Book Three: Today
Chapter 50
Karmen didn’t know how long she had remained on the bottom of the ocean. Time passed and nothing touched her. Then, after the leaves had disappeared, she felt her body move upward, light appeared around her, and she felt herself floating on the sea. When she opened her eyes, she looked into the grey sky. The wind blew across the waves.
Chapter 51
Abel appeared, swimming beside her, and he slowly advanced in front of her. She tried to approach him, but each time he seemed to move back away from her again. Slowly, she swam through the water. Even at school, she hasn’t been a very good diver, but now she felt truly exhausted and she had no idea how long she had been in the ocean. After a while, an island appeared and she was surprised by its strange form. When she finally arrived, exhausted, she climbed out of the water. She hurt herself on the island’s hard grey surface, and she saw a red liquid coming out of her hand. It dropped into the sea.
Chapter 52
She stood. The water seemed grey and the air had a strange smell and was cold. She looked around. There were no bamboo huts, no eggs, no flowers, no leaves, no fruits. Only some grey and brown dark boxes. She approached one of them; it was cold.
Chapter 53
Abel walked in front of her, smiling. Karmen realized she could see slightly through him, and his tanned browned body appeared in a strange white light. What was happening to her? Was she dead? What was this land?
Chapter 54
She held her hand out to touch one of the boxes. She had never felt anything so hard before. She looked at her hand and saw a brownish-red substance smearing on it. All of a sudden, the big box opened and a large man appeared.
Chapter 55
She’d never seen someone overweight before. All of the fishers and seers, priests, and teachers were slim and healthy, but the man before had a big belly hanging over some dirty trousers under an also dirty shirt.
Chapter 56
“Now, who or what are you?” he asked as she suddenly became aware that she was naked. Quickly, she turned away and jumped into the sea. She dove away, feeling weak after the rest of many years. At least Abel was with her, diving at her side and, with some relief, she noticed that all the injures of the black shark attack had disappeared.
Chapter 57
The water wasn’t the same anymore. While it was once an ocean blue and full of fish flowers and plants, it had now a greenish dark color, and while she could still breathe underwater, her head got dizzy and the air felt sticky.
Chapter 58
After sunset, she became aware that she wasn’t affected by its disappearing light anymore, and she climbed out of the water and reapproached the grey and brown boxes. Some of them had a transparent surface now and a yellow light came from the inside out.
Chapter 59
She put a hand on the transparent surface. It was hard and she couldn’t move through it. She saw some strange clothes on the inside and, all of a sudden, the transparent surface in front of her shattered into pieces. She slowly approached the clothes and took some, putting them on. They were of a strange, dry, and lifeless tissue and seemed to be very different than the plants and leaves she used to wear. Abel was smiling happily at her.
Chapter 60
All of a sudden a fast-moving box appeared and some men jumped out of it. She had never ever seen someone so angry looking before. They approached her and stared at her. She smiled friendly at them.
Chapter 61
They put her in the box and then in another box and said many things she didn’t understand. Finally, they’d let her go again. She wandered around and slept between the boxes. As she became hungry, she went back into the sea and chased some fish, but they were tasteless and made her sick. She saw how people walked into the boxes and ate some strange things from round flat circles that were put in front of them.
Chapter 62
She entered one of the boxes and a flat leaf was set down in front of her. Little signs were on it. Some showed circles with things on them. She pointed at a few of them, and a little time later they were set down in front of her. She tried to eat the things on the circles. It was very different. Usually, she still felt the life between her teeth, fresh and full of energy. Now it seemed lifeless.
Chapter 63
After the meal, she saw how people around her put their hands on another plate. A slight glow appeared and they sighed, expressing some pain apparently. She did the same and felt a slight tickling and felt a bit of her life drain out of her. She never experienced anything stranger. Confused, she stood up and moved out of the box.
Chapter 64
She repeated it over and over again and started to understand, when she wanted something, she had to walk into a box, point at it, and had to ‘pay’ for it, putting her hand on a flat tablet which would light up and then draw some life out of her. Usually people became very friendly at this moment. She also understood that if she needed something she had to ‘buy’ it; she couldn’t just take it. She had to ‘buy’ and ‘pay’ with her life.
Chapter 65
She even saw people walking in their boxes and not coming out until the morning, disappearing behind hard materials that closed behind them. She walked in several and asked if she could also sleep in one of the boxes. Usually people just laughed and turned away, but in one box someone said she could ‘rent’ a room. She nodded and found herself in another box, a bit like a hut, but everything around her remained hard and lifeless. She finally slept on a soft box she found. In the morning, the sunlight didn’t wake her.
Chapter 66
Someone asked if she wanted her clothes ‘cleaned.’ She didn’t know what it meant, but the next morning all the colors on them that she had collected over the last months had disappeared. She felt slightly disappointed; had she done something wrong? But she saw that most people here didn’t show any scales or trophies, and everybody seemed to try constantly to remove all colors from the world. In the evenings, she sat at the hard table, happy that Abel held her company, smiling in front of her, and watching her happily. She got used to the fact that he didn’t talk anymore but was glad he was there with her.
Chapter 67
Finally, she saw someone struggling as he had to ‘pay’ and fall lifeless on the ground. Quickly she approached and started to sing the song of resurrection and life, but she felt she came too late.
Chapter 68
She got used to paying and she knew she would be able to do it for a very long time, even if it drained a bit of life out of her. But, she had been the bringer of life before and even if she lost a lot of vitality, she felt herself growing stronger again over time. And, one day, she made a strange discovery. She went into one of the boxes to see why so many people were going there to touch the many flat plates.
Chapter 69
She did the same and felt a new color appearing beside the usual life draining ‘payment,’ and she was asked if she wanted to ‘invest.’ Unsure, she nodded and all of a sudden she could feel the life inside her grow back again in huge amounts. Amazed, she realized how people around her made the same action and how it brought back life to them.
Chapter 70
Finally, she even had this blue glow appearing in her box and she could invest there. She felt her power growing and life came back. Out before the transparent substance between her and the world, she saw the grey and white clouds appearing out of long hard tunnels over the many boxes. She stopped leaving her box and continued to invest day and night. Abel seemed to be unhappy about it and he turned his back on her, but for the first time since many years she felt happy again and sat in the blue glow while she invested for many weeks. When she finally awoke, she felt full of life, but there were no seers or dancers appearing. As she left her box, Abel remained sleeping, his head under his arms.
Chapter 71
As she walked around, she noticed how the world had changed again. Many people had become weaker and the air nearly seemed un
breathable to her. Only at the box where she had invested did people look healthy and full of life. She entered it again and continued to invest until she was asked to leave as the ‘bank’ closed.
Chapter 72
She returned to her ‘room’ in her ‘hotel’ and continued to ‘invest’ in many ‘factories’ and ‘opportunities.’ She felt her life growing and smiled happily. Abel wasn’t around, she noticed. She continued in front of her ‘screen,’ investing as she felt her life grow.
Chapter 73
She heard a knock at her ‘door.’ She opened and saw Abel standing there. He was crying. She didn’t know what to do and suddenly felt something she had never felt before. She had seen it around her but had never experienced it in herself before. She felt her mouth moving in a negative smile and she was angry. She had to return to her screen; she was losing life. She had to invest faster to earn more life.
Chapter 74
Abel cried in a corner. She was touching her screen faster and faster and felt her life growing until all of a sudden it turned all red. A beeping voice appeared and she fell on the hard floor. Where were all the leaves and the plants and the fish? She had lost it all; she had no life left. She felt the emptiness inside. She crawled outside, the door closed behind, and she felt she couldn’t go back as she couldn’t pay anymore. She slowly reached the dirty water of the ocean. She felt the water closing above her and continued to sink to the bottom. She tried to breathe but she couldn’t do it anymore. There were no more fish and no more plants.
Chapter 75
Abel took her in his arms and she died.
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Dedicated to all the people from the islands.
I hope you enjoyed reading this book.
It was written on a cell phone on a train ride in Germany while I was visting friends.
I felt inspired and was satisfied with the result.
Short, poetic and with a meaning, that I wanted to communicate.
And a feeling, a lot of feelings and images that came to my mind and that I wanted to describe precisely. I had help for the review, as English is not my mother tongue. Funny enough, even until today I haven’t translated it yet to German. Anyhow, it would be great, if you could rate it in the store.
I’m also happy to learn more about you.
Who you are, where you read the book and what you thought about it.
My email is
[email protected] Thanks for your thoughts and all the best to you.
Copyright 2017 Peter Schneider : All rights reserved.
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