Black Eyes

Chapter 19

Ethan and Nakir were having a heated discussion again. Eva and Julia approached a little closer without dragging attention to understand what they had to discuss.

“They’ll realise it’s fake!” Ethan said, putting his hands in his raven curls.

“Not if you do it right!” Nakir retorted exhaustedly.

“I can’t do it right!” Ethan was on the verge of exploding.

“Guys” Eva interjected “It’s ten past two in the morning. Can we talk about it again tomorrow when we’re rested and not exhausted?”

The two looked at Eva, then exchanged an intimidating look which, given how tired they were, only seemed ridiculous.

Eva laughed softly so as not to make them even more angry.

Ethan without speaking moved away from the work table and, looking over his shoulder first, entered a small room that served as his bedroom. A mattress was simply placed on the floor and filled with blankets. A low wardrobe stood against the back wall. The boy closed the door behind him and locked it, sat down on the mattress and without bothering to change his clothes he took off his shoes which he threw near the door and dropped onto the mattress, rubbing his temples. 

Nakir settled down on a large blanket that he had spread on the floor as far away from the air conditioner as possible and which, although uncomfortable, was still better than nothing.

I’ll sleep anyway. I’m too tired. Nakir thought as he placed a hoodie under his head as a pillow.

Eva and Julia curled up in each other’s arms on the armchair and seemed to be comfortable like that. In self-charging mode the small orange light could be seen under the android’s shirt, but Nakir knew that Eva never really slept. While she was charging she was always alert and would immediately respond to any external stimulus. While she was in charging mode, memories of the previous Evas often came back to her almost as lucid dreams. She felt like she was reliving their lives like when Eva-01 climbed the cathedral spire for the first time and decided to make it her secret refuge.

Eva didn’t know whether or not to feel annoyed by those apparitions, but in the end she surrendered to the fact that she couldn’t do anything about it. Her brain was the same one they had brought too. Deep down she didn’t know if she was just a mass of memories or a separate creature.

While she speculated about her past lives with her eyes closed, Julia shook her slightly. Eva was taken by surprise. She was convinced the girl next to her was sleeping in her arms and she opened her luminescent cobalt eyes to fix them on Julia’s hazel ones.

“What’s up?” Eva asked softly.

“Follow me…” Julia said, getting up from the armchair making as little noise as possible and taking Eva’s hand who with a silent leap got down from the armchair.

Julia directed towards the bathroom and closed the door softly while Eva turned on the light, dazed and curious. She barely had the time to turn around when she saw Julia with a pair of surgical scissors in her hand. For a second Eva was shocked and her expression probably alarmed Julia because she lowered the hand holding the scissors and looked at Eva with a sweet smile.

“Sorry… I just wanted you to cut my hair”

Eva was taken aback for a moment. She didn’t know what to answer. Julia handed her the scissors and Eva took them hesitantly, then the girl sat on the edge of the tub with her bare feet inside the ceramic surface.

“Why me?” Eva asked her in a whisper.

“Because you’re probably the person who remembers it the best”