Bad Prophecies (draft 1)

V

I'm so glad to live in a world where there are Octobers - Lucy Montgomery.

I first remember reading this quote while we were on the train to Cornwall, October 15th 1888. Anne Of Green Gables was still a relatively new book series then. It was in the early afternoon, and Alexander was asleep on his side of the roomette. Since this was not only our second overnight stay on a train, but the second night of it, and I had come to terms with the fact he was a heavy sleeper. Once he was asleep, he could probably sleep through an air raid siren.
And he sure did love sleep.
The window was open and was blowing cold air into the roomette. I was cold but I knew Alex was chronically overheated, so I left it open, instead covering myself in blankets.
I put my book down. I made a quick sketch of him in my field notes and took my glasses off.
"Are you going to keep on pretending that you're asleep? I'm starting to get bored."
He opened his eyes and tilted his head back up to look at me.
"While we're at it, will you tell me when we'll be there?"
"By morning."
He shifted slightly.
"I'm hungry, are you hungry?"
"You just ate like twenty minutes ago, and no I'm not hungry."
"It's been closer to two hours, and you can never have enough food."
"That cannot be right." I said playfully.
"Oh well. Do you have anything?"
I looked through my bag, and tossed him an apple. He caught it properly, to my suprise.
"Oh wow, I thought you would drop it,"
"I'm not that stupid!"
"I don't doubt that you aren't."
We talked while he ate the apple, and also talked for the rest of the afternoon. I went to sleep early while he had the lovely dinner of a sugar and lard sandwich, which, once again, I now realise sounds incredibly unusual, but was quite a commonplace for travelling food back then.
When I woke up hazily, it was about two in the afternoon and we had to get our luggage together. Once it was composed, we sat on the same side of the roomette and continued conversation. I rested my head on his shoulder and listened to him speaking. It was another thing I loved to do. I could listen to him talking for hours.
By seven, the train was arriving.
"And that is why I think communism is only going to rise,"
"Alright, very fetching, let's get off. Shall we, Mister Black?"
After hauling everything off the train, we got a cab to the boarding house we'd be lodging at. The woman at the lobby desk was quite a chipper and charismatic character (if I remember correctly, her name was something like Lindsey, or Liley or Lilah).
"Right, so you two are on the third floor, in room twelve." She explained, and gave me the key.
"Thank you, have a nice one."
If it wasn't torture already to get our trunks to the boarding house, it was surely torture getting them up six flights of stairs. When we were done, I opted to open the door, and as it was the only room on the third floor, it wasn't at all difficult to figure out which we were in.
"Is there truly only one bed?" Alex remarked,
"Have you never travelled before?"
"My mother and I don't travel, we move houses. And not very often,"
"So this should be a unique experience,"
"I suppose."
I grinned and said,
"You're stupid, I like that in a man,"
"This is the first I'm hearing of you liking men,"
"It's just not very often I like one,"
"And what makes me special?"
"Dumb luck."
Once we settled down, we sat on the floor with our backs against the bed and shared a flask of wine. We retained silence for a long time, for atleast two hours, and well into the evening. One of us, I even don't remember who, broke it when they began laughing. I think we were laughing for fifteen or twenty minutes before it calmed down, and when it did, we returned to complete silence. That was, until he said to me,
"The air is so clean here,"
"Why do you think I love it so much?"
"I don't know. I've been in London for such a long time I was just used to the pollution,"
"I completely understand, I've spent a lot of my life there-" I stopped to correct his glasses because they bothered me where they sit on the very tip of his nose.
"Did you just do that?"
"I may have."
He smirked, before asking in a more serious tone,
"Again about the air, have you ever been seriously ill from the city air?"
"Once. It's actually why I began to opt towards living outside of London,"
"What disease did affect you?"
"Melancholia, primarily, although that isn't a disease that affects the lungs." My smiled dropped. "I had a very bad chest infection, and it made it very difficult for me to breathe. Have you ever been ill from it?"
"I had asthma as a child, I remember it was painful when we had to walk to church, because it was the only time I ever left the house. I was extremely agoraphobic because of it,"
"How did you heal from it?"
"My mother stopped taking me outside and I grew out of it eventually,"
"Is that why you lost faith?"
"On the contrary, I don't think I've ever had any faith."
I replenished my smile,
"That's something we have in common,"
"Is this finally the moment where you explain it to me?"
"I'm only religious because it can be an interesting hobby, and because my father has made me swear to meet him in heaven at the end of the world,"
"I won't be there there to join you two. I'm destined for hell," He joked,
"I've met people a lot worse than you who can qualify for heaven,"
"It's not really about that, angel."