The Island of Charon. 8. 2. The Lake of Lovers

THE ISLAND OF CHARON

a novel in the series
"PLAYING ANOTHER REALITY"

CHAPTER 8. FRIDAY, the 13th

8.2. THE LAKE OF LOVERS

I silently crept up Yanis behind, tiptoed up and covered his eyes with my hands.

“Alice…” he said, turning around and embracing me.

“How many minutes does the brain live after death?” I asked.

“It depends. They say, not more than ten,” Yanis answered with a sigh. “Why do you ask?”

I shrugged and stared again at the countless bracelets on his wrists. Yanis noticed my genuine interest in the Athos rosaries, but he put his hands behind his back.

“Do you still want to leave Camotes?” he asked.

I shrugged again, turned to face the Ocean and sighed.

“I can’t swim here…”

“Would you like to swim in the Lake tonight?” Yanis suggested suddenly.

“The Lake with dead water?” I grinned, remembering my nightmare, “Water… water… all around is water…”

“There is a magical Salt Lake on Ammouliani, and there is a wonderful Danao Lake on Camotes. The locals call it the Lake of Lovers, because it is shaped like a heart.”

“Where is… Tata?” I asked, not seeing the Girl around.

“Do you miss her already?” Yanis smiled. “I asked the mother of her little prince to take Tata with them today. But if you really mind…”

“I don’t mind. Okay,” I nodded obediently, “let’s diversify our joint sunset by meeting a starry night at the Lake instead of the Ocean.”

We passed through the village and the market rows, came out onto the main road and turned left.

“There’s only one road here, in a circle,” Yanis commented on my mute question. “Wherever you go, left or right, sooner or later you’ll come back.”

“I don’t want to go back,” I said sadly, mentally residing in my last dream. “Tell me about yourself, Yanis. You kept asking me questions. Now it’s your turn to be frank.”

“Who is here the witch’s granddaughter?” he laughed. “Can’t you scan souls without words?”

Yanis took my hand, and we wandered along the long-legged palm trees that pierced the black-book Sky.

“I want you to tell me by yourself.”

“I don’t like talking about myself, Alice.”

“So… you’re an introvert, too.”

“It turns out so.”

“Have you ever practiced magic?” I made a specific question in order still to get Yanis to talk.

“My grandfather used to. People came to him constantly. One day his daughter, my mother, asked him to help her. And he did it. However, the price of the issue was too high.”

“What did he do?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“And what was the price?”

Yanis hesitated and involuntarily began to squeeze my hand.

“Well, if you don’t want, don’t tell me,” I said calmly. “And what about your wish? Why does it take so long to come true? What did you ask the Tree? Why did you take that blood with milk of the magicians if you didn’t use their potion after all?”

Yanis stopped for a moment and looked at me, like Mark on one of the pictures sent to me once. It was a sincerely remorseful look of a man who was sorry for what had happened.

“Why are you looking like that?” I grinned. “Did you ask something connected with me?!”

“Sorry,” he said, and we continued walking towards the Lake.

“Where did you live before Camotes?”

“In Thessaloniki,” Yanis answered reluctantly.

“And your parents…?”

“And your parents?” he obviously didn’t want to talk about himself.

“They died when I was a child. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I hardly remember them. As if they had never existed in my life, but in one of my previous.”

“Sorry. Yesterday you were talking about Mark,” Yanis decided to change the subject. “So did you meet him after all?”

The topic was chosen poorly, and it was my turn to have no will to say anything.

“Why do you ask?”

“To understand if are you a free lady,” Yanis confessed with a sigh.

“I see,” I smiled with a slight sadness and confessed in response, “Probably, every person, up to a certain point in life, is opening up like a flower and reaching for the Sun, and then… Like everyone else, I was looking for Love, too, but, unfortunately, I didn’t find a right person among those with whom I was confronted from Above.”

“What about Michael?”

“Michael, yes. But I didn’t want it that way, I wanted it for real, you know.”

The Abandoned Lighthouse appeared in the distance.

“Have you been to the Stargazer?” Yanis asked. “To get a look in the Books of the Moon and the Sun?”

“Yes… He says that everything’s predetermined. Perhaps loneliness is destiny… Do you believe that we come down, already knowing what awaits us on Earth?”

“Perhaps,” Yanis said uncertainly.

We passed the Lighthouse and slowly walked along the cove with the pier.

“Yanis, that Old Man,” I suddenly remembered, “the owner of the Island… You say he lives in the cemetery. Are you kidding me?”

“No, he has a house there. But why?”

“Where is the cemetery?”

“Behind the Cave of Magicians. What are you asking it for?”

I shrugged.

The darkness gradually dissipated, thanks to the glow of the Wish Tree.

“You said I attracted two souls here with my lanterns. Why, Yanis? Didn’t you hang on the Tree at least one lantern, too?”

Yanis put his arm around my shoulders, continuing to walk towards the Lake.

“On this Island, Alice, the lighthouse is the Wish Tree. The light of its lanterns cannot but attract the ships passing by… To think, how many people have unfulfilled dreams! Does the Tree have yours one as well?”

“And mine, yes…”

“Did you wish to leave the Island?”

“Wow! That’s a great idea for my next lantern! Thanks!” I exclaimed excitedly, but Yanis for some reason grinned.

We walked a little farther, and I saw a black expanse of water without waves and all in stars!

“Mr. Wind is absent today again,” I thought, “but are the stars reflected by lakes?”

Yanis took off his shirt and jumped into the water.

“Don’t be afraid! Come on!” he shouted, as he swam a few meters from the shore.

Suddenly I heard some rustles in the bushes behind me, and I shuddered… The Beekeeper?!

“Swim here!” Yanis shouted again.

I was wearing the thin silk dress, bought on Ammouliani to meet Mark, but neither undressing nor turning around, I stepped into the water and swam.

Suddenly the Wind was back! The clouds began to run across the Sky. Lightning flashed, and the timid rain instantly turned into a tropical downpour.

“Come here,” Yanis whispered and hugged me, as I swam very close. “Don’t be afraid! I don’t wish you harm. I want you to perform a small miracle and to learn to breathe differently.”

It seemed that my consciousness, tired of constant failures in the matrix of template programs, was agonizing. I saw with peripheral vision the outlines of the very same Giant Ship in the distance and, turning towards the shore, in another lightning I noticed… the Beekeeper!

Yanis kissed me when the thunder struck, and then he took my hand and pulled me sharply under the water.

“No!” I screamed, but it was too late.

“…Water, water, all around is water, and a panic horror seizes me. I try to float up to the surface, but for some reason I can’t, and…”

“Open your eyes! Just open them!” Yanis insisted.

I obeyed, and… it was not a dream!

Water… water all around me… I was trying to escape from his hands, but…

“Breathe, Alice! Do not be afraid! BREATHE!”

I shook my head negatively — he was crazy!

The air was about to run out…

However, Yanis let me go. I instantly floated up to the surface and swam back to the shore.

“Alice,” his voice came through the pouring rain and the ominous thunder, “forgive me!”