Kens by Raziel Reid

Author:Raziel Reid
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PRH Canada Young Readers
Published: 2018-09-17T16:00:00+00:00

DECONSTRUCTION

The magic bleeds out of him.

Tommy steadies himself by holding on to the Dumpster. He brings his hand to his ear to see if his lobe is split. It throbs, but still seems to be in one piece.

The bass from the music inside Dreamhouse pounds through the backdoor. Some dream!

He limps to the end of the alley in Ken Hilton’s platforms. At the street, he stops and looks both ways. He doesn’t know where he’s going, but he has to move. He wants to get as far away from Ken Hilton and his insanity as possible. Off-screen, evil isn’t so glamorous.

The Kens may be plastic, but inside they’re pure acid.

A wave of regret suddenly washes over Tommy as he keeps walking. Has he really been kicked out of Ken World already? He feels defective. Was this Ken Hilton’s plan the entire time? To give Tommy everything only for the amusement of taking it away? It all feels so familiar.

The cold makes him shiver. Maybe it was the booze, or the Percocet, or the way he could tell that Purple Tank Top was uncircumcised under his jeans…but it was just too much for him.

All the horrible things Ken Hilton said swirl in Tommy’s mind. He’d been completely degraded, and didn’t even have red ass cheeks to show for it!

Tommy had always known the Kens were a void—that was part of their appeal. They didn’t feel, or think, or worry like everyone else. They were so empty that they floated above all the mundanities of life. They didn’t need to eat, shit or even breathe. They were fueled by a lack of substance. And once Tommy had entered the void, he felt like a mannequin who came to life after closing but was never able to leave the store.

It’s a wonder he’d made it out alive. Being a Ken wasn’t nearly as fun as reading about them on Tumblr. You can only replace food with bitchiness for so long. Unless you’re as depraved as Ken Hilton, it simply isn’t sustainable.

A gas station is up the street. Tommy turns into the parking lot and walks up to his reflection in the glass window. He doesn’t look at himself in the same obsessive way he has ever since his transformation. This time, he stares at his reflection in the glossed gas station window, trying to see if somewhere beyond the plastic he still exists.

Tommy doesn’t hear the bells on the gas station door ringing, or footsteps coming up beside him.

“Looking a little worse for wear, Ken.” Blaine sucks on the straw of a slushy.

Tommy had been so consumed with his sudden fall from Ken that he hadn’t noticed the Harley in the parking lot.

“I’m not a Ken anymore,” he says.

“Has your soul reentered your body?”

“I feel like shit, so I guess so.”

Blaine takes a loud slurp of his slushy. He motions for Tommy to sit next to him on the curb and offers him a sip from the straw. It soothes Tommy’s raw throat.

“Not as seen in commercials?” Blaine asks.

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