by Ayman Ghalit
“Trust me, you don’t know how beautiful you are.”
“Seal your lying mouth.”
“Just let’s get to know each other, and I’ll prove it to you that you are.”
“And after that?”
“We will get a long, get to know each other, and I will prove to you that am not like any other… and if things went smoothly right, we will get married.”
“Me!? marry you!?” she chuckled, “how impulsive!”
“Yes, we get married, what’s wrong with that?”
“Listen, umm? what’s your name again?”
“Don’t act like this.”
“A hideous like you, marry a hideous like me will eventually produce hideous children, thus, the curse will continue. But if I marry some on who looks like Adrian, *pointed at another poster that advertise hand watches showing a fat ugly-faced man in his eyes* the chances of that curse being passed to my children will dim.”
“Adrian does not know you exist… Besides, don’t be a hypocrite, you are the one who is demanding perfection!”
She took a sip, and replied, “It’s called dreaming. And it is the whole world that demands it, I am nothing but a victim of its standards. Liar.”
“I am not a liar. Am truly trapped by your beauty, Alma”
“Why are you talking to me as if we know each other?”
“We will take our time getting to know each other, and I swear that you will find me ‘literally’ different.”
“Sheesh! you are too stubborn for your own good. Leave me alone and return to the planet you came from.”
He chuckled, and replied, “I truly hope so.”
Moments after, her female co-worker, who questionably glanced Kaiser, came over, and said, “Hey, Alma, are you coming tonight for the wedding?”
“Is it tonight! I almost forgot about it. Where will it be?”
“The Joyful Morrow Wedding Venue. I will call you at 11PM. And, Alma, can you come inside, we need your help on the coffee machine, its broken again.”
She drank her coffee whole, and said before leaving him all alone, “Pardon me, You. but it is the duty call,”
And while tapping the small round boney table by his forefinger, Kaiser hummed, and said, “The Joyful Morrow, tonight.”
Edmond, The Aquatic
Kais went back to the hotel and pushed open the unlocked door to find Carl sitting on the living room couch besides his scattered books, reading a local newspaper. He greeted him, and asked if Mort did call or if he had found the keys. He told him that he didn’t call, and he double-checked the room with no luck of finding the keys. He then sat before Carl, who astonishingly hummed while was glued to the newspaper, saying, “Do you know that blood covers more than 80 percent of this planet! And the other part is a one gigantic continent, mostly of gold! And this whole planet is ruled only by one guy named ‘Draven.’ His father is emperor Edmond son of Tempest, infamously known as Edmond, The Aquatic. He died 16 years ago! this is a new history!”
“Aquatic? why is that?”
“This planet has one continent, it is a 9000Km from east to west, and about 7500Km from north to south. It was divided to 102 nations before Edmond’s dreadful military campaign that made the nations succumb and submit to his will one after another. Then, he ruled this planet with a mighty iron-fist and a pharaonic regime that shows only what the ruler sees and like. Field execution became frequently common thing. And he who talk or she who whisper against the ruler or his regime will disappear without further notice! Tyrannical injustice nested upon this planet. Bribery and spying became a good way to earn cash! Freedom became a blasphemous foul word that you have to repent and seek pardon if you ever say it. And if you want to ease your life, you have to blindly subdue to its actuality. This square is called the Punctured Skulls Square, because Edmond gathered the leaders who refused to submit to him and personally executed them all by a pullet in the head. He killed 23 leaders in just one day! Then, under his rule, he killed more than 20 million Phugwak. That’s what gave him the name ‘The Aquatic.’”
Kais, who was not interested, asked, “Then, why is everything looks fine now?”
“After the death of Edmond, his son, Draven, became the emperor. He was more merciful than his dad, for he pushed the blades a little bit away from the Phugwak’s throats as lots of prisoners were conditionally released. From more than 12 million worldwide, to only 5 million.”
“That’s sound like a cool guy to me”
“Not quite, things are not good lately. The capital, Darg, is not the hometown of Draven. He is from the North, from another nation called The Daisers. In the dreadful days of Edmond, he butchered Darg’s residents in a way that left a permeant and an unforgettable mark as lots were displaced and killed. There is something odd about the newspapers, most of it are relentlessly reminding the Phugwaks about the blessing of unity and peace. That is coinciding with a rumor about an upcoming uprising! Also, there are lots of revolted Phugwaks whom are highly-wanted with juicy bounties on their heads and fearsome punishment for those who help them, the most wanted are: ‘Clark the Blindson. Thanker the Rhinoceros. Canth the Heavens-blood, Angus the 300son. Arthouse the perilous… and Theodor of Thalapute.’ An X mark have been placed on Canth’s and Angus’ pictures! I think it indicates that they have been dealt with.”
“That’s sound cool,” bored Kaiser replied. “But, I care not about our history, let alone caring about theirs. Leave this be, Carl. I want to tell you something.”
“This is important, Kais. We are stuck in here!”
“Naah, it isn’t. I want to tell you something.”
Carl folded the newspaper as Kais enthusiastically told him about Alma, and what had happened to him with her. He told him about her flawless beauty, and the beauty standards that they use. He confessed to him his warmth feelings towards her, and asked if he can offer him a good advice about this matter.
“Hmm!? That interesting, indeed.” Carl replied. “I thought it is the human instinct that determine what is beautiful and what is not! But your story contradicts that, and leave me in doubt... And, I truly do admire your courage that made you talk to her!”
“Trust me, it isn’t courage. Its fate that planned everything, and now I don’t know what to do? She is glued in my mind”
Carl looked him in the eyes, and said, “Kais, you should learn from your former affairs. Bet on what will flourish for you. Don’t emotionally delve and venture, for you always push too hard and dig too deep to disappointedly find what you didn’t expect. My opinion is that it is nothing but pseudo feelings that somehow filled the emotional-void inside of you, leav..!”
Impeding Carl opinion, Kais rolled his eyes in frustration, and said, “It is not a pseudo feeling.”
“Kaiser, Remember, we will leave in the early morning. Simply, just don’t think about her.”
“How can I do that? I fell down into her love.”
“Once again, just because ‘She is Beautiful’ you fell for her? You found her an easy target for you in these standards, thus, you want to haste and fulfil this untamed desire of yours. To live with a beautiful woman.”
“IS. IT. WRONG!?” Kais roared, “It is not my ego this time, Carl. I don’t want to impress any one in here. I have to follow these feelings because it will make me feel good and happy. *stressfully sighing* Listen, I don’t know, but I felt the chemical strike again, harder, and warmer this time.”
“Relationships are really complicated, Kaiser. It’s more like gambling, or shooting in the dark. Regret and remorse will commonly occur after one achieves his goal. You do not know what are you betting on, you only chose beauty, although you don’t know anything about her! she doesn’t even share the same feelings toward you.”
“And that is what make love painful, Carl. We will get to know each other with time, that’s not a problem.”
“There is no time left. In the morrow, we will leave to Narbiz. The road toward her is largely blocked. My conclusion is t
hat you are feeling alone, and you fear the idea of losing her while she is still available. Since your matter didn’t evolve into a serious one, leave her be, and don’t look back. It’s so simple.”
Kaiser resented, and with a frustrated face, he replied, “I know that the road to her heart might be blocked. But I want to take my chances. I want to cross it, it might be narrow, rough, and blazingly burning, but I want to cross it. It tasted different and strangely better, Carl. I will tell her that I am from another planet, for that, she will believe I am different.”
Carl woefully put his hands over his forehead, and said, “Are you fuckin out of your mind!? You might saw or read lots of fantasy love-stories with happy endings and thought this is how things go. It is not like that in reality, wake up, Kaiser. Wake up, and stop this nonsense.”
“I can’t do it, I have to take my chances with her.”
“The Phugwaks are not us, they are literally different. They live in a primitive era, the ear of the Industrial Revolution. Like 4000 years back. They don’t believe or will accept the concept of aliens or an outer living forms. So, be careful on this matter, we are substantially different, Kais. Besides, you will not father from her.”
“And this is what concerns you!? I do not want children, I just want to be with her, alone.”
“Maybe she wants to? …listen, I just mentioned one of the differences between you and her. There are sharp and critical differences in drink, food, instincts, standards, behavior, and dreams. Difference are literal in this matter. It not black and white, or two groups that despites each other, this a Human and something else. This will be a burden that will easily bust your back.”
“Everything will be easy, trust me on this.”
“How is it going to be? How will you live?”
“I will tell her that I am from another planet where stones are worthless, and here is the gold that will make the human drools. So, will go back and forth trading in stones and golds… and, for God’s sake, Carl, I don’t care about money, I want her in a warm small home which will be built with love… and Love requires a sacrifice.”
Chucklingly, Carl replied, “Such wild and fuzzy dreams you got there! ...listen, she will never accept the idea of an outer creature, if you tell her the truth, she will see you as a freak, a fiendish beast who drinks water. Bear this in mind!”
Kais paused for moments thinking about this matter that didn’t cross his mind. Then, he exhaled, and said, “I will find the way to convince her that I am the honest one.”
“Tenacious as always… but, aside of that, do you know that you fell in love with a plant! And if you managed and convinced her to marry you! Then, you will be a first. It is a chance for a pioneer!”
“I don’t care about this.”
Carl kept urging him to quit, but his stubbornness and solid will made Carl quit trying. He then told him that he will be needing 50 Rallods to attend the wedding. Carl strongly advised again, but deaf were Kais’s ears was. And moments later, they heard the door knocking. Carl, who went to open the door, turned to him and said, “Just remember, we will leave at the crack of dawn. Quit this, or you will get hurt again. And please, don’t ever tell her that we are from another planet. Trust me, this will horribly backfire at you, and will surly get us in serious trouble.”
Earnest Laborer
Carl opened the door for Gael who was exhaustingly sweating and hardly standing. He, without saying a thing, ploddingly reached and dropped himself on the nice squishy couch, and with face full of tiredness, he asked, “Mort called?”
“What the hell happened to you?” Kais asked.
He groaned from muscle pain after stretching his arm, and answered, “Oh, I was… I was working.”
“Working?” they wondered.
Gael pulled out 40 Rallods from his pocket, and handed it to Carl, saying, “This is my payment.” Then he told them that he had passed by a construction site where the crane stopped working. The head of the staff, who looked seriously troubled, saw him and said that he will pay him good if he helped them deliver the remaining few golden pricks to the third floor.
“You look way too tired.” said Kais.
“I know... I just wanted to see how life will be if we ever got stuck in here.”
“Hmm! Surprising turn of events… How work turned out for you?”
“I never thought it will be this fun. I mean, when you earn money by the sweat of your struggle, it feels different and amazing! …It was great, Kaiser... It was truly great!”
Kaiser gave a loud wow, saying, “Interesting!”
“You really fell for that!? Work sucks, and totally not fun. It was so boring and extremely tiresome. They will never pay you if work was fun, remember that.”
Carl let out a faint cackle, and said, “Any way, we owe you 40 Rallods… Take it from this perspective; you helped them improve and build this planet.”
Gael chuckled, leant back on the couch, hardly rose his feet to place them on the small table front of him, closed his eyes, and said, “Yea... you might be right.”
“I will prepare lunch, am pretty sure you need that.”
“That’s will be highly appreciated.”
When Carl left to the kitchen to prepare food from the ramming leaves, Kais said, “Good for you, Gael.”
“I Just wanted to try something new… I am sweating like a dog in heat, I really need a hot steamy shower. Anyway, did Mort called?”
“No, he didn’t... You remember about our talk earlier about finding love in her—!” A door knock interrupted what Kais wanted to tell Gael about. He went and opened it to find Bob and Jack, who was clearly in a bad mood. He smiled and said, “Why the grim face, Jack? who won?” And without responding, Jack went straight to the couch and sat beside Gael.
“Bob won, no?” smilingly Kaiser asked.
“This Thing will never beat me.” Jack replied.
“Then why are you burning in anger.” Bob replied.
“Alright then, blobby Bob. We have a neutral one in here. Gael, we know you are an honest person, so we want to ask you a tiny simple question, I know it will sound stupid, but we hope that you will answer.”
“Go ahead. Ask your question.”
“Who is the most handsome, me or Bob?”
Kaiser felt awfully ashamed and put his hand over his saying, “This is embarrassing.”
“Pardon me, but I missed your question.”
“I will tell you,” Bob replied, “who is the beautiful? Me, or this thing beside you.”
Gael, who was feeling totally dumbfounded, adjusted himself and looked at Kaiser with a disbelieving look in his face. He then gave them a disgusted loathed look, and while barely calming his anger, he said, “We. Are. Here… Lost in this damned planet, astray in this never-ending universe, and a doofus one lost our surviving keys, and we aren’t sure if he were lying or not. And you, ladies, are in her concerning only about who is more beautiful? *loudly roared* ARE YOU MEN!”
Bob repeated, “Calm down. Beauty is not appointed only for women, so please keep your anger to yourself and answer our question.”
Gael roared in anger toward them, shaming, mocking, and pitying their competition till lunch calmed them all. Then, they ate and discussed their troublesome matter while checking their phone from time to time, waiting for the relieving call that never came. And when they started to regret their decision for letting Mort go alone, Gael and Jack urged them to leave, but the rest disagreed, especially Kais who was waiting for the right moment to attend the wedding. Time slowly and painfully passed, and at 9PM, they went to sleep one by one, left only Carl and Kaiser, who asked him 50 Rallods. He tried so hard to convince him to leave her alone, but hardheaded and persistent he was, saying, “There is nothing to lose.”
Tangling Nuptial
Caring not about the golden buildings that surrounds him, Kais, who neatly dressed up, took a taxi and went to the Joyful Morrow Wedding Venue. 15 minutes later, the driver delivered him to his destin
ation and charged him 20 Rallods.
Standing before a big shimmering golden palace, he paused in fear as he hesitated to go. Fret and little bit of self-shaming nailed down his feet. But he resurrected his confidant by saying that there is nothing lose, and boosted it up by Ateeqson’s quote that he heard it from Mort “For the anonymous, there is no shame.”
While slowly heading to the gate, he urged his shaky self, ‘Take your full chances, Kaiser. Nothing you will lose if they ever found you weren’t invited.’ Then, he entered the palace, and luckily for him, there were no wedding security guard with checklist to reject him.
In a big, vast, and dim-lighted colorful hall, the gusts were gathering. It was almost a typical wedding ceremony. Uncomfortable he felt from some of the eyes that clearly tell he is an intruder, but with a little bit of confidant and calmed footsteps, he managed to blend in easily. He straightly, and far away from the lights, sat on an elegantly cushioned golden chair while glancing the bashful pride and her awkward groom, whom were setting in the middle of the hall beneath a brightly centered spotlight. And with full caution, Kais was turning left and right trying to find Alma, but all the girl that he did find were chubby, fat, and obsess with no sign of her what so ever. That made him doubt himself saying that this might be the wrong place. And after a while, Carl’s voice echoed in his mind, reminding him of the consequences of this matter. He started to rebuke himself, ‘What the hell am I doing in here? Leave!’
His thoughts got disturbed by a waiter’s greeting, who then calmly offered him a drink, saying “Here you go, sir.” He placed on the table, a blood-cocktail with a thin kidney slice on the edge of a transparent cup. He thanked the leaving waiter, then gazed at the cup, and realized that it is a stupid idea to fall in love with someone who is this different. He disappointingly sighed as he almost convinced himself in believing that it is nothing but stupid feelings. But when he stood to leave, a girl -wearing a long fringed purple dress- passed by. She was fat with long ugly teeth, but with familiar facial features that didn’t take much for him to recognize. He questionably looked her, and said, “Alma?”
