The Proposed Prophecies

“I heard Jake leave that night and he was gone for a whole month. There were no signs of Eve or the diaries either. I spent that whole month living with doubts and my thoughts were suffocating me on daily bases. After a while I started convincing myself that perhaps whatever had happened in the past few months was just a game of my imagination and it was over, I had to let go. I remember, I used to create imaginary places and people as a child all the time to keep myself distracted from my father’s yelling. And I kept the possibility this could have been just my mind working excessively fast, imagining things that weren’t there. I fought hard against my mind as it told me the opposite. I didn’t want to end up like my grandfather, somewhere in a mental house imagining aliens, each time I thought of the diaries.

But no matter how hard I tried to convince myself of this lie, I kept coming back to the truth in my dreams. The first week after Jake left I was afraid to go to sleep; the second I closed my eyes the thoughts kept popping up like poisoned mushrooms in the forest. Eve… diaries… Jake… Amy’s words repeatedly followed each other, creating a tornado and chain of nightmares that were out of my control. As the weeks passed by I learned how to keep myself entertained with school, my friends and Evan. I convinced myself that it was over but in reality it was just the beginning.”

Liv exhaled; even speaking feels like an extra effort. She never realized how old her voice had become over the past few months, since she had stopped her injections. She needs to take more air between and it feels as if there is something always stuck in her throat. But Katie doesn’t seem to mind at all. She hasn’t even interrupted Liv once.

Liv looks over to Katie, who is still writing. She observes the young- looking woman. Really, she could be any age. Liv could not tell how old the new generation of people were since they all looked like a twenty-somethings. Just like Katie. The injection stops the body from aging and repairs every imperfection inside the body, making the body look and feel forever young.

Liv perceives Katie’s quick hand writing and yet the words look like she has been painting them instead of writing. The only other handwriting Liv had seen like this was her grandfather’s. She grabs and opens one of her diaries out of the brown box next to her on the bed. It had been there ever since Katie had brought it to her. She smiles as she looks at her own handwriting which is far from looking like it is painted. Her handwriting is uneven and the words are far too chubby. They spread out like weeds.

Suddenly she looks up and realizes Katie is staring at her. But once Liv looks into her brown eyes, she looks away again. Liv wonders why Katie has such trouble looking into her eyes. It almost looks like she feels guilty about something, like when a child does something wrong and knows they will be punished.

“Have you told anyone about what happened in your room? About Jake?” Katie suddenly asks. Her voice sounds young and unsure. Her eyes are on her book and her hands are slightly trembling as she holds on to the blue pen. Liv suddenly has an urge to ask her what is wrong, but she stops herself when she realizes she doesn’t even know Katie and she is only here for an interview. She isn’t a friend or a family member. She is just a stranger sitting across from her, who she met an hour ago but for some reason feels such a weight of responsibility for her already.

“No, I haven’t told anyone.” Liv answers straight away. She clears her throat and feels extremely annoyed by the continuous feeling of having something in her throat.

“Why not? You sound as though you had a lot of people that cared about you. Your family, friends, a boyfriend,” Katie says and quickly glanced at Liv, then back to her book again.

“You are right. But I felt like I would put them in some type of a danger if I told them about the diaries. Or that they might look at me like I was crazy. Jake looked so desperate that night when he tried to find them and I wasn’t sure what the rest said or how my grandfather’s story continued. And most importantly I wasn’t even sure what was real anymore” Katie smiles. “I think I know the feeling.” She says, her eyes still down, avoiding every possible eye contact.

“How is that?” Liv asks and suddenly feels protective again, it is the urge of a woman who sees a crying child. It feels in a way like some form of motherly intuition. Katie slightly shakes her head and smiles politely. “It doesn’t matter. It’s nothing really.” She pauses a little. “So have you ever found the diaries or knew who had them?”

Liv looks back to her diary and sighs. “Yes, I found out who had them but it did not make the situation better. As a matter of fact, everything become lot worse after that point.”