Chapter 29: Swallowing the Sphere

Both swallowed the waxy sphere at the exact same moment, allowing the dark liquid to drown into their throats in a single push, then both lowered their cups from their lips with the eyes of each pinned on his companion.

The pill had no noticeable taste whatsoever; they were expecting a hellish flavor whose bitterness stings the tongue, or an acidic composition causing a shiver that runs through the entire body and melts to form a viscous liquid sticking to the walls of the esophagus and its path down toward the intestines. However, its passage with such smooth, qualitative ease through the pharynx made Michael release a light, mocking chuckle, with which his new androgynous features danced.

Elliot looked with a scrutinizing gaze at Michael as he chuckled, then lowered his eyes toward the remaining wine cup in his hand, where the surface of the alcoholic liquid reflected the features of his pure androgynous face with extreme precision. He raised his eyes slowly, looking again into Michael’s face, then a calm smile drew on his lips as he said:

"Do you know, Michael? I want to confess something to you that I long feared disclosing in the past, thinking you would fly into a furious rage.. and I think now, since we are playing with our heads and risking our lives, there is no harm in emptying what is in my chest. In fact.. I am the one who opened the apartment door and kicked out your little white cat and left it to go out to the street of the unknown.. your cat never ran away as you thought! Well man, it was constantly defecating on my bed, never stopping its annoying meowing all night long, and filling the room with its thick hair.. it was a dreadful nightmare!"

Elliot fixed his gaze on Michael, expecting the other to explode in his face with anger, hurling the most hideous insults and harshest epithets at him for this vile act toward his pet cat.. but Michael’s reaction took a completely unexpected curve; for he smiled a broad smile, and did not stop at that, but exploded into laughter at the top of his voice in front of the astonished Elliot!

"Hahaha!.. Was it really you who did that, man?! Well, it was indeed annoying and disgusting!"

Michael took another sip from the wine cup, wiped his lips with his arm, then completed laughing:

"In fact, I did not bring that white cat out of pity for it, but because I heard a secret from an acquaintance saying that the university beauty ’May’ was madly in love with little white cats.. so I brought it from the street to invite her to my room to see what a delicate person I am who loves white cats!"

Michael sipped another dose of the alcoholic liquid and continued sarcastically: "It turned out later that I was deceived and lied to, and that she has a severe phobia of fur and cats! In the end, the whole matter was without the slightest value and a failed investment!"

A smile drew on Elliot’s face as well while listening to his friend’s candid confessions:

"Well.. since we opened the door of closed confessions, there is another secret I was keeping and thought you would kill me if you knew it.."

Elliot opened his eyes with interest, waiting for what Michael would say..

Michael straightened in his androgynous posture and said: "In fact.. I am that girl ’Rosie’ who was chatting with you online and flirting with you, while you were madly in love with her to the point of insanity! Well, it started merely for entertainment and joking. But when I saw you drowning in love with her and attaching to her in that morbid manner, I feared going too far and decided to delete the account completely so your attachment to the illusion would not increase.."

Elliot’s reaction was not tense as Michael expected; rather, he let out a long, deep sigh, emitting a mixture of mockery and relief:

"In fact, I felt sad when the account suddenly vanished.. well, I thought that girl was ideal to the point of fantasy; I couldn’t comprehend how a girl could understand everything I love, talk in the way I adore hearing, and share the exact same interests and details with me! She was wonderful.. but in the depths of my soul, I knew she would never be real; because in truth, she was you! It seems you forgot in the rush of entertainment that you linked that dummy account to your original email, which I know by heart!"

Michael felt shock take hold of his face from Elliot’s words, his pupils dilating before he laughed, understanding how petty and superficial a person he was in the past for taking such a step with his close friend.

Elliot resumed his talk with a sly smile: "And since we are putting all our cards on the table and emptying our pouch of secrets.. I would like to be frank with you about something I hidden from you brilliantly. In fact, I am the one who hid your private gift, your luxurious suit, and ruined the romantic date you were going to go on with the girl ’Annie’.. frankly, that girl was extremely manipulative and obnoxious! In her previous relationships, she used all the men who dated her to suck out their money and precious gifts.. at that time, I thought it was better, so you wouldn’t fall victim to her deception, to hide your clothes and the gift so you would be unable to go to the date!"

Michael released a roaring laugh that ousted any trace of anger from his face, and said in a mocking tone: "Man!.. Did you at least open the gift box and know what was residing inside it?!"

Elliot shook his head in denial: "No, I never opened the box lid.. but I assumed that inside it was a small box similar to the boxes in which gold rings are placed, so I thought it was a precious ring and decided to hide it for you so its price wouldn’t go to waste with that manipulator!"

Michael smiled an evil smile and approached Elliot, saying: "Well.. in fact, I deliberately approached that girl under hire and funding from someone who wanted severe revenge on her! I planned to invite her to the most luxurious restaurant in the city, pretend that I was fallen in love with her to the point of intoxication, and then present that gift, which she would delude herself upon seeing that it was an expensive diamond ring.. my plan was to let her order whatever she wished from the most delicious and expensive dishes after deluding her that I would take care of the entire bill, then flee from the restaurant under the excuse of going to the famous toilet, leaving her to face the astronomical bill alone!"

Elliot was astonished by this convoluted scheme coming from his friend Michael, his pupils dilating in amazement as he listened to the details!

Michael completed, chuckling evilness: "As for the gift you thought was a gold ring.. if you had opened the box, you would have found inside it a folded paper in which I clearly drew a middle finger standing tall, and wrote under it in broad handwriting: This is all you deserve, bitch!"