Leon sees Noel.


He's standing with their friends and looking right at her. She makes passing eye contact and gets flustered, looking away quickly. A nervous laugh in her own conversation grants her an exit and she wanders out of his line of sight.  Loud music, beer, cigarettes. Warm weather brings them all out, a giant tribe of homies basking in the summer like lizards in the sun.

She sits on the deck steps, the back yard is huge. Everything is so green. The smell of charcoal and chlorine are light in the air. People are talking, grilling, listening, drinking, smoking. It's beautiful and she's so in love with all of it.

"Whose house is this, anyway? Do we all live here?"

An older man walks up from behind and sits down next to her. He is small in stature with white, curly hair retreating from his forehead in typical fashion for his age. He's leaning in toward her and smells like french fries. A sticky grey tongue drags across her cheek and he kisses her deeply with his fingers creeping into her eye sockets. She pulls back with no success. His arms extend unnaturally, wrapping around her body while his clothing flakes away like burnt paper exposing corpulent, white skin that quivers with every movement, like a giant larvae. Panic threatens to consume her, she can't move and no one has noticed what's happening. She's suffocating under the weight of his undulating form, but makes the choice to accept and give in completely to the repulsion, gaining calm clarity.


Noel sees Leon.