Calibration 74: Chapter Forty-Eight

Photo by Blake Meyer on Unsplash

Calibration 74 is a serial novel experiment, posted raw and unedited as it is written. It is recommended you start at the beginning.

— — —

Chapter Forty-Eight

I’ve been here for three hundred years.

I’ve been here for seventy-five millennia.

I’ve been here for five minutes and sixteen seconds.

I’ve been here before.

One time. Two times. A hundred times.

This is the first time. This is the last time.

I am here then.

I will be here then.

I am here now.

Palm leaves and coconuts. Sand between my toes. A campfire on a beach, roasting a leviathan washed up on the shore. Belly full. Heart happy. Fat as a contented cat.

Do not venture inward. Do not search out the middle. A plane will come. A ship on the horizon. Superman in a red cape holding Lois’s hand.

Leave her behind. Take me instead.

Or leave me here, on this island, forever.

Is this paradise?

Is this hell?

Stab a tiger in your sleep.

Claws dig in your skin.

Spikes and thorns.

Pull one out.

Unrolled it spans forever.

Continue to Chapter Forty-Nine.