Twisted immortality

IX - New parameters

Was this hard for him to speak of?

What will talking about it cost him?

If Songkarn was right and he probably was, Anurak had not talked about these things to anyone.

"Do you remember anything about your first home? Your parents? What were they like?" Songkarn tried to keep the questions as easy as possible. It was hard to understand, where and which direction he should push the questioning.

"Well, I do remember them a bit, my parents. I was an arrogant kid. My father was selling slaves and earning big money with it. I can't even imagine that kind of life anymore, after living this long. At that time, there weren't many different ways to live. I just remember that my mom was weak and she died pretty early. It was really so long time ago that it's only a distant memory for me now. My father is surprisingly strong in my memory though. Maybe he really wasn't a bad father but I don't think he was a good person. It took some lifetimes but at some point, I understood how greedy and over-ambitious he was. Though I think he did love me. If one can call it to love when a father doesn't beat you up every other day and takes you with him to learn about the slave trade."

Songkarn watched him carefully. Not yet knowing, what to think about the information Anurak was with him. He would definitely think about all of this later. He waited a moment before asking another question.

"Can you tell me? How did it happen?" Songkarn was ready for an answer like, 'someone had bitten him' or 'somehow he woke up one morning and didn't age anymore.'

There really were too many options one could think of. These days the comics and the movies had given a chance to everything unexplained. Though he did remember what Anurak had said the day before, Songkarn was still not sure what to expect.

"I think there is almost no way to make you really understand what kind of experience it was. First, you can not imagine the time I lived in. It was quite difficult for everyone but I'm sure I had it rather easy for myself at that time frame. It sure came with enough karma to last thousands of lifetimes." Anurak audibly swallowed.

"You know that this is the worst possible way to talk about it. However good you think this thought was, it's actually pretty hard to talk about this kind of stuff behind a wheel. Also, because we are already almost at the hotel. Let's just go to my place and talk about it there."

Even though Songkarn wanted to protest, he held his tongue this time. He had quickly thought of counterattacking the reasons for not talking on the car ride but he was sure that if Anurak totaled the car then he would be totally fine. Songkarn himself probably would not be. So there, the logical thought stopped him from getting into a difficult argument, which he though being interested and curious as ever, will surely lose, on the grounds of not knowing all of the facts. Songkarn moved on to discover everything about Anurak's long life.

"When was the last time you dated somebody?" The question was sitting inside Songkarn's head. This disconcerting idea of Anurak dating all these women and men. How many could there be?

"You really can't wait until we get back? We're nearly there" Anurak smiled gently.

"Well, I guess you can imagine that there have been quite a few, women and men. You don't have to be worried about someone from the past, who could still have a claim on my heart or something like that. That has never happened. I believe it will never happen. I never thought of people as anything but a way to get physical satisfaction. I probably never will search a closer relationship or any as a matter of fact." It sounded final and in Songkarn mind, incredibly far from his own wishes. "Of course, there have been people, whose passing has been hard on me, who were close to me. Even I let one or another person closer than I intended to." One could imagine who Anurak meant right at that second.