up to knock on the door.

But he was unable to as it swung open, Devin's beaming face looking back at him. Ben paused, opened his mouth, then shut it. His good nature told him to smile and give a dorky "Hi!"; his cool demeanor dictated that he should lift his chin and slide a "Sup.." into the mix; his apathy told him to shut up. The end result came from his mind trying to consolidate the three, producing a strange twitching motion and a "Heesup."

Devin frowned "What?"

Good one, stupid. What am I doing? I'm not supposed to care.

"Never mind." Benjamin shook his head and Devin grinned, inviting him in. The apartment was as drab and unmaintained as the building at large but held a few pieces of furniture, which Ben lacked, that held about ten people. Four were yelling sporadically on a couch as they tried to coach their characters on the small television to wail on each other with odd weapons. One, he noted, weld a gigantic cartoon chicken.

Another four were situated around a small table with buckets of Happy Fried Chicken. They laughed as one of them made flapping motions. In the corner, on the only padded chair, Samantha, he recognized, was sharing a long breath with a blonde man.

"The four blockheads on the couch are Kendall-"

"Ken!" The black boy with dreadlocks yelled and his character was promptly squished by a gigantic hand from nowhere.

"Stephen, Lily, and Rikki," he introduced a long haired Japanese boy who's character promptly stabbed an axe wielding character, green-haired Lily's, with the giant chicken.

"Aha!" Cried Ken as his sprite resurrected itself and was again, made into jelly as, with a maniacal laugh, brown-haired Rikki controlled the god-like hand and squished the character.

Devin winced at Rikki's laughter. "We don't give her sugar." He sighed as he spotted a bowl of jelly beans next to her. "Who gave her the candy!"

The man sucking the sense out of Samantha's brain raised his hand mid-kiss.

"That's Richard-" the raised hand became a rude gesture "Or Dick as he prefers." He gave a thumbs up. "Our Resident slut." The thumbs up continued.

Devin chuckled. "You know Sam of course. Now these-" he placed a hand on Ben's shoulder. Ben became keenly aware of the heat of his hand through the fabric of his shirt "-are the Ortega Twins Shane and Michael." The twins, one of whom was still flapping his arms wildly, smiled up at Ben and continued on with their conversation.

"...red chicken. I told him that if he thought re meat-"

"The other two are Ian and Jessica. I don't know why they're talking to these goofs-"

"The make out chair's taken" Ian, a blue-haired boy said dejectedly.

"You know, we don't have to make out in the chair..." the purple-haired girl with black roots intoned.

There was a scurry as both Sam and Richard and Ian and Jessica made a beeline for the bathroom. They got stuck in the hallway leading to it as both pair tried to go arm in arm.

"That doesn't matter because there will be NO FESTIVITIES IN MY BATHROOM." Devin shook his head and gestured to Jessica's seat as he took Ian's

The Ortega twins frowned as they had been working their way to a punch line and was rudely abandoned by the two lovebirds. They took the opportunity to reach over and shake Ben's hand.

"And this, everyone, is Ben."

A chorus of "Hi Bens" and "Sup dudes" and "Yo Bens" rang out and Ben's cheeks threatened to glow red.

"Sup" he offered.

"No point in acting shy!" Richard slapped his hands down on Ben's shoulders painfully and started rubbing. Obviously, with the prospect of intimate bathroom adventuring and the occupancy of the make out chair, Sam and Richard had no reason to stay together..

"Not shy," Ben said, shrugging Richard off. "Just quiet."

"An admirable trait not shared by everyone." Devin laughed, gesturing over to Stephen and Lily who were now arguing the physics of the video game very loudly.

"Just be glad no-one gave Rikki root beer."

"Yeah. Ben, eat your chicken." One of the Twins smiled and went on to talk about their little group. It turned out that the entire group was now attending a local community college after having flunked out of their previous schools academically.

"What you have here are the most talented minds in every field from Computer Programming to Environmental Science."

If you're so brilliant, why aren't you-

"On a yacht somewhere? Drinking wine and laughing at the poorer people?" Said Richard, grinning. Ben blinked.

"Richard thinks he can read people's minds." Devin frowned but Ben still felt very unsettled, as if he'd been violated. He didn't say anything. He also didn't want to think, but Sam pulled him from his seat and dragged him to the game where his daze was broken. Richard winked and took his seat, leaning in close to Devin.

The night went on without many more eventful occurrences Rikki fell asleep midsentence while standing as Ken explained to her the tactical physics of the video game. He didn't seem to notice, however, as she fell to the ground, snoring.

Around six in the morning Devin tried to get them out of his apartment but, after a while, gave up. Sleep came quickly as the sun rose.

The sound of white noise from the small television...

The swinging and clinking of the wind chimes in the window.

And the heavy throbbing of machinery that shook the building.

--

We created the heavens and, from the heavens, the land. From nothing we crafted life and from that, death. We are everything and nothing at once. Spirit, Soul and Emotion. Breathe us in, consume us. We are reborn and relived.

--

Ben's eyes snapped open and dread filled his stomach and chilled his body. He sat in a large bed and murky darkness surrounded him. He was naked and cold. Something from the darkness struck out at him, grabbing him by the arm, pulling him into the inky black.

--

The morning was uneventful. Someone suggested a movie and Devin herded his guests out of his apartment. "Movie, then you go home." Jackets, umbrellas and purses were sorted and handed out to their rightful owners.

When working, the elevators were glamorous and regal, retaining some measure of their original splendor, though tarnished with time and use. The sound of machinery, which had started when 'L' for lobby was pressed, grew louder with each passing second. A subsonic throbbing that slid through their bodies.

Suddenly, Jessica heaved her impromptu breakfast of fried chicken as Ian gently pulled her hair out of her face.

"The hell?" Stephen said as he pressed his back to the wall, trying to distance himself from her.

The vibrating grew into a rattle as they descended. The elevator shook violently and sparks of electricity danced along the walls. An arc sliced through Stephen and for a moment he was still then the next, he'd disappeared.

Someone was screaming, but the droning overpowered the cry. The walls of the elevator began to glow white-hot and the air inside began to sizzle. Bodies fell to the ground as with each gasp, the air scorched their throats.

Then Darkness.