DOOM 94 Read online

  Right. My memory corrected itself immediately. It hadn’t gone exactly like I had just said. Yes, they were really standing there like little trees, and yes, it was really the skinheads. Their leader asked:

  — Where did you guys go?

  I didn’t know what to say.

  — We were following you, we thought you knew where you were going.

  We knew, stranger, we knew.

  — Where are we now? We’re all going to fucking freeze here!

  He sounded genuinely concerned, and the others chimed in:

  — Yeah, what are we going to do?

  They looked so scared that I almost started to giggle, I could barely hold it in. Gatis added:

  — Right, I noticed that too. They’d practically pissed themselves.

  — But so I didn’t get punched in the face? Again?

  — I don’t know. Your nose was bleeding when we got there.

  — Really?

  — Really.

  I stifled my laughter, and remembered why I’d come back to them, my saviours. I said:

  — You’re a bunch of morons.

  — What? What? Speak up, will you, I can’t hear because of the blizzard.

  I cleared my throat and spoke again, louder:

  — You’re all pigs!

  It occurred to me that pigs weren’t inherently bad animals, and I amended my statement:

  — You’re a disgrace to your species!

  The skinheads looked at one another.

  — What is he saying? What?

  — You want a knuckle sandwich?

  — What?

  I went right up to him and shoved him.

  — What’s wrong with you?

  He must have really thought it was all some misunderstanding. What was I supposed to do now, what?

  — You little shits!

  And then someone finally punched me in the nose. From the side. I didn’t see who; it was a blizzard, after all.

  It wasn’t even that bad, it was a dull feeling. I felt a bit dizzy, but that’s all. And my nose started to bleed , my upper lip got wet. At first I thought it was snot, but no. It was Pūpols-esque.

  Then you guys got there, my friends. I was convinced you had really left me, forgive me.

  — Where would we have gone?

  Zombie said:

  — Good evening, gentlemen!

  He saw my face:

  — I see you haven’t wasted any time!

  And he hugged me. The skinheads were talking amongst themselves:

  — It wasn’t me!

  — Or me!

  — Well then who hit him?

  — I don’t know, I didn’t see!

  — I wasn’t us!

  But Death had already moved on:

  — Fuck, but how are we supposed to get to the Sinister concert? Hasn’t it already started? It probably already started! How could this happen — we missed Sinister!

  The skinheads reached a deeper level of stress:

  — What… is that?

  — What did we do?

  — What is up with tonight?

  But then a voice came from the darkness, a girl’s voice:

  — There is no Sinister concert.

  The skinheads jumped, but Death asked:

  — What you mean? No concert for us?

  — For anyone. They never showed up. They panicked.

  The voice came closer; it was Mele.

  — Where did you come from?

  — We were on the train, too. We were going too.

  And there really was a group with her. Anything could hide in this blizzard. Like maybe all of Jelgava. But Death asked:

  — But what’s this about Sinister? How do you know?

  It was a good question. But Mele held up a shiny object in her hand.

  — I got a call!

  It was a Motorola StarTAC. The model didn’t mean anything to us; we just knew it was an important object. At that time it truly was. The skinheads were now standing at attention.

  — What were you told?

  — That Sinister were too scared to come to Latvia. They’re not here.

  — For real?

  — Yup. They got scared. They never showed up. So no concert.

  — So we didn’t miss anything?

  — There’s nothing to miss.

  Death lifted his face to the sky, which kept snowing down on us, and said:

  — Thank you, God!

  And he hugged me and Zombie. Someone else joined in, but I don’t know who. We laughed happily, what else were we supposed to do? I had become someone, and nothing in this world happened without us, and we had defeated our enemies.

  Gatis nodded his head:

  — Yup, that’s how it went.

  — How could I forget? I was surprised.

  — We’d been drinking. And then drank some more.

  — But it happened like we just remembered, right?

  — Yes, yes. Or maybe they were scared off by your thug friends… didn’t you say something like that once?

  — No, no, no.

  — But how did we make it back that time? We didn’t stay there.

  — I don’t know. That I really don’t remember.

  — Ah! That girl must’ve called Kārlis. He came to pick us up with his parents’ car. He was really pissed off. In that blizzard! Kārlis, who else.

  — To Kārlis!

  — To Kārlis!

  We sat in silence for a moment.

  — But all that… What was it for?

  — What do you mean?

  — I mean, what did we learn from it? What did we gain from it?

  — Honestly?

  — No, lie to me!

  — Yeah?

  — No, tell me truthfully.

  — I don’t really know. Maybe we didn’t cross over to the other side.

  — But maybe we should have? Maybe then we’d be more successful members of society?

  — What’s with you?

  — Supposedly nothing. But real life suddenly doesn’t seem that serious to me. All that stress over jobs and our place in the world. That’s not what we learned.

  — Well, we were morons.

  —Yup. Total idiots.

  And we laughed.

  Zombie came out onto the terrace; he went by Edgars again now. He’d

  gained some weight, cut his hair short. He saw me and said:

  — Oh! Blondie!

  He took my hand and shook it firmly, and looked me in the eyes. We hadn’t seen each other in years, but he broke the ice of time, distance and the past all in his first question:

  — How’s the sex life?

  END

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