The Void Between Hearts ~~ongoing~~

ⓊⓅⓈⒾⒹⒺ ⒹⓄⓌⓃ

ℬᎾℳᎯ

MY EYES open to sunlight; too bright, too hot. Everything looks upside down and I can't understand where my head and feet are. Around me, solid ground; sand.

The beach? Daniel?

Flicking my toes to remove the crumbly grains of sand in between them, I remember how I felt like someone plunged a spear through my ribs and squeezed my lungs dry. I had also been trying to call Ivan.

I hear footsteps behind me. "Hey, again."

I turn around and as expected. He's right there, jerrycoils dancing in the breeze, with an honest smile dancing on his lips. It's so honest it's impossible not to return them.

"I'm not dead, right?" I ask, he shrugs. "Great. So this shouldn't take a lot of time then?"

"Well," he chuckles quietly. "What if I told you that it was time now?"

"Time for what?"

"You're smarter than that question, Boma." He says. I move away from him towards the water. Different from last time, it's sunrise not sunset, with white seagulls perched on the blue water .

"What are you Daniel? Angel or something else?"

He laughs, not obliging me an answer.

"How do I end up here talking to you"—my reflection in the rippling water distracts me, I see my hair swaying, I see my eyes staring, but unlike I know, I feel like nothing belongs to me—"You're dead Daniel, and I'm not. Is this heaven? Or is–"

"I don't have all the answers," he cuts me off.

I feel my brows knit and my lips squeeze. "I'm not dead. Fine. Do your magic trick so I can go back to being alive. Thanks."

"Boma–"

"I'm still waiting. Snap your fingers or something."

"You're getting upset–"

"No! I'm not 'getting' upset. I am upset! Stop playing stupid games with me!"

“Games,” he murmurs underneath his breath, slowly turning his head away from me.

I clutch my fingers and move my feet around; the prickly sand seems to piss me off even more.

Maybe this is all in my head.

“Daniel.”

“Yes?” he asks. I haul my feet through the sand, walking up to him until I’m close enough to see the crystals on his skin. For a small moment I’m caught in awe, just looking and wondering what he is.

“Are you real or is this some sort of apparition?”

“Do I look fake?” he says. I detect the mockery in his voice and it takes nothing for my palm to land on his face. It feels soft, but also a bit hard, and chilly, like ice.

“Ouch?” he says.

“Don’t ‘ouch’ me! I'm freaking out here and you're not helping!" My heart starts to pound like the time I went under the bathtub in Zanzibar. The air going into my nose becomes cold and tears start to spill.

"Boma–"

"You’re supposed to be dead Daniel!”

"Boma," he reaches out his hand for me to hold but I take small steps away from him.

“Where are you going to?” he asks.

“Do the thing you did last time, snap your fingers or something and let me go!” Deep down, I can feel rage, boiling hot rage.