LIVE NOVEL
The Attraction
The Last Human in the Milky Way, Chapter 22
It was like a dark dream. Everyone was gone. He was the last to live in the Milky Way.
His house was at the top of the road, so he had barely noticed the changes. It had happened gradually, with fewer and fewer people who in the afternoon came home to the neighbourhood from work, from shopping or school. (From chapter 2)
22
He realized that he was attracted to her, not only intellectually, as a conversation partner about everything and nothing and about political issues, but also in the other way.
He walked after her a few meters away and followed the slender body with his eye. He liked to see how easily she stepped up and lifted her feet over the obstacles on the ground.
He thought about the conversation they had had, about developments, things that were happening in the world. Disturbing events, and how difficult it is to understand why this is happening. The big misconception today, he thought, is that far too many see their own interest above all else. They think in opposites, they think mostly of their own, and their own gain. Too many people look at other people as potential opponents, or even as enemies. They think selfishly and not altruistically. The big mistake that many people make is that they think they will benefit from selfish choices instead of supporting each other and standing up for society.
He suddenly remembered some words that Sara had said, directed at him, in a somewhat difficult moment.
“How can you be so selfish, instead of thinking about what benefits us both!” she said.
These words came in a situation where he had felt that he was forced to prioritize differently than she wanted. He had applied for a job, it was a very exciting job opportunity in a different city than where they had lived for the last nine years, and he had been very eager to travel there and conduct the job interview. She had been strongly opposed, and they had had a heated discussion that had lasted well into the night. It had all ended with him not going to that interview.
Did he really understand what she had said then? Or had he just pushed it away and decided that what she said did not apply to him? She had said it in anger, and in his quiet mind he had, like a couple of times before, again this time rejected the accusations that he felt lay in her words. — Because that was what it was, he had thought, these were unfair accusations against him.
To Sara he had on this occasion only replied: “No, why do you say that?” And with that he had just put the words aside. Shortly afterwards they had had a new discussion of this kind, and she had told him straight out that he was a man who was not fully aware of what he himself was doing.
It had been a long time since this had happened, but he felt that he had not finished the case. He had just put the conflict aside and decided not to think about it anymore.
As he followed his unknown hiking buddy up the trail, he noticed that thoughts of this episode came back. He felt he was sensitive to this.
What Sara had said at the time, and in some similar situations — he had not wanted to think so much more about it. He had actually managed to displace this episode, for a long time. In the time that had passed since Sara left, he had largely had as a strategy not to think about these unpleasant things. This was probably one of the reasons why he had done relatively well in his new life: Do not dwell on the negative, but try to look ahead, think positively. He had struggled a little, and he had tried to force himself to think positively. But as time went on, he had come to the conclusion that she could not be completely acquitted, either.
Of course, he had his faults — he admitted it. But she also had her share of responsibility for their accident. He could not absolve her of it, even though he wanted to. She, too, had actually made a mistake, and they could not sweep it under the rug.
What is disappointing in all this is that many people think solely out of self-interest. They choose to fight as much as possible for their own things, based on the idea that everyone is the smith of their own success. What matters is competition. Relentless competition.
They had stopped to take a break. He felt that he was out of breath. She looked at him.
“What is it that makes people think that way?”
He sighed a little, for the words she said came so abruptly and unexpectedly. The words were like small, hard bullets that bounced from her and towards him.
“What?” he said. “ — What then?”
She turned to him, putting her brown eyes in his. Unexpectedly directly in the eye.
“What is it that makes people blindly believe in tenants, such men who seduce their flock?”
“No, it might be-.”
He stopped. Searching for the right words.
“We see it almost everywhere. Such preachers who talk and seduce their followers — what is it that makes people be fooled by such people, such religious or political seducers?”
“Well,” he sighed, “it has to do with the context — it has to do with how they experience things, and the environment, the upbringing — it is very complex, I think.”
“But that they succeed — it’s so irrational.”
“Yeah.”
He noticed that he was a little half-hearted when he answered her questions. He clearly saw her strong commitment, but he himself had trouble experiencing a similar commitment when they talked about this.
“Maybe it has to do with the fact that she’s much younger than me?” he thought.
“Such religious leaders and such sects,” he said, “such have always existed. Yes, people have always needed to believe in something outside of themselves, something higher — higher powers, something greater than man.”
“Yes,” she said, “that it is so, it is now the way it is. But should it only be allowed to continue to be so? Because it is dangerous! Politically, for example, in politics we have seen it.”
“Yes,” he said, “yes, true enough.”
“What is it that makes people blindly believe the lies, all the improbability that one president says?”
“Yes, and -?”
“And what is it that makes people say that the new president elected in this country is not president? — Large groups who are supporters of the previous president who firmly believe that the new president was not legally elected, but that he has ‘stolen’ the election — they believe in it even though we see facts where everything says the opposite. “
He heard that she was very upset. He heard that she was very engaged. At the same time, he felt that he was tired, almost a little bored. That was a bad sign. It is a sign that he has started to let go. He was getting old. It was a feeling he did not like.
“What was it,” she said abruptly, “what was it that made people gather outside the National Assembly and attack it? They broke into it! People died because of it! What is happening in our society?”
“Well,” he said, “it’s just that — they think they have a right to do it. They think they are right.”
“But how can you believe you are right when the facts say the opposite?”
“They think it’s just like that. They are convinced.”
“But what can we do about it?”
“What can we do? We just have to keep going, not give up.”
He saw that she was clearly annoyed.
“I do not understand all this — they cannot just deny the facts.”
“But that’s what they do.”
“Then they cannot just keep saying that truth is a lie, and a lie is a truth. Can they?”
“No,” he said, “but the only thing that might lead to change is that they themselves discover that they are wrong.”
“But it smells. It stinks!”
“Yeah.”
He smiled.
“Everyone sees that they are wrong.”
“No, not everyone! That’s the problem!
“Okay. But we just have to keep saying what’s true. — Not true?”
She looked at him expectantly.
“Yes, true enough.”
“You know,” he said, “the earth is not flat and the presidential election has given the result it has given. It is a fact. We just have to point out the facts, that’s what we can do. And then we have to say no when they come up with untrue allegations. We must say that this is not the case. We must expose the lies.“
This is chapter 22 of the novel The Last Human in the Milky Way. The novel is written and published “live” chapter by chapter in ILLUMINATION Book Chapters.
The author is in the middle of writing the novel, and works daily to write new chapters. The author accepts input, questions and comments from readers. You can provide such feedback in the comments section below or by writing to [email protected].
To see all published chapters, go here.
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Next: Chapter 23 She Turned to Him, Smiled All Over