Breathe, Alice. Breathe. She coughed; a trail of blood wound its way down her chin. Her eyes opened, she looked around her and settled on me. She coughed again. She couldn't talk. When she said Thank you, Daniel, it came as a whisper, but her eyes said it all. Try not to move, I told her. Her brow made itself into a pyramid. Her eyes pleaded with me. She mouthed something at me; I leaned closer, and she whispered, Where do we go from here?
I used to spend most of my nights on the pier, pouring whatever change I could scrape together into those old telescopes there, and pointing them at the sky. I wanted to leave, to get off the planet, to take one of those huge rocket ships you see on the screens in electronics shops—and sometimes streaking across the morning skies—and go and start a new life on Mars, on that new colony that everyone talked about. I never understood why it was so important to everyone to get to Mars, why it was such a big deal. It was just another place to me. But it was far away. It was about as far as anybody could go. I didn't want to live there just because it was Mars, just because it was a new planet, a new frontier and a New Age of Man, but because it was far.
I took her hand. Let's go to Mars, I said. Let's save, and get a ticket and start life again up there. She gave me that look, the one that meant I was talking about Mars again and should probably shut up. Listen, Daniel, she said, I'd go anywhere with you, you know that. But Mars is so far away, and expensive. And we have nothing there: no family, no home, no jobs, no money. I don't think Mars is as great as they say it is, anyway. I heard that it doesn't work up there, the whole thing. So I think we should stay down here for a little while, at least. Until things start working up there. Her hand closed around mine. I love you.
There was a time when I'd get in trouble a lot, when I was younger. I stole, which was really a necessity; I vandalised, which was more of a hobby; and once, just once, I killed. That was kind of a job. I never got done for it. Far as I know, the police are still looking for me. That's why I have to move around a lot, why I don't have a home. I didn't really have a choice. It was a mistake. But the police don't care about necessity. They only care what I did, not why I did it. Every now and then, I have to look over my shoulder. I hate it. That's why I want to go to Mars.
I didn't talk to her much about Mars after that; it was pretty clear she didn't want to go. Still, I felt safer just being with her, like she could protect me. Sounds stupid, I know, but I felt it. She was a fortress to me, to keep me hidden. To keep the police away. To keep the vampires from my door, as the song goes. I never thought that I might have been safer on my own, safer moving through the streets and the towns, known by nobody. I never thought that the worst thing to do would be to stay still, even to stay still with Alice. When they finally, inevitably, knocked on her door, all I could think to do was to run, and she ran after me. I didn't want to bring her into it, but she said she was already into it. We heard them kick down the apartment door as we ran down the alleyway into the night, never looking back.
One night, on the pier, through the telescope, I saw something I'd never seen before. A new shape in the stars next to Orion. A constellation I'd never noticed. I had an old book of stars and constellations in my bag, and I looked it up. Monoceros, it told me, The Unicorn, hunted by Orion the Warrior. And there was a piece of text there, written by Leonardo daVinci, it said. I learned it by heart, because it seemed beautiful to me. The unicorn, it said, through its intemperance and not knowing how to control itself, for the love it bears to fair maidens forgets its ferocity and wildness; and laying aside all fear it will go up to a seated damsel and go to sleep in her lap, and thus the hunters take it.
We ran, and we ran. And we didn't stop running until we were on the other side of town and the cops here didn't know us and probably didn't care. We found an old warehouse by the docks, near the pier where I used to watch the stars. We lay huddled in a corner, trying to stay warm. She fell asleep in my arms. I remember I found a small heater lying about. I tried to turn it on, but there was no power. I went to look for a fusebox, thinking that if it was the last thing I did, I'd keep Alice warm. I flipped a switch and there was a crack, and I heard Alice scream. I ran to her, hunched in a circle of flame before the melted carcass of the heater. I screamed her name as she fainted. I didn't know what to do, so I leaped into the flames and lifted her onto my shoulders. She was lighter than I thought.
I remember, on August 24th Mars was its closest to Earth in two hundred years. I went to the pier that night and stared at it for hours through the telescope. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I could almost make out the mountains. It was then that I decided that I'd go to Mars. And now, I can go with you. I want to be with you forever, Alice. Come to Mars with me, and we can start a new life. There's nothing here for us except each other. We can go to Mars, Alice, and we can live forever!
She lay in my arms outside the burning warehouse, not moving, not breathing. I kissed her, pouring air and life into her. Sirens wailed in the distance, moving toward us. She coughed and shuddered. Breathe, Alice. Breathe, I said. She coughed again; a trail of blood wound its way down her chin. Her eyes opened, she looked around her and settled on me. She coughed once more. She couldn't talk. When she said Thank you, Daniel, it came as a whisper, but her eyes said it all. Try not to move, I told her, the ambulance is on its way. Her brow made itself into a pyramid. Her eyes pleaded with me. She mouthed something at me; I leaned closer, and she whispered, Where do we go from here?
I used to spend most of my nights on the pier, pouring whatever change I could scrape together into those old telescopes there, and pointing them at the sky. I wanted to leave, to get off the planet, to take one of those huge rocket ships you see on the screens in electronics shops—and sometimes streaking across the morning skies—and go and start a new life on Mars, on that new colony that everyone talked about. I never understood why it was so important to everyone to get to Mars, why it was such a big deal. It was just another place to me. But it was far away. It was about as far as anybody could go. I didn't want to live there just because it was Mars, just because it was a new planet, a new frontier and a New Age of Man, but because it was far.
I took her hand. Let's go to Mars, I said. Let's save, and get a ticket and start life again up there. She gave me that look, the one that meant I was talking about Mars again and should probably shut up. Listen, Daniel, she said, I'd go anywhere with you, you know that. But Mars is so far away, and expensive. And we have nothing there: no family, no home, no jobs, no money. I don't think Mars is as great as they say it is, anyway. I heard that it doesn't work up there, the whole thing. So I think we should stay down here for a little while, at least. Until things start working up there. Her hand closed around mine. I love you.
There was a time when I'd get in trouble a lot, when I was younger. I stole, which was really a necessity; I vandalised, which was more of a hobby; and once, just once, I killed. That was kind of a job. I never got done for it. Far as I know, the police are still looking for me. That's why I have to move around a lot, why I don't have a home. I didn't really have a choice. It was a mistake. But the police don't care about necessity. They only care what I did, not why I did it. Every now and then, I have to look over my shoulder. I hate it. That's why I want to go to Mars.
I didn't talk to her much about Mars after that; it was pretty clear she didn't want to go. Still, I felt safer just being with her, like she could protect me. Sounds stupid, I know, but I felt it. She was a fortress to me, to keep me hidden. To keep the police away. To keep the vampires from my door, as the song goes. I never thought that I might have been safer on my own, safer moving through the streets and the towns, known by nobody. I never thought that the worst thing to do would be to stay still, even to stay still with Alice. When they finally, inevitably, knocked on her door, all I could think to do was to run, and she ran after me. I didn't want to bring her into it, but she said she was already into it. We heard them kick down the apartment door as we ran down the alleyway into the night, never looking back.
One night, on the pier, through the telescope, I saw something I'd never seen before. A new shape in the stars next to Orion. A constellation I'd never noticed. I had an old book of stars and constellations in my bag, and I looked it up. Monoceros, it told me, The Unicorn, hunted by Orion the Warrior. And there was a piece of text there, written by Leonardo daVinci, it said. I learned it by heart, because it seemed beautiful to me. The unicorn, it said, through its intemperance and not knowing how to control itself, for the love it bears to fair maidens forgets its ferocity and wildness; and laying aside all fear it will go up to a seated damsel and go to sleep in her lap, and thus the hunters take it.
We ran, and we ran. And we didn't stop running until we were on the other side of town and the cops here didn't know us and probably didn't care. We found an old warehouse by the docks, near the pier where I used to watch the stars. We lay huddled in a corner, trying to stay warm. She fell asleep in my arms. I remember I found a small heater lying about. I tried to turn it on, but there was no power. I went to look for a fusebox, thinking that if it was the last thing I did, I'd keep Alice warm. I flipped a switch and there was a crack, and I heard Alice scream. I ran to her, hunched in a circle of flame before the melted carcass of the heater. I screamed her name as she fainted. I didn't know what to do, so I leaped into the flames and lifted her onto my shoulders. She was lighter than I thought.
I remember, on August 24th Mars was its closest to Earth in two hundred years. I went to the pier that night and stared at it for hours through the telescope. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I could almost make out the mountains. It was then that I decided that I'd go to Mars. And now, I can go with you. I want to be with you forever, Alice. Come to Mars with me, and we can start a new life. There's nothing here for us except each other. We can go to Mars, Alice, and we can live forever!
She lay in my arms outside the burning warehouse, not moving, not breathing. I kissed her, pouring air and life into her. Sirens wailed in the distance, moving toward us. She coughed and shuddered. Breathe, Alice. Breathe, I said. She coughed again; a trail of blood wound its way down her chin. Her eyes opened, she looked around her and settled on me. She coughed once more. She couldn't talk. When she said Thank you, Daniel, it came as a whisper, but her eyes said it all. Try not to move, I told her, the ambulance is on its way. Her brow made itself into a pyramid. Her eyes pleaded with me. She mouthed something at me; I leaned closer, and she whispered, Where do we go from here?
No comments:
Post a Comment