Lorena & Luiz: Dreaming of a Monsterless Brazil

"I know this is going to sound weird but I think we should get back together."

Her voice was jarringly familiar. He hadn't heard it in years and yet he could still recall the lilting, almost musical quality of her voice. When she had first moved to town he'd hardly been able to look away from her and now, even after all these years, he found himself just as distracted. She was a mess, hair wild and matted, face streaked with dirt and what looked like dried tears. Her clothes were wrinkled and stained with sweat and worse. What little makeup she wore was streaked across her face in ragged patterns.

"Lorena?" he finally said, standing up from his desk where he'd been working through some technical specifications for the new factory they were opening up in the United States. "What happened?"

"It's kind of hard to explain," she said, interrupting him before he could continue. "But can I borrow your car? I brought mine but it won't start."

They stood outside on the sidewalk in front of his house. The neighborhood was quiet, a faint hint of twilight coloring the air around them. In the distance, a siren wailed faintly. Luiz turned to look at her again and felt himself staring at her scarlet eyes, the iridescent green spirals that ringed their edges like strange jewels. He blinked once, twice and suddenly they were gone.

"Are you okay?" Luiz asked hesitantly. "You're acting really strange."

Lorena snorted derisively, folding her arms over her chest defensively. Luiz took half a step back as she glared at him resentfully before she seemed to soften. Her eyes grew rounder and wider as she stared at him for a long moment before allowing herself a small smile. "I'm fine," she said quietly, more to herself than him as she waved off his concerns with one hand dismissively. "This whole thing has me a little weirded out is all."

Luiz nodded slowly as he considered her words for a moment before gesturing towards his car which was parked just down the street beside hers in front of his house. "Do you want to go somewhere?"

She nodded mutely as she opened the passenger door of his car and slipped inside without another word while Luiz slid into the driver's seat of his own vehicle next to her. There was an awkward moment of silence between them as they sat there staring at each other until finally Luiz reached over to turn on the engine so that they could leave town behind them for a while and talk somewhere else where no one would overhear them saying things that made no sense to anyone else but that had always made perfect sense to them both.

They drove through town towards the city limits without speaking further until finally they were alone on a dark stretch of road between two townships in rural Brazil until Luiz pulled off onto an old road heading deeper into the woods where no one lived anymore except for those who liked solitude or who kept to themselves for whatever reason best known only to themselves until eventually they ran out of gas just short of their destination leaving them stranded in the darkness miles from any sort of light or civilization save for each other until finally Lorena tore open her blouse exposing her breasts in the moonlight shining down upon them until finally Luiz looked up at her face watching him expectantly before he leaned forward towards her suddenly realizing what she wanted from him until finally--