TEMNEM (Part 6) – The Race

-Story in installments-

1. A Flash of Memory

A butterfly was carefreenly dwelling on my sweaty shin. Of green wings, flecked with yellow dots, it was proudly parading. I didn’t move so as not to scare it. I was enjoying the sight.

I was waiting for her. She lagged behind. We loved to race and bet who would reach the finish line first. Sometimes I let her win. Just to cheer her up. I think she knew that very well. Even though she rejoiced at every victory of hers.

The wet grass on which I was sitting, was giving me the necessary peace and a moment of respite. I closed my eyes. I don’t have to turn around to know that my dear is approaching. The very sound of her panting and disgruntled remarks will be enough.

I jerked out of my slumber. So strongly that I scared Maria, whose head was laid in my lap.

“Nightmares?” – she asked in a gentle voice.

“What time is it?” – I was trying to catch the outlines of where I was and what time it was in that first unconscious moment of waking up.

“Does it matter? Are you rushing somewhere, love?”

I didn’t know how to answer that. Her tone suggested that there was truly no need for rushing. That time at this moment was irrelevant. Still, I couldn’t rid myself of the restlessness inside me. Something about all this was strange. I decided to for now rid myself of any thinking about obviously irrelevant things.

“I beat you again. You need to work on your conditioning.” – I laughed wanting to provoke her reaction.

“You did, so what? I will beat you next time. Let that be now, I wanted us to talk about something important.” – the shadow across her face was saying that it was time for serious topics.

I nodded my head, letting her know to continue.

“Alright. Please, don’t interrupt me, It won’t last long.” – she looked at me sideways still with her head in my lap.

Another nod of the head.

“There are some things that I didn’t tell you. Not because I didn’t want to tell. It wasn’t the right moment. Please, don’t take this as if I lied to you. Nothing related to us was a lie, nor is it now. I want you to know that.“

A cold feeling cut through me. Nobody starts a conversation like this if they haven’t withheld something serious. Maybe even insurmountable. My gaze fell on a hedgehog that was approaching us, clearing its path through the grass. Unaware of the truth that I was unready to hear. I gritted my teeth and with my hand gave her a sign to continue.

“I never took you to meet my parents. There was always an excuse how they are busy. How they might not accept you, because no man is good enough for their pampered girl. And a few more excuses which you probably didn’t believe but you let it pass. The truth is however different. Please, understand this. I never told you because I was afraid that I would lose you. I know it’s selfish on my part. But love is in a way selfish. We give ourselves to each other but we don’t let anyone take that feeling from us.“

The hedgehog has by now already approached to a meter from us, absolutely freed from fear. I extended my hand towards it, inviting it to approach a bit more, so that I could pet it.

“My parents are not humans. Not completely. Their parents, my grandmother and grandfather are not humans at all. I was showing you their pictures, you remember. You said that they radiate unusual energy and that you can feel it even just looking at the picture. I could talk to you about the whole family tree but it would be too long…”

“Stop please. You can’t tell me such a thing and start going around to explain. They are not human? Who are they then?” – I asked perhaps in a bit harsher voice than the one I intended.

She sniffled a bit fearfully, lifting her head from my lap and looking me in the eyes uttered the words that cut me through the middle of my being.

“They are shapeshifters. That means that according to need they can transform into the shape they want. It doesn’t have to be human, it doesn’t even have to be a living shape. It can be a stone, a chair, anything. When I said that they are not completely human, I meant that they are humans in the sense that they live their whole life on Earth and that they mostly take the shape that you saw in the pictures. By everything else they are not.”

“That means that you too are not a human being?” – my voice was trembling.

“Yes, I am also a shapeshifter.” – her words were cutting me more and more.

I stood up to my feet, completely out of my mind. Is this possible? Someone is surely joking with me. With Maria I was in a romantic relationship for a bit less than two years. We did everything that couples do. Went out, had fun, had sexual relations. Planned life. Even the idea of children appeared as a possibility in the near period. I was thinking seriously also about going to the jeweler’s in order to look at the choice of rings. Now? Most of all I would like to run away screaming as much as my throat allows. In the mind two thoughts were churning. The first is for her to show me her true face. The second was to leave. The second prevailed. I wasn’t ready for my whole world to collapse before my eyes all at once. Maybe when I am ready for the continuation of the story. When I gather enough courage and see if I can move past the spoken truth. With a swift step I started to move away, not having found the strength even to look at her.

“Please, don’t go. Don’t abandon me! Dante, please. Danteee…”

2. The First Race

“Dante! Danteeee!”

I am coming to my senses seeing a rather large group of people who are squeezing around me. For a moment an inexplicable excitement started to take real shapes when I realized that I am located at the start of a race. A race? Nothing is clear to us. The voice that was calling Dante was still heard from my right side. A female voice. Around me are all men. It is too warm to even think about staying in an open space. Let alone running.

“One more minute until the start of the race.” – a ringing voice over the megaphone was giving instructions.

Too late I came to my senses to in such a short time period realize what the hell is happening here. A girl dressed in a tight black dress that was clinging to her body, emphasizing her curves, gave me a small piece of paper.

Be the first who passed through the finish line. Sperm race. Proud sponsor – Best domestic eggs.

The name of the sponsor was blurred. I was looking at the inscription on the piece of paper, not knowing whether to laugh. Is someone joking with me?

“Thirty more seconds. Take your positions at the start. And remember, there can be only one. You be that one.” – new instructions of the voice that seemed genderless.

I don’t have time to think. I can only focus on the task. And that is to be first. I am aware of what a sperm race is. If it is already so, it is perfectly clear to me what to do. I wasn’t sure about the rules related to the very act of the race. Is everything allowed, in the sense of thwarting the competition? It seems that I will be finding out about that along the way.

I was in the fourth row. A bit unfair. Why did I have to be in the fourth row? Those in front of me have greater chances for victory. Those behind me very small chances.

“At how many meters is the race?” – I asked the guy next to me who was nervously tapping in place. On his chest it was written ‘Joakim’. Almost certainly his name.

“Five hundred meters.” – he answers me reluctantly, having measured me with a grim glare.

I nodded my head in a sign of gratitude, at that moment again hearing the female voice that calls Dante. I lowered my gaze to my running clothes and saw that on my chest it writes…‘Dante’. Well that voice is calling me. I broke through a couple of meters to the right with the desire to see who it is who is calling me. A girl of a cheerful face was waving to me with energetic movements of her hand. She was standing ready at the starting position. Opposite was another starting position, reserved for women.

“Do we know each other?” – I shouted towards her.

“Of course we know each other fool. Don’t you remember me? So many times we raced together!”

Unfortunately, I didn’t remember. Too bad. Beautiful girl. Maybe there was something between us. By her cheerful expression of the face it must be that it was nice for us. I shrugged my shoulders.

“Maria. Don’t tease me. It’s not cool.” – her expression of the face was taking a tone of disappointment.

Something in that name cut me. I wasn’t sure what. But through my being passed an inexplicable sadness.

“Three. Two. One. Go!” – the voice from the megaphone gave the last instruction.

The crowd moved me, dazed by thoughts. It took me a good ten seconds to come to my senses from the sudden encounter with the woman who presented herself as ‘Maria’. The tactic at the beginning of the race was not to be among the first positions. I had to establish the rules of the race. Whether it is important only to be the fastest or it was also up to thwarting the competition. I didn’t see any weapon nor tools with other participants, with which they would thwart the other runners. Maybe the point is just to be the fastest.

I ran the fastest I could having seen that slowly I am catching up with the runners in front of me. From time to time I cast a glance from my right side, looking for Maria. After a few seconds I saw her. She was leaving everyone in front of her, confidently charging towards the finish line. That gave me additional motivation. If I know her, I am sure that I am faster than her. And that I was beating her in races. I must not embarrass myself even now.

Two guys remained my only obstacle towards the first place. Our speeds were matching so that I wasn’t succeeding to reduce the distance. And the finish line was approaching. I had to devise how to bypass them. If I now add maximum gas, I will overtake them. But then maybe I lose breath so that doesn’t last too long. Worst of all is that I didn’t with certainty know how much more there is until the finish line.

Maria on the other side authoritatively held a secure first place. I decided that it is the right moment for adding gas when I in the distance saw the finish place. The first guy snorted and angrily looked at me having realized that I am overtaking him. He tried to push me away with his hand but his hand only swung through the air, unsuccessfully. There remained only one more. And some fifty meters to the finish line, by my free assessment. Maria in her race dominantly charged towards the first place. That gave me additional strength. I went for all or nothing. The guy in front of me wasn’t lagging behind but I was catching up to him more and more as the finish line approached. Maybe twenty more meters. Now I was already there, next to him. I could feel the smell of bad perfume mixed with the smell of sweat. Passing next to him I turned around to see his face. Sadness, mixed with disappointment on his face shook me a bit and emotionally hit me. But after all this is just a game. Or is it not? I looked at the inscription on his chest. It wrote ‘Kolmar’.

“I am sorry Kolmar.” – I said in a voice that perhaps seemed like teasing while I was bypassing him, taking the first position before the last ten meters of the race.

“I beat you. Hahaha. Now you surely didn’t let me.”

I cast a glance to the right seeing Maria with highly raised hands in a victorious ecstasy.

Just a little bit more. Five meters, three meters. I passed through the finish line having comprehended the truth. The one that was cutting me from the very beginning. Unutterable and painful. The one that changes the rules of the game and voids once strong emotions. I remembered and immediately regretted.

Maria is a shapeshifter.

-End of Part 6-