7 rings

Chapter 3

My plans are ruined. Or not. Maybe I can finally explain to someone what I am feeling, or even continue this with someone. Maybe it's not that bad.

He smiled and waited for Philomena, who, in seconds, was walking with him.

- You disappeared suddenly. Where are you going? You don't usually skip class or don't talk to me for a whole day.

- Sorry. Maybe I shouldn't...

- Maybe you should. What's happening. Why are you hiding it from me? - I asked.

- It's not that. Maybe I shouldn't take you into all of this, it's not safe. You could...

- Do you really think I can't defend myself? - I asked, tilting my head to the side. - it's not because I'm short or younger than you that I can't do such a simple thing as staying alive. Think well, have you ever seen someone attacking me and me not being able to stop them?

- No, but I haven't ever even seen anyone attacking you in the first place!- said Mark.

In a quick movement, I took him by the whist, rotated it to the side, in a position it definitely shouldn't be in.

Damn.

In a fraction of seconds, Mark was laying on the floor, looking at Philomena, standing above him.

- What's wrong with you?

- Are you still afraid of taking me with you?

She helped Mark to stand up, and they continued walking while Mak explained what had happened since a few years back when he met Katherine Norman.

Katherine Norman... How far down into this you are if you invented a whole life for you? Is Katherine Norman a mask or simply who you desire to be? A normal girl with a normal life, who goes to college, works part-time, likes to paint in her free time and is saving up to travel around Europe... What is happening to you? This is the most amazing thing I have ever heard in my life. I never thought this could be as interesting as it is now. I just decided I liked coincidences and wanted to have a bit of fun. I find three people or groups of people, Past, Present, Future and mix their lives up a little, making them unite in harmony, after so many years. I never thought human feelings and lives could be so complex.  As a human, discovering my own kind over and over again is a perfect feeling, the best feeling. Life doesn't make sense, why can't we just have some fun?  Running with nowhere to go... Being alone, lonely. Something about loneliness has always felt so right to me. It's beautiful. The loneliness of being in the middle of Nothing, with No One around you, and the loneliness of being in the middle of Everything, with Everyone around you. Two polar opposites that end up being the same. the desert and the big city. Which is the most lonely? I can't tell. That's why I like them both; it's harmony itself. Polar opposites with the same meaning... Isn't that harmony, isn't that the whole meaning of life itself? You are telling me something I know already, but it's like I don't. What is more important, who you are deep down or who you are on the surface? They all say "deep down, obviously". Can't agree or disagree: the keywords in both statements are "who you are". You are what you are deep down as much as what you are on the surface. Not more, not less, just the same.

-Then, she said that we would never meet again, and I should just forget about her forever. But I was there, I saw it. And no one will make me forget or stop looking for answers.

Obviously, you will meet again. That's why you met once. To meet again and again. It's your destiny now. You can't change it now. "Now"... you could never change it.

-Now I want answers. I can't see how the world is still the same after what I found out. I found out the biggest criminal group in the city, and it's lead by a person I once met. I also know all of them. I don't even want to try to understand how that happened. Let's believe it was a coincidence.

Nothing has changed because before you discovered it, it existed already. Why can't you just think for a bit? It's easier than trying to understand it, isn't it? I'm not blaming you, it makes the beauty of the world even bigger. Once you dissect it, it becomes darker and you open doors that should've forever remained closed. Better leave beauty untouched. Don't break the harmony with your own brain. Let harmony remain. It exists in everything... You can't just destroy everything because you just "wanted to". We are all so lonely until we start talking to each other... Then we become even more. Even more lonely.

- Here it is! We met here last evening!

So very lonely... Mark, please, leave the damn truth alone. Even more lonely when we speak... Doesn't that mean that we shouldn't speak? Or that being lonely is not bad, contrary to what society tries to tell us?  Love makes us lonely, most of the time. Being alone... the same beautiful feeling. The harmony and beauty of the world.

So beautiful.