by V. Cobe
CHAPTER 20
Bithynia
“I know you.”
She squinted her green eyes at him. Seconds later, she widened them, her mouth flew open and said, “You’re from the farm!”
He looked at the floor and nodded with a smile.
She broke the silence.
“But you’re different…. What happened to your hair? Wasn’t it red? Is the dye coming out?”
He laughed.
“Yes, that must be it.”
“Oh, come with me.”
Bithynia grabbed his hand and pulled him. She said goodbye to her group of friends and led him through the arcades of the square to behind the buildings.
Alem only had time to gesture to the others to wait for him.
Hazael managed to mouth, We only have fifteen minu—, before he was blocked from view by a wall.
The beauty of the landscape enveloped Alem before he even reached the sand. The horizon was infinite; the ocean didn’t end. The sun had already begun to set, orange, near the water, but it would still be a few minutes before it disappeared altogether. They still had plenty of time until curfew.
They bent over the wall, watching the sea.
“Just the other day I remembered the treasure. Can you believe it?” she said.
“What treasure?”
“The treasure we hid. Don’t you remember?”
“Ah, yes, the treasure! Some toy box, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, that one. You think it’s still buried?”
“Probably not….”
“No, of course not.”
Silence.
Bithynia took him to the middle of the sand, spread a blue towel on the toasted sand and sat down.
Alem sank to his knees, just behind her.
She turned her head back, looked at him and smiled. The light of the low sun dazzled him slightly but at the same time offered a special hue to her face, with the rays coming out from behind one side of her face, never erasing the green glow of her eyes.
“Why did you leave?” she asked.
He shifted in his towel, without answering, and continued looking at the sea.
She insisted, “Do you remember that day?”
Alem nodded.
“I saw you getting into a huge dark car. You disappeared in the road and never came back. I cried for days.”
“My mother was fleeing. They found us that day.”
“That’s what I thought later. That man who went to get you….”
“Bishop Zalmon Costa. He’s my godfather.”
“Zalmon? Isn’t he…?”
“The second bishop of Carmel, yes.”
“Well, you must be very important. A little elite boy, who would say….”
Silence. The sand was starting to cool under Alem’s feet.
Bithynia wriggled her legs and straightened in the towel.
“Why were you fleeing?”
“I don’t know; my mother never told me. My godfather doesn’t know either. But he helped us anyway.”
“And you never asked your mother about it?”
Alem shook his head negatively.
“My mother died seven years ago.”
She hid her surprise. She put her hand on his shoulder. Her arm was full of scars from old cuts.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“And when you came back, no one arrested you?”
“The bishop didn’t allow it. My mother only served a few days, and I stayed at Heart of Carmel. I’ve been there ever since… well, until today.” He looked at her for the first time since he had sat. “And you, why did you leave?”
She didn’t look at the sea, but kept her eyes fixed on him.
“My uncle died. He had an accident at home during a binge.”
“Oh… I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it, it was a long time ago. Now I’m living with my grandmother.”
“That’s nice.”
“Yeah….”
The white foam of the waves ebbed and flowed, leaving air bubbles bursting in the wet sand.
“Do you remember what happened that day?” she asked again.
Alem kept his eyes on the waves.
“On the last day?” he asked.
“Yes.”
Again, silence.
“I thought that was a fantasy my child’s mind had invented.”
“It wasn’t… unless my child’s mind invented the same thing.”
“We were very young. We exaggerate things, created a story in our heads.”
“We exaggerated your hair shining? The snake coming out of your body? Our eyes… like that?”
She remembers. A chill pierced his bones, despite the heat.
“Whatever,” she said.
The sun was already touching the horizon and reflected in the great blue mirror. Alem felt the cooled sand between his toes and buried them a little deeper.
Bithynia touched his hand with hers.
“I think you have to go.” She pointed with her chin to behind Alem, where Jaala, Hazael and Lael were waiting.
Hazael waved and pointed at his watch. Jaala had his hands in his pockets and feigned nonchalance.
Bithynia rose, and Alem mimicked her movements. She took his hand, which was a lot bigger than hers, and said, “You gave a new emotion to my boring day.”
“I also liked it. I’d loved to do this again.”
She laughed.
“Yes, I hope so. Let me know.”
“How?”
Bithynia grabbed the small bag she was carrying on her shoulder and took out a pen and piece of paper. She wrote something on the paper and handed it to Alem.
“It’s my home number. I’ll be waiting.”
And without warning, she leaned forward and kissed his lips. They lingered for several seconds, or so it seemed to Alem. Then she pulled away as quickly as she had advanced, picked up her towel and ran across the sand to the stone wall, up the stairs, disappearing behind the cars.
Alem stood still facing the sea. He could hear only the sound of the waves lapping. The cool wind whipped his face and danced around his body as he smiled with his eyes closed.
“You must have gone crazy,” said Hazael.
“I agree with Haz,” supported Jaala. “We came here to find clues about… that, and you vanish.”
“It’s been seven years since we saw each other. It was only a little bit.”
“It was not only a little bit. Gera is already there and says we’re late,” said Hazael.
“I’m sorry…. Did you guys find anything?”
“Right, you’re sorry,” said Jaala.
“We didn’t find anything,” said Lael. “This was no use.”
“Perhaps the hour really is important,” suggested Hazael.
They got into the car, and Gera, Hazael’s friend, took off.
“When I say seven thirty, it’s seven thirty, guys. I don’t like to drive in a hurry.”
“We still have more than three hours!” said Jaala, indignant.
“More than three hours to go, but it’s one to go there and one to get back, don’t forget.”
“Right… we got caught up….”
Alem pretended not to hear Jaala. He was smiling. That week had been the craziest week of his life. Or, on second thought, maybe not.
“Whoever that man at the church was, he’s probably not very happy with us,” said Hazael.
“I’m not even going to ask what you’re up to,” said Gera.
They turned left and almost collided with the crowd that clogged the road, coming from all sides.
“Calm down, we still have time,” said Gera, reassuring himself more than the others.
He slid through a shortcut he knew, but to no avail. The cars were moving slowly in one direction and the other, when they were not stopped. There were people running.
“I wonder what happened,” said Gera.
Jaala stuck his head out of the car’s window.
&
nbsp; “I can’t see what’s happening.”
“We still have time,” repeated Gera.
But after five minutes in silence, the car was still in the same place.
“I’ll check what’s going on,” Jaala said.
He opened the back door, jumped onto the sidewalk and ran forward.
Lael moved his knees up and down in a contagious nervousness.
“I can try to cut ahead, if we can get there….”
“It’s an execution.” Jaala returned to the car and climbed in.
“An execution? Oh no, I don’t like that.” Lael ran a hand through his blond hair.
“This is just what I needed,” said Gera, shaking his head.
“Have you ever seen an execution?” asked Hazael.
Alem shook his head negatively.
“But I’ve heard of them. He’s described some.” He pointed to Jaala, who had his head out of the car again.
“Everyone has heard of them. They happen every day around the world,” said Hazael.
“You think it’s someone famous?” asked Jaala. “There are so many people.”
Alem looked at the clock on the dashboard. It indicated 20:15.
Yes, we still have time.
“Stop here, let’s see how it’s done,” said Alem.
Gera was the first to recover from the surprise.
“No… no, no, no, don’t even think about it. I won’t stop the car, and you’re not going anywhere except to the monastery. I have more to do than walk around with you on my back.”
“Listen, we have almost three hours. After this, we’re pretty much out of downtown Carmel. To the monastery and back nothing else can happen,” Jaala said. “You don’t need that extra hour.”
“Let’s see if we understand each other. I don’t need that time, you need it. We can spend part of that time and be left with just enough hours to go and come back, but I assure you: if something happens, I turn back and you stay on your own.”
They looked at each other. Lael shook his head vigorously, Jaala nodded, and Hazael jumped with his eyes darting between them.
“We’ve come this far, haven’t we?” said Alem.