Read Online The Second Wave by Leska Beikircher - Free Book Online Page B

to
the ocean. He wanted to marry her then and there, on the highest of
the cliffs.
    But when they came to the cliffs and the
horses stopped, Meng Jiang jumped out of the coach and quickly
hurled herself off the cliff without so much as a glance back.
    Her body sank to the bottom of the sea, where
the Dragon King had pity on her soul. When the emperor’s men tried
to fish Meng Jiang’s body out of the water, he unleashed a flood to
chase them away.
    But Meng Jiang died at the bottom of the
ocean. Her last thoughts belonged to the man she had loved with all
her heart and who she never had had the chance to kiss even
once.
    * * * *
    When John ended his account. the tea in the
samovar was long cold. The only hot liquid in the room were the
tears that soaked the cloth on Celem’s eyes and streamed down his
face.
    “An exquisite tale,” he sniffed unashamedly.
“And told with much grace. You are one skilled storyteller, my
multi-faceted, old partner in crime. My friend will do the job for
you. And because it was so moving a story, I feel I want to give
you a gift. Tell me where you are staying, and I will send you
someone beautiful and experienced to while away the lonely hours of
the moon.”
    “I’ll be staying at Malik’s han tonight.”
    “Male or female? I remember you were never
particular about such matters.”
    John shrugged, realizing too late that Celem
couldn’t see him, then said aloud with an audible smirk, “Since
you’re feeling so generous—I’ll have one of each.”
    Celem’s creative curses followed John out
into the streets like a lover reluctant to let go.
    Night had fallen while the two men talked;
John found himself in the eerie presence of memories he had pushed
away for too long. To chase them away he went straight to Malik’s
little inn. He downed his first drink before he had even exchanged
greetings with his old acquaintance Malik. Yet Malik wasn’t the
only old acquaintance of John’s, and by the time the latter was
light-hearted from raki and hot-blooded from his lascivious
company, a man entered the shady tavern who had some unfinished
business with Yahya he was keen to finish tonight.
    It was a nasty fight, but over quickly. The
inn was wrecked, four people mysteriously lost their wallets in
addition to several teeth, the police couldn’t make heads or tails
of anything because everyone involved in the brawl pretended like
nothing unusual had happened, and John, on top of paying his debt
in lead, got to spend the rest of the night undisturbed in the
presence of his two lovers.
    Yes, he had definitely missed nights like
this.
    * * * *

Chapter 13: Betrayal Is a Kiss in a
Cupboard
    Some say that we choose our life before we
come to this world. Our souls select where and to whom we are born
to from another plane of existence. Our paths are therefore
pre-determined in a way. What we cannot determine is whether we
indeed go on to walk the path we have selected for ourselves,
because once we are born into this world, we forget about what was
before. That is what makes us human. Some say that is a good thing.
Perhaps those who say that are the ones who do well for themselves.
Certainly not the ones who end up locked in a cupboard in a
run-down orphanage by the Black Sea.
    Like the twelve-year-old boy who sat huddled
in the darkness, knees drawn up to his chin, his skinny arms
wrapped tightly around them. It was cold, but the boy was used to
it by now. He spent more time in here than he did anywhere else.
The nuns who ran the orphanage didn’t know what else to do with
him. John usually didn’t mind too much; at least it was quiet and
he could plan his flight undisturbed. Also, he knew he probably
deserved being punished, he could accept that. Only this time it wasn’t his fault!
    He gave the closet door an angry kick. It was
that idiot Yegor’s fault. And as soon as John was out of here, he’d
put a snail into that fool’s sock, or smear soap on his toothbrush,
or do something