[TSN/EM] Paradise Lost

05

When Mark opened his eyes again, Eduardo was lying on the grass by the riverbank. Eduardo stared at him with an expression of utmost tenderness and compassion, it was unlike that of a tormentor tormenting his captive, nor an obsessive paranoid, nor a fool. He was simply revealing a lie. Can't you see, he simply did something that others could never achieve? Based on the principles of relativity and basic mechanics, they had never intended to harm each other. They had never inflicted harm. It simply happened.

"I'm dying," Eduardo said. It was the break of dawn at Stanford Bridge, the first rays of light painted the horizon in a glimmering blue. The river caressed his fingertips, wetting them in the darkness. Eduardo was losing his senses, he was hallucinating, and his hallucination was making him lighter as if he'd gone into a marvelous stasis. He waited, but Mark did not shed a tear.

A belated surge of anger finally surpassed his surprise. You've hurt me, why aren't you doing anything about it? He tried to voice his anger, but his words failed to escape his lips. He merely gasped, allowing his anger to dissipate, making way for a return to the serene emotions of love so tender as the soft glow of the morning sun. He had reached his limits—limits of love, of life, of his innate abilities—he felt a familiar warmth flow back into the hollow hole in his chest. Everything was so wondrous and comforting, his feature shimmered again amidst the darkness of the night.

"No one will treat you better than I did"

"You will regret it."

Mark knew, he read it in Eduardo's eyes. Eduardo had stepped through the straight gate before he did. he began to tremble, not for Eduardo, but for himself.

He waited at the riverbank until daybreak, covered in cold sweat mixed with dew like a heavy cicada molt. Nonetheless, Eduardo had figured out a viable route for Mark to get out of his guilt in the last limited minitues of his life: All Mark needed to do was push him to the center of the river, where he would drift along the eddies, and Mark could go back to H33 like nothing had happened, change into his pajamas and sleep in until 3:00 pm for his afternoon philosophy class. As for Eduardo, by then he would have distanced himself from Boston, and if circumstances allowed, he could continue drifting into the Atlantic Ocean. But Mark had made up his mind, he would wait until Eduardo took his last breath and then, when the sky was fully bright, he would go to the police station alone and turn himself in, he would use this death to gain everything, everything he ever wants but has never attained. Mark mentally rehearsed his monologue, while Eduardo softly hummed, attempting to lighten the weight of mortality, If only you could too become a Reptide. Today was a day that would be witnessed by the entire world.