Vivi

Let's call him Richard.

Of course that wasn't his real name. His folks wanted to name their firstborn Richard, but decided against it in case he grew up not liking it.

He had mentioned that the name sound like an old man would have.

But Richard was a bitter old man trapped in the soft flesh of a young boy. That's why let's call him Richard.

It was intended to start his story with him lying on back in his bed on New Year's Eve, the room was dark and he was just staring into the ceiling.

But that doesn't sound appetizing enough to begin a story, so let's start early at the eve of New Year's Eve. In an enclosed toilet of a karaoke club banging a prostitute from her rear.

It's not because I think sex sells, it was then Richard discovered that he didn't like sex at all.

The reason he was fucking that hooker in the ladies was that he doesn't like having sex with his girlfriend. He wanted to see if it was sex that repulses him or his girlfriend. That reason was of course one of the many excuses he had when he decided to pay Vivi the Hainanese prostitute for sex. I think he just wanted to be free from himself.

It was always the same for him in sex, middle of it, he was bored and he couldn't cum. Vivi was moaning away softy, clutching the skin of his backside. Another hooker was rapping onto the door, chiding them for taking so long, for she had wanted to pee. Vivi moved her perfect arse faster, trying to milk her client physically. Richard with resignation had too wanted the disappointing intercourse to be over. He asked Vivi to look at him while he continued to thrust. He wanted to see her brown eyes. Their eyes stared right into each others' while they moved beneath the maddening screaming of someone really wanting to pee.

That was the eve of New Year's Eve. He had told me the reason that he returned that immoral place of lust, false promises, diseased kisses and expensive desires was he had needed someone else to talk to. He said that he knew he was not attractive and he had no confidence, he could only pay for attention. For two hundred bucks, he could have five hours of attention from the prettiest women whom would never in real life paid him any decent attention at all. That was Richard playing the fool. His excuses. His girlfriend, Dara was beautiful. But I believe his part about wanting to talk to someone else. For the longest time, Richard had been a lonely person.

On New Year's Eve, he had returned from his work at the hospital. While the world ushered into the year two thousand and eight with fireworks and abhorrent countdowns, Richard was learning to blow circular smokes from his eleventh cigarette.  He was on his back against his bed, staring at the ceiling in the dark of his room. He was there quietly on his own, something that he doesn’t like doing much but was forced into character by unexplainable circumstances. He was there until the New Year’s sun came up. And he slept finally.

Richard hates to dream. He only has two kinds of dreams. One in which he was always locked behind a door and the other was always about seeing friends and lovers that had abandoned him. The two dreams had the same effect on him whenever he wakes up. He feels alone and wretched.

On New Year’s day, Richard was blissfully able to sleep a dreamless sleep. In fact he enjoyed it so much, he had decided to sleep through the rest of the day.

Richard was sleeping while the rest of the world started to get sick.

Seven weeks later, Vivi had called him up. They arranged to meet in her motel room. There were not many people on the streets now. Public transport was cut back to limit the risk of transmission. Richard’s sixteen minute taxi fare ran up to seventy five dollars. Like the current fashion, he went for his appointment with gloves and a face mask. Inside her room, Vivi was wearing her face mask too. She appeared relieved to see Richard. She was wearing a pair of sunglasses. That was not a good sign at times like these.

‘Like I say, I don’t have any money.’ Richard greeted Vivi void of expression.

Vivi invited Richard into the gloomy room for a sit. As he sat in front of the television blazing with the news, Vivi poured Richard some water. The coffee table was full of empty cans and cup noddles.

‘I will cut the chase. It’s not money.’ Vivi undressed herself and stood naked in front of Richard. ‘I want you to check me for the disease. I need to know. You work in the hospital, don’t you? Check me out. I can’t go to the hospital, I’m an illegal entrée. You have to do me this favor.’

‘How do you know I work in the hospital?’ Richard asked, remembering strictly that he had lied about his name, his age and his profession.

‘I saw you on the TV. You are one of the healthcare worker.’ Vivi answered, ‘Please. I will pay you.’

‘Even if I want to. It’s not so easy. You have to take blood sample, take a spinal tap or an MRI. You can't do it here.’ Richard rose to walk away.

Richard walked to the door.

‘Then why did you come?’ Vivi asked.

There were many reasons that Richard had decided to meet Vivi. He was curious, he was bored, he wanted sex, he wanted blowjobs, he wanted her breasts to suckle, he wanted her perfect hands to caress his hair, he wanted to feel Dara through her, he was lonely, he hadn’t talk to someone else in ages, he wanted attention, he was sick of himself, he was sick of work, he was sick of this life, he was sick of how the virus had infected everyone else, he was sick of the news, he wanted a human touch, a voice, any voice, soothing and warm, a warm body, a pair of eyes to look into. Someone real.

Richard decided not to abandon Vivi at this moment, returned to his place in front of the television and asked, ‘Wear your undies back. You don’t have to be starking naked.’

He could feel Vivi’s smile through their baby blue surgical masks.

Richard switched off the television of horrid soothsaying and lighted a table lamp near Vivi.  He had Vivi sat by the edge of the bed and felt her legs, he felt the icy smoothness of her thighs. His touch went from the trees of her arms to her neck. He could felt her heaving, her large chest panting. He grabbed her neck, digging his nails into the flesh. He tried to flex her head and sensed rigidity. He could smelt her shampoo in her brown hair. They were staring at each other, just like the time she was making him cum in the karaoke toilet.

‘Well?’ Vivi asked.

‘Take off your sunglasses.’ Richard ordered. He held the table lamp near Vivi’s face. Her exposed eyes immediately flinched as she drew quickly away from the light.

He had Vivi laid on the bed as he toured the table lamp’s light over her flesh.  ‘No rashes.’ He announced plainly.

‘Does that mean?’ Vivi asked anxiously.

‘Get back down. Do as I tell you to.’ Richard scolded. He had Vivi’s knees flexed, and then he tried to extend Vivi’s legs. She winched at the action.

Richard had finished his examination, ‘Like I say, you cannot tell if you have the virus by a physical. You have to undergo detailed medical assessment.’

‘Then what are you doing? Molesting me?’ Vivi asked angrily.

‘Ya. That’s right. I’m gonna go now and that’s nothing you can do.’ Richard grinned.

Vivi started crying. She switched off the table lamp and hid back inside her covers on the bed.

Richard ignored her crying and exited the room.

Richard returned twenty minutes later and found Vivi had cried herself to sleep under the blankets.

He pulled out a large plastic bag from the closet and started clearing out Vivi’s leftovers of cans and cup noodles on the coffee table. He made some coffee and turned on the television. He muted the volume and watched in silence.

‘Why have you come back?’ Vivi asked. Her hair was in her face.

‘I bought you some dinner. Eat them while they are hot.’ Richard said without taking his eyes off the news.

Vivi attacked the food hungrily. After her dinner, Richard brought a naked Vivi to the bathtub and started to sponge her feverish body with gentle ice water.  With a cigarette at the thin of his mouth, he washed Vivi’s hair with a bar of scented soap and massaged her back with foams and bubbles. He carried Vivi back to the bed with his arms where he lighted up another cigarette. Finishing that cigarette, he was in the covers with Vivi in the dark of the motel room.

They stared at each other in the covers with their arms around each other.

‘What is your real name?’ She asked.

‘Richard.’

She had slept very well that night, avoiding nightmares of abused childhood and the monsters with eyes.

Richard didn’t sleep at all. He knew his dreams of locked doors and lost loves have all the time in the world to wait, but his companion doesn’t have.

She had probably only a week left.