| Cool |
August 22, 2019
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| It was a hot night. He was on his bed in his house. He couldn't get any sleep because of the heat and humidity. He cursed that he didn't have an air conditioner in his house. After his mother passed away, he moved into his parents' house. His parents were the type of people who hated air conditioning. He should have put in an air conditioner immediately when he moved into the house, but didn't because he was very busy. Now, it was already late July. As the house was a one story building, the heat came directly from the roof, and kept inside. Although it was a little bit unsafe, he left open his bedroom window. Even so, this day's uncomfortableness was special. He gave up sleeping, and put on some light clothes. He decided to walk around. He opened some of the other windows. He prioritized coolness more than safety. He locked the door and left the house. It was around 11 p.m. The sky was clear, the stars were shinning. He wanted to go to the small park located near his house. He could sit down on some of the benches. But, when he got there, he realized that a couple were on one of the benches. They were sitting closely and chatting in low voices. Although he could have sat on another bench, he didn't because it would have been uncomfortable for everyone. He continued on. At this late time of night, there were only a few cars on the road, sometimes passing him. This road had a sidewalk as well as a long row of light poles. The opposite side was a river. After a while, he realized that a woman in the distance was approaching him. She was  maybe 100 meters or so from him. When she passed under one of the light poles, he saw her wearing a whitish sleeveless dress. She had long hair. He got an uneasy feeling because her looks reminded him of a woman from a horror movie. He didn't know the reason, but in horror movies in this country, female ghosts always have long hair and wear a sleeveless white dress. Maybe having long hair is convenient to hide their faces, while white clothes can make it easier to see blood that has come out from their bodies. And for him, it was also convenient because this fear made him feel chilled. She was approaching him, and now there were no light poles between them. He could only say from the starlight that she was young and skinny. He couldn't see her face well. The distance between them became 30 meters, 20 meters ... He thought, "What if she had no face at all? ... like a white painted wall!" In this country, there was such a fairy tale. "What if her mouth was cut from the both sides of her face?" A couple of decades ago, that type of story was in fashion in this country. When she came near him, a massive fear overwhelmed him. He couldn't look at her. He cursed his timidity. When she passed by him, he felt something cool at his arm. When he was about to turn around, he realized that something was wrong, "Did she make any stepping sounds?" He stopped. He didn't hear anything but the river flowing. She also might have stopped. When he forced down his fear and was about to turn around, another idea came to him, "First of all, does she have any legs?" In this country, sometimes ghosts don't have legs. He continued to walk forward, his walking speed got faster, then he started to run. When he came to a convenience store, he stopped and turned back for the first time. Nobody was there. "Of course," he said weakly. He entered the convenience store and rested for a while and returned to his house using a different course. He came to his house. Before opening the locked door, he looked around. Nobody was there. He entered and remembered that he left some of the windows opened. He hurriedly closed them, and drew the curtains. He drank water from the fridge. He took a cold shower. During the shower, he thought about the young woman. "What a coward! She might have been a beautiful, young woman. She might have said that she was afraid of this late night and hoped to be walk with me, and ..." He was amazed that he was recovered from that shocking incident so easily. Thanks to opening the windows, the living-room was slightly cooler than before. He sat down on the sofa. "Maybe her existence makes me much cooler," he smiled. But his smile soon froze. He felt that something was behind him. The thing didn't make any sound but he felt it. He breathed deeply and said. The voice was calm, it seemed to be his resignation, but maybe determination. He was a man. "Ok, ok. If you want, I'm willing to be your boyfriend. Maybe you need somebody who will comfort your wounded heart." He stood up and turned around slowly. It wasn't a female ghost, but a small, stray cat! She was licking her fur on the stool. She must have entered from one of the opened windows. He went to the fridge and poured some milk into a dish and put it on the floor. The cat climbed down from the stool and came over to the dish, and started to drink the milk. He didn't like to live with a creature which had a hot body in this hot season, but he knew that this heat wouldn't last long. |
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*resignation :諦め
*derarmination :決意