Home by Maxime Jaz

Author:Maxime Jaz [Jaz, Maxime]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2022-12-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

The Earth flying around the sun once. Another line started on a new tree.

Damian grabbed Gabe’s hand softly as he was scratching another line in that hard bark. “Stop it, maybe?”

Their eyes met, and Gabe’s lips parted. “What? But…”

Damian watched those trees filled with nameless days and months. “There’s no point anymore, is there?”

“We know the years… how many have passed…”

Damian kissed his hand, prying the knife out of it. “Does this make you feel better? Knowing?”

“I guess…” Gabe’s eyes drifted to the trees, the last bastions of whatever time was, whatever it meant under that endless sky with its shifting colors. A rush of panic running down his spine. The days and months lost, melted in those scratches. Only the years remained. But what for? Unable to let go, he blew a breath and looked at Damian. “I’ll stop… just not yet…”

Damian shrugged, smoothing his hair back. “Alright. I won’t force you, of course.” Turning, he picked up a spear and latched his knife on his hip, and Gabe just watched him, still marveling a bit sometimes at how Damian had adapted to this life, to the island. Watching him go to his mud barrel, smooth that dark mud all over his body, his face.

Gabe stepped to him, those steel eyes almost shining in that dark mud. “Going hunting?”

His mud lips curled up. “Good guess.”

“How far?”

He shrugged, his mind already on the hunt. “I don’t know. Just eat and go to bed. Don’t wait.”

Gabe licked his lips. “I hate being alone…”

Damian grazed his hair back. “You’re not alone. You have the whole pig family. I’ll be back before you wake.”

“Ok…”

“Bring you a special treat for our anniversary.”

“Oh… you know…”

“I saw that small ‘x’ next to your scratch, so yes. Little timekeeper.” He kissed him lightly, not to smudge all that mud on his lips.

“Take care.”

Damian just shot him a warm look and disappeared into the jungle. So silent… Gabe couldn’t even hear his steps anymore, or the rustling of leaves. He decided to go down to the beach, set up some new nets, find something in the tide pools. Thinking about what Damian had said about keeping the time. Or not keeping it, for that matter… He sighed, following their trail, the nets on his back, turning to Walter’s and Gisele’s trotting steps.

“Hey… up for a bath?”

The pigs just grunted and hurried behind him, straight down to that lush beach, into the sparkling blue water. The horizon empty, shimmering in that white sun, and Gabe breathed in deep to get rid of that tightness around his chest. He went in the water to lay the nets out; the waves lapping at his chest, his throat. Hearing the pigs bathe in the shallow waters, splashing their bodies around. How long did pigs live? A soft clutch to his heart at the thought of losing them, even if Walter had made his choice years ago, when, growing, he had latched on to Damian, insisting until the reluctant and distant human had given in.

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