Natasha was with her two friends, they flow nicely together in that they form an attractive, girly combination. They cannot help but know how attractive they look, it radiates. The three of them make a formidable team.
Why did life do this? Ethan wondered. One path on the left side of the hall, where Ethan, Carl and Christian were, faced Natasha and her friends. The other side, to the right had every one going up and down. The three of them came face to face with Natasha and her two friends. They started to slow up as they came closer, facing one another as if it was meant to be. For some reason it was like the universe had brought them together but forgot to show any finesse with how it’s meant to be random, or forgot to be subtle. There was no vagueness in the detail here. You are going to meet and so it is, here you go, the universe seemed to say.
At a later time Ethan thought about the humans that believed in nothing. A random human world where you try and make money then die. What about those random occurrences? Don’t they ever wonder? Ever? No wonder they were all so afraid of death.
Ethan looked at Natasha as they slowly came together to collide in each other’s path. Ethan could sense a lot, again like a vampire he could sense her thoughts, smell her beauty, feel some pain, long for her almost, at the same time wanting to be strong within and face her, face her beauty, face himself. Somehow in a way she reflected parts of him. There was an unknown quantity there that went beyond time that would make perfect sense in the after world, one day. If you could freeze this moment and then chat about it in the afterlife, in reflection, looking back in contemplation of being with the soul and knowing all, it would all make perfect sense. But now in this human time, they had human emotions, wants and needs and a past, this life, last life. And the soul would ripple those feelings out and to some humans they could not separate the truth from the mind or detach the particles of the energy sent from the soul, it just became one large amount of confusion, human baggage and fear.
Carl, always the peacemaker gently moved forward.
“Hello Ladies,” he politely said, almost shy in the wake of the beauty that lay before him.
“This is bit like a standoff,” Ethan said.
Natasha saw the humor in it, but with some ice in her stare and voice said, “you would be so easy to beat up, Ethan.”
“That’s it. I’ll take the two ugly girls, Ethan you take your psycho ex girlfriend,” Christian quipped.
They walked forward, even Carl felt a little nervous, like, what’s going to happen to me? They all stared and had to gently pass. Carl smiled and headed past the two friends of Natasha, which seemed the most peaceful path. Christian gently walked ahead and passed through and Ethan did the same. He headed right towards Natasha and stared at her. As he passed her, she stared right back at him, so directly that when they passed, they both could feel the chill of seven months of love making from their hearts, their soul, wrapped up into this brief frozen moment of a second. It was deep and detailed, they both felt it immensely like energy running through their veins from that connection from before, somehow they were still connected, not quite free. Just as Ethan went past her, and their eyes looked away from one another, Natasha gave Ethan a big shove. It was an expression of that electrical build up and its release. Even Natasha was surprised by her physical power. She didn’t push him that hard but there was more power to her push than what she was expecting.
“Don’t,” Ethan said, almost childishly. Sometimes they had that together, that playful, funny side where they did play like children. They all kept on walking, like two rivers coming together at a junction and then flowing again. Christian asked Ethan if he was okay.
“My arm’s a little sore,” Ethan replied lightly.
“Her friends are hot. I wouldn’t mind being shoved by one of them,” Carl said.
They kept walking and Ethan asked Christian about Amelia.
“You had a bit of a look in your eye earlier when you were talking to Amelia, just happy for the trade?”
“Yeah,” Christian took a big breath, “just that spark, there was something different today that I hadn’t noticed before.”
“What was different?” Ethan asked almost automatically. He could tell Christian wanted to be asked.
“Her hotness was there, but it was just easy and free and beautiful somehow.”
Ethan looked at him with a faint smile and kept listening. Christian kept talking, “there was no judgment, where someone like her could judge. You know she is a little bit posh, but in that small moment when we chatted it was all quite…easy and clear.”
They came to a halt as they had to all part ways to go to different classes. Christian was still pondering.
Ethan smiled. “Nice,” he said “I better get to class lover boy and if I don’t see you later I’ll see you both tonight.”
They said their goodbyes and headed off.
~~~~
Ethan got up from his seat and headed towards the exit door from his lecture thinking, fuck I missed half of that. That was the thing about college for Ethan there were so many distractions, the social life, the girls. It was a fun place but you had to learn as well. It annoyed Ethan that it took so long to get a degree. He often said he would go to medical school if he could complete it in one year. Ethan felt he could do it. His mother once told him, he was a doctor in a past life. Easy Ethan used to think to himself, I only would need three months of study in this life.
Ethan jumped into his car and headed home. As he drove he could see the openness of his surroundings, he always liked space and the moment where he would hit a semi plateau as the road went flat near his home. On the way home, the sea view at this point was now on his right side, and behind him. Ethan could feel it, but it was in his rear view mirror also, just moments of it.
Ethan walked into his home. His mom was not there, she was still working. She used to have a corporate job for a long time and worked as a management consultant. She eventually got out and started her own florist business. Ethan liked her working in a florist shop, it was romantic and sweet and the shop definitely had that feel. Ethan loved working there. He would do some part time hours, doing the odd job there. He loved the simplicity of it, but most of all the vibe. It hummed in its unique way. It had soul and it derived from his mom and that was why he loved being there.
He hung around his home, enjoying the space and time he had to himself. In a few hours he would be heading out to Carl’s.
~ CHAPTER THREE ~
A RIVER QUEEN
Ethan walked into Carl’s house. Carl had a flat that he rented. His mother owned it and let Carl stay there rent free as long as he could rent out the other three rooms which he did. It was a cool flat, a little bit messy, a social hub. There were seven people there playing cards.
Ethan had a bottle of wine with him, he brought it from his home, a red, it was his mothers. He was in a slight hurry and grabbed it on the way out. The feeling was cool then but now it does not quite fit the occasion so he asked Carl if he could swap for a few of his beers. Carl said yes with a glint in his eyes, he liked the red and as it is Ethan’s mother’s wine he knew it would be high quality. Some rollies and a red, perfect. Ethan often came with random, positive surprises. It was a $30 bottle of wine but to Ethan it didn’t matter, he wanted some beers that could match the night and tonight he was in the bogan flat, that had character, life with his friends playing cards.
Carl poured his red like it was a special vintage of 300 years ago, at the same time sparking his rollie. He then introduced Ethan to his new friend from college, Chuck.
Ethan returned from the fridge where he had just grabbed a six pack of beers. Carl’s smoke went into the air, leaving a mist that perfected itself into the atmosphere of the home. As Carl introduced Chuck to Ethan, everything became still and heightened for that immediate moment. Almost like a freeze on time where all the subjects of that picture are frozen and able to be looked at with precision. But not so much the look but the feeling and what it gives yo
u. Like the detail from a song that you adore, that gives the exact feeling you once had when the song played a long time ago.
“This is Chuck, a friend from college,” Carl said.
“Hi,” Ethan replied in an easy, calm manner, reflecting on what he was feeling. Chuck then asked him how he was doing, the normal greetings to which Ethan responded politely too.
It was the feeling Ethan felt when he was introduced to Chuck that made him highly alert. Ethan’s heart told him something and he knew at a later time he would have to tell Carl, and more importantly Christian with what he now knew.
Ethan was used to picking up on the emotions, feelings and thoughts of others. He could read their minds, like an immediate imprint. The feeling froze, snapped and locked into the truth in a brief moment that told him everything in that split second. Ethan had learnt to trust those feelings. He used to think he was paranoid when he was younger, thinking certain people didn’t like him for no particular reason, but as he grew older he knew he could read the thoughts and feelings of others and he was not paranoid after all. The lovely smile behind the true intentions could never fool Ethan. He trusted his gift, he trusted his feelings.
Anyway, Ethan thought to himself, I’m here to have fun, and win as he had earlier predicted. He opened up his bottle of beer and drank it from the bottle as he always did. The night was young and the excitement of the game, the players, his friends and knowing that the alcohol would soon be coming into his body made him feel so alive. It was coming, he could feel it.
They played Texas Hold’em usually once a week. It had the same theme, bragging rights for whoever won, but it was also very social and cool, always fun. The game usually lasted for three hours. When each individual got eliminated they could stay around and watch or head off home.
Tonight’s game was going as planned for Ethan, slowly building his chips, winning quite easily without having to take on too much risk. He played with an aggressive style and tried to bully some of the weaker players. Usually it worked but sometimes a new player could come in and counter that with the same aggression, which made things a little trickier for Ethan as he had to show a different technique to counter one particular player while trying to continue his main game plan with the others. Sometimes the strategy then would be to play a little timid for a moment to try and build up the ego of the other aggressor and then wait until he had the ultimate hand and go in hard.
As the game went through its process, Carl became the fourth player to exit so there were only three remaining, Ethan, Christian and another friend of theirs. Carl wasn’t too annoyed about been bundled out. He had a red and a rollie which made him feel very happy. He was all smiles tonight. Amazing what one little thing can do to the human heart sometimes, the joy that can derive from the simplicity of life. The student life for Carl was his forte, the cruisy life, not having to pay rent and not having a care in the world really. Add the red and the rollie and Carl didn’t need much more, maybe a beautiful girl would make it complete. But Carl was never too fixated on hitting on girls, he was more the smooth, lucky one. It just seemed to glide to him when he really needed it, or the moment before he really needed it, the girl would show up.
Ethan had noticed Carl’s situation with girls, on the deeper level with how he attracted them. While Ethan would just come out of the blue and chat a girl up, Carl never really did that, they just seemed to come together and fit for the right reason. Ethan said to Carl once. “It’s your lack of eagerness that gets you the girls at the right time.”
Carl laughed about it but Ethan knew as soon as you got too eager or needy for the opposite sex, they scented it somehow and it just pushed them further away. Ethan being highly sensitive could always tell the difference between his states and how girls responded to him. He remembered about two months after breaking up with Natasha, there were a couple of days where he longed for a girl, just so emotionally up and down and craving that female attention. But every girl at the time that he stared at seemed to look away. It frustrated Ethan to lose his power like that, but he was aware with what it was about. Find the inner peace and beauty within and that will allow and attract what the body and soul needs. A bit like attracting a beautiful, wild animal from the forest, you have to be gentle and attract it. A sudden movement can just fear it and make it run. Attract it with no fear, love and peace and do it gently.
The next player took an exit and was just watching now, so all was left was Ethan and Christian. Christian was keen to win here and so was Ethan. Ethan could sense the feeling of the game, what he needed to do to win. Christian knew Ethan well and would read his game astutely from here on in. The feeling Ethan got was to finish the game off fast. If he played it long, the feeling was he would come off short and lose.
Ethan on this particular hand decided to add a lot of chips in, but as each card got turned, nothing really went his way. The final card came out and all Ethan had was a pair of sevens. Though he also knew he had played this hand as if he had something strong. Ethan decided to go all in. Christian went, “fuck,” to himself.
He knew Ethan would do something like this, just when you’re getting into your grove he comes up with a big call. They have even chips so whoever wins this hand, probably wins the game. The problem for Christian is he has only a pair of kings. Okay, but not great. Not the kind of hand you want to bet your whole match on. If he plays it though he will win, though of course he has no idea what Ethan has in his hand. Ethan has shown strength throughout with his hand so it would appear he has something good.
Christian is unsure whether he has an okay hand or a great one. If Christian had three kings he would definitely go all in, but with only two that might be silly. He decided to test the waters.
“I know you’re bluffing,” he said, looking for a sign from Ethan.
“I’m the psychic remember,” Ethan replied with a big smile.
Christian laughed. “What does he have?” he muttered to himself.
“He did predict himself first, you second,” Carl said.
“Poignant moment, what do you have, Ethan? Tell me!” Christian said laughing.
“I’ll stay with my earlier prediction, me first, you second.” Then as they looked at each other, Ethan continued talking but in a different tone that everyone noticed. “And I’ll tell you something really important later.”
“I will win this but just not at this moment. I fold,” Christian said.
Carl watched as did his other two friends. The other three players had gone home. Carl was finding it funny, the competiveness of it all and he wanted to see if Ethan could make his prediction right. He was also intrigued with Christian’s plan to make Ethan come unstuck.
The cards were dealt again. Ethan knew he had to be aggressive. He was lucky on his last hand, Christian had a better one. Had Christian played it, Ethan would have been out. But this was the strategy Ethan felt he needed to win the game. Ethan had an Ace and a seven, pretty good and the numerology seemed good too, so he upped the ante and put more chips in. Christian followed. Three cards are placed down in the middle, what they call community cards. A queen, a seven and a two. Christian’s two cards are an Ace and a jack, so he has nothing at present while Ethan has a pair of seven’s. Ethan went all in and again with Christian unable to commit on a weak hand is forced to fold. Ethan won another large pot.
Next hand is dealt. Ethan had a Queen and a seven. Christian had a pair of Jacks, a great hand. Christian upped the ante and Ethan followed. The flop is then dealt and the three cards get laid down. A jack, a queen and a four. Great for Christian, he now has three Jacks. It is Ethan’s bet. Carl looked on taking a puff from his rollie.
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