Monday, November 5, 2012

So this is...

Some inevitable beginning. I am sure of it. Because it is inevitable. I am as sure of it as I am of grass growing. I know it happens, and often see it, but I know it happens elsewhere, all the time, and even if I never see it again, it will go on.

But.

Beginning of what?

Is this love? Is that what this is? The desire to spend personal, genuine time with someone. To rip the metaphorical mask off of their face and tell them that it's ok to be vulnerable. To be alone with them. There is always someone there. Even if you go out together, without others, you are not alone. You feel as though the world watches, because it has watched for so long. I desire to be alone with him, away from the world, to draw him away from the mask and the false smiles I see him give, and to share my vulnerabilities and thoughts about things, and to hear his vulnerabilities and thoughts. I want to share my life.

Is that love? It could be.

Is there physical love, too? The pull to the chemistry of another person. The quivering of your atoms at their nearness. The sudden sensitivity of your skin, where breezes set the fleshy bumps a goosin' and the thought of a touch causes a tickling in the small of your back. The desire to put your hand in theirs and feel and feel and feel their skin and whether it is warm or cool, dry and chapped, or moist and slippery. Maybe it's powdery soft, perfect to spend the day wrapped in. Oh the desire to press your hand in theirs. The urge to be lip to lip, hands rested on the vague scruff of a day of growing face. To fervent, almost fanatical, hope that they will hold you in a crushing embrace, their lips insistent on yours, arms pinning you to them, as if hoping to absorb you. The would wish to absorb them. The longing for the osmosis.

Yes, those feelings are there, too.

Perhaps, all of these things, emotional longing and physical longing.

Perhaps they are love.

Perhaps this inevitable beginning is the beginning of love.


Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Streetlights

At first, I just thought my eyesight was improving, or that my wife had switched to those energy saving light bulbs. Looking in the mirror, I thought I was looking unusually pale, but I am part Swedish, so it wasn’t that surprising. Still, I stopped wearing my black shirts because I seemed to positively glow when I wore them.

It wasn’t until I started sleeping walking that Erika insisted I go to the doctor.

“So,” Doctor Gother sat in front of me, draping one leg across the other. He smiled, creating instantly lines all across his face. He didn’t look at the file. He looked at me. “Mr. Jesperson. What’s the problem?”

I shifted, “Well, my wife has—I mean, I have—Or we both have noticed I’ve been sleep walking.”

“Sleep walking, all right.” He flicked the file open and scratched his pen across it. “What do you do?”

“I go outside and stand on the curb.”

“Is that it?”

I nodded.

“Anything other symptoms?”

I shrugged, “Not really.”

Instantly, I could feel the stern look from Erika. She exhaled quickly through her nose, huffing slightly, “That is not all, Aaron.” She leaned forward, her knee bouncing at an intense rate. “He—” She glanced nervously at me, and I realized she hadn’t told me something. She returned her gaze to the doctor, “He kind of… glows.”

The room was quiet, and very full suddenly. Thick, heavy air pressed on us. “Glows?”

Erika looked at me, and I realized I was the one who spoke. She nodded, “You don’t notice it because the lights are on when you’re awake.” The room seemed to shift, and I suddenly saw my wife in her worried state. Her fingers were raw from where she’d been habitually tearing at the cuticles. Her hair was done up, but it was done in her rushed style.

She sighed, slumping a bit, “But sometimes, when the lights are off, you still don’t notice.” She splayed her hands, pleading with me as if I was threatening her, “I’ve come into rooms, and you’re reading a book, and you don’t realize all of the lights are off!”

I looked at the doctor, wondering if he was hearing what I heard. He had moved to the door, and stood with his hand on the light switch, peering curiously at me. I noticed he was cast in a contrasting shadow. A quick glance around the room told me that the shift I thought I had imagined was, in fact, the main light being turned off. I looked down at my hands. They appeared normal and pale, as if bathed in average indoor light. But they weren’t. I looked at the doctor again, begging for an answer. He flicked the light on, and returned to his chair.

“I’d like to run some tests before I make a diagnosis, though I am fairly certain I know what troubles you.”

—-

“What’s Honegger’s Disease?”

I pressed my hand to my eyes, tired of explaining it again and again. It had been a few days since the blood tests, and my arm was still sore from the needle. Erika was baking everything in the house—her way of handling bad news. I was reduced to sitting in my chair, unsure of what to do, left to answer the questions my friends and family had.

Her voice buzzed through the phone again, “Aaron? What’s Honegger’s Disease?”

The doctor had invited us back in to his office the day before to tell us the results, so we knew it was bad. At first, we didn’t believe him. He gave us the pamphlets, and showed us the file of the only other case in history—that they knew of. We stared for a long time. Erika refused to speak to the doctor. She had also refused to look out the car window as we drove home. I couldn’t help but stare at the street lights, wondering…

I sighed, and took a long breath, “It’s a rare disease, Cath.” My sister was not going to take the news well, and I had held off on telling her, vaguely hoping Mom would deliver the news. I got half my wish, and not the half I wanted the most.

“Yeah, Mom said that. She didn’t say what it is though. And I can’t find anything about it on the Internet.”

I glanced at Erika, who was staring down at the blackberry and raspberry pie she had just pulled from the oven. It smelled fantastic and sticky. I quickly looked away, knowing that Erika was nearing her breaking point, and feeling afraid of which way she’d go—anger or tears.

“It’s a metamorphosis disease.”

“What, like Alesso’s Disease? You’re going to turn into a werewolf?”

“Alesso’s Disease does not turn you into a werewolf. You just grow hair—”

“—All over your body, lose your teeth and regrow canines, and your testosterone levels go through the roof!”

We were both silent for a moment. She was touchy about Alesso’s since a kid she’d gone to high school with had caught it, caused a panic, and ended up dead. Usually, I’d drop it, but at this point, there wasn’t another option or topic to shift to, so I said, “But he wasn’t a werewolf, was he?”

“Whatever!” I could almost see the impatient way she was probably waving her hand, and the small wrinkles around her eyes as she undoubtedly squinted in irritation. She went on, “What are you turning into?”

“It’s stupid, it’s isn’t even cool.”

“Aaron.”

I leaned forward onto my knees, staring down at my still fleshy, pink feet. “A streetlight.”

There was an explosive crash from the kitchen to fill in the silence from the phone. While Cath had lapsed into a terrible silence, Erika had thrown her fresh pie through the window, shattering the panes of glass. I watched as she threw every delectable dish she’d spent all of last night and today baking and stewing at every surface of the kitchen, screaming as hard as she could with each throw. It wasn’t until the pan of meat pies had splattered across the floor that I realized I was listening to a dial tone instead of my sister, and I hung up the phone.

Erika was silent now, and sitting on the floor. I walked to her, stepping carefully around the various puddings, cakes, and jellies that littered the floor. Her icing and sauce covered fingers were thrust into her hair, her face hanging down to the tile, watching a slow river of cherry juice that was flowing under her bent knees. I dropped down beside her, aware of the cake that my jeans were resting on, and draped my around her shoulders. She leaned against me, and cried quietly.

“What can I do?”

She shook her head, “Not turn into a streetlight.”

“I wish I could…”

She hugged me, and I went on, “Maybe you can convince the city to put me in Union Square. It’s the best part of town…” She squeezed me tighter, and I said, “… you’d be safe if you ever went to visit.”

She finally spoke, “Stop it.”

I fell quiet, and turned to smell her hair, suddenly aware that I had a limited amount of time left to do that. I tried to memorize it. Faintly tangy, mostly sweet. I shifted my fingers across her shoulders, noting the smoothness of that skin, except for the little scar she got from a hiking trip she’d had when she was 14. It was suddenly too much, and I realized I couldn’t get up or let her go. So, we slept in the kitchen that night, among the abused food.

Telling my boss had been difficult, mostly because he’d laughed. I had to show him the photos from the file, which he seemed skeptical about at first. He said they were photo-shopped, but there is a point in the series where the photos become far too gritty and real and he fell silent and turned a strange shade of gray. He turned away when I showed him the photo where the mans arms had receded into his torso and turned gray and thin, but still retained tiny hands. Erika had, in an effort to remain cheerful, called it the alien phase, since the mans head had also begun to turn translucent and bulbous. I knew she had said it to keep herself from crying.

And so, I left my job and managed to maintain my medical coverage. Erika and I spent a week getting my will in order, changing the names of the house, the cars, and our cabin in Tahoe to her name. Well, mostly, it was me changing the names, and Erika crying in her chair. I don’t expect she’ll keep both of the cars. Or the house.

The last day was spent at home, together, the phones off and outside world ignored. We decided to pretend it wasn’t happening, and we watched our favorite movies, ate good dinners, and talked about everything we could. But she started to cry when we planned trips we’d never take, particularly when she caught herself saying we couldn’t go to Greece that summer because we were going to start trying for kids. The spell was broken, then, and we held each other until we fell asleep.

—-

The next day, I said goodbye to our home, and we went to the hospital to settle me in. Doctor Gother allowed us to bring things from home, and Erika was even given a bed in the room. I wondered how long she’d stay. How much she’d want to see. I knew—I knew—she’d leave at some point. The photos had been terrible, and I couldn’t expect her to come see me when I was so grotesque. How far into the changes would it be until I died? Would I die, or just fade away? At what point would I stop being?

The changes weren’t painful. I expected them to hurt. When I told the nurses I was going numb, I made them swear not to tell Erika. I knew it comforted her more than me for her to believe that I derived comfort from her touch. So when they drew my blood, I held her hand. My skin, which had only been pale before, began to darken and become cold to the touch—so the nurses wrote. Erika began to hesitate after that when it came time to draw my blood. That’s when I told her I was numb, and I knew she was glad she didn’t have to touch my cold, slate colored skin.

The tests ended when the nurses couldn’t puncture my skin with needles anymore.

Erika stopped coming when my face had changed into flat glass, and I could no longer move. I knew she believed I was gone from my body.

—-

They placed me in Union Square, and Erika had them attach a plaque to me.

“Here shines Aaron Jesperson, a victim of Honegger’s Disease.”

No one else would understand it.

I didn’t enjoy being urinated on by dogs. The concerts I had wanted to see held no joy, just painful memories of moments with those songs.

Moments with Erika.

She came to visit frequently at first, stopping to touch the cold metal and to stare up at my glass faces, whispering words I couldn’t always hear. Her visits became less frequent over the uncountable weeks. Months? Possibly years. I stopped seeing her at all, until she stopped one day, on the arm of another man. She stared up at me, touched the plaque, and walked away. It was goodbye.

Cath visited twice. Once with mom, and once to tell me mom had died. She said she wasn’t sure I would hear her, but she hoped I would take care of mom. I realized then, that I had lost everything.

I had no life, and no escape from this shell. I wasn’t dead. I wasn’t alive. I couldn’t feel, I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat. I started flickering my light, desperate for someone to remember I was human. But all I got was a technician who checked my wiring, so I gave up the flickering.

I gave up.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Quell this confusion; put it to rest
Beneath dirt and darkness place it
Only worms and dirt shall taste it
Never shift nor take it from it's nest

Let it thrash against the iron grip
Scratch spindled fingers raw to blood
Wrenched from the soil where its bud
Grew from a promise, that once did slip

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Into the box

It all goes into the box.

Thoughts of him. That man I should not consider. No no, that goes into the box. Push it in, shove it deep, fold in the corners. Is it in nice and snug? Good.

Wait, what's that?

Feelings towards him. That man. Dear me, that won't do. Go catch them before they get away. Got them? Put them into the box. Use force if you must. It must go inside.

The lid is shut tightly, but the box shakes. It quivers, shivers, and creaks ominously. The edges curve up and those things which are contained are seeping out, looking to catch me up and drag me into the box.

Into the box.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

I used to say death doesn't affect me
It hardly does
People die around me and I accept it
I expect to see them again
It feels like a vacation with cell phones
Can't communicate
But I know I'll see them again
Two cousins died of cancer
My grandpa, then his wife
It was exceptionally hard until a suicide
A friend was gone
And I couldn't understand why she'd done it herself
Now that has passed
And my uncle is gone
I'm not directly sad
But there's a heaviness inside of me
I don't want to cry
But I want to go to sleep
I want hugs
I want consolation
But I don't want to go to the funeral
I hate crying
I hate seeing empty shells
I don't want to see his family so sad
I might not even be able to go

I don't know

I just don't know

Monday, September 28, 2009

Ahem

Dear Life,

You have sufficiently not lived up to expectations thus far. When I wanted to be normal and have friends, I got my entire school hating me because of some colossal misunderstanding and cruel joke. When I wanted to do sports, you threw me a bum knee. When I got over that, you gave me an unreceptive stomach. When I learned to deal with that, you brought the knee back around. With that over and done with, you ruined chocolate for me by prescribing a life long dose of migraines. When I wanted to be loved, you made me pretty. Awesome! But you forgot to include boys who actually like me. Dang it!

I find myself unsatisfied with the way things are going with us. It seems like we're going in different directions, but you're driving, so I'm stuck for the ride, staring out the windows at the things I want to, but can't, do. I'm not saying we should break up or even take a break, because what we have is special and will last a lifetime. But can't you go easy on me? Don't you know I'll never leave you? Surely you must know that in the end it will be you leaving me? And when that inevitable end comes, don't we want some good memories to look back on? To say we had a good run together? Can't we stop at a few places I'd like to see? I hope we can reconcile our differences.

Love, self

Sunday, August 9, 2009

How it will be

One day you'll be on Instant Messenger
You'll be chatting, or browsing the internet
And you'll look over your friend list
And see me
And think about me
For a moment
Or an instant
And notice that my status is the music I am listening to
And you'll ponder that
That I am somewhere
Listening to that song
And realize you have the same song
And you'll turn on your music to that song
And listen with me
When my song changes, you'll check if you have the song
But there will be a moment
When you don't catch the song at the end
And the list plays on to the next song
And you
Caught in that new song
Will be looking at my name
And at the song I am listening to
Think that you don't have that song
And it'll strike you
That you don't like that I am somewhere
Not with you
Listening to a song
That you don't have

And that's when you'll realize you love me.