Live, Love, Lose - 53. Chapter 53

A few days passed and their relationship kept going. Karl’s sexual urges were satisfied and George hadn’t tried to hurt himself again since the last time in Brighton; so why put an end to something that benefited both of them and worked so well?

“You know, as a way to apologise for my attitude towards Emma, I suggest we go to the cinema. I thought it’d be a nice idea in these troubled times," George said one day as they were lying into bed.

Karl observed his face carefully. Where did he want to go? He frowned slightly as he couldn’t understand.

“I’ve already apologised to her. I went to see her and brought her flowers. I just hope Paul won’t be jealous.”

Karl instantly smiled as soon as he finished saying the last word. Memories.

“So…?”

There was a moment of silence that followed his words.

“Where do you want to go?”

“To the cinema.”

Karl just blinked at him. He had never heard that word before. He was sure of it.

“You don’t know what it is, do you?”

Karl shook his head slowly.

“It’s alright. You’ll see once we get there.”

Karl just kept staring at him wordlessly.

“Stop staring at me like this. Otherwise, I won’t be able to resist.”

Karl only smiled at him. George put his index finger on his cheek and let it slide down his face until he reached his jawline.

“I’ve never seen someone with so many freckles. Not even a redhead.”

Yeah, and Karl had never seen someone keeping their glasses on while laying in bed.

He reached for them to remove them, but George wouldn’t let him.

“Leave my glasses alone. It’s already annoying enough to have to keep them on all the time.”

He wondered how a person with eyesight problems really saw things without their glasses. It was really intriguing. But he could never know.

It had him think of the boy he had seen in his visions who looked like him. Did he have eyesight problems but didn’t wear glasses because he couldn’t afford them? No, glasses didn’t exist in Vikings' times. Otherwise, he would have known about it.

And if he had normal vision, it meant they couldn’t be the same person. He didn’t even know his name. The other boy that looked like him was named Mímir, and this had nothing to do with his own name.

This was intriguing too. But maybe he shouldn’t think about it too much.

***

That evening they went out, just the two of them again. It was somehow strange because he was so much more used to going out with Paul. Not that it was awkward or that he didn’t like going out with George. But he guessed he missed hanging out with Paul.

“We’re almost there.”

As they were nearing their destination, Karl noticed a huge crowd of people. They were still, waiting on the sidewalk behind the long line of buildings. It puzzled him. What could they be waiting for?

“That’s why we should’ve come much earlier.”

Wait. Because they were going to the same place they were supposed to go?

Well, he guessed they had no other choice than to wait now that they were there. The waiting seemed to be endless, but they finally managed to enter the building. But even as they entered it, he still didn’t have a single clue of what they were going to do or what the place was exactly. It wasn’t a shop or a pub. That’s all he knew for sure. It wasn’t a university either. Or a hospital for that matter.

They ended up in a large room full of seats lined up next to each other with aisles in between. He had never seen that kind of room before. What were they going to do there? Not some intellectual stuff, he hoped. He wasn’t good at it.

They took seats in the back, meaning there could be no one behind them. All the seats were taken. It was incredible in a way. He had never seen a room so full of people.

And soon after they settled in their seats he discovered what the cinema was. It was…much more stunning.

Moving images on a wall, as if it were…real. Real people doing real things. It was truly amazing, almost like magic. It was funny because they were all in grey as if colour had completely faded from life itself, making it completely dull.

George told him what they watched was called a “movie” and that this particular “movie” was called “The Great Dictator”. Movie because the images were moving, of course. How clever.

He didn’t understand everything. But he knew for sure it was related to the war.

It had become dark by the time they left the building. They didn’t hurry. They preferred to let all the people out first.

Karl was so excited, still under the spell of the effect of the moving images. It made him somehow ecstatic. How come he couldn’t have discovered this sooner? He was sure they must have had this kind of place in Copenhagen too. But neither his brother nor sister had shown him. Maybe they were simply not interested in movies. They must have known what it was though.

“You look like a real child.”

His excitement and joy quickly vanished.

His remark was anything but positive. He could tell just by the tone he used, nothing new there.

Of course, he was surely quite used to it; had known what it was from his earliest childhood. Unlike him who was just a peasant from a small island, and had only been in a capital thanks to his siblings. He stopped in his tracks abruptly, and George stopped as well. He stared ahead of him in the distance for a few seconds before he faced him.

“Where I come from, there is no cinema, no big buildings, no cars, no hospitals, no parks, no books.”

With that being said, he resumed walking, but without George by his side. But it didn’t take him that long to catch up with him anyway. He stood before him, obliging him to stop again.

“‘Didn’t know you could be so easily offended. I didn’t mean to sound like a posh bloke who looks down on you. It wasn’t mean. It was only a remark.”

They observed each other’s faces silently. George just looked like he wanted to kiss him. Again.

It seemed they both got lost in each other’s eyes as if the world surrounding them didn’t exist anymore. A strange sensation, but nothing new.

Unfortunately, they were quickly brought back to the real world as they could hear a familiar crash nearby. Karl flinched before he looked in the direction where it came from. They both knew what it was. Another night, another bombing. But they were too close to the bombs.

His chest and stomach hurt as he thought about the many more casualties it would make.

“Come!”

Next thing he knew, George grabbed his wrist and dragged him to…he didn’t know where. To the Hopkins’s maybe. Or somewhere they could take some shelter. But it would be impossible to find a good one. The bombs resisted and destroyed everything that was in their way.

He felt like there was no place where they could be safe anymore.

They ran as the bombs kept raining all over them, the deafening thunder becoming more and more unbearable with each step they took.

He couldn’t believe they could be dropped so easily as if it were no big deal. It was crazy.

They ended up underground, but he was surprised as he saw it was as crowded as the room had been earlier. He wasn’t sure they could find a spot to sit down this time. It was as if most of the population left had chosen to take shelter underground. Well, this was probably the safest place they could find.

They had to thread their way through all the people. Karl was feeling oppressed. He was hot and had trouble keeping his breathing steady.

“Let’s keep going until we can find a spot where we can sit down.”

They walked underground, and it was a curious experience. Never had he thought such things could exist... It was dark and endless.

He didn’t like not knowing where he was going. He slowed down his pace and gradually came to a standstill. He could only hear the sound of his own breathing and George’s steps. A few moments passed as he contemplated the nothingness ahead of him. It made him think of when he closed his eyes and had the impression of moving forward but getting nowhere, only coming aimlessly into the void.

He started as he could feel his wrist being grabbed.

“Don’t stop. I don’t want you to get lost.”

Karl just blinked. George dragged him alongside him but their pace was normal. It was silent.

They ended up finding one, against a wall. They were pressed against each other as they sat down. They remained still and quiet as if they didn’t move the bombs would stop. But they didn’t. Even if they couldn’t see, they could still hear the monstrous roar that echoed in the distance.

Karl kept shaking uncontrollably, and the wait became unbearable.

What if they were not so lucky this time? What if the bombs ended up reaching them?

He tried desperately to calm himself down, but to no avail…nothing could help. His thoughts were torturing him, but he couldn’t stop thinking. Thinking about the worst.

He didn’t look or glance at George even once; almost forgot he was there pressed against him. Only when he spoke to him did he realise that.

“Don’t shake so much. They’re gonna sense your fear.”

Karl just observed him silently. He couldn’t feel him shake against him like he had been. But how could he possibly manage to keep his cool in such a situation?

It reminded him of that time at the hospital, when he had been pressed against the doctor when he had tried to reassure him. Never had he thought it would be the last time he saw him….

He was suffocating.

At that precise moment, he was more likely to die from choking than from a bomb hitting them.

He started again as it wasn’t his wrist being grabbed this time but his hand. He realised it was George. Well, who else could it be?

He took it in his lap and began rubbing the palm with a slow, back and forth movement, smoothing the rough and calloused skin.

Karl was left stunned by his action. He had never done such a thing before.

“Calm down. Breathe slowly. It’s gonna be okay. We’re not gonna die tonight.”

He didn’t know if it was the warmth of his hand or the movement itself, but he calmed down little by little. His shivers became less violent and his jaw unclenched. But his heart was still racing and pounding loudly in his chest, he could feel it. There was a weird sensation in his stomach. It didn’t hurt like when you were sick or when he would think about awful things. It was different, even though he couldn’t define it. He was sure he had already felt it before. When they had sex, kissed, touched each other.

He was feeling feverish. His whole body was on fire. He really needed some fresh air. But they probably couldn’t get out of there anytime soon… that burning sensation in his guts. It got harder and harder to stand.

He withdrew his hand abruptly and kept it close to his stomach. George didn’t do anything or comment on it. But the sensation didn’t die down. It was like there was a wildfire in him that couldn’t be put out.

Next thing he knew, there was a loud bang that made the whole place shake violently. He clung onto George instinctively as he started shaking uncontrollably once again. He was sure the next bomb would get through the ground and kill them. Or bury them alive.

The worst would be to see George dying and not be able to do anything about it. Like it had been the case with the doctor. It reminded him of his very first vision. This was really freaky.

It would end up driving him completely crazy. The world had already become mad. So no one would notice.

“It’s okay. We’re safe there. They can’t reach us.”

He wasn’t sure he could put up with all of that for much longer.

Hey!  
This is starting again...   But I just love the short moment of intimacy when George takes his hand ❤️ 
Take care and have a good day/evening/night ❤️