Above the Vaulted Sky - Page 59

           There can be no doubt about it. His eyes bore into me. I’m rooted to the spot. But there is something in the stare: a whispering hint of threat.

            I’m staring back at him so intently, that when he makes a sudden movement, I fall back into the table behind me and have to catch myself. It rocks and drinks go flying. The music fans and patrons around it groan and start to blame each other. One pushes another and there is a domino effect around the room.

            The man doesn’t notice a thing. I can’t hear him over the music but the intense look on his face disappears and he jumps for joy. He raises his hand and I see a complicated piece of equipment in my hand, about the size of a remote control but with wires and complicated little gadgets sticking out here and there.

            He turns and starts out of the bar, moving more quickly than would otherwise be normal.

            I stand and move after him. He had seen me, I’m absolutely certain of it, and that means I have to catch him. If there’s a way of reaching my loved ones again, then I will find it. I had thought it impossible, it’s what we’re conditioned to think - the people that leave us are gone, they’re not coming back.

            But what if they’re not, what if I’m not. I don’t know how I’ll explain appearing to my parents in the middle of the living room. Surprise, your son’s a ghost! I will find a way though.

            I burst out into the sunlight, passing out of the noisy, crowded room and exchanging the music for the urban orchestra of the Roman streets.

            I cast around, whipping my head this way and that. He must be out here, he has to be.

            There he is, already at the end of the road. He must have sprinted away from the pub. Why’s he in such a hurry?

            I sprint myself, absent mindedly dodging a car as it turns towards me. Some human traits are hard to shake. I don’t think I’ll ever stop behaving like that. I want to live, not even death will stop me.

            I turn the corner he disappeared round and catch him again, halfway down the next street. I pump my arms, quickly losing my breath and stamina. I really should have worked out more in life. Then again, the call of science books was always too great for me to resist, not to mention the pull of the comic tradition.

            Without warning or cause for concern for his own self preservation, he stops in the middle of the road and turns, just as I see the tourbus barrel towards him.