FLASH MOB
Everyone knew Jax Orlin was married to an alien.
He was a Saturned-eyed explorer, a weedy mess of spider limbs and overgrown hair who spent his childhood building cardboard spacecrafts and papier mache planets. At the age of seventeen he had a full ride to Brown and a gateway to the galaxy, flying through two degrees before he was even twenty-two in an effort to escape reality.
Neighbors say Jax disappeared overnight--completely blinked out of existence like a miasmic firecracker. One minute he was tending to his garden--pulling weeds and planting roses--and the next he was millions of miles from everyone’s heads, a totem on an astrological dreamcatcher.
He stayed in space for seven years and came back with wife. Everyone pondered her origin, but Jax was quick to pass it off as a sudden reunion with a highschool sweetheart. The only problem was that her skin had a sickly aster hue and she glistened like steel in summer whenever she stepped in the sunlight. My mom said she thought she saw a third eye peek out from her bangs, but there was no real way to tell.
E.T. or not, the two of them had a son. They aptly named him Perseus, and not surprisingly, kept the poor boy locked in the home every day of the week. Sometimes he came out to socialize with the neighbor kids, but it was never for long and never past sunset. He tried to get us to play jacks and hopscotch and ghosts in the graveyard, but we preferred to howl and spit and bury ourselves in brambles. Most afternoons we left him to idle behind the stained glass of his bedroom window, a porcelain angel as we unsheathed our fangs and burned rubber on pavement.
“You should really get him out of the house,” My mother suggested one afternoon. “See if he wants to join you for prom.”
“But mom,” I chided. “He’s a… you know. What if the people at school catch on?”
My mother waved a dismissive hand. “Prom is all glitter and smoke and play pretend anyway. No one’ll even bat an eye. Besides, don’t you think he should have one normal teenage experience? The best years of his life are almost over and he’s got nothing to show for it.”
“Hmmph.” I chewed on this. “I guess you’re kinda right.”
________
To my surprise, Jax and his wife agreed to let Perseus come to prom. When the big day arrived, he showed up in a powder-pink suit and a castle rock smile to match. His navy blue hair swept into inky ocean waves and his trembling hands clutched a baby’s breath corsage. I grinned magnanimously and helped him fasten his wonky boutonniere.
“Nervous?” I asked.
“A little bit. This is my first time at a proper school.”
“It’ll be alright.” I tucked a lock of hair behind his tiny elven ears. “You look great. We’re gonna have an absolute blast.”
Our limo arrived shortly after to parade us around the neighborhood. I could hear the chiming of overmixed pop before we even pulled up to the venue-- Marlin Banquets was littered with baroque ballgowns and uncomfortably rented suits taking a break from the sweat lodge inside. I took Percy’s clammy palm and gently led him to the doorway.
“Savannah,” He whispered. “What if they ask where I’m from?”
“Just say you’re studying abroad.” I pretended not to see the ogling eyes landing on us like horseflies. “Somewhere cool like Paris or Moscow.”
“Paris!” He beamed, blue cheeks almost rosy. “I’ve always wanted to go there.”
“Exactly. So convince them you have.”
________
The main hall was just as raucous as I expected-- molten bodies erupted against each other and droplets of contraband beer flew up in a whirl. Dinner tables lay abandoned like war posts and a congealed mass of glitter and skin surged together on the dance floor.
“This,” I proclaimed with open arms, “Is the high school experience. Come on-- I’ll teach you to dance.”
I led Percy to the heart of the chaos and began to bounce around like a buoy. He cautiously mimicked my motions, his shoulders slinging back and forth and his feet sliding like snake oil, until his groove was interrupted by a girl tapping on my shoulder.
“Hey! Who’s your date?” She hollered over the blare of the noise. It was Sally from math class. “I don’t think I recognize him!”
“His name’s Percy!” I said proudly. I gestured for him to extend a hand. “He’s a foreign exchange student from Paris!”
“Bonjour!” He said with a flawless lilt. “Agréable de vous rencontrer,”
“What?”
“It means nice to meet you!”
“Nice to meet you too! I love your face paint!”
“Thanks!”
Sally briskly bobbed away and we continued to bop to the beat. As the music became more intense, the DJ extended the overhead lights and shot blazing lazers across the room. With the flash of a wand, the dance floor was a jungle of flashing prisms and pulsating bass, and I watched Percy mindlessly sway.
“You alright?” I tried to ask. Sweat beads coagulated on his glinting azure skin and his pupils were dilated so wide I could hardly see the glow of his irises.
“What!?” He cried horsley. “I don’t think I heard you!”
“I asked if you were okay!”
Percy’s reaction provided all the answers I needed. The overstimulation must have
triggered something in him, because suddenly his oxfords were off the ground and he was slowly ascending to the ceiling. Students shrieked and stumbled backyards as Perseus morphed into a disco ball.
“Kill the music!”
“Get out of the way!”
“Make him get down from there!”
The DJ fumbled with the strobe light switches but they seemed to be locked on POWER mode. By this point Perseus’s eyes were two oval ink stains and his body was twitching with foreign intervention.
“DO NOT MOVE.” He bellowed robotically. “ALL OF YOU ARE COMING HOME.”
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