The Island of Charon. 5. 1. The Beekeeper

THE ISLAND OF CHARON

a novel in the series
"PLAYING ANOTHER REALITY"

CHAPTER 5. THE WISH TREE

5.1. THE BEEKEEPER

At midnight, Sofia and I were sitting in a restaurant by the sea, traditionally celebrating my new visit to Ammouliani. Finally, the crazy heat disappeared. I didn’t want to eat at +46° C, but at +30° C one can already get to know, for example, Mr. Octopus on the grill.

“Sofia, listen… I want to tell you a story, but not to pass it to anyone else,” I got courage to talk.

“Well, we are constantly gossiping in a friendly way! Of course, your story remains between us!”

“There’s a Greek guy writing to me…”

“Wow! How did he find you?”

“Via social networks… I think, at first he saw some of my pictures in the closed Ammouliani group, and then he came to my personal page. He ‘likes’ every my post.”

“Cool!” Sofia was anticipating the long-awaited happy ending even more than dessert. “Does he live here too?”

“No, on the peninsula of Athos, in the village of Megali Panagia.”

“Who is he?”

“A beekeeper.”

“And…? Do you like him?”

“That’s not the point… He is deeply and forever married, not my option, but… You see, this beekeeper is crazy! He’s obviously bad in the head!”

“Ha-ha-ha! We are all messed up in the head!” Sofia laughed. “Okay, don’t take offense! Why do you think so?”

“As if he were watching me, terrorizing me with messages. He describes in detail the scenes of our future date. In the sea and in the forest. In particular details…”

“Let him fantasize all he wants! Come on! Who of us has never plunged into the world of illusions and unfulfilled wishes! If you don’t share his fantasies, or just don’t want to communicate with him, then ignore the guy, don’t answer anything. A smart one will understand all by himself and leave you alone.”

“Sofia, listen,” I tried to explain my bad feeling, “that’s not the case, really! There’s something sinister, coming from the man! And he knows, where I live and swim, what streets I walk on, where I dine at night. It’s hard to hide on such a small island! Last night he wrote that he would come to ‘my’ beach today to ‘kidnap’ me secretly and take me ‘to the woods’!”

“And?” Sofia was still having fun.

“I answered him not to waste time, I would never come, because he’s not my story at all. Besides, his fantasies were full of all sorts of perversions…”

“Okay, you sent him to hell. And?”

“And this morning I’ve received 24 (!) messages. He was already on the beach! And he would stay on the island until I give up!”

“Let me see the text…”

Sofia wiped her hands on a napkin and reached for my phone. I obediently handed it to her, opening our correspondence with the Beekeeper.

“Ooh!” Sofia exclaimed in a low voice, as she scrolled through the messages. “It’s like… a porno movie script! And what is this?”

“The picture? Scroll down! He supposedly found a statue of an ancient Greek god… named Anus!”

“At 5:00 in the morning? It’s so sweet of him! Is there even a video?! Wow!”

“It’s a song. He sent it to me, because he really likes it. So I could listen to the song at my leisure and appreciate his refined taste! However, the song is in Greek, I don’t know what it’s about…”

“Well, you have me for that! Let me hear it, and I’ll tell you!”

While listening to a live recording of some rock band performance, Sofia’s facial expression changed definitively for the worse.

“Well, what’s the song about? Sex?” I asked, already feeling something wrong.

“No, Alice… Death!”

“You mean… this song is about death?!” I almost jumped up and down.

“Well… About Charon. Do you know Charon? In Greek mythology, Charon is the assistant to Pluto (or Hades), the god of Death, the eldest son of Cronos-Saturn. Charon is the son of Gloom (Erebus) and the Night Darkness (Nuxta). While Pluto is in charge of the Kingdom of the Dead, Charon is an old ferryman, he transports the souls of the dead to the Underworld through the River Styx, or Acheron. But only those, who found peace in the grave. During that way, all souls forget everything that happened to them on Earth. So… This song is about a man waiting for Charon to take him away from here. However, Charon has no hurry to transport the man, he sits there drinking, laughing, watching him from a distance and conducting a leisurely conversation with his soul.”


I got a shiver.

Sofia returned the phone to me, and we both were silent for a long time, trying to make sense of what was happening.

“Alice!” she suddenly exclaimed. “You said that the Beekeeper had found you on a social network. Open the Internet, Alice! Let’s have a look at his page! Let’s find out, who he is!”

“He is your friend!” I said meaningfully. “And a friend of Panagiotis, the owner of the house I live here. They are both beekeepers, and they seem to talk every day. However, they don’t discuss me, of course, because ‘I am a secret’. And in my turn, I must keep our correspondence in secret as well!”

“Nice friend!” Sofia was already very angry. “So what’s his name?”

I opened the Internet in order not to be unproved, found the beekeeper’s page and silently handed the phone to my friend.

Sofia looked at the screen, instantly recoiled from it and grabbed my hand.

“My God!” she whispered in an otherworldly voice. “He’s DEAD, this man! He has been dead for three years! We all attended his funeral. What the devil writes to you on his behalf?!”

Sofia called her husband, and he kindly agreed to walk me home.

I returned to my room and tried to digest both the information and the Octopus. After turning off the light, I couldn’t fall asleep for a long time, but when I finally managed to do it, a knock on the door woke me up. Panagiotis’ wife used to bring me breakfast in the morning.

I opened the door, but I recoiled in horror and screamed! In front of me, there was a man in a beekeeper’s hat with a black net instead of a face!!!