Today’s blog section covers Chapters Three and Four of Ei8ht. 😀
It’s something I have never done before, but I am going to do it now because the story is beginning to write itself; each character is staying true to their own complex nature.
So, let’s start with Chapter Three.
This chapter delves into the painful subject of how two people can interpret the same moment in completely different ways. In the story, George wakes up in a damp tunnel, reeling from the wild and wonderful physical encounter he just shared with Evylin, only to be confronted by his own personal fear of not being loved. He is super-sensitive to every word Evylin says – quick to misinterpret and over-analyze to stoke his own fear and insecurity. What was for him a CrossOver of minds became, very quickly – fun – a commercial product of his feelings. This moment of “finally belonging” suddenly becomes a point of ridicule.
For me, writing this scene was not about moving on from my very own Evylin (a running theme throughout the book), but a reflection of my own naivety in believing that what I had shared was real. Today, I still insist it is/was, because something as beautiful as what I remember shouldn’t just be sex. Sex is something you can learn, while making love is “spirit” or “soul”. In the story, Evylin presents the more realistic and callous truth, describing what they had shared as fun, and a mere programmed response of their avatars. She even rubs salt in the wound by reminding him of his social standing as a kid from below three hundred.
Luckily, my very own Evylin never did that. I think she left because I was unable to commit – to tell the world she was my woman. (Even this comment makes me smile – she probably left for a thousand other reasons – starting with jerk LOL) My excuse is that years before, I had promised my children that they would never have an evil stepmother; they would only ever have one mother, and I have lived by this. It was important for me that my children understood that Mum and Dad separated not because they loved someone else, but because love between two people, sadly, sometimes fades. I wanted them to know I would never love someone as much as their mother. At the time of this hidden declaration, I had never anticipated or even dreamed I might actually find someone who made my heart fly.
It happened, and … eventually, I landed. Flight over. This flight, I chose to place in the most disgusting location possible. Not out of anger, but out of irony and humor. GoD and Evil copulate among the dirt and stench of humanity. The bed I flew away from and the world around me were, of course, better than a sewage system, but it would have happened even if it had occurred there. Love does not need a fancy hotel or a beach to make it happen. When two people fit, spirits move. And mine did. I honestly think it was the first time ever. I can clearly remember looking down on our entwined bodies, unable to see where her body ended and mine began. I tried to capture this moment within the chapter.
So. Now to Chapter Four: a continuation of this whole emotional conflict.
Only now, I begin to integrate my past experiences into a futuristic digital world where every emotion is up for sale. George’s internal rage and feelings of betrayal lead him to a dark epiphany about the game’s future, realizing that Creation is about to end and, in its place, will be something called Tribal. This is a game built on heritage, blood feuds, and racism – the ultimate social plagues used as entertainment, reflecting a world where our deepest ancestral wounds are monetized.
On re-reading these two chapters, I see how my ‘Great guy that lives alone because no one understands him’ attitude, which I impregnated onto George, actually works character-wise, though it was very draining to do. I remember how cold it felt to look at myself and realize I was as dumb as he was. Today, my daughter often says I should find someone to be with, but now that I am aged and with far more history than future, I have the best argument ever: ‘Hey, I promised you I would never find you a stepmother.! And look. I kept my promise.
So, goodbye, Beatrice.
