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Back The Black Maybe Save as PDF
Chapters (13)
  1. Cover
  2. Introduction by Steve Rasnic Tem
  3. To Bite a Dog
  4. Fogtown
  5. The Time Remaining
  6. Return to the Midnight School
  7. In the Snow, Sleeping
  8. Multiplied by Zero
  9. The Amber Complex
  10. Sky Filled With Crows, Then Nothing at All
  11. Walks Among You
  12. The Black Maybe
  13. About the Author

He shot out and ran and ran until his lungs couldn’t take it anymore, and then he ran some more because he imagined Nikolett running right behind him, mouth open to take a bite out of his face. When he couldn’t run any further he stopped by a lamp post, and in the pale LED light he threw up. Then he ran on until he reached the smell of bleach and plywood, the extra comfort, the place of Sunday honey-color and tranquility. His home. Their home.

Her home.

He tore off the black clothes and stood under the shower to wash off the smell of fear and excitement. As he washed himself he kept thinking about the dog and its owner, and he surprised himself when anger startled bubbling up instead of fear and disgust. Why can’t these people and their dogs stand up for themselves? Why do they accept being charged the tax of pain at night? Why can’t they take control and protect themselves? All they would have to say is no! All they would have to do is lash out at their attacker.

Of course he knew why. He knew because he was just like them. A dog that approaches with knees bent and shaking. A dog’s teeth are sharper than its master’s and could bite at any time; but power doesn’t require sharp teeth, only the will to use violence. And dogs don’t have the will; masters do.

He was done showering; when he stepped out of the bathroom, Nikolett was waiting for him in the kitchen.

‘You get one last chance,’ she said. ‘If you don’t take it, that’s it. It’s over.’

Her pants were dirty, her face muddy. In her arms she held a dog, some kind of large mixed breed. She swept everything off the kitchen table and laid the dog down with its belly facing upwards.

‘One last chance,’ she repeated.

Zoltán stood naked by the kitchen table. The towel had fallen off him somewhere in the corridor. The dog kept shivering on the table, looking at Zoltán, as if asking him to get it over with quickly.

Zoltán looked at the girl, took a whiff of the apartment’s scent, which was now mixed up with the smell of dog piss. His own scent was concealed by the shower gel, the smell of comfort and safety. But that smell, he realized for the first time, was only a lie.

There is no safety. There is no one to protect you. There is no one to trust. Everyone is alone in this world, and either you bite or you are bitten.

‘I love you,’ he said to the girl, then leaned closer to the dog and opened his mouth for a bite.

Fogtown

Fogtown

literarymysteries.blogspot.hu, 2014.08.12, author: Hungarian­Psycho