Read Online Lifespan of Starlight by Thalia Kalkipsakis - Free Book Online Page B

help.’
    It’s as if he wants to climb inside my mind, the way he’s looking at me, as if I
actually count. After being invisible my whole life, this is such a strange place
to find myself. It’s unnerving, but I kind of like it.
    Almost from a distance, I hear myself saying, ‘Okay. Tomorrow night.’
    His face relaxes into a hopeful smile. ‘Where?’
    What am I doing? ‘Your basement. Eight o’clock.’
----
    I don’t want to be stuck with slow train connections on the way home, so I ride my
bike to Mason’s house. It’s not too bad: forty-seven minutes door-to-door.
    Mum knows exactly where I am. It’s easier since she’s met them. She thinks I’ve come
to discuss the entrance interview. Close enough.
    Mason welcomes me in, this time looking any place except my face. As I follow him
in he points out rooms to fill the silence. We pass a lounge room and he introduces
me to his mum. She seems surprised to see me but is otherwise gentle and quiet, somehow
like a stranger in her own house.
    Mason lists a series of hot concentrates – coffee, tea, hot chocolate – and doesn’t
react when I refuse. Of course, it would have been rude to accept.
    ‘I’ve been limiting my food intake?’ he says, barely above a whisper. ‘I’ve found
I’m more in the moment when I’m hungry?’ Each sentence finishes with a question at
the end, as if asking for my assessment.
    ‘Yeah, that’s good,’ I say confidently. ‘And maybe not too tired?’ I’m talking about
study techniques rather than time travel. But who’s to know that?
    It’s become easier now that I’ve realised that I don’t have to actually know about
any of this; I just have to be convincing enough to keep Mason believing I do.
    ‘Have you tried waking up early to meditate?’ I suggest. It was on one of the sites
I was reading.
    We’re clomping down old wooden stairs and Mason pauses in front of me: ‘Your time
jumps were at all times of day.’ He is matter of fact.
    ‘Yeah, but …’ I stumble for recovery. ‘While you’re trying to get the feel for it,
I mean.’
    His head tilts, considering the suggestion as he continues ahead of me.
    At the bottom of the stairs is a door that leads into a converted garage, not a basement
like I thought. He already has a bedroom upstairs, so it seems insanely luxurious
to have this as well, two whole rooms to himself.
    Paler bricks fill out the space where the roller door used to be, a long window lining
the top. I get the feeling that this was used as a living room when it was first
converted; there’s a cityscape art print on one wall and a family portrait on the
other with Mason, his mum, a man in a beard and a guy that must be Mason’s older
brother. A sideboard has been dressed with an empty vase.
    Layered on top of it all is Mason. A doona lies bunched at one end of a couch, a
pillow at the other and a keyboard in easy reach. A comscreen is the focus of the
coffee table. You can almost see an outline where Mason spends his time, the glow
of the screen lighting a circle around his downstairs world.
    ‘What do you think?’ He lifts an arm towards the space.
    ‘Yeah, wow, great!’ Until I realise that he’s asking whether he could time skip here.
A nod as I glance around. Even a chin rub. ‘Hmm, should be fine.’
    Mason seems to have given up asking me to demonstrate a jump for him. At least, I
hope he has. He pulls out an old camping mat and unrolls it on the floor.
    ‘You’ll stay with me while I try?’ he asks. ‘Help me to slow my time?’ Mason sits
and crosses his legs.
    I find a place on the rug a short distance from him. ‘Try not to think about it too
much,’ I say. ‘Just feel your way.’ He’s completely still as I talk, listening to
each word. ‘Trust that you’ll be all right.’
    Mason’s mouth forms a small oval as he breathes out, hands resting on knees. His
eyes slowly close.
    ‘You’re going to ah … reach a place where now is all that exists,’ I say