Prologue

In my flat's unlit kitchen, I was busy drinking all night. The room's darkness shaded the liquid, but didn't affect the taste. 

Water, of course. Getting drunk is not something I'd do. Definitely. 

You might think the taste bothers me; it really doesn't. A few years ago, when I got a sip of my mother's red cup, it was sour and enjoyable. Not enough of a delight to drown myself with it, however. 

The crashing droplets made a sound with perfect lilt, the ones that hanged under the edge of my faucet before losing their grip. It was an annoying noise, better than silence.

When I closed my eyes, the scenery didn't change, obviously. It switched from darkness to another, denser black, maybe. 

Two figures, twins, appeared before me. One had a red cap and a cropped white shirt over black shorts, the other a black cropped shirt and white shorts, the queens of maddening getups indeed. 

We stared at each other for a while. It felt long, a good hour, or a minute. 

Their lips parted ways to a sound. A party of nonsensical sounds, that blended together into a coherent whole. 

A song that broke my brain. I chuckled in self-pity. 

Spirals appeared over the emptiness in my head, in layers of three or four, twisting my world one way, then the other, before making two loops over itself. 

I felt dizzy, wanting to puke, but I couldn't. All colors appeared in my head before merging into a blinding white. 

The color knocked me out in the kitchen once more. There was a lingering smell of cigarette, the one that I forgot to discard. I would later, though. 

Grabbing the cold glass, I emptied it. 

Water is great. You'd never get drunk from water, contrary to beer or wine. Although the taste is indeed a tad lacking, they are small sacrifices. 

I didn't know why, but getting high on water made me forget about the twins for a minute. Next instant, they reappeared in a corner of my mind. 

In these few seconds, I was the happiest man alive. 

As the ashy smell bothered me, I extended my hand, grabbed the fag on the table and crumpled it. Because the stench stayed, my will gave up.

A heavy sleep dawned on me. It leaned my body forward, sprawling over my plastic table. After drinking water, I wondered if I could sleep. 

The twins' figure shot up in my head as a picture of professional quality. I forgot about sleep afterwards for a third day in a row.