A Quarter Life

Chaos

'Heaven? Hell? Purgatory?'

Mike was blabbering in his mind, to pass the time. But the time, it was a tune of betray. The tune, which was supposed to sooth you, but instead, made more broken, made more blood-shedding.

They were on the roads, for a long time. He was not ready for the breeze to be distracting.

Who is this lady? Did he see him before? When? He couldn’t remember. He could just think that he knew her, somehow. How?

Her hair, was open, free to air. The breeze was the advantage. The hairs were in an apocalyptic deviation.

He looked at her eyes. They were ravishing, they could give orders with just a glimpse. The eyes had a calmness, a look to endure the most painful satisfactions. He could feel the satisfaction, but not the pains.

The eyes looked at him. He could have pretended not to see. But he still kept looking.

She said, seductively, 'So, Michael, what did you see, in those?'

He said, 'A satisfaction. An unknown satisfaction.'

She laughed, 'For yourself?'

He replied, 'No, for life, to live.'

She said nothing.

He continued, 'But, I can feel another existence. An existence of unknown pain. It is there, but hidden, not wanting to come out, I just see a curtain.'

She said, 'I think you should look straight.'

He realized, he went too far. He was there, just to take a lift. He had a girl, sick in the hospital, waiting for him, the girl who he was gonna marry.

He said in a soft voice, 'I am extremely sorry ma'am. It was quite inappropriate and embarrassing of me. I have a keen interest in person outlooks, I like to observe. But it was so inappropriate here, I am sorry again.'

She laughed, 'You can stop being too much sorry there. Don’t worry, it’s okay.'

He sighed, looking at the road, and the barren field.

She lit another cigarette and held the packet to him, 'So, what about those bandages and scars?'

He sighed, taking a cigarette, 'Nothing much, burglary on the house, tied me up and took all.'

She laughed, 'That's very sad, yet funny. How did you get untied? Neighbors?'

He nodded, lighting up the cigarette. She checked her car drawer.

She found a box, 'Here, some bandages, and some creams. I think you should replace the dressing.'

He also knew that. He opened the previous dressing. The smell was quite disgusting.

The new dressing had an awfully satisfying smell. He could smell it for lifetime and not get tired.

She said, 'Feeling better?'

He smiled, 'Better than ever.'

They laughed.

The evening star was leading the path, the car was following.

She was driving, having small puffs. He was looking at the roads, the field was, like never-ending.

He took a puff, the smoke was enduring him, in total.

She looked at him, he didn’t notice. If he had noticed, he could see a keen gesture in her eyes.

She said, taking a puff, 'Well, never mind. About the things you said...'

He asked, 'Yeah, what did I say?'

She said slowly, 'About my eyes. You know...'

He said hurriedly, 'I am extremely sorry, really I am.'

She shouted, 'You dumbhead, I didn’t ask for apology. I was saying, you are right.'

He was surprised, 'Oh, really I am?'

She said, 'Yes, can you see the pain?'

He sighed, 'No, just can feel the existence.'

She leaned towards him, 'Can you see now, please, I want to know that. I ask you a favor.'

He looked at her eyes. The pain was behind the curtain, in the same way. He leaned more to see it.

The pain peeped. He saw it, surprisingly. It was her, the lady.

He could smell the cigarette smoke she inhaled, she was close, closer than anyone.

She closed her eyes, grabbed his collar and pulled him near.

Her lips were waiting, craving for his ones. They touched each other. He found the lips soft.

He thought for some milliseconds, about him. The lips were getting close, closer than ever. He could see, he could see, Jenny!!!

He pulled himself away, she was shocked, very shocked. The lips, just barely touched.

He took some deep breaths. What were he thinking?

“We were allotted in a war camp. We heard, the German soldiers were close to this coast. We didn’t know when we had to go to the front line.

We were told to be prepared at anytime. We were, truly. But Reeve, seemed like he came on a visit in these camps.

He had a notebook. He used to write in it. What? Only he knew. I never could decode those Pharaoh writings.

One night, nearly dawn, I was sitting in my bed. The beds were comfortable enough here.

Reeve was there, sitting, with his notebook.

I said, 'Man, I still can't believe it. Noah? Our Noah? He was an informer? A bloody informer? How can that be even a thing?'

Reeve laughed, 'Well, when stomach roars, the gun looks like a f*****g burger.'

I was confused, 'What does that mean?'

He sighed, 'Well, never mind. Let me ask you something.'

I was terrified. If Reeve asked me something, I knew it would be worth dying.

He continued, 'If you had a time machine, would you go to the past to repair the breaching?'

I said, 'Why not?' Because, why not? It would be worth repairing.

He sighed, 'You know? I wouldn’t. I would let that happen.'

I was wondering, 'Why?'

He said, 'You see, I am not the fate, neither the decider of the fate. So, if I manipulate with the flow of time, the consequences will lead into some real unexpected apocalypse.'

I found it familiar, 'Changing leads to bigger changes, I heard it somewhere.'

He laughed, 'Butterfly effect, the chaos theory.'

I remembered, I read that from a book, my father gave it to me.

Reeve said, 'There's another reason. That Noah, was a traitor, but for some reasons, a teacher to me. He taught me one thing.'

I was eager, 'What?'

Reeve said to me, 'To use a new thing, adapt new things. Suppose, you are a Chinese, I am a Chinese. We live in America. How will we communicate? In English?'

I laughed, 'No, mostly in mandarin.'

Reeve said, 'True. Why? For comfort? Yeah you partially say that. But mostly, for bitching about Americans.'

I thought. Yeah, it’s true. Valid reason.

He continued, 'So, main reason is not to let others know. Now think, if we had a language, let's assume it’s fake, made by us, and we used that language in camps, the armies just knew this language, would Noah ever know what would be our plans? Our structures? So, all we needed was a new made language.'

I was way more shocked. The idea was of another level, truly another level.

I said, 'Man, you deserve a true genius monument. What an invention!'

He laughed hard, 'True, but somebody invented it before me.'

I didn’t believe it, 'Who?'

He grinned, 'for whom, the world is now, living in chaos. Adolf Hitler.'

I knew the name. Whole world knew this bastard, 'That mad old guy?'

He laughed, 'Yeah. True he was mad, but he was a genius. He invented the fake language communication, he calls it enigma or something. He invented a lot more things.'

Truly, this mad bastard had some brains in his head.

Reeve sighed, 'But, he is forgetting one thing. He thinks, he is the one, to organize the chaos. He is forgetting, changing chaos bring more chaos.'

I was curious, 'What would you do if you were there?'

He said nothing.

I said, 'But there's a catch. If the man we are bitching about, does, by any chance, know Chinese, then?'

Reeve sighed, 'I also thought that. But we pass the information in such a form, that can't think by it’s own. This is a loophole.'

Suddenly we heard the drums, and the footsteps.

At last, the enemy soldiers were here.”