Kaleidoscope

The night had reached a point where colors could no longer be separated. Yellows and golds and browns blended together in a chaotic swirl, with dashes of bright lights mixed in. Barrett felt as if the chains binding him to reality could shatter at any moment and send him into oblivion. Well, a different kind of oblivion. He was already too far gone to not have a taste of darkness. He nudged his glasses up the bridge of his nose and tightened his hold on his mug. It was hard to contemplate impending doom when his skin was on fire and people were buzzing madly behind him. Insufferable.

“I can’t relax when there’s so much… so much,” he muttered blankly. The bartender shot him a weird look.

“You never come here to relax,” he said. Barrett glared up at him and slammed his hand on the table.

“You don’t know that!”

“You always leave more anxious than you come. Or at least, that’s how it seems.”

“Exactly.” Barrett was indignant. “Not everything is as it seems.” For instance, the bar didn’t look like it had a floor, but he was definitely standing on something. To be honest it didn’t even look like a bar anymore. Just a cluttered mess of color and sound. “Besides….” he tried to shake the blur out of his head, to no avail. “I don’t want to be relaxed. I just...” The contradiction in his statement flew over his dazed head. “...Just need a break.” Ah, finally, the colors were going away. Going away, replaced with the darkness he knew too well. It all felt fuzzy now, which was uncomfortably tickly. The sounds blurred into nonexistence and he felt like he was melting all over the floor. He saw chaos and waved hello, but she didn’t wave back. She never did. His consciousness slipped by before he could flip her off, but that swirly slide was interrupted by a sharp sound.

“There you are! I’ve seen you around here every time I stop by, but we’ve never said a word to each other!” Who was this?! Some lonely vagabond looking for a friend? Well, they were looking in the wrong place.

“I’d rather keep it that way, thanks,” Barret hissed. Sweet oblivion was out of his reach, again. Not that he wanted it, it was just familiar. 

“That’s fair, I suppose. But--”

“No, please no.” He glanced up at the vagabond’s face only to see another mass of weird, colorful shapes. “I don’t want to talk to someone I can’t even see right.” Their confused face was gratifying, for some reason.

“Can I at least learn your name? You happen to be quite the talk of the town, and everyone is struggling to be the first to learn it!”

“Is that so?” He held his hand up in a vague ‘o’ shape. “Yeah well, this is how many shits I give.”

“What if we make a deal then? I tell you my name, and you tell me yours?”

“You’re gonna have to offer something better than that. Like… another drink.” The vagabond considered this. Whoever they were, they didn’t seem to care much for a mysterious stranger’s health; he nodded and waved down the bartender. Oh, or maybe he did. He definitely did not give Barret more alcohol.

“This… is water.”

“Water is a drink.” Barrett could hear their smirk.

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

“You should have been more specific.”

“Fuck off.”

“First tell me your name.”

The vagabond obviously wouldn’t leave until Barret sated their curiosity. Of course, they never specified which name he could share. They should have been more specific.

“Mmmmatthew. It’s Matthew.” Wow, he came up with that quick. He suppressed a smug grin.

“Okay, Matthew, thanks! I’ll see you around, or not.” With that they left, no longer enraptured by the mysteries surrounding Barrett.

“Yeah, whatever.” He melted back into himself and watched the vagabond drift away. Hah. Imagine being a wanderer. Barrett was alright where he was, visual smoothies and all. He was a bit too tired to move, after all.