Virus#

She had the virus. 

Before it had swallowed her completely I had my chance to get an answer out of her. I asked her about words and numbers and whether or not the two were the same. We were on the train headed for Stockholm and her yellow thighs were exposed stemming out of the hem of her torn garment. I was afraid to touch them but I did anyway when the train went under a tunnel, and there was nothing but the shadows and the sand, eyes blinking thru a quiet bland. Her skin peeled under my fingers. 

 She laid her skull on my shoulder, and I felt her heave warmth into my armpit. I felt uncomfortable with this leaking cranium on my shoulder so I shifted until she found herself using my lap as an improvised pillow. I stroked her hair and it was then when I asked her about the Word. 

"What is it?" I had said. "What is this thing that lurks in the nothingness of the emptiness of the void of the jelly inside my own skull? Why are these words revolving and surfacing when I don't want them to? When I just want to float in the sea of my own being, float until I am swallowed by my own ocean, why do these words always float back to me?"    

She crossed her legs and brushed away the flakes of dead skin. She said it was a virus, and wiped her eyes. 

"A virus?" I said. "What kind of virus? Genetic? Molecular? Astral?"   

She shrugged and said she didn't know. 

I sighed. The train rumbled. It stopped and people departed and then more people got on. We were in the back, where there were no other passengers. The train continued. I asked her about numbers. 

"What is the number then?" I said. She sat up and looked at me with her decaying iris, the overwhelming pupil. 

 She said, "The number is a language. It is the only language. Listen," and she pulled out a note book and pen from her bag. She plotted dots on the graph paper, traced the dots along the grid, until they formed a spiral. She handed me the paper and traced the spiral with the tip of her pen. 

"This is the Fibonacci sequence. When this sequence of numbers are graphed, it always forms a spiral. Each number is the sum of the two previous numbers, and it creates the golden spiral. This spiral is found everywhere in nature. Its patterns occur everywhere and happen in everything. You may not notice or see it, but it is there. It's even on you," She traced my ear with her pen. It tickled and I withdrew. 

"What are you getting at? I asked. 

"Look," and she drew my ear on the paper next the the graphed spiral. "I'm going to copy the spiral from this graph onto your ear."   

She traced around the sketch of my ear, plotted some numbers on the grid, erased some dots and put them somewhere else. 

"What is this," I said. 

"Just wait," she murmured. "It's a rough sketch, but you'll see it." 

A moment later she handed the paper back to me, and I looked at it. I traced the contours of my ear and it resulted into a perfect spiral. 

"It's not just ears", she whispered. "It's everywhere."   

The train stopped. She nudged my shoulder. 

"This is it." 

We got off the train. I had to help her walk. 

"I can't hear numbers. But I still hear these words. They must be the same," I said. She laughed. 

"Languages are viruses. S**t, it all comes back to us--just look at me."   

And I did. The wind blew in curves, and her hair spiraled in the solar breath.

Author's Note

Some lunch-break fiction

Reviews

[Mia Sparrow]

it sounds like, because she GOT IT, she was beginning to decay because her mind and body were just a flimsy shell that housed the truth. that words 'get in the way,' but perhaps protects us from the reality of the number. and not everybody can hear it. i know i'm probably completely off, but this was thought provoking and makes you think laterally rather than linearly. great job. so much meaning in so little words.

[Chadvonswan]

Thanks a lot Mia Sparrow. I appreciate reviews from such a royal, sophisticated writer. (:

[Ariana Omnomnom]

Once again you win my favour, but maybe it's never good. I love your writing, and I'm so jealous of it.

[Chadvonswan]

Thanks a lot. You may have this virus

[Ariana Omnomnom]

Great another diagnosis to deal with.

[ZackOfBridge]

I think she just has chlamydia

[Chadvonswan]

Skin cancer caused by mathematics. Also aids from math teacher (but that's another story)

[Gaston Villanueva]

"I cant hear numbers. But i hear these words"
I like the enjoy of languages as viruses a lot and it makes sense
I like the associations you make to one of your favorite movies, Pi haha
Clever, refreshing, and a thought-provoking read my friend
Thanks for sharing Chadvonswan

[Chadvonswan]

Yo yo thanks G-Tron