Westlake Soul by Rio Youers

Author:Rio Youers [Youers, Rio]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Speculative Fiction, (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
ISBN: 9781927469064
Google: Df-DmyZjkN0C
Amazon: 1926851552
Goodreads: 13096218
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2012-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

15. Long Fall.

Today is Tuesday, September 20, 2011. It has been a hot summer, but the nights are getting cooler and the leaves are beginning to turn—the merest threads of gold and red, caught only in a certain light. I may see them turn fully, but I doubt I’ll see them fall. And I certainly won’t see them bud and bloom anew.

My parents have finished their mental preparation. They are ready.

Yvette will remove my tube on Thursday.

I’ve flown all over the world for surfing tournaments. I didn’t mind flying, although I always experienced a jolt of anxiety. I’d look at the fuselage as I boarded the plane and imagine a fragment of it—painted with the airline’s colours—smouldering in a field somewhere, surrounded by blistered seats, oddments of luggage, and something that looks like the partial ribcage of a blue whale. I’d see it in my mind with the CNN Breaking News ticker scrolling along the bottom, or as the front page of The New York Times, adorned with some tragic headline. (All of this from a glimpse of the fuselage as I boarded, and that’s what comes of having a vivid imagination.) It wasn’t this fabricated news scene, or the thought of the crash itself—of dying—that unsettled me . . . but rather the thought of the time it would take for the plane to slam down to earth. Three minutes—or however long—of knowing you are about to die, of hearing the screams of the people around you, complete strangers, who know the same. A different timbre of scream. Harrowing. Pushed out on final breaths.

That’s what unsettled me.

The time.

And that’s what I’m experiencing now. My plane has lost all four engines and I’m nosediving toward my doom. I used to think that three minutes was a terrifyingly long time to know that you’re about to die, but it’s nothing—positively heaven—compared to one whole week. Or two.

Screaming all the way.

I won’t give up, though. It’ll get harder as I get weaker, but I flat-out fucking refuse to give up. Same as always . . . Dr. Quietus is going to have a fight on his hands.

For now, though, I need to release. Not to the ocean, or anywhere loud and full of power, but somewhere serene and distant. The moon, perhaps, where I can float above the maria with tears in my eyes, and prepare myself for the long fall.

Maybe I’ll stay there. Never come down.

Look up. Can you see me?

I am the man in the moon. Pale and alone.

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.