Life

 

"Murderer"- the voices screamed, louder, louder, piercing from my ears to my thoughts they shouted "Murderer"
"MURDERER!"

Everything was the same, my coffee, black, no sugar, ready in less than three minutes, always served in my #1 dad cup. A sad scenery of my living room and myself sitting on my old couch from my bachelor days in which only one person could seat, just enough for me. I picked up the newspaper from my entrance door, I should remember to pay the delivering boy an extra something for taking the time to set it perfectly even within the "welcome" rug. The headline reads, "Suicide Mom Takes Her Children To Death!", nothing worthy of my attention I must admit, I already know that story, it is always the same: a bad husband who hits his wife, yells and beats the children until he makes them cry, then the mother, having enough of her husband, decides to kill her children and then she kills herself, boring.

I read quickly each page, not paying much attention to the news really, waiting to see if something would fire my curiosity to read more. A waste of time. As I laid down the newspaper neatly folded on the nighest table, I picked my cup and drank one glug of coffee, carefully enough so I won't burn my lips and tongue. Life has transformed, it is boring now, nothing ever really happens nowadays, the same stuff, the same people, the same troubles and the same "amusements". Humanity has taken away the best of life, so much, that it shouldn't be called life anymore.

The phone rang, interrupting my soliloquy, the caller id showed me "unknown number", but still I answered.

- Hello?- I said enthusiastically apathetic.
- Vladislav?- she said, giving a short pause, I didn't answered.- Vlad, I need your help-
She continued.- You and I are the only ones left of us, the only ones who still know his secret, I need you!-
As exciting as it might sound I merely whispered,- Irina, no- and I hung the phone down.

Whatever Irina wanted, it must've been related to her brother, Vitali, none of my bussiness, she should've never called. Irina and I had difficult times growing together in Krasnoyarsk. She herself tried to commit suicide a couple of years earlier, the doctors had to give her special medication and saved her life, but on the psychological background, she ended up crazy. Vitali is a good man, a man of faith and loyal to his family, never on the wrong side of the law, always playing fair, but his crazy sister now believes he's a murderer and calls to my apartment every month in search for my unnecessary help.

Retirement is a boring blessing, I'm too old now to enjoy my free time. The coffee is colder now, but it remains still warm, the perfect temperature for my to drink it softly. I picked up the remote control which was by the newspaper and pushed the "on" button. Straight to the news flash channel which had the same boring stories which the newspaper has already told me. "Channel Up" and we are now there, the best channel ever, "The Wheel of Fortune" was on. Clearly and sadly, this is the smartest show on t.v. now. The U.S. offers us "top quality nothing shows", which are the best of the "Top quality nothing shows" from the rest of the world.

The intelectual brightness of the t.v.'s shows made me fell asleep.

In my dreams I saw myself, I was sitting on a bench and in front of me I was sitting on the same bench. The whole world dissapeared, everything was white now, one would think that darkness is scary, but I can tell now for sure that infinite light is far more scary. I remained on the bench, looking to the other me directly to his eyes. I saw his chest breathing, I heard his heart pounding, but his eyes reflected his dead situation. He was long gone before my dream ever started. His lips started to mumble.

 

- You are a bad person, Vladislav. I will take you with me-

 

I woke up from my slumber, there was sweat all over the same gray shirt I wore every day, that makes me angry, now I'll have to change my clothes. I managed my way out of the couch and walked slowly, almost willingless to my room. On the way to my destination I crossed by the front door and saw there, on the floor, a letter. It was Vitali who sent me this.

It reads:

 

September 8th, 1999

"Dear Vladislav,

     I don't know how to say this with words, my friend, and I'm afraid that I couldn't ask you to see me under better circumstances, but I would like you to assist to my sister's funeral. You remember her, don't you? Her name was Irina. I know I should have told you about her passing face to face, but in this difficult times, I found it easier to write this short letter to you. Please contact me.

     The funeral will take place at the city cemetery at noon, I really hope you'll come, and I'm sure Irina would want you to come, too.

     Your old and dear friend,
        Vitali"

 

Irina is dead! But I can't believe it, this letter must be wrong, I spoke to her some hours ago, and this letter was written yesterday. I must...

I should,

what could I...?

My heart is beating faster than it normally does, my thoughts I cannot gather and reason is betraying me. He will take me with him. What was I talking about?

I must first gather myself together, change my clothes and contact Vitali. I entered my room and as quickly as I could I took off my shirt, my green pants and tossed them to the bed. I won't take a shower. I reached the closet and looked for a descent sweater, a pair of dressing pants color brown and the suit for it. As I was putting on my silver watch on my left hand, I noticed something which freezed me. My face grew paler and and my heart was beating as fast as a heart can beat. I couldn't keep standing and I fell to my knees as I crawled backwards with my sight still to the front. My gray shirt, it wasn't sweat, it had never been.

I buried my red shirt under my backyard's soil. I continued my way to Vitali, and assisted the funeral. He was crying, I never saw him cry when we were younger, never, not a single tear. After the burial, we went to a coffee shop, near to the centertown. He talked to me about Irina and about himself too. He told me he got married many years ago, but it didn't worked well and he got separated from his wife. The rest of it, well, he took care of his sister as long as she lived.

The next day my routine began once again. Life goes on, or at least I did.

Author's Note

Ignore bad grammar, if any.