Intentional Dissonance by pleasefindthis, Iain S. Thomas

worry about it being found anymore, because it’s been found. Now, only the worst can happen, and he is sure of that. There is peace in his sureness of the events to follow. He knows now, he’ll die.
    Sure enough, twenty minutes later he’s handcuffed to a chair in a small room and another man is hitting him in the face, repeatedly.

Chapter 6
    Then
    On a distant battlefield, somewhere in the Middle East, Sergeant Jackson is sick of this fucking war and stands up from behind the trench he’s hiding in, ignores the pleas of his squad mates to get down and starts to play the electric guitar he’s insisted he bring into battle with him. He plays a song: his father’s favourite. He’s spent years learning it and he thinks it’s beautiful. The first bullet kills him. Someone takes a picture as he falls. A dying soldier clutching his electric guitar.
    The wink from Michelle creates a fracture in Jon’s heart.
    “What’s wrong with you, Michelle? Stop lying,” says Emily.
    “What are you talking about, Emily? Of course I love comic books, I always have,” she laughs.
    Emily shakes her head and looks away. Jon might not be her best friend but she doesn’t like anyone making fun of him. She turns to him when her popular friends turn on her and she doesn’t want to lose that sanctuary. He may be a bit of a dork sometimes but he’s her dork. The cicadas continue to serenade the three of them, unaware of teenage politics.
    “So, what do you read?” Jon finally asks.
    “All sorts of stuff,” says Michelle, giggling to herself.
    “I got a new one today, it’s a special limited edition copy of The Black Kracken with a silver foil cover where they reveal where the space ship comes from,” says Jon, leaning forward as he says it.
    “Really?” asks Michelle, her eyes dramatically wide.
    “Yip, I’ve got it at home,” says Jon. He is proud of this. He has never been able to be proud of a comic book before but he is now.
    This moment stretches out before he says, “I could show it to you. You could borrow it I mean.”
    “When?” asks Michelle and she stops swinging.
    “Tonight, if you’d like, if you guys don’t have anything better to do,” says Jon. He digs his fingernails into his palm.
    They all look at each other, amongst the old beams supporting the swings, near the jungle gym and the slide and under this moon.
    Emily bites her lip. Michelle is cool. Emily can be cool too. She just needs to let Michelle have her fun with Jon. It’s ok she decides. Jon’s a dork, not a pussy, not some fragile little flower. It’d even do him good to get hurt a little.
    “Well, I’m sleeping at Emily’s house tonight, so she can leave a door open for me and I’ll come over and check out your comic book,” says Michelle, turning to Jon and walking closer to him.
    “Ok,” says Jon, not quite sure anything like this is ever supposed to be this easy; but maybe that’s how you knew you were with the one you were meant to be with. Maybe it was always easy.
    The blood is pumping hot in his ears. They put out their cigarettes, they’ve smoked them to the filter and the head rush leaves all three of them feeling dizzy. They slowly get up off the swings and leave them, swaying in the gentle summer breeze. The smell of the blooming flowers around them is still strong in the air.
    The trip back to his house, even though it’s only maybe a hundred steps away, feels longer and some part of him knows he must now make stilted, casual conversation. He must be smooth.
    “Do you read any other titles?” Jon asks.
    “Yes, a bunch,” says Michelle.
    Emily grabs Michelle by the arm and viciously whispers something in her ear and Michelle shakes her off and starts walking faster, still giggling.
    “This is where I leave you. Don’t be back too late, Michelle,” says Emily, as they get to Jon’s house and she and Michelle exchange a look. But she keeps walking towards her house, just on the other side of Blakefield