Page 99 of Evil Hearts

When the sun set, the wedding party convened at a brewery for a casual dinner. Ryan and Ayla issued a clipped run-down of the proceedings for the next day. It wasn’t a formal rehearsal dinner, fitting for such a carefree couple, and most of the evening’s attention went to the sample flights shared around the table.

Full of beer and sliders, Lewis tottered back to his room after Ryan graciously drove him back to his hotel. Though the buzz had worn off during the car ride, sleep knocked heavily behind his eyes. His room was uncharacteristically cool when he returned. He hadn’t left the AC on, hadn’t even touched it. Perhaps the housekeeper had fiddled with the setting. Lewis’ gaze lifted to the window. It was open.

While he was glad the room wasn’t as stuffy as it had been, the chill would only grow more intense through the night. He shuffled to the window and gripped his fingers on the sash. Before he could close it, his eyes caught a glimmer under moonlight.

Leaning over, he noticed droplets of water on the sill. It wasn’t particularly clear water. A bit of dirt floated in the liquid coins. Lewis narrowed his eyes, wondering if some AC unit above him was dripping. Groaning against old warped wood and too many layers of paint, he slammed the window closed.

As Lewis settled into the covers, darkness swept over his eyes. Sleep came easily as air through an open door, but on the tails of the breeze of dreams, a voice whispered.

“Fei…”

It wasn’t an abyss that greeted him this night. Instead, a river flowed before Lewis, a cloudless cobalt sky above. The river ran straight, glassy, with barely any ripples echoing from thebanks that led to wide, grassless plains. Due to the unchanging landscape, it took a few moments for Lewis to realize he was skimming along the surface of the river toward the horizon.

There was nothing but raw land, sky, and water to indicate whether he was destined for some place or not. He was simply moving forward. It was an alien landscape, as though the Earth had finally given up the ghost and plant life ceased to exist. He peered down, but the water was dark and refused to betray its secrets.

A familiar feeling wrapped around Lewis’ body. He searched for the source only to find the continued nothingness. The force tightened around his hips, stirring a flinch, though his vector remained unchanged and unjostled along the river. He stared down at himself. His boxers sucked into his skin under the invisible force, his belly squished similarly.

The pressure began to roll in undulating waves along his bottom half. Lewis inhaled against the windless pursuit of the horizon. His arms reached from his sides to the water, but it was purely an illusion. He couldn’t feel anything aside from the force around his body. It was all an illusion, a dream. However, the force pressed into his flesh as real as his lungs expanded inside him. It squeezed tighter.

Lewis woke.

Saturday

Lewis watched hisshame mix with dregs of shampoo and slip through the shower drain. This was a wedding day, and he felt a little guilty starting it off by pleasuring himself. He blamed his brain. Perhaps this weekend interruption to his usual routine was the cause of the unusual REM activity.

Stepping out of the shower, Lewis quickly shaved his face. While there wasn’t much to shave, he wanted to look as kept as possible for his friend’s event. Lewis then combed his short hair, parting it to the side. A light smear of mousse ensured it remained in place. Reaching his collarbone, he righted a leather cord necklace with a small amber bead. Lewis was not one for jewelry, but he had been a fan ofJurassic Parkand this piece had caught his eye when he was abroad with his parents. The region was known for its amber and it had also been the last trip he took with his family before his dad fell ill. The prehistoric gem was now a reminder of two pasts.

Lewis stared at himself in the mirror. His indigo blazer fitted him nicely, although a bit of his stomach teetered over the belt. He sighed. He looked like a teddy bear on his best days, a potato on his worst. It was an honor to be Ryan’s last groomsman, and Lewis would do anything for the closest friend he had in college, but he was still thankful Ryan and Ayla were so lax about their wedding. They allowed the groomsmen and bridesmaids to pickwhatever formal attire they wished, so long as they were not in black or white.

Despite his own preparations, Ryan was generous enough to swing by Lewis’ hotel to pick him up. He was both surprised and not that two other groomsmen were already in Ryan’s crossover, dressed in their formal attire with bags of unopened beer bottles.

“Welcome to the party bus!” one man hollered.

Lewis released a chuckle and clambered in after them.

A drive later, they pulled into the venue, a quaint winery with Tuscan accents and a barn to house the reception. The wine-tasting rooms were partitioned into dressing stations, and here Lewis met with the other men and received a corsage, the one thing uniting the groomsmen in their appearance.

After final touches and one more pass of the lint roller, the groomsmen filed out with the bridesmaids to the ceremony space in the manicured garden. A string quartet played them in, perking Lewis’s ears. He really loved string quartets. He had wanted one for his own wedding, but Cynthia wanted her sister to play the piano instead.

Fixing a practiced smile for the photographer, Lewis then allowed his gaze to drift toward the horizon. Seeking refuge from the memories of his own wedding, he looked past the blushing bride with her parents on either side, past the beaming crowd sitting in duplicated rows of white banquet chairs. He watched the wind stir the branches of green, ghosts of the land carrying on with no regard to the fleeting moment of human ceremony. The invisible forces lifted skyward to melt into the blue expanse. Lewis wished to go with them.

The officiant and ensuing vows condensed into a drone as Lewis unfocused his eyes and the palette of the landscape disassembled into smears of paint. His part was over, so he allowed himself to dissolve into the moment. The practiced smile remained fixed on his face, while beyond the flesh hismind fled elsewhere. It wasn’t until the groomsman before him stepped into his line of vision that Lewis realized the ceremony was over and they were filing out.

The wine-tasting rooms had been reverted to their mundane use, albeit with a bit more decoration for the event. Servers wove between chatting clusters amid the clinking of glasses. Lewis nursed a glass of champagne as he leaned against the live edge of a mantel crowning a rustic fireplace centered in the room. It was a welcome reward after being at the mercy of the wedding photographer and the myriad shots she ordered.

“Lewis Lam, is that you?”

Lewis turned around to see a smiling man with slicked-back hair. He was in a sharp navy suit that spoke of money and refined taste. Soon Lewis’ memory caught up and he realized he had once had a class with this man. “Arun?”

“Yeah, man! Good to see you!” Arun clapped his shoulder. Heavy cologne wafted toward Lewis’ nose.

“How have you been?” asked Lewis.

“Busy! My brother formed a start-up and I’m his lead guy in investor procurement and relations.”

“Wow! That’s intense.”

“I’ll say!” Arun plucked an appetizer from a passing server and popped the whole stuffed mushroom in his mouth. He quickly chewed and swallowed it. “What about you? What have you been up to? Still into journalism?”

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