Retro Neon Super Life

By Brendan Borba

Gritty and mesmerizing, Retro Neon Super Life follows Jake, a straight laced, hard working victim of identity theft and Alice, a young product of the digital age as they traverse the glittery, vibrant cyber-world. But all is not as it seems. Beneath the polished, user friendly surface lurks something much darker. In a world that is not real, it is the question of self that tests all boundaries.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brendan Borba
• Release date: Jun 13, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476178233

Brendan Borba

Brendan Borba was born in Burnaby, BC, on April 27, 1988. He currently still resides in the metro Vancouver area and writes books about pretty much whatever he feels like.get in touch with him at [e-mail]

Book preview

Retro Neon Super Life

By

Brendan Borba

Smashwords Edition

Brendan Borba

Published by Brendan Borba at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Brendan Borba

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the authors work.

This book is dedicated to:

My Parents, because this is probably the closest thing to science fiction I'll ever write.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

More From Brendan Borba

About the Author

Chapter 1

Wisps of white smoke fluttered upwards from the cigarette held casually between her slender fingers. The yellow of the Marlboro’s butt stained her vibrant pink lips. The over-sized shades that sat on her button nose hid her glossy, blood shot eyes.

The dazzling neon of the information super highway shot past her on all sides. Its tainted images and favourable words were barely visible as she zipped along past them. It was a nauseating array of colour, commotion and false exuberance, but it failed to even register in her mind as she stared vacantly forward. The endlessly interconnecting engine bowled its way through the thick, hot jungle of code and data.

The constant stream of bright lights, backed by an intense forever prominent black glared through the train’s window onto her, dancing off her soft, pale face. Her straight black hair fell limply over her bare shoulders, its dull sheen a stark contrast to the glittery, gem studded halter and golden leather tights she wore on her thin, petite body.

The immensity of the highway, the pleasing yet aggressive world that engulfed everything was completely lost on her. It was simply another moment in time. With everything that fizzled and popped around her, with all of its glory, it was little more than a pathetic fleeting second between point A and point B, nothing more than a nuisance. There was no journey. There was only a destination. Yet in spite of that knowledge, the monotony of the train kept her down and held her hostage. It was never fast enough.

She tapped her glow in the dark fingernails on the stiff plastic seat. She was impatient, but not even invested enough in her surroundings to groan or look about, just enough to continue inhaling on her cigarette and stare forward.

In her mind’s eye, words flashed past. Her news stream continually updating her on everything and anything. Mostly meaningless, it kept her connected and informed. The lives of others: pictures, phrases, drunken nights, popped up relentlessly in her vision, forever clouding the world before her eyes.

The engine halted to an abrupt stop: from light speed to still in a millisecond. The heavy doors slid open, awaiting her exit. Standing with a slight wobble, she ran her frail hand through her long hair, pushing it up and away from her face.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she stepped out into the endless frantic abyss. Another night, another thoughtless venture, another flashy image to display and show her hundreds of friends what a life she lived. Her mind slowed, under stimulated and void, as she walked on through the chaotic jumble of people and images that swirled around her. Pink, white, mauve, the plaques beneath her six inch stilettos illuminated as she swayed forward.

Her destination was not unique, but it was fantastic. Pulsating neon shot high up into the sky in all directions around her. There were no boundaries, no distance. The concept of space was completely irrelevant yet it couldn’t help but dwarf the tiny girl in its titanic presence. She could already hear the booming bass of the music. Amidst the crowd of busy strangers and bustling nameless faces she could hear her own name being called.

Alice! The voice shouted. She lifted her head, staring forward: her ‘friends’.

What took you so long? A tall lanky girl whined as she adjusted her short flamingo pink dress. Two other girls joined them and though Alice couldn’t even remember their names she knew without a doubt that they were indeed her friends.

It was being fucking laggy, Alice passed the blame as she flicked the butt of her cigarette to the untainted ground.

Well, shit, at least you’re here, we’ve been waiting! The third girl tapped her heel on the ground impatiently. Their sense of urgency didn’t move Alice, who lethargically lifted her shades from her eyes.

You guys have the stuff?

Hell yeah, Alice’s lanky friend assured her as she reached into her glittery purse, pulling out a small square container.

Alice inhaled heavily; she didn’t even know these girls. She knew they had nothing in common; they shared no interests or dislikes. Yet here she was, with three girls, dressed like dollar store whores, and she couldn’t even deny that they were just a reflection of herself.

These thoughts however, mattered not, as in minutes it would all fade away and everything that was, would no longer be and only then would she finally be able to live. A feeling that had long ago left her, a feeling she would go to great lengths to obtain.

Looks like there’s a lot of cute boys in there tonight, The previously silent second girl added, obviously anxious of their intent. Alice ignored her, her eyes focused diligently on the square case.

Her friend opened it, revealing several glowing pills. Alice sighed, relieved that her escape would soon begin. The girls each grabbed one. Alice grabbed two.

She popped them both into her mouth and simultaneously swallowed them. The feeling of the capsules gnawing their way down her throat made her uncomfortable, a sensation she almost relished.

The other girls did the same, though some more reluctantly than others. Noobs. Alice grinned slyly, carelessly; they’d be hooked soon enough.

Come on, let’s hurry the fuck up and get in there already. The lanky girl grabbed at Alice’s hand and pulled her forward. Making no move to resist, she was dragged through a sea of bobbing people.

Her mind swayed slightly, the initial buzz of the pills. The real high would kick in soon enough.

Their surroundings folded and collapsed, disappearing and reappearing in the blink of an eye. The chaotic world she was in transformed and in a split second unfolded into a new equally chaotic one: bodies jived and grinded, a sweaty mess of repressed energy under the watchful eye of a multi-coloured strobe light. The music was a bombastic rhythmic pounding, an effortless combination of hard bass and techno rabble.

The music surrounded them, them and the hundreds of other lost souls who danced their neo-lives away in the epilepsy inducing dance hall. It was exclusive enough, invitation only, but as always, Alice was invited. Cute, young girls hardly got turned away.

Her friends vanished into the vast ocean of movement, leaving Alice alone once again. They were surrounded by so many, yet still so alone.

She slid her thick rimmed sun glasses back over her eyes, and then, the pills took effect. She could feel her pupils dilate as everything that surrounded her shrunk and expanded, her mind lifting from her body and engaging in a series of stomach churning back flips.

She grinned, savouring the sudden rush. The bodies that encased her on the dance floor were no longer bodies but instead the purest form of energy. The music and the movement, the lights and the blackness all became one synchronized showcase of life itself. Alice bit at her own lip as she slipped further and further into a hyper technological trance.

Before she knew it she too was dancing alongside everyone else, her own body simply a vessel for the liquid music and velvety light. There was no stopping, there was no ending, there was only one fluid motion, an ever repeating beat that coursed through her veins and inched up her spine into her very consciousness. This was what feeling was. This was the only way she knew how to scratch the itch that had burrowed its way so deep under her skin. She had found a way to escape the escape, and she loved every second of it.

Her head moved side to side, a dizzying task. Through her tinted vision she lazily scanned the dancing mob. She had no doubt that there was already a body pressed against hers and while she had no complaint, she was looking for what she wanted, not what wanted her.

He caught her eye immediately: his jet black hair was a sloppy mess and his indigo leather jacket reflected the constant pulsing of light. He hadn’t even noticed her; he too was in his own world, his own trance.

He wasn’t particularly handsome, but he was her type, a real bad ass, that and she loved leather. She wanted him, him and no one else.

Her body rubbed against many others as she slid through the crowd towards him, the musk of strangers clinging to her bare skin.

She blinked her heavily made-up eyes as she drew nearer. The closer she got, the further he drifted away. She soon realized it wasn’t just him, but everyone. A lightning bolt of uncertainty hit her in the back of her neck as the world around her, the hypnotic flow abandoned her.

It hit her stomach first, like a million pins trying to prick their way from the inside out. Keeling over, she winced in excruciating pain. The bliss that she had been savouring flipped upside down and crashed over top of her like a falling pane of glass. She curled into a ball on the impeccably clean floor as shards of unrighteousness shattered over her frail skin.

Her lips trembled and her eyes began to flutter shut as the world around her grew increasingly distant. A black emptiness crept nearer and nearer. She tried to reach out for help, but there was no one there. She was alone.

Lost in their own personal bliss, everyone else danced on as Alice drifted further and further from them. Her body twitched and shook as her eyes closed shut. There was no more feeling, only black. Then, even the black was gone and there was nothing at all.

The drugs were nothing new. But this was. This time they were too much.

System Error.

Chapter 2

His head ached; the stress was far too much for him. He couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t eat. He knew better, yet he had walked into the dragon’s lair without even so much as a pocket knife.

His name was Jake Avery. He worked hard. A tradesman, he took pride in working with his hands, in being diligent and honest, the way his father had raised him.

He knew who he was and what he wanted out of life, which was never much. He rented a simple apartment in a decent neighbourhood and drove an old but reliable truck. He’d even recently started dating a cute girl that worked at the coffee shop. Nothing spectacular, but Jake had never wanted spectacular. Everything had been going just fine; his life was just fine. But then he ventured too far away from home.

He had entered a world in which he knew nothing. A bizarre, strange place, one he didn’t understand and had never wanted to. The younger guys he worked with made it all seem so simple, so safe. For them it was second nature, a world