So here’s part 2 (part 1 here). Decided to share the whole thing because why not. It’s not good writing, though participating in NaNoWriMo was never about writing well, but rather (among other things) getting a workable draft manuscript that could then be worked into a presentable one.

I hope you enjoy.

—

Harvey had been twiddling their thumbs for a while now. It was a day off, or at least a month off and it was well earned – paid too – and it looked like it was going to end up extending farther. They were waiting for some news to come through about fixing their mixing interface, and sure, they could’ve read something, but they didn’t feel like reading much. It was a listless day and they were most certainly feeling listless.

Plenty of time was spent staring at the ceiling of their bedroom, and some time was spent on the couch without switching on the TV. They thought they’d try and watch something to pass the time but they couldn’t think of anything they wanted to watch. Sometimes the days felt like they dragged into years into decades, and they certainly did, but not in the way that they felt to Harvey at that particular point in time.

It was a calm and quiet afternoon, and perhaps the first bit of time when Harvey felt like there was a true silence, or at least whatever idea of silence their tinnitus would allow them to believe, for it was something they could no longer remember, though they certainly could imagine an idea of what silence sounded like.

As they were plodding around Cave woke up, came out of their room and made their way to the kitchen. Coffee was brewed, for it was an evening day for Cave, and soon coffee was had. They parked themselves next to Harvey and spoke.

“You know, isn’t it interesting that when Mercury is in retrograde, technology doesn’t work as well as it usually does?”

“That’s a load of shit. You know that, right?”

“No, it’s true.”

This was a conversation that Harvey didn’t feel much like having, but they were drawn in in the way that they usually were. It was not something worth fighting. Cave had their beliefs, and regardless of how fallacious they were Harvey knew it was not possible to get Cave to think of the alternatives that had dispelled the beliefs that people once held about the planets. It was not a hill worth dying on, and yet Harvey would, more often than not, fall into this argument. It was almost as though Cave were intentionally trying to bait him, to get Harvey to fight, and sometimes it was also as though Cave was happier to have the argument.

Harvey wondered if Cave held some sort of power over him in this regard, as though he had the ability to command Harvey into a pointless argument. Harvey wondered if Cave knew about this power, and wondered if it was intentional. Maybe it wasn’t but there still was some sort of compelling about it that he could not get past, and so, instead of getting off the couch and walking away, he bit.

“The planets do not affect how technology works.”

“But haven’t you noticed that your phone doesn’t work as well when Mercury is in retrograde?”

“Cave, Mercury Retrograde refers to a pattern where Mercury looks like it is moving backward in the sky. It is not a real thing other than a slight optical illusion. It is not the planet actually moving backward. The planet is far away; it’s not in the sky, but we are able to see it with the right tools. It does not affect technology. It just does its thing and then fucks off.”

“Then what about your interface?”

“Mercury wasn’t in retrograde when it died.”

“You were having problems beforehand though, and they’d always happen at specific times.”

“They were increasing over time and it was due to the interface being old and my not giving it required maintenance. That has nothing to do with Mercury.”

“So you say, but it happens all the time. You just don’t want to notice it because it’s a routine thing.”

At this point, for once, Harvey found an out and they took it. They told Cave they were going to go for a walk to kill some time, got off the couch and left.

The air was brisk and crisp, and it made for a pleasant experience. Harvey’s pace was firm and steady, but they didn’t feel much like doing the walk as it was. It was more just the only chance they felt they had to get away from Cave and so they had to take it. They were hoping they’d hear back about his interface sooner rather than later. Having it break just as they were on paid leave was the worst time. More time than usual to work on music, and an inability to make much of it meant more conversations they were being drawn into that they did not want to take part of.

On that particular evening Mercury was going to be in retrograde once more, as it always was, and it was something they started to think about. Maybe they’d go check it out; maybe not, but they knew that it would come up again the moment they got home and so they did their best to buy more time.

They looked at some nearby playground equipment, quiet due to school hours still being quite in at that particular time of the day. They walked past the shops, past the local pub, past their train station and they kept on walking. They almost walked out of town, though it was easy enough to leave from the shops. They thought about walking to the observatory but decided against it, gave up and headed home.

When they got there they saw Cave reading on the couch and decided to head back out.

“I’m gonna head off.”

“You just got back.”

“I’m gonna go see Mercury in retrograde.”

“Thought that wasn’t your thing.”

“I don’t mind the planets. I mind the woo you attach to them.”

“Not my problem if you refuse to accept what is right in front of you.”

“They’re not right in front of me. I’m gonna go watch it. You can come if you want, but not a word.”

Cave was taken slight aback by this but accepted the offer. Soon the two of them were off, walking along to a clear viewing point. It was dusk and it stretched itself out.

The sounds of locusts were heavily audible, though it also seemed as though they were reaching across over a distance that was unable to be discerned. It matted little, but for a moment Harvey felt that they’d be able to remember silence if they pictured the place without the sound of locusts.

Eventually they found a good spot and just in time as Mercury began its movement across the sky, long and drawn out, though quite quick and efficient. The two stood there, staring out into space, watching the planet make its slow dance across the sky.

When Mercury began the retrograde path began to glow a little brighter than usual and sit began to leave a trail, or more accurately, Mercury seemed to grow in length, stretching out from the starting point of the retrograde path.

As the planet did this it went on with its usual appearing to go backward through the sky, but it seemed to also go backward in a forward motion. Understandably this is how it would normally appear, but on this particular path it seemed more so like that description. Harvey was perplexed by what they were witnessing, though they didn’t quite see everything. Cave was shocked and felt a deep sense of foreboding as the planet behaved in a way they didn’t expect.

Eventually Mercury’s path was complete and once it left the retrograde path it cut off from its elongated body, seeming to tear away. As it floated away the body disintegrated and it was as though it was never there. There was a deep silence between Harvey and Cave as they thought to themselves about what just happened. Individually they tried to recapture the image in their minds, but it seemed to reshape itself.

“You just saw that, right?”

“Yeah. That was amazing. You ever see anything like that?”

“No, never.”

“Maybe there is something to this Mercury retrograde crap. Maybe I can see why you believe such bullshit.”

“No, that was weird. Look, beliefs or not, that was weird. I… I don’t know what the make of that.”

“Yeah, but it was still nice. That has to be some sort of rare cosmic phenomena.”

“Yeah, maybe. Maybe we should speak to the eggheads in the observatory about that.”

“How unlike you. Anyway, maybe their technology didn’t work as well.”

“Yeah, you can stop now.”

“Alright. Look, how about we go get some food? Go get something to eat? Go to the pub and give some time to work out what we just saw?”

“Yeah, okay.”

And so they walked home first as it was on the way, and they tried to discuss what they saw, to try and make sense of it, but as they tried the more questions they had. Of course, they weren’t astronomers and lacked the terminology and understanding to make sense in a completely scientific manner. They were both artists of different types and styles and so the way they talked about what they saw came across in the form of logic that they themselves knew and understood. In this way they were able to interpret in an artistic exploration without issue, and through there they may have reached an answer, but ultimately they were no closer to understanding than they were when they bore witness to what they saw, and so they stumbled.

The closer to home they grew, the more impassioned their discussion became. Harvey was unable to divine through logic and Cave knew of no attached symbolism to the event, let along knew of the event they witnessed as existing before this evening. They even questioned if they had really seen anything or if they had both just happened to imagine the whole thing. Still, it was now over and they were hungry and felt a desire to drink, but they couldn’t shake the sense of foreboding.

As Harvey and Cave went to the pub, Cave couldn’t help but wonder if that same foreboding was creeping its way into Harvey.