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Reality Strikes Again
“If that son of a thousand bitches ever sets foot south of the Caribbean Sea again, I’m gonna fucking kill the motherfucker!”
Claudia’s glance was enough to cut Miyen’s deadly promises off. He looked away, snorting, his arms locked around Silvia. She’d tried
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No Return Hide Behind the Sun
“Thought it was u. I’m so fkn sorry.”Before Silvia could answer the text, Miyen snatched the phone from her hand and traded it for a mate. She didn’t complain. She knew her friend was right. Enough already. Time to put an end to it and let go.Like it was just so easy.They were in her room in Caseros, laying back on the bed side by side, watching a movie on her tablet. She smoked and drank mate. Her eyes were still swollen but dry. The shower and the meal had helped her to clear her mind. She felt drained, and it was that exhaustion what kept her wide awake. So she remained there, quiet and still, curling up against her friend’s side.“Told you he thought it was me,” she said out of the blue.“Oh, that changes everything, right? Turns out he’s not a fucking son of a bitch but a fucking asshole. Glad to know.”Miyen’s rant pushed a weary chuckle out
No Return The Same Moon
It was eleven in Santiago when midnight cruised across Buenos Aires to the west.Alone in his hotel room, wearing only his jeans, Jim was sitting on the rug with his back against the side of the bed, a beer and a joint at hand, his phone near his bare feet. He tried some random chords on the Fender Silvia had given him the year before, his eyes lost on the night skyline outside his window.She hadn’t replied to his last text.He knew she wouldn’t. He didn’t expect her to. He’d just wanted her to know. That was it.His fingers moved over the strings, his voice joined them in a whisper just out of habit. Until he realized which song he was playing. He stopped, breathing deep.That was the exact moment when he knew she wasn’t there anymore.Not that he’d lost her. She wasn’t gone. This was different. He could feel it in his guts. She would never reply to his last text, or any other, because she&rs
No Return Loop
Miyen and the Commodore escorted Silvia and Claudia almost to their plane seats on Tuesday noon, and only four hours later, they were at the Black Rock, having mate. Silvia was still pale and quiet, but insisted she was okay, and Claudia noticed she hardly checked her phone, as if she didn’t expect Jim to try to reach her, and didn’t want to contact him either.And she didn’t want to. She didn’t need to.Paola arrived an hour later, to let Claudia go to her house before her dog chewed the whole cottage down to splinters. Silvia’s own dog, that used to roam the streets and showed up only to eat, came with Paola and didn’t leave to walk Claudia home as he used to.“I’m gonna get rid of you lot and be alone sooner or later,” Silvia said, a little amused. “What d’you think it’s gonna happen then?”“You’re gonna text him,” Claudia and Paola replied right aw
No Return The Taste of Broken Glass
“Jim?”Sean knocked again. He’d better be ready, because the lobby was full of reporters. It was Wednesday, their second day in Chile, in between their two concerts in Santiago, and Deborah had decided to spend it on interviews. That way, they would have the whole Friday to rest before the long flight back to LA on Saturday.“Jimbo!” he called, a little louder.He could hear music from inside, but he couldn’t tell what it was. He knocked for the fourth time, already fishing in his pockets for his room card. He heard quick footsteps coming and Jim opened the door, half his face covered in shaving cream.“Dude! I’m fucking shaving! What’s up?”He let his brother in and headed back to the bathroom. Sean paid attention to the music. What on God’s green earth was Jim listening? He found the answer when he approached the laptop open in the middle of the bed. It was something Silvia had sen
No Return One Too Many Firsts
The interviews kept them busy until dinner, and all of them voted to go out later, for a little taste of the Santiago night. Instead of hanging out with the others at the bar until they left, Jim went back to his room. Deborah turned to Sean the moment Jim walked into an elevator, but Sean just shook his head.Yeah, his brother had honored all the commitments she’d scheduled for the day, but he was oddly absentminded, and Sean wasn’t about to explain to Deborah what was in Jim’s mind, keeping him distracted.His little brother had gotten the memo, directing him straight to a tall, sturdy brick wall. Now that he’d found it, Sean knew he would have to watch Jim slam his head against it, time and time again, until the pain and the bruises convinced him it was harder and more real than his own perspective of the situation. Then Jim would most likely break down, and Sean would have to be ready to hold him up.Upstairs, Jim dropped himself on t
No Return Playlist
Going back to work, eating, sleeping, gaming a while with her brother after dinner, drinking gallons of mate, walking with his dog to the bus stop, watching the clouds roll over the lake out the bus window, listening to her chick-hits playlist. Routine was a safe haven that welcomed her back. So that Wednesday midnight, when she got the Hey, Jay! notification, it was somehow just another part of her routine. And she felt strong enough to check it out.She brought mate and cigarettes to her room, played Sarah McLachlan’s Full of Grace and sat in the middle of her bed with the tablet.She felt relieved to see Jim hadn’t written anything. He’d only posted four photographs, and the lump up her throat didn’t come as a surprise when she saw them. Four pictures, one for each day they’d spent together. A smile found its way to her lips, reading the titles he’d chosen for them.He’d called the
No Return A Tale of Storms
The soft glow of the nightstand lamp blinded Silvia for a moment. As soon as she was able to squint around, she swung the covers open and jumped out of bed, grunting and grumbling under her breath.One damned hour. She’d been turning and tossing in bed for a whole hour, unable to sleep, the idea of that video waiting for her corroding her brain.She washed her face with cold water and grabbed her earphones. A moment later, she was back in bed, resting against the headboard, tablet in hand. She breathed deep and played the video.The Chilean flags everywhere didn’t leave much doubt about where the video had been filmed. It was a small stadium, for about ten thousand people, and it was crowded to the brink of structural collapse.The stage was dark and empty, and people whistled and shouted and screamed for the band to come back. Then a beam like an airport searchlight pierced the air, blinding bright, straight to Jim’s vacant microphone,
No Return The Enemy
Silvia paused the video one more time, her heart beating in her throat instead of her aching chest. Tears played funny tricks to her eyes, painting a bright halo around Jim on the screen, turning him into a blinding figure in the reddish shadows of the stage, with that fevered and obedient crowd at his feet, looking up at him in adoration.She didn’t want to watch anymore.She didn’t want to listen to what came next.She didn’t want to hear him call out straight to her love. To know if she would still dare the gale, crawl out from under the rubble, walk through the ravaged ruins he’d left of her heart.She didn’t want to step into the eye of that hurricane he couldn’t rein in anymore, because it’d become the flame that kept him alive.And at the same time, it didn’t matter how many poetic arguments her survival instinct came up with to seduce her and hold her back. She knew she wouldn’t refuse.
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