FICTION | Breaking You. Me.

It is midnight in Harajuku and the streets are still bustling. The boy meets the girl to get some crepes. The lights blink pink and purple and green. The girl drops her crepe on the ground and a stranger steps on it. The boy gives the girl his crepe. Then they go play pool. The bar is underground and mold grows on the walls. It is midsummer. The air conditioning is broken and the girl complains. They walk to a love hotel but it is full. They make love in an alleyway instead. A cockroach crawls into the girl’s hair and follows her home. The girl finds her mother dead on the living room floor. The girl cries and calls the police. The police are rough with the girl. Your mother overdosed and deserved it, they tell her. The girl eats a bottle of sleeping pills when they leave. She wakes up in a hospital. The lights are too bright but the boy is there. They hug and cry. The boy takes the girl home where they make love. The girl does not talk to the boy and he is confused. The girl asks the boy about the meaning of life but the boy does not know. The girl is disappointed when she goes to sleep. The boy wakes up and the girl is gone. He calls her but nobody picks up. The boy goes to the girl’s house but there is nobody there. The boy goes to the bar but there is nobody there. The boy calls the police but nobody cares. The daughter of a drug addict, they say. She’s probably dead. Life goes on. The boy grows old and falls in love again. He does not think of the girl. One day, he sees the girl on the street. She is eating a crepe. The girl does not drop the crepe, and the boy does not give her his. The boy invites the girl to a cafe where they order a latte and a coffee, black. It is winter. The boy and the girl talk for hours. It is dark outside and the lights glow pink and purple and green. They walk to the love hotel. A room is free. They make love on a boat shaped bed. They rock back and forth. The boy is ashamed when he goes home to his lover. He is so ashamed that he tells her about the girl. His lover is angry and hits him. The boy is also angry and leaves to find the girl. He walks to the bar and she is there. They play pool and talk some more. The sun rises and the girl takes the boy home. They make love again and they begin to fall in love. The boy wakes up to find the girl with white powder in her nose. The boy yells at the girl, and she yells back. They fight and then make love again. They decide to get married. The boy is happy. He holds her as they fall asleep. The boy wakes up to find the girl lying still on the floor, a line of unfinished cocaine on the bedside table. The boy cries. It is dark outside and the neon moon still shines.