Monday, August 14th, 9:35 PM
Albuquerque, NM
Finally. Greg decided to take a shower.
It was great talking with him, about his family and all, but alone-time was needed now, especially after trying to dodge many of Greg’s questions about Evan's own family.
He lay back down on his bed. Fortunately, the pillows here in this motel were full, plush, and stacked high, giving him the perfect position to view his phone comfortably. He removed the phone from his pocket, swiped it open and clicked on the video of Syrrah and Neraeh at the Mall of America.
He simply had to watch it again.
Time passed by. The video ended. He had already texted Dad, Mom-Kyleigh, and little Matti, besides Neraeh and Freddy. Check the latest news at home, yeah, that’s a good idea. He opened the web browser and went to several of Fargo’s news sites. Maybe something about NDSU football, some other sports news, anything.
But all of it just wasn’t working.
He couldn’t help himself. He clicked on the replay icon again.
And thankfully, Greg was yet in the shower. He did say he likes to take long showers.
“I’m becoming extremely obsessed with her,” he whispered to himself.
He inhaled a deep breath and kept watching. Her beautiful face. Her cute, adorable profile. Her beautiful, perfect, slim body. Her laugh. Her charming maneuvers and mannerisms and ridiculous talk. And that silly, goofy ‘live long and prosper’ Vulcan hand sign and words.
Terrifying, yet intensely satisfying thoughts passed through his mind. He wanted this girl. He would do anything to get this girl. He wanted this girl more than life itself. And most disturbingly of all, he would kill for this girl.
No. This was getting out of hand.
Lord Savior. Please. Forgive me, and help me to think clearly here. Please. Amen.
He would need to pray more later, especially after the dark, craziness of this day.
And besides. A BIG besides. As much as he wanted Syrrah, he had to always realize, he could never have her. Her body, who she truly was, existed no more.
He paused the video and thought for a moment.
But Dana. Ugh. Her personality made her homely face even more unattractive. Yes, she has an amazing body, and looked absolutely devastating today in her workout clothing. But her eyes. Those beady, dark eyes. And her large nose on profile view. And her other facial imperfections. Damn. Nothing like Syrrah’s beautiful, perfect profile, with a small, feminine nose.
Yeah. With the harshness of Dana’s behavior since meeting her? This was not going to be easy.
But Syrrah was supposedly within Dana!
Supposedly. The big key word here for sure.
He shook his head and continued watching.
Art’s Unihertz phone suddenly buzzed in his pocket. He paused the video and took it out.
The small phone’s screen showed a message arrived. He clicked to open it. Damn this small phone was hard to use for his large, bulky fingers, but he could manage. Once opening the text, yup, it was from Art. He read it.
You must trust me on this. That gentle finger swipe of her bangs WAS Syrrah.
Reading my mind now? Okay. Not a problem. Anyone who could mentally survive being trapped in the hull could handle anything. Let’s go with this.
Wish I could agree. But very hard after how she treated me today.
I understand. Kamal and I sense she is quite ill, after your interaction today.
So that’s the excuse for her treating me so bad?
No. Not an excuse, but an explanation.
And besides. I thought you were being blocked.
Most of the time, but not always. Breakthroughs occur.
Well, if Syrrah is truly inside her, makes me very angry, if that’s the reason, to force Syrrah into pain.
Wasn’t to force Syrrah into pain, but to remove Dana from pain.
Yeah. But obviously didn’t work. She still killed herself, in Syrrah’s body.
I know. And I’m sorry.
Me too.
Evan texted back and forth a few more times with Art until ending their conversation on a friendly, mostly positive note.
But what the hell. If Art knew his thoughts and reactions with Dana, then he most certainly knew his intense, burning desire thoughts about Syrrah. Damn. Embarrassing! But hey, you want to read a man’s thoughts, then that’s what you get. Surprise!
Evan smiled and shoved the Unihertz back into his pocket.
He picked up his iPhone and began watching Syrrah and Neraeh at the mall again.
This time, when the mall video ended, he opened and watched the video of Syrrah goofing around and singing You Wreck Me with friends. And when that video was done, he watched the video of her singing on stage. Her voice was so amazing, so professional sounding. She could have definitely joined their band.
If only. If only they had been the same age, and he had known her back in high school, he would never have allowed any of this cruel insanity to occur. If, of course, this was all really true.
Before long tiredness was sweeping through him. Time to get some sleep. He paused the stage video and checked his phone’s alarm. It was still set.
The paused section of the video was on a closeup of Syrrah’s face. Her beautiful face filled his phone’s screen.
Careful not to click on any buttons, he placed the phone’s screen with her paused image on his chest, directly over his heart, any harmful radio waves be damned.
The never-ending air conditioner was making it quite cold in here. Using his other hand, he carefully covered himself with the blanket.
He pressed the phone even closer to his heart, his beautiful Syrrah so near to him now, and began drifting off into sleep.