She was dripping with readiness and heaving with surprise. Anger flickered across her features so quickly; the hurt that now sat on her face made the flash of anger seem like my imagination was playing video games. While I tried to fight myself from rushing over to her apologizing with kisses and talking fingers, thoughts of what to and not to do with her lingerie clad body for the rest of the night danced through my mind. She moaned terribly saying,
“Again am rejected on the eve of climax,
Sins against me burn with male sparks.
Though it is release I expect,
Here I kneel; an abandoned project”.
I imploded with sadness,
“I too am abandoned, my wife is gone,
But I am yet no heart of stone.
Disrespecting us would be fun,
But look how close we’ve grown.”
She stared at me for a long moment, like a buyer appraising a product. I dodged her eyes by bowing my head. I still had my body to contend with. While we both sat there on the bed frozen in seeming uncertainty, the next thing happened. There was a knock on the door and to my mild surprise, she got off the bed and opened the door as near-naked as she was.
The lady who was my previous roommate stood at the threshold. I was flabbergasted.
She shot me a hateful look and said to my room-mate,
“The Founder wants to meet,
Noah’s test is thus complete.
Get up with every wit
It is time to fill the pit.”
After we were dressed, we followed her. My roommate went ahead and walked beside her. I surmised that she knew both the way and the lady. Although I could sense a level of malice between the two, I didn’t know whether to be annoyed or just disappointed at my treacherous roommate.
My latest roommate was the shorter of the two women and as they walked side by side, I compared their rears. They were works of art, whispering curves and steam. The way they moved, it was not mere walking. I was too tired to be more shocked.
Outside a certain door, our leading lady knocked twice before turning the door knob and pushing into the room beyond.
Facing the door was a desk with a mobile phone and no tell-tale sheaves of paper. Behind the desk, a chair faced away from the desk and the door towards a large glass wall/window. The Qastivity night spread outside the glass window/wall.
When the door was shut, the chair swiveled around so I saw who sat in it.
I was stunned frigid. The man sitting in the chair behind the desk bore an unsettling resemblance to me. The only difference was our shirts; mine was dark green, his was blue.
It felt like he was me. This must be how having a twin felt.
I looked at both the women but they did not share my surprise. If anything the taller lady seemed a little amused at my reaction.
He gave a hand signal and our leading lady left. I was still trying to understand when he said,
“Like a dog barks at its own reflection,
You express my preferred reaction.
Yet you only wake into a nightmare,
My voice is unforgotten and clear.”
My jaw slackened at the sound of his voice. I was in a nightmare. How could this be? I thought in my very confused mind. I recognized his voice. There was no doubt in my mind.
It was Hymn, the Leopard of Bushy road.
He continued,
“Sonia before Joy, I see you’ve met.
They aid a trap for you I set.
It trips on the antonyms of your verbs in the taxi
Recall the word of advice from a friendly Jesse.”
My eyes widened with realization. Jesse’s last words before he drove away echoed came bouncing off the walls of my memory,
‘If you lean towards Perfectionist
You’ll live after the terrorist…’
I stared at Hymn in dismay. It felt worse, more confusing that he had my face. He was grinning at my silence. His eyes shifted to my last roommate, Joy.
“Tell me how it went and how fast
Quench my thirst for his fall at last.
Did he come with you, at one with Joy?
Did he lose control like a toy boy?
I turned to her exuding as much contempt as I could. I gave her a ‘you-vile-creature’ look but she ignored me and replied,
“Among men there are gods seeming no different,
Their worth’s from God of whom they are reverent.
In their number this man’s name is present.
By interruption or by virtue, our completion was absent.”
Hymn’s grin evolved instantly into a wide mouthed smile. He seemed delighted. He –still smiling- took out a gun –the revolver- from somewhere and dropped it on the desk’s top while walking around the desk.
“A man found worthy; and heir to mercy.
It is beyond human to judge you really.
It is therefore with painful pleasure,
I present my partner of perfidious nature.”
The door opened behind me and footsteps danced through them. I turned to see whose they were and I was washed with a new understanding of the word ‘Paradox’. Joy, relief, alarm, suspicion flooded my eyes with eyes with tears.
There and then I had another doubt about my doubt; for standing there unbound and unharmed was Dew, my wife.
Alarm graced her face for a moment as her eyes flicked between Hymn and I. I remembered Hymn still looked like me. Resolve settled on her face and she spun on Sonia and attacked her.
2nd Daniel 