NOVEL
The Denial
The Last Human in the Milky Way — Chapter 25
One day it dawned on him that great changes had taken place in the neighborhood and in the wider world. He decided to try to find out what had happened, packed things into his car and started driving.
Somewhere on the road he sees a woman standing on the side of the road, and he stops next to her. They are two strangers who set out on a journey together to rediscover the world, a world where great changes have taken place that they are only guessing the consequences of.
25
That night he decided to sleep in the open air. It was hot in the air until the sun went down in the west but then the temperature dropped very quickly. But there was still a remnant of heat in the air when he said:
“I’m going to sleep over here in my sleeping bag on the sleeping pad, so you can have the tent to yourself.”
He did as he said, but after about half an hour without being able to sleep, he went to the tent.
“You,” he said, “you can’t sleep, you either! Maybe we should just light a small fire?”
She stuck her head out of the tent opening and looked at him. She smiled a slightly strange smile. “Fine, it’s okay.”
He walked around the bush and gathered firewood He put the wood in a pile and built a small table. Then he took some lighter fluid and stroked a match and set fire to the wood, and it started to burn really well. “You,” he said, “now we have it really nice, you and I, Fleur.”
He made a point of saying the name correctly. It sounded so soft, so melodic, he thought. And he kind of pulled it out a little, this French, serious, a little dark hint. Fleur. He tried a small smile to her. He did not really know what he meant by that. Felt a bit like a slightly old, cunning and calculating old man who was going to fish for a little delicacy. He thought the thought, and felt that he was getting dark inside.
As he thought these thoughts, he looked at her, and suddenly he discovered that she was sitting and looking straight at him. She sat and studied him, he observed. And there was something strange about this. It was a way he was not used to before. He did not quite know if he felt uncomfortable or on the contrary happy and relieved. He looked at her. She seemed honest and open, completely sincere, where she sat and smiled and looked at him over the flames from the fire.
He had a bottle of wine standing in the car, and he went to get it, took out the corkscrew and opened the bottle. He had arranged for two plastic glasses with sticks, and he half-filled them with red wine. It was a wine with a stylized label; Valpolicella Ripasso Superiore, Italian, and perfectly suited for the occasion, he thought.
He raised his glass to her, smiled and thought, “She’s nice.”
“This here,” he said, “it’s a pure pleasure, it’s so nice to experience this — in times like these. And then in addition — that we can experience this together, that I’m allowed to experience this — and share this with you.“
He was unable to look at her as he spoke. It was something that made itself look like a lump inside him. But he felt lighter. Those words, he had been capable of telling her what he wanted to say.
He looked at her again and saw that she was smiling.
“Sara,” she said.
He flinched.
“Sara,” she repeated, “- it was a little tricky, that thing — it was a little difficult with Sara, I understand.”
He nodded, mumbling something she could hardly perceive.
“I recognize some of that,” she said.
He straightened up, whimpered, and suddenly became on guard.
“Recognize,” he said, “do you recognize what I said about Sara and me?”
“Yes, exactly.”
She smiled at him and he understood that there was more going on. But he felt a turmoil inside him, in a flash, a turmoil — it was something he did not want to bring up now. Not that he wanted to deny it, chase away images from the past, just get them away from what was now. No, it was not so, he should not deny it. But he did not like it, did not want to think about it now, had little desire to talk about this.
“I was with a guy once,” she said, “it was a guy who was so amazing. He was a great man, tall and slender. And then he had his own light in his eye when he smiled at me, and I felt melted; it was absolutely, utterly amazing, utterly unbelievable, what that guy managed to do to me.“
He sat frozen. Feeling uncomfortable. At the same time, he knew something else. A strong pull towards her. What happened, what was about to happen?
“Yes,” she said, sighing. “He’s an absolutely fantastic guy, a great man. Right after we met each other, he bought flowers and jewelry — such nice things for me — you have no idea, such nice things.”
She looked at him. He was silent, waiting for more.
“But eventually the question came up. Next step, what do we do now?”
“And I had an apartment, and he did not have one. And he said that he loved me, loved me so much — and he said that I was the most important, the greatest, the most beautiful — yes, the most beautiful creature that walked the earth. And I gave myself to him, and he took me.“
He sat for a while, trying to take in what she had said. — An ordinary story, a story about love? He sensed that something more was behind it.
This is chapter 25 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 welcomes 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.
Previous chapter: 24 Drive up Into the Mountains
Next:
Chapter 26: A Glass of Wine by the Fire
