Alice's Island~A Novel by Daniel Sánchez Arévalo

Author:Daniel Sánchez Arévalo [Arévalo, Daniel Sánchez]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B07GNW6Q2Y
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2019-04-16T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

I thought I’d gotten over my aversion to receiving sincere and deeply felt condolences from my family. But when I saw a van arrive from my bedroom window with my grandmother Brigitte, my uncle and aunt, my three cousins and their four children, I realized that no, I wasn’t yet ready to receive their effusive gestures of affection and worry. Christmas and being in Providence made the absence of Chris even more ominous.

Before going down for dinner, I stilled my urge to go back to Robin Island by poring through the first of the photos from the camera in the cemetery—without obtaining any results—while I listened, for the fourth time, to the conversation Mark and Julia had had earlier in the day, at noon. I knew it almost by heart.

JULIA: What are you doing?! What are you doing?!

Julia slams the laptop closed in one violent go.

MARK: I was curious. You say you’re not writing, but I hear you typing every night.

JULIA: Typing isn’t writing. Typing is something anyone can do. Writing, no. And if you’re curious, ask.

MARK: Would it have mattered?

Silence.

MARK: I only read a little bit, but I really liked what you wrote, sorry, typed.

Silence.

MARK: It was hard to read, it moved me, but that’s exactly why it’s good.

Silence.

MARK: I really liked that you called the protagonists Paul and Samantha.

JULIA: You’ve never disrespected me this way before.

MARK: Remember the thing I told you when we met, when you came to the office for an emergency? I said to you: Why are we always set on being with the wrong person?

Silence.

MARK: You also told me that day you didn’t like for people to hurt you, and I told you I didn’t like to hurt people either or for them to hurt me. But now, I’m not so sure we’re not hurting one another. Maybe I’m not your Paul. And you’re not my Samantha.

Silence.

MARK: It’s shocking how you’ve turned the tables. It makes me the responsible one for this goddamn situation . . . You want me to leave? You want us to separate? Tell me what you want to do. Anything but this, because it’s unbearable. It has been going on too long . . .

Silence.

MARK: At least put on a different face. Just for tonight. Until your parents leave, so they don’t pelt you with questions. We’ll just pretend we’re a normal, stable couple. One night. OK?

Silence.

JULIA: OK.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.