The Last Nephilim

Chapter 2-1

Chapter 2

Sully lay on the bed, starkly awake. He tried to drift asleep, but couldn’t. Josh’s light snoring kept the perfect rhythm and regularly. Usually Josh’s snoring eased him and lulled him to sleep but tonight, he couldn’t. He regretted not taking the Ambien that Josh had offered and then took for himself half an hour earlier. He debated getting up and rummaging through the room for the sleep-aid, but he had hoped that he could do it without any meds.

The sounds of Mexico City’s Centro district distracted Sully. Rather than the honking of taxicabs, and the sirens of police cars, that he’d gotten used to in New York City, the sound of rumbling diesel buses roaring late at night and foot traffic three floors below kept him awake.

They weren’t far from the National Palace. When they’d eaten dinner a couple of hours ago, they’d walked by the building. He was amazed by the throng of street vendors selling counterfeit Adidas bags and Nike shoes.

He also couldn’t believe that he was here. Mexico City. Josh and Sully had tracked Josh’s father here. Using f*******:, they’d guessed Adam Michaelson, Josh’s dad, had quit nursing to go to the local university to study Spanish and maybe embark for medical school in his forties. That was their theory anyway, just pieced together with fuzzy pictures of Adam, and posts made by friends underneath Adam’s picture.

Tomorrow, they’d visit the university and see if they could meet Adam himself. Josh had been a wreck earlier until Eli had calmed him down. The Ambien seemed to be helping, too.

Josh stirred and tucked into a fetal position. Sully made sure the sheet covered Josh completely, aware that Josh, too, was probably freezing from the air conditioning blast of cold air. Sully stretched and pondered if he should get up and bring the temperature up a little, but he hated the heat. Sleeping in a hot bed reminded him of living in the Florida mobile home with his mom and stepdad and the god-awful miserable humidity, only tempered by the one air conditioning unit in his mom’s bedroom.

Sully moved slightly away from Josh to give Josh more room and then wondered if Eli was sleeping. He had lots of questions for Eli. Some he’d had since they’d first met a year ago or so when Eli had surfaced in Josh’s life. And his. Sully wondered what Josh and Eli whispered at times about Adam. Or, where Eli got his money. Eli never worked, but also never seemed to lack anything. Not that Eli showed off or anything.

He suspected Eli had paid for Sully’s college tuition at City College, but he never asked. The school had told him that an anonymous donor had paid for him. Josh said the same thing, too, and when Sully asked Josh if he’d found it curious as well, all Josh had done was shrug, and tell Sully to be thankful. Josh didn’t think it was a coincidence and seemed to downplay any good things that happened when it came to money.

It was like Josh had wanted to block out the memory of the months they’d stayed at abandoned houses in Florida, or the number of couches of friends they’d slept in during their final year of high school. Sully’d had it easier. Sort of, anyway. Sully would stay with his mom and stepdad when the stepfather wasn’t pissy drunk. Josh hadn’t fared so well after he’d aged out of foster care the final year of high school. Even though Josh didn’t complain, Sully knew he’d had it tougher. Josh worked at Subway when he could, slept on more couches than Sully could imagine, and dodged more bullies than Sully could protect Josh from.

But, it seemed now that everything was a distant memory to Josh. Sully wondered if it was a front. Maybe the effort to find Adam, Josh’s father, was where Josh wanted to focus his energy now. Maybe Josh used the search for his father, Adam, to block Josh’s memory of living in foster homes, and being homeless since Josh’s mom had died. He’d wish Josh would tell him what he felt sometimes. He used to. Sort of, anyway. He missed those days.

Everything had changed in Josh’s life when Eli appeared. Eli was only five years older than both Josh and Sully, but Sully had felt that Eli acted like, or wanted to be, Josh’s father. Not that Sully complained.

Sully didn’t complain either when Eli invited Sully to join Josh and himself on their drive to New York. Sully had dreamed of living in the city with his aunt, who knew that Sully was gay. And, when his aunt’s new boyfriend kicked him out of her Hell’s Kitchen apartment, Sully had been openly welcomed by Josh and Eli at their place in the Chelsea neighborhood of lower Manhattan.

Initially, Sully watched for any telltale signs of romance between the two, but Josh always insisted on calling Eli, “uncle.” Even though Josh insisted there was nothing between the two of them, Sully couldn’t help but feel insecure for the first three or four months they’d lived together in Chelsea.

Sure, girls (and boys) thought Sully was cute, with his long brown hair covering one side of his face, and bright, big, expressive blue eyes, but Sully couldn’t compare to Eli. At six-five, Eli stood out in most crowds. Anywhere the three of them went all eyes were on Eli. And, frankly, Sully couldn’t blame them. Eli was gorgeous, after all. Blond and with piercing blue eyes that sometimes looked like robin’s egg blue, he looked more like someone who’d stepped out of a comic-book story based in Asgard, wielding a magical hammer, than most of the folks that lived in New York. Sully never even saw Eli work out, but Eli bulged with muscles.

Eli could be tolerable company for short periods of time, and sometimes funny, even. And, If Eli didn’t act like a prude, and know-it-all most of the times, then maybe Sully could’ve liked him more. Instead, Eli came across as an overbearing older brother that Sully never wanted. He didn’t want a stepdad, and he didn’t want another man telling him what to do, what to pack on the plane, what classes he should take in college, and it bothered him that Josh listened to Eli, it seemed, more than to Sully.

Why don’t I cut the guy a break?

Sully moved closer and put his arms around Josh, his chest on Josh’s back, and he closed his eyes and listened to Josh’s breathing. In no time, he stopped struggling with consciousness and drifted.