• It was past noon at the small pond in Louisiana, all proud and free. Conner looked sternly at the dreary sky.
    Conner Peterson was a young man about twenty-six years old. He was handsome. His brown short hair glistened in the sunset. His blue eyes however always seemed expressionless. He was very tall, about six-eleven. His weight was greatly thin. He never talked much, except with Neo Langston, his neighbor. What they spoke about was unknown even to the best detectives.
    Neo was also young maybe twenty-two years old. He was always pale. His hair was neatly groomed. It was black. His eyes were mostly squinted. They were brown. He was short merely five feet eight. His weight was normal. He pretended to be kind when he was as heartless as could be.
    Conner and Neo on such a glorious day were inside Neo’s house playing a game of chess. Conner glared sternly at the hour glass on the kitchen table. Both of them liked to be timed during games. In their point of view this made things more fun and less annoying.
    “I have won. Time is up. Your failure was proclaimed.” Conner said somewhat cheerfully.”
    Neo sighed in annoyance. He looked at his watch.
    “I still have fifteen minutes before I have to go home. I demand a re-match.” He said arrogantly.”
    Conner smiled. He was delighted. He loved making a fool out of others. A re-match gave him pride. He was confident of winning again.
    Just then Neo began to hold his head.
    “What bothers you, my friend?” Conner asked in a rush.”
    He knew something was wrong.
    Neo’s nose began to bleed violently.
    Neo began saying random numbers.
    He began breathing heavily. Conner panicked. He picked up his phone to call an ambulance. But then Neo blinked and took a deep breath. His nose stopped bleeding. He removed his hands from his head.
    “What’s wrong? Are you ok?” Conner asked in shock.”
    Neo looked at Conner.
    He didn’t recall his identity. He felt lost. He didn’t remember Conner.
    “Do you want money? Honestly I don’t remember your name. Is it John Harper? Are you from the national guards?” Neo replied afraid reaching into his brown jacket.”
    Conner was shocked. He yet knew that his friend needed help. He knew that this person was no longer his neighbor.
    “Where’s my gun? Are you trying to confiscate it from me? How dare you.” Neo said in a musk voice.”
    Conner looked at Neo. His lips trembled. He knew he had lost his friend as he looked into Neo’s blank eyes.

    Chapter 1

    Favoring all life’s existence Neo seemed so calm. He also seemed confused. Conner however was so confused and stressed that Neo was the only thing that kept him from going insane. He just wanted to understand. He wanted to understand the reason to his friend’s change. Why was Neo so lost? Why was He confused?
    Conner came up with a solution. He decided to at least try to understand.
    He wanted to help. To do so he needed information.
    “What’s your name?” Conner asked Neo as he calmed himself from such confusion”
    Neo stared at him sternly. His sharp eyes pierced Conner’s soul with intense impact.
    “You don’t know? Well I guess you wouldn’t. My name is Arthur Williams.” Neo replied with a slight victorious smirk.”
    Conner became even more shocked than before. He had heard of that name before.
    It was the name of a car sales man. This man had his face on many billboards. He was quiet rich some said. Only now, he had Neo’s face.
    “Oh. I knew that. I remember you now.” Conner lied innocently.”
    Neo smiled devilishly. He laughed and his brown squinted eyes sparkled in amusement.
    “Good. Then there’s no problem, right?” Neo said daringly, almost with envy”.
    Conner stared at him cautiously, probably expecting an attack. He then smiled realizing that Neo meant no harm.
    “Of course not. I guess I had forgotten you for a moment. That’s dumb old me, always underestimating the earth’s people. I apologize for being so terribly, pathetically rude.” Conner said trying not seeming to be a liar.”
    Nearly lost in his own world, Neo laughed nervously but with such blank eyes. His clear brown eyes were so pale and inconsiderate. He wanted to feel. He was confident of trusting someone again. This confidence kept him from losing his mind COMPLETELY. The inconvenience of this tragic experience made Conner frustrated. This made Neo laugh. He didn’t seem to care for Conner’s frustration nor for his sorrow. To him all this was normal. He didn’t feel that he had lost his mind. Therefore all this was as normal as any other day he had lived. It was in particularly boring. No soul had perished so there was no news. There were no setbacks. There were no tears. For him everything was as even as it was odd. The innocent look in Conner’s eyes made Neo flinch. It was this emotion that came to his attention, miraculously. This emotion was too much for him to handle. In time he would soon forget this day, he thought hopefully. He didn’t want to remember such confusion. Confusion overpowered him, egotistically. Conner noticed this particular fact. Lies are confusing, Conner thought.
    “How is your wife Greta? Is she ok?” Conner asked extraordinarily, for he had never lied like this for such a reason”
    This lie even shocked Him.
    This lie made Conner even less deceived as he already felt. His forever forgotten hopes and dreams seemed to shatter. He never expected that he would ever have to lie for such a pale, gloomy moment as such. But there he was. Lying like the world never had shame. It was appealing in one’s imagination, not in one’s future.
    Neo looked at the hourglass. He hesitated for a moment. He then responded.
    “She’s fine. And your wife how is she?” Neo asked in a rush for he didn’t under stand a word he spoke, let alone those spoken by others.
    Conner thought massively about this. He brain stormed for a split second. He then came to a solution.
    “I was never married. Don’t you remember?” Conner said in remembrance of his friend’s confused pale eyes.”
    Neo flinched. He hated being proved wrong. He seemed utterly disturbed by this reply. He disliked this answer. It made him wrong. It made him recall his never existing existence. But he refused to let this take away his so called wealthy life. Immaculate rays of sun light touched his face. He listened to the howling of the neighbor’s dog. Well at this time it was his dog. He just refused to accept it. His accepting this would make him weak. He wanted to be clear minded and wealthy. He didn’t want to be weak. This was his dream. This was his dream that he yet knew would never be fulfilled. Maybe in another year, or possibly another month, he would become successfully wealthy with no doubt. But as minutes passed the more impatient he became.
    Conner smiled. He looked at Neo realizing his plan had worked. Neo was confused. These lies had made confusion. It had made the world’s destruction. Just then there was a knock at Neo’s door. It was Johann Peterson. Neo walked toward the clear glass door. He answered it. In the opened doorway there stood a messy- haired man with an unshaven face. His hair was as pitched black as the midnight sky. His eyes were a brilliant bright green. He smiled. He then buttoned his half way buttoned red and brown checkered shirt. He seemed cheerful and decent until he saw Neo’s disappointed face. He then frowned.
    “Do you want something or are you here to disappoint me worse than I already am?” Neo asked heartlessly.
    Johann seemed startled. He straightened his posture. He didn’t wish to appear needy. Neo remained with the same heartless, egotistical look.
    Johann remained in shock. Neo laughed. He thought this was funny.
    “Um well, no. I guess I’ll leave.” He said with a nice positive gesture.
    Neo looked at him with a UN despicable smile. He then slammed the door leaving Johann astonished. How rude. How undesirable. How meaningless. This caused red anger to flush into Conner’s face. He hated this so much he had to do something about it.
    “How could you do that? How could you be so rude? Why? Why do you smile? Do you think you did right?” Conner asked in a rush knowing that Neo didn’t care.
    Neo laughed. He smiled. He turned away to tell Conner that he didn’t care.
    Neo walked toward the glass door. He opened it effortlessly and left. He didn’t even bid farewell. He left into the cruel non understanding world. Conner let him leave. Neo wasn’t his problem anymore. He was a mere fragment of insanity. A delusion of some sort, as Conner had thought with no shame. It was true. Neo had become part of an egotistical fantasy. A fantasy in which confusion ruled and friendship rotted to a UN sincere death. If only there was peace on the planet, their would be no shame, no contamination, and best of all, no confusion.
    Conner seemed frightened at what Neo was capable of. He thought hard about his uncontrollable confusion and his egoism. Precisely he would become America’s next terrorist. This caused Conner to run after him. He dashed out the door realizing that the few minutes he spent thinking could’ve gotten Neo far. As far as a few blocks away from his home. He didn’t lock the door. He didn’t think twice about getting robbed. He just wanted to include his friend’s erotic statements to understand them, utterly.
    The outer world seemed carefree and as contaminated as a landfill. So much thought put into this made Conner run even faster. His friend seemed so intimidating and UN aware of his surroundings. It was enough to make you wonder if he was the world’s biggest problem. It was disturbing for as the clock hit ten the world seemed discolored. The world seemed to stop turning for a split second, but why?