The Other Shore: Two Stories of Love and Death by Paul Hina

Author:Paul Hina
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: death and dying, death, love, romance 2016, romance and love, death love, romance, death dreams

After Sy succumbed to his medication and fell asleep, Susannah left his room and everyone else scattered in their different directions. Maggie left to teach a lesson, saying she'd return later that evening. Laura left to take care of some things at the office, saying she'd return in a few hours with a pizza. Susannah stayed in the house but couldn't seem to stay in one place. She moved from room to room carrying a strange manic energy everywhere she went. She didn't seem to be doing much of anything other than busywork, which acted as little more than a distraction to the champagne she continued to drink long after everyone was gone.

Simon returned to his dad's bedside as everyone else disappeared, and this is where he's remained. He's spent at least the past hour staring out the window at the lake or tracing the lines of his dad's jagged profile. He has a magazine on his lap that he's barely read, though not for lack of trying. He grabs it every so often, starts to read, realizes he's absorbed nothing, and then places it back on his lap.

He keeps thinking he should go out by the lake again, get out of this room. The absence of any decor or character is getting to him. When he first saw it, the lack of clutter or personal effects was almost charming, but now it feels morbid and claustrophobic, almost as if they'd already decided to drain all definition from his life, parked him in a twelve-by-twelve foot tomb.

And it's so quiet. Other than the sound of Susannah pacing the hall every now and then, the only sound in the room is his dad's breathing. He finds himself watching the subtle rising and falling of his dad's chest, but the movement becomes blurry and more subtle by the minute, and this starts to take on its own morbidity, like he's anticipating the end, willing it even.

After spending this much time watching his dad die in slow motion, he starts to understand why Susannah can't stand still, opting instead for constant motion and self-medication. It's not pleasant to sit in silence as death teeters above you.

Simon stands up. The magazine falls to the floor, startles him as the noise cuts through the quiet. He picks it up, sits it neatly on the seat of the chair, and looks at his dad to see if the noise disturbed him.

There's no reaction. Nothing has changed.

He looks out at the water again. It's calmly moving, and if he crouches a little, the beach disappears and the water looks as though it's flowing right toward the house. And he closes his eyes, listens for the sound of the water, and he thinks he can hear it. It must be the same sound his dad has spent hours quietly contemplating.

It isn't odd for his dad to so easily go back to the water in his drug-induced state. Almost all of Simon's memories of his dad outside their old house are either at the university or here at the lake.

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