CHAPTER 2
Sorrow, worry and confusion left Richard feeling hopeless. Call after call went straight to voicemail, his stomach dropped each time it rang. Just as he was about to give up and call the police someone answered. It was muffled, but he could still hear a man’s voice say,
“Damn! You look cute,” followed by a giggle. Then the call cut off.
Sinking further and deeper into the backness, he closed his eyes. Richard’s cheeks had swollen. He felt as if they had begun to melt off his face, with clammy hands he tried to mush them back into shape. Pressing and rubbing his eyelids so hard, that for a second he almost saw something through the darkness. He continued rubbing as if he were somehow wiping away reality. But the darkness clawed through into the night. Carving an empty hollow blackness into his soul.
“Was it possible, was she with another man?” he thought to himself, “Was it because I didn’t give her a ride? Had she finally had enough, but why so suddenly? After all these years…it’s my fault. I could have done more. I am such an idiot, I took her for granted, but I never thought she would leave. I always do this, I let my life slip away in the moment that I dream of another. My career, my brother, and now my wife. Why can’t I just get it together. ”
He paced back and forth in his living room, making his way to the freezer where he pulled out a bottle of liquor. Swiping the cap off the bottle he ingested and showed his teeth as he breathed out fire.
“I’m so stupid!” he shouted as he slammed his hand on the counter. “I don’t deserve her. I don’t even know how to live my life, she’s probably better off without me. I’m just a drain.” He turned and leaned on the counter, bringing his hand to his head and gripping his hair.
He thought back to how they first met, he was a student in film school and she was an aspiring actress. Dreams of becoming a big time director had filled him with passion and drive. Constantly writing and creating stories Richard was a bit of an artist. She walked into an audition for a DIY student film listing that he had posted online. He wasn’t very impressed with her at first, there were so many beautiful women in his life and she was just another set of gorgeous eyes. When she began reading the script, a wave of calmness came over him, he felt his breath steady and powerful. Her lips moved slowly and each word she spoke entered Richards heart one syllable at a time, filling all the blood in his veins with vibrations. The hairs on his arms lifted and his head began tingling like the ripples of a raindrop in a shallow pond. His eyes filled with moisture as they widened in the presence of true beauty. She had re-written his script, immediately, he fell in love.
They quickly began working together. Richard would come up with the story and scene, but she was the master of dialogue. She knew how to empower people, how to make them feel what she felt, how to make them breathe the same air she was breathing. They won several student filmmaker awards on their journey together and got married right after college. The week before the pandemic hit, they were up for an award at a prestigious film festival.
At first, the fear in the air was transparent. With new laws, the fear became so thick and opaque you could taste it. Pulling your lips down pinching on your neck, pressing your shoulders forward as it punched you in the jaw. The government forced the shut down of schools, business, and religious gatherings, people had no choice but to fear it. The news media constantly ran stories of entire families passing away. Households were left completely empty and abandoned. It wasn’t just the poor either, in the early days wealthy affluent families were all passing away, leaving huge companies and vast riches up for grabs. Political parties with successors so far down the chain of command that their promotions were unaware to them.
The economy had changed since the pandemic, large gatherings were banned and commercial filmmaking was nearly impossible. Richard took a job editing adult films with his brother Moeran. It was one of the few industries still producing content. It felt great to be with his brother. They would party at work and listen to their favorite music. Moe was an animal, and had a hard time ending the party. Eventually he got turned onto a new type of drug and disappeared. Richard was always there for his brother, but had recently grown tired of always trying to fix him. He worried for his brother, but also felt relieved when he was gone. He promised himself he would look for his brother and help him out, but simply never got around to it. Richard started to hate the job at the office and It only took one phone call to his uncle for him to get his current prestiguouse job.
His wife, disillusioned with acting, took an entry level job at the hospital near the Meat Co. in their neighborhood. Part of the reason she was such a good actor was that she was always a caring and compassionate person. Anytime she made a new friend she became deeply invested in their worries and plight, trying to help any chance she could. When she watched movies, she would always cry if the person on screen was crying.
***
Richard stood at his desk reliving and remembering every beautiful moment that he and his wife spent together. He pulled up a film on his computer that he and his wife had created. It was shot in black and white, his wife stood in front of a wall in between a window and a houseplant. It was the story of a woman who had to leave her lover. There was an evil powerful man in love with her, and if she stayed she would have to marry him. Her lover had many ties to the city and was not prepared to leave with her. She stared into the camera with her deep brown eyes and said,
“I can’t stay, you know that. they will come for you and I can’t have that. Life without you will be hard, but at least if I run I will know you are still breathing. Every time you breathe, my lungs will fill with air. Every time your heart pumps, my veins will fill with blood. Every day I will become stronger because I know you are safe. So I am leaving today, but you will never leave me.”
She walked closer to the camera, her hair was natural and wavy. She was slim, but very curvy. Eyes were big and round in a constant state of excitement. Her lips were juicy and adorended her face just below her perfectly shaped delicate nose. Looking directly into the camera, piercing though the screen, she took a deep breath, then walked out the door.
***
Richard was now sitting down at his desk, thinking about how he didn’t deserve her. How could he ever win her back, even in the movie he wasn’t brave enough to go after her. He sulked and drank and continued watching their old films. Experiencing a burst of passion he stood up and kicked the chair out away from him. Soon he felt heavy with liquor and took to sitting on the floor resting his back on the wall.
He pulled up another film on his phone. This one was the story of a corrupt politician in mythological Greece who was trying to break up with his mistress. Richards’ wife wore long braided hair with a goddess tierra. She looked off to the side, took a drink from a goblet of wine, returning her scowl to the camera, she spat the following words out,
“There is no end now, what we have started will go on forever. You will never be able to forget how good I was to you, every time you look at your wife you will wish it was me. I won’t let you just leave of course, I know everything about you. I will expose you. If you think you can make me disappear, I will tell the Gods of your blasphemy and get you banished.”
***
Richard thought about how beautiful she looked when she was being nasty. Laying on the floor now, the poison liquid he was putting in his body was making his head too heavy to lift. The blinds were closed and the bright office was dark and gloomy for a change. A sudden burst of lights erupted from his computer screen, his drone footage popped open. Richard winced his eyes and tried to block the light with his hands. He had sulked through the night and his shift was starting. He forced himself up and fell into his chair.
“Rich. Richard! Are you there? I got shit to do today man. Where are you at!” A voice from the computer speakers exclaimed.
“Mike, I’m here, i’m here. Sorry, I had a late night” Richard slurred.
“Well, you sound like shit, but i can’t cover for you today, I got shit to do! Later buddy.” Mike ended the transmission with a beep.
Fumbling and smashing the keys on his keyboard he tried to set the drone to autopilot. In his stupor he accidentally clicked open the footage from his last drone report. Like seaweed deep in the ocean, his head drifted back and forth as he stared at the screen, bright light pushing him back like a current. At first he couldn’t tell what he was looking at. He switched the footage from infrared mode to night vision and he could see with a bit more clarity. He immediately recognized her long brown hair, voluptuous lips, and curvy body. He couldn’t believe it, it was his wife and he had in fact just sent the only real thing in his life to a place that doesn’t exist.
Richard then proceeded to pass out.
***
Excerpt from the Intercepted Private Email of Dr. Whump
Hello Mother ,
A patient has died. I don’t think I can continue being a part of this research. I have a meeting with Zeal today.
Might see you sooner than later,
Dr. Whump
Daniel Amenero 