Another Life by Sarena Ulibarri

Author:Sarena Ulibarri
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: climate change, alternate society, conflict resolution, reincarnation
ISBN: 9781777682392
Publisher: Stelliform Press
Published: 2023-05-03T00:00:00+00:00

After Nylah left, I headed to the East Garden for a mediation. A couple little girls were playing on my usual bench, and they hid behind a tree as I approached. Someone had written “We 🎔 Galacia” in unsteady childish letters on the sidewalk, along with various chalk art stars and unicorns. I shielded my eyes from the sun and looked around, pretending not to see the kids.

“Who did this?” I asked with mock sternness, and the girls tittered and ran away. I smiled at the artwork gift they’d left me, pushing away the sadness that swelled when I realized I may not have their admiration much longer.

I settled myself onto the bench, adjusting my skirt. A man looked back at me from across the gardens. But this wasn’t any resident of Otra Vida. He wore a three-piece suit, not unlike the one Tanner had worn at the debate, and his light brown hair was styled in the type of dramatic coif that had been popular fifty years ago. I swallowed, keeping my eyes on him as I stood, afraid to blink. The girls raced past the strange man without acknowledging his presence. His mouth moved, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. Chickens clucked from a nearby alleyway; someone laughed several buildings away; the wind rustled through the canopies. But he was like a video on mute.

I started across the garden toward him, but all of a sudden, he was just … gone.

I turned in a circle to look for him, but the man was nowhere to be seen. I shut my eyes, rubbing hard with fists that didn’t feel like quite my own. Was this some side effect of Nylah’s regression? Perhaps a part of my brain was stuck in dream state. Or was I still in the regression? I searched the fronds of the nearest palm tree, the contours of the foot-worn path, the shape of the nearby buildings for any dreamlike distortions. I put my hands over my face, tried to block out every sound and search for Nylah’s voice.

“Wake up,” I whispered to myself, hoping I would open my eyes to find I was still on the couch with Nylah beside me.

“Galacia?”

It wasn’t Nylah who said my name. I dropped my hands from my face and the park took shape around me, undeniably real. Colton had parked his wheelchair next to the succulent garden, watching me with a concerned expression.

“Galacia,” Colton repeated. “Are you okay?”

I cast about once more looking for Ramsey — I was sure it had been him now, though I didn’t want to admit it at first — but found nothing out of the ordinary.

“Just got caught up in my thoughts,” I told Colton. He’d asked me for this mediation, and here he was concerned about me instead. I returned to my bench and tried to focus. “You had a mediation request?”

“Yeah,” Colton said. “Me versus the sun.”

“A common conflict around here.” I tried to infuse lighthearted humor into my response, though the heat was no laughing matter.

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