Brian L. Johnston, or Sunrise, as he was known these days to his friends Anny (Rainbow), Chazz (Moonshine), and Dirk (Red Dog), was just getting up. Some mornings (and this was one of them) he still had trouble remembering where he was when he woke up. Not too surprising, considering that, until just under a year ago, he had woken up every day in his big canopy bed, in his big country mansion, with two very big cars parked in the garage. That had all changed when his wife (lying, cheating hag that she was!) had felt the need to go public about her affair and concoct some foul story to the family lawyer (her lover's firm partner) about Brian beating her up, and she only finding comfort in the arms of her new love. End result? She was now living in the mansion with her new-found husband, while he had been left with barely enough to survive for even half a year.
For the first two and a half months he had taken up residence with Chris, an old schoolmate of his, in a cramped little studio; but in truth, he couldn't stand the guy. It was when Chris was once again throwing one of his many shindigs that he had met Anny. They had spent the entire evening and night talking about karma and reincarnation, and Brian had even surprised himself with his sincere interest in the subject. Three days later, he had paid the rest of that month's rent and moved in with Anny and the rest, who he now firmly knew to be squatters.
'Hey Sunrise, you been up long?' Chazz walked into the room with a cheese sandwich in one hand and a glass of milk in the other, and Brian was shaken out of his reverie. 'Not that long, no'. 'You thinking about the former missus again?' Brian didn't answer, but his eyes must've spoken for themselves. 'What're you doing this to yourself for, man? Forget about it! He grabbed her and they grabbed you!' Brian sighed to himself. Subtlety was never going to be Chazz's strong point. 'You want to go back? You want to be mister silverspoon again? Or you just want to get some more bittergreen of her back? Couldn't blame you for it, but what do you need it for? We're not good enough for you? Is that it? Keep in mind, rich-boy, Anny might've taken you in, but I can just as easily kick your sorry butt back on the street! If you think...'
'Hey boys, what's up?' Chazz stopped as suddenly as if he'd dropped dead. They might yell at each other, but no-one yelled at Anny. 'Nothing. Hiya Rainbow'. 'Moonshine. You wanna watch out where you spill that milk'. Chazz immediately looked around the room for something to clean up what had been spilled during the near-fight with Brian. 'Hi Rainbow. Good to see you up', Brian said. 'Hey Sunrise. You know, that still sounds weird coming out of you. If you want to call me Anny, just do so'. 'How could I, Rainbow, what with you having such a colourful personality?' 'Mmm-mmm', she just said, in her ever kind and playful manner. She appeared to have let the matter drop for now. Truth be told, the names by which they called each other did come strangely to Brian, seeing where he came from, but as he hated being the odd one out, he just went along with it. 'I'm gonna go get me a sandwich as well', Anny said, and she walked out toward the kitchen.
Chazz was picking at his sandwich, tearing off little pieces and then putting them into his mouth, while pointedly looking anywhere but directly at Brian. 'Sorry', he said. 'Sorry', Brian responded, though exactly what he was apologizing for was a bit lost on him.
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