Page 446 of Eternal
I whisper it with her, even if I don’t understand it yet.
I close my eyes and feel the wind in my hair and the sun on my face, I think, maybe that’s what it means.
Letting down…. Growing wings.
I want to listen to this song forever and be an iris, or a star, or a girl with wings. Like a butterfly!
Someone who stays in this field forever.
Mama leans her head against mine, still humming the song.
Let down and haaaaanggiiiing arouuuuuund….
I smile so wide my cheeks hurt, the camera’s still buzzing, the flowers are all around me, the sky is gold.
And I think… Maybe I already have wings.
125
DAMIR
“River” by Leon Bridges
One year later
Heads roll, skin peels, bodies burn, screaming buried alive beneath dirt they thought was safe.
Every name in those pictures followed. Tracked. Killed.
Kill. Another kill. Proof. Disgust.Throwing up in the cold bathroom.
Kill. Another one. Proof. Disgust.
Sleepless nights in an empty built house, blue walls waiting. The house takes shape, room by room, star by star on the ceiling. A place for her. Or for what’s left of her.
A year drains away in silence and blood.
I deliver the files, piece by piece, to Elijah, to Nikolai, to Zanae.
Kat and Vik are grieving in their own ways. The dogs stopped playing, they wait outside at the same hour everyday like she’sgoing to come back. They get excited when they hear the roar of a bike, but it’s never her, they keep waiting. I do it too. I know what they feel.
We were so close, so close to having it all.
The Governor’s in a cage, his friends in dirt. The filth flushed from this city.
No one sees the hollow inside. I’m empty. Cold. Dead.
The USB key slides into Elijah’s palm. He’s here with Nikolai to visit her grave, Zanae is inside with Kat and Vik is smoking alone. They changed too, in a way.
“Do you have everything?”
My gaze found his green eyes. They’re cold but there’s something behind them… Compassion maybe.
“I do. After a year, this city is finally clean. We collected them all.Azra…” Not her name. I can’t think now. I can’t fall down right now.I can’t. “She left so many notes, files. They helped a lot.”
He looked at me, then lit a cigarette, mirroring me. “You know you have the right to feel fucked right now.”
I took a drag and closed my eyes. “Take care of this. Take care of your girl, Nikolai, and Bennedito. The Governor’s probably already dead in his cell, his dirty little secrets are everywhere on the news. Be careful when you go back to Vesper.”
