Chat with the Sun God

Writer's note:

Hi,

This is another one of my short stories. It has some vague hints at a sexual background, but don't expect this to be a hot and heavy story.

It's a short story about a young woman who finds her freedom. It's also an experiment that includes online chat as a significant part of the writing.

Let me know what you think. What confused you? What did you like? Dislike?

Any constructive comments, positive or negative, are welcome.

I hope you enjoy,

C&D

*****

The bedroom door slammed shut behind Vlasi and Lira curled up into a tiny ball, exhausted. Sheltered by her own arms, she could shut out the world. But hiding didn't magically dissolve the pain. It didn't erase the humiliation of having to forget herself. Her face was wet with tears and saliva, and her throat still hurt when it convulsed. Her cheek throbbed where he'd hit her.

This had to stop. She had to get away from Vlasi. But how? No job since her parents sold her into marriage, so no money but what little he gave her. She didn't have her own set of keys. Vlasi borrowed her his spare set when she wanted to leave the house. They were expensive keys, impossible to duplicate without the right equipment and the registered owner's personal permission. Leaving a door open and sneaking out for a few hours didn't work either because the alarm would go off.

This house was her cage, and this bed the only place he acknowledged her, but she doubted he saw her as a person even when he abused her.

Vlasi had the only cell phone, so she couldn't call anyone, but she had internet. Thank god for small favors. The web had kind people who listened to her. The net knew her as Surya, the sun. They all knew it was a mask, but her persona was too bright to be ignored.

Heartache? Jealousy? How would Lira know of such things? She couldn't, but Surya knew. Her followers loved her and gobbled up her advice. She lived for the next heartfelt thank you. Each one made her cry, and she saved them deep in the recesses of her computer so Vlasi wouldn't find them.

When she felt up to it, Lira left the bed and booted up the computer. The sound of it whirring to life made her forget all about Vlasi. A smile brewed in the corners of her mouth. Her aches would fade and her memories of this day would turn good.

Come on, start up faster. Ten messages already, yes.

Worn-outMom: I wanted to thank you for taking the time to reply and for staying with me. You really opened my eyes. I've read your words over and over and it all makes so much sense. I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart! Thank you. I mean it.

The tears came while she typed out her response.

Surya: It's not me you should thank, W-Mom. Thank yourself for having the courage to speak out and for taking someone else's advice and doing something. Your eyes are open because you wanted them to be. Keep them open, and I'm sure you'll be a wonderful mom who can deal with anything life throws at her.

Lira closed her eyes and stopped typing when Worn-outMom changed her avatar. Her tiny face showed a beautiful smile. Before, it had been a grainy, unhappy version of the same woman. Such a small thing, but it warmed Lira inside as if she could feel the woman pull her into a motherly embrace and cry along with her.

One message after another got sent off in rapid fire. There was little need for Lira to think much, people came to her with the same problems in different guises. All she did was talk to them and guide them to solutions that had worked for others. Each click on the send button gave her a little boost, and she didn't stop. Not for hours. Nor did she eat, this was too important. A message from someone new to the forum drew her attention.

Mitra: I see you have taken to using my name.

Surya: I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you mean.

Mitra: Are you? When you took Surya as your own name, you found no mention of mine?

Surya: I don't know what you're talking about, it's just a name I found. All I know is that it has to do with the sun.

Mitra: Indeed it has. Mitra on the other hand can be understood as friend, among many other meanings. Allow me to demonstrate. You have yet to eat, have you not?

Surya:?

Mitra: Humans these days, always so impolite. You have not eaten this day, which is foolish behavior. Look to your right. I have provided food for you.

Lira glanced over to her right hand and jerked her hand away from her keyboard. A stack of flat breads had appeared on the desk.

Surya: What? How?

Mitra: I told you you borrowed my name. I am named Surya. Your scholars would call me God of the Sun. My light grows crops and provides food for the lands I shine on. Hence I am seen as a friend to all humans. You have taken my name and use it to provide a different nourishment. I approve of this and plan to reward you accordingly.

Lira stared at the screen in disbelief. An avatar showing a tiny ear of wheat stared back at her. She tore her eyes from the screen and looked over to the flatbreads, her stomach growled.

Mitra: Eat, your stomach growls. Must you be stubborn?

Had it been possible, Lira's eyes would have widened even further.

Surya: Are you here? You can see me?

Mitra: Human, light is my providence. Whatever it touches, I see. Sound is no different. Now busy your hands eating.

Lira wanted to answer Mitra, but the keyboard no longer responded to her tapping. She tried unplugging it and plugging it back in. She even rebooted her system, but to no avail. Her stomach growled again, so she got up to grab some food from the fridge. There was no way she'd touch food that appeared from thin air. The fridge door didn't budge. She grabbed the handle in both her hands and pulled on it with all she had. Nothing. That left one option.

Back at her desk, Lira reached for the breads and touched the top one. It was warm, firm and a little greasy to the touch. She put her fingertip into her mouth and tasted salt and oil. Nothing strange. She rolled up the first bread and bit into it. Crunchiness and onions and spices all blended into a delightfully fluffy and savory bread. It didn't take her long to finish the entire stack. She was licking her fingers when her computer pinged.

Mitra: I can see you enjoyed my gift.

Surya: I did, very much so. I don't really cook myself. Can I ask you a question, Mitra?

Mitra: You may.

Surya: Why are you doing this? It's kind of scary.

Mitra: There is no need for you to be afraid. You are a noteworthy human so I have chosen to reward you. You need not look for any further explanation.

Surya: Oh, okay.

Mitra: You have no questions besides why?

Surya: Not really.

Mitra: You are a peculiar human. There is no curiosity within you?

Surya: Why would I need to be curious?

Mitra: It does not matter. Tell me the reward you wish for.

Surya: I don't know.

Mitra: There is nothing you long for?

Surya: I want to go outside.

Mitra: Outside is more vast than your human mind can comprehend. Where is it you wish to go?

Surya: Where? Anywhere but here. As long as I can leave here, I'll be happy.

Mitra: You are trapped?

Surya: Yes.

Mitra: And you wish to be free?

Surya: With all my heart.

Mitra: I will make it so.

The chat window disappeared and Lira was left to herself. She wondered if this warm feeling inside was what her followers felt when she helped them. Someone had noticed her and had offered a way out. It had been weeks since Vlasi had let her to leave the house. Could she escape? Be free again? The light outside beckoned and ignited a spark she'd thought long buried.

***

The next morning, after Vlasi left, a package arrived at the door. Lira turned it around in her hands, wondering what it was. There was no sender mentioned anywhere. She opened the box and smiled when a couple ears of wheat poked out from the side. Inside was a smart phone. It pinged upon receiving a new message.

Mitra: Look inside once more.

Lira had another look and found a set of keys. They tinkled as she held them up. House keys! She almost dropped the phone as she tried to type in a response and not lose the keys at the same time.

Lira: Thank you so much! I can go outside now! Thank you, thank you.

Mitra: This is not my reward, human.

Lira: It's not?

Mitra: Are you free?

Lira: What? No... but it's ok, this is more than enough.

Mitra: Human, this small gesture does not balance out your achievements. Others have spoken of dreams they want to pursue. I have helped them achieve their desire. What about you, human? What is your dream?

Lira: My dream? There's no point in me dreaming. I just want to go out and see things.

Mitra: You have no other wishes?

Lira: No. If I could leave here and never come back, I'd be off right now. I'd just feel bad leaving my friends behind.

Mitra: Who would these friends be?

Lira: You know, the people on the forum.

Mitra: There is no need for you to leave them.

Lira: You don't understand how computers work. I need internet to talk to them and before that I need electricity. If I run away, I have no internet, no electricity, no food, no nothing. I don't even have a bank account in my name. How am I supposed to survive, let alone keep contact with my followers?

Mitra: Human. Are you truly under the impression that one such as me does not know the workings of computers? Your assumption insults me.

Lira: I'm sorry.

Mitra: The human mind is small, there is no helping that. So I will forgive your transgression.

Lira: Thanks, I guess.

Mitra: I have seen this rock from every side. Myriad tiny lives crawl on its surface and struggle to survive. It fascinates me, and it pains me I can only watch. Your rock lives because of me, yet I lack hands to reach out since I am but light. If you are without dreams, then I will impose on you to fulfill a want of my own. Leave your cage and go out on a journey. I will travel with you.

Lira held the phone and stood in the quiet gloom of the house. Nothing in here spoke to her. Not the uncomfortable designer couch, nor the massive TV-set that hurt her eyes with its harsh glare and blasted her with its ridiculous sound system. Everything was black and white. Cold. Like Vlasi. She tightened her grip on the phone and typed her answer.

Lira: Let's go.

Mitra: Is there anything you wish to bring with you?

Lira: I don't want it.

Mitra: Very well, let us go then.

***

Vlasi entered the house, typed in the alarm code and headed for the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. He had his routine. His hand froze around the bottle, and he stilled. Focused his senses. Something was different. There was no noise. No sound of Lira tapping away on her keyboard. He didn't like it. "Lira! Come here."

Silence. Lira didn't come. Vlasi slammed the fridge door shut and marched over to Lira's little study. He ripped open the door and shouted, "Are you deaf? Come here!"

Lira wasn't there. Where was she then? The toilet maybe. Not there either. Vlasi methodically combed his mansion and found nothing but silence. "The little bitch went outside."

It wasn't allowed. Lira waited here for him to come back like the good obedient toy she was. Vlasi grabbed a clock and made to hurl it against a wall, but he held back despite the itch in his arm. That clock was design, too expensive to smash to bits. Something else would have to break. He grabbed one of his custom golf clubs from the storage closet and took a few test swings. Good.

Inside Lira's study, Vlasi held the club in both hands and swung hard. Her computer screen was the first thing to shatter. A second hit. Only bits of bent plastic and metal left. Did she think he didn't know what she did on this thing? Crying along with trash too sad and weak to make it on its own. It disgusted Vlasi. Today it would all stop. It must've been one of those failures that put Lira up to this. Not anymore, he wouldn't allow it.

The crunch of the club against the computer pleased Vlasi. He smiled as the case toppled and fell to the ground. His boot crushed the side paneling, and he stomped it until he could rip it off with his hands. "You're mine, Lira."

Bits of plastic launched in all directions as Vlasi went wild and hammered the club down until he stood panting, the floor a mess of computer wreckage. He dropped the club and left the mess behind. Lira would clean it up, and she'd see what happened when she disobeyed him.

Vlasi dragged his lounge chair right in front of the front door. Now all he had to was wait. Lights off. No radio playing. The moment she rang the door bell he'd be on her.

But the ring never came. Vlasi sat in his chair for hours. At first he couldn't bear the wait and his nails dug into the leather of the chair. Over time he calmed down, and a sureness settled inside of him. Lira would pay. He'd bleed her ass for this. She'd scream and beg for him to stop.

When Vlasi could wait no more, he stood. Lira wasn't coming. She'd ran away. The solution was simple. He'd get her back. A quick call and he'd have a recommendation for a PI. He'd get the best. And then he'd make his wife pay.

***

Lira headed South after she left Vlasi's house. She couldn't call it home, never had. Her family had sold her at seventeen, so no point in going there. Each direction was as good as another, so it might as well be South.

She walked along the roadside. Cars passed by. Soon, the city made way for fields and green. Less cars now. The wind blew through her hair, and she wished she could see her long locks fan out and dance. She couldn't help but close her eyes and feel the warm rays of sunlight on her face. If she could've, she would've run blind, just to feel the fresh air rushing past her skin.

A hiking trail led her into a clump of trees, away from the road. There were birds, chirping and cheeping. Maybe she could catch a glimpse if she cut through the forest.

Wrapped in the calm that stretched out between the trees, Lira felt a sense of calm come over her. She couldn't see the sky, but she didn't feel trapped. The powerful trunks thrust their branches up and up to something they could never reach. The sky was so far away, yet they didn't hurry. Everything at its own pace. The forest embraced her as a part of itself.

The buzz of the smart phone distracted her.

Mitra: It is a pleasure to see you marvel like a human child. Have you not yet seen this place?

Lira: No, he never let me go outside of the city. Just look at the trees! I had no idea this was here. And so close.

Mitra: You know now.

Lira: It's wonderful. The place where you live, is it as wonderful as here?

Mitra: Human, you should know where a small part of my body resides. To you I'm a glowing orb in the sky. To your scholars I am a glowing ball of plasma in what they call the solar system. This is all a human being can understand. I do not live because I do not die. I am eternal because the light I shine contains me. I bring light and have seen life spark from it, and I will see it fade. Does the unchanging live? Does the source of life ever die? Human, you must not ask me what is beyond you. Continue your journey. Ten steps to your left there is what is called a hedgehog, go to it.

Lira glanced to the left when she heard rustling. A hedgehog trundled through the leaves and underbrush with its snout buried under the soft mulch. It grunted like a tiny, prickly pig, oblivious of its surroundings, scrounging for a meal. She walked up to the little guy and squatted down.

Mitra: I have made it think it is night. It has come out to hunt. Human, flip the hedgehog.

Lira almost dropped the smart phone in surprise.

Lira: What? Why?

Mitra: I wish to see what happens. Touch its belly and tell me what you feel. These little creatures interest me.

Lira: No. The poor thing.

Mitra: Human, you are to assist me. The creature won't be harmed.

Lira: Still...

Mitra: Human, do not test my patience. There are much quicker ways for me to go about your reward. If you don't obey, I will be done with you.

Lira: Could you stop calling me human? It's weird.

Mitra: Do you not call your species human?

Lira: Yes, I do.

Mitra: Then how am I incorrect in naming you?

Lira: I have a name of my own, and it's Lira. That's who I am, so you should call me that.

Mitra: You will obey when I address you as Lira?

Lira sighed.

Lira: Fine.

Mitra: Lira, flip the hedgehog.

She put the phone down and stared her ordeal in the snout. It had noticed her by now and kept an eye on her. Its little nose snuffled the air. This hedgehog was ready to bolt. Lira almost felt bad for the brave trooper when she put her hand underneath it and scooped it on its back. It curled up into a ball of spines, ready to change any attacker's mind.

Lira looked on in wonder. He was safe, except for a tiny bit of exposed fur. She stretched out her finger and stroked the hedgehog's belly. It was soft and warm. How different from the spines. She bent one of them between her fingers, and it sprung back upright. What a remarkable creature. She lost herself in finding every spot of hedgehog she could touch. The buzzing of the phone pulled her out of her game.

Mitra: Your obedience is remarkably poor, Lira. I told you to describe what you felt. Why have you not done so?

Lira: Why can't you just let me be? I don't want to be ordered around anymore.

Mitra: You are reluctant because of your warden?

Lira: My what?

Mitra: The keeper of the house you escaped?

Lira: No. Well, yes, what's it to you?

Mitra: Tell me more about him.

Lira: I don't want to.

Mitra: Tell me about the hedgehog then.

Lira: You're rude.

Mitra: I require answers.

Lira: Fine, fine, fine! Just not now, okay? Just... leave it for now.

Mitra: It's gotten away.

Lira: What?

Mitra: The hedgehog.

She almost lobbed the smart phone in some bushes, but kept her cool and typed in how the hedgehog had felt instead. Hopefully that would satisfy Mitra for a while. Long enough for her to just have a second to calm down and enjoy everything around her.

***

Sergei sighed and grabbed another cigarette. His target was taking her sweet time fucking. Thank god for technology, he could smoke during his stake-out now he had a remote camera aimed at the entrance. But for some insane reason video wasn't admissible evidence, so here he was, waiting to capture another unfaithful wife on film with her hand in the wrong cookie jar.

He finished his cigarette and flicked the bud onto the rest of the pile. Fuck this. This was the last job he took as a PI, fuck the pay. He'd join the force, maybe do some decent work. Sure. He sighed. Come out already so I can go home. What's he stuffing you with? The sound of his phone ringing broke the frustrated silence in his car.

"Yeah?"

'Sergei Alkaev?'

"Speaking."

'I have a job for you. You start tonight.'

"Sorry, I'm busy."

'An acquaintance of mine recommended you. You're supposed to be the best PI available.'

"Like I said, busy."

'I'll pay twenty grand if you can locate my wife within three days. Every day beyond that deadline, you lose five grand. If I don't get her within a week, you get nothing and I'll still expect you to bring her to me. I'll warn you, things can get very uncomfortable for you if you blow me off.'

Sergei straightened up in his chair and said, "Look, guy, you've got a deal if you put that on paper. Otherwise you let me do my job."

'I have the papers drafted already. My acquaintance mentioned you're anal about this stuff.'

"Just doing my job right. Where can I pick up the papers?"

'I'll text you the details. Don't keep me waiting, Sergei.'

The line went dead, and Sergei shook his head as he put his phone away. Another psycho. The money was too good to pass up though. Enough to go to police academy. He might make it in the force after all. To make things better, his target walked out of the hotel and kissed her new boyfriend out on the boardwalk. He grinned, pulled up next to the couple and rolled down the window. "Say cheese!"