Page 108 of In This Iron Ground
“And you don’t know. And you don’t know. And you don’tbelieveme.”
“Okay. Hey. Let’s just breathe, okay?”
“How can you not know?”
“Hakan, let’s just breathe. You’re starting to hyperventilate. Let’s just breathe. Here.” Damien climbed on the bed again, his heart racing with alarm. He wrapped himself around Hakan, who immediately clung back.
“It’s okay,” Damien shushed. “It’s okay. Just breathe.”
“No. No.”
“Let’s not think about that tonight. It’s okay, Hakan,” Damien soothed, running his fingers through Hakan’s hair.
Damien held Hakan until his mutterings turned to an exhausted, inebriated sleep. Damien watched him, the shadow of his form twitching beside him.
When the sun rose, Damien untangled himself from Hakan slowly. He sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, trying to put himself back together again. He got up.
In the gossamer silence of the early morning, he slipped away.
**********
Damien didn’t hear anything from Hakan for a whole day. He wasn’t surprised. Hakan was probably trying to figure out how to do damage control for his drunk ramblings. What he hadn’t expected was for Mia to call him.
His stomach dropped as soon as he saw the name flashing on the screen.
“Hello,” Damien croaked, clearing his voice and trying again. “Hi.”
“Hi, Damien. How are you?”
“Good, thanks. How are you?”
“Well…I’m actually arriving at Eketon today. I was wondering if we could meet up.”
Damien’s head started playing a movie. That old, rattling projector was back. It was a familiar genre, this one, but not quite like this.
“Sure.”
“Should we meet at Hakan’s?”
“Um…”
“He won’t be there.”
“Um, yeah. Sure. Sounds good.”
“Okay. How about at eight? I’m afraid I’m arriving a little late.”
“That’s, um, that’s fine.”
“Okay. I’ll see you then.”
“Okay.”
The call cut off. The strings holding him up went with it.
The rest of the day was a blank sheet of paper intermittently poked through to reveal the flashing scene that Damien was sure was about to take place.
He focused on his breathing. On his heartbeat. He stepped away from his body. From the rotting inside.
