Black Sky

Chapter Twelve

They came closer to the dead man and stopped around him at a proper distance. Many followed their example, staring at the corpse with pale faces. Since all the cloth covers had been cut open, one could unobstructedly see all the gaping wounds.

Something tore the flesh from his bones, Tom thought, and his stomach clenched again. Piece by piece.

"Does anyone know a good prayer?" asked Jonah. This was addressed primarily to Emma, Marian, and Tom, but the others heard it as well. The woman who had been assisting the doctor gave a snorting laugh. "Prayer? You think there's a God here who's going to listen to us? Shit, good one."

Jonah looked at her angrily, but he said nothing.

"I'll think of something," Marian said. "My mom recited it when my grandfather died."

He squatted down, took off his Burger King cap, and said a prayer. It was strange to see this white-knuckle boy, who had earlier ripped him off for seventeen bucks for a pair of crumpled light goggles, praying, Tom thought. And it was strange to see how quickly things were moving.

Marian finished, propped herself up, and put on her Burger King cap again.

"So what now?" asked Jonah. "Did he say anything?" This question was directed at the doctor.

"No," the doctor said wearily. "He couldn't talk. He was already delirious."

But in any case, there is something out there, Tom thought.

He let his eyes wander over the few people still in the rest area. There was Jonah, of course, Marian and Emma, Marian's boss, the doctor and his family, an older gentleman, and the woman in her mid-thirties in her business suit, looking like she'd been caught in the middle of a meeting with her gray suit and severe topknots.

He turned his head a little. The bear man, and his daughter, the woman with the pink hair. How on earth had he forgotten about her.

Again he thought of what the bald man might have whispered in the pink-haired woman's ear.

Thirteen people. That was them. Thirteen. There were no more.

Silence fell. First the dead man and then the jellyfish - people were literally speechless. Tom noticed how exhausted everyone looked at once. In the meantime, even the last one had become aware of the terrible truth: The black sun would not disappear, not now and probably not in the next few hours.

The crucial question that had just been formulated in everyone's mind was: How long will it stay like this? How much longer do we have to wait?

People were afraid, and that's why they kept silent, their faces pale, their eyes fixed on the darkness beyond the glass.

The twitching tea lights cast reddish shadows across the tables.

It amazed Tom that no one was willing to take the lead. This was probably related to the fact that none of them knew a solution to their problem. Walk out? Could be forgotten. Stay in here and wait?

Well - wait for what? A rescue?

But one thing Tom realized with stinging clarity at that moment: silence was not good. Terrible thoughts could arise in silence, and terrible thoughts usually drew even more terrible consequences.

He gathered all his courage and cleared his throat loudly until everyone was looking at him. When he was sure he had everyone's attention, he said, "Maybe we should get to know each other. I'd be happy to go first. I'm Tom Fischer. It's a pleasure. If one can speak of a pleasure under the circumstances: "