Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2015 21:02:28 GMT
Chapitre 1: Last Day of Quietness
"Find when Orion is hiding and kill him!"
The voice resonated in his head as if this order had just been given to him. Whatever he tried, he had to comply. So did he on that day.
The dark silhouette slowly materialised near an octagonal basin. The fountain in its centre was still spitting out the water whose sound could be mistaken with soft rain. The fully-armoured man raised his left arm mid-air in an automatic and lifeless gesture. A green phosphorescent key line revealed the emplacement of a compartment within his plated forearm. He opened it and tapped a five-digit code away. His whole armour blended in with the darkness by magic. He briefly checked his surroundings. Thankfully for them, no organic beings were in sight. Even La Place de la Comédie, which was usually so packed during daytime, was deserted. He could now tick the first two rules of the rebel group he'd joined and later on betrayed:
1. Never get noticed
2. Remove undesirable witnesses
His hand, protected by a gauntlet made of nanotechnology fabric, pressed the side of his helmet. It released a labelled holographic map of the town that only he could see. He zoomed it around L'Esplanade Charles de Gaulle, at the beginning of which he stood. The zones highlighted in yellow around it represented the areas his target may have reached since he last felt his presence. These zone were growing, he couldn’t waste any more time. He wouldn't let Orion escape him.
He pressed the side button again, for about three seconds this time. The outlines of two recent sets of footprints, invisible to the naked eye, emerged. They were the most recent traces he could retrieve and with no other humans being around, apart from this couple situated exactly at fifty-three meters from him, he had no other trail to follow.
But he will find him!
***
Sunday 10th September 1989 - 8 am
Daniel wouldn't get up. He would make the most of each second until the end of the holidays. He looked at his alarm clock. Nearly nine o'clock. It would be ringing in a few minutes. The older we get, the faster time flies his dad told him this summer. The last few months of the previous school year felt like decades to him though.
He rested on his back to read each and every cast member name on his "Back to the future" poster. Stopping time or time travelling was the solution, probably. He closed his eyes and yawned noisily. That was the prompt the two adorable weights resting on his legs had been waiting for. Their silhouettes bending over Daniel and the wet feeling all over his face – nose and ears included – made him laugh both in joy and in disgust. He sat up in an attempt to keep them at a distance.
Dogs on a bed! That would drive Mehmet Ali's mother mad. His friend had mentioned to him he could get infected with Toxocara Canis, whatever that was. Daniel wasn't worried the slightest about it. Au contraire! He kept on kissing and stroking them.
The alarm rang.
Horrible sound. He hurried to hit the stop button, his hand knocking off a book which had miraculously managed to keep its balance on the edge of the bedside table all night long. The sudden noise made both of the dogs jump.
Three knocks on the door.
Not waiting for an answer, Zazie entered. The two beagles immediately ran out and could soon be heard barking in the garden.
"Mummy says you need to get up now. You need a shower and shake your bed sheets, " she recited like a poem.
"Coming..."
She closed the door.
Daniel was definitely convinced that he was the victim of a conspiracy to prevent him from staying in bed any longer. He sat down, picked up his "Spanish Vocabulary Book", quickly went through the pages to insert his bookmark on the last page he remembered to have read (page sixty four) and placed it back on the bedside table, on a safer spot this time .
He got up and jumped into a pair of yellow shorts and a neon blue T-shirt. He opened the pine shutters and leant on the window ledge. It was a hot day, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky and very little wind. If this weather was to last for the whole week, he'd regret to be stuck at school even more> But there wasn't any mistake on his Master of the Universe calendar as tomorrow will be “la rentrée”, the beginning of the new school year.
He wasn't going to spoil his last day of quietness with that thought and he kept staring at the sloping hill covered with olive trees, Provençal herbs and rocks that is known as garrigue. Hidden within its grass, the mesmerising song of the cicadas (a tree bark-coloured insect close to the frog-hopper) could keep him under its spell for hours unless-
"Stop dozing and get your breakfast. Your room needs tidying!"
"I'm not-" he tried to argue.
There was obviously no point for Daniel to add anything. His mother always had the knack to be able to know whatever he was doing at any given moment. Mehmet Ali would be here at eleven o'clock sharp. He was never even a second late. He gave a look at the pile of dirty clothes (he never gave his mum to wash), floppy disks, video tapes and other toys or video games related items on the floor. She was right, he'd be barely able to do all this in the given time. That was like asking to finish the whole Wonder Boy III game in a single day. He closed the window and made his way to the kitchen.
At a distance uphill, light blue particles flew in the air creating a translucent whirlpool from which a man emerged seconds later. Dressed in a pair of black leathery trousers and matching jacket, he observed the house and smiled.
***
"Ton chocolat est sur la table. Tu as six minutes," Mme James said while finishing her washing up.
That was what Daniel really loved: being given an ultimatum to enjoy his breakfast. Daniel sat down and ripped off a bit of his pain au chocolat which he dunked into his hot chocolate. The only non-chocolaty thing he'd have in the morning was his orange juice. His sister had left a dozen colourful ponies with combs matching their mane and tails on the three steps leading to the garden. Was it a vicious attempt to make someone slip and break their neck? Ponies are so cruel. She was now in the garden running with the dogs and making them bark like mad. He got up, closed the French door and switched the radio on to his favourite pop music station. Back on his seat, he ate another bit of his favourite patisserie while listening to Matt Bianco's Get Out of Your Lazy Bed.
"How are you feeling about tomorrow?" his mother asked.
"You already know the answer," he answered, mouth half-full. "But you, were you able to sleep OK last night?"
"Like a squirrel."
That was a blatant lie! Daniel heard her getting up in the middle of the night while he was discretely playing on his Master System. It happened repetitively enough in the past two weeks that it would have been hard, even for Daniel, not to notice it. He never caught her lying in the past and he didn't like it at all. It wouldn't take Danger Mouse's deduction to notice it. Her face didn't look as fresh as it used to, she ever had a spot on her cheek, and she yawned so frequently that one could wonder if she drank too much camomile tea.
If only she would let him know what was worrying her, not that he would be able to do anything anyway. Nothing seemed wrong with his father as they all spoke to him on the phone when he made a stopover in Canada last Monday before carrying on South. She went back to work to prepare her lesson for the week coming, so she could have done with a restful weekend before starting with her new classes. Yes, Daniel's issues with a few of the boys at school was a nightmare, but she never seemed to worry at all about this to the boy's disappointment.
Unless she had seen something else.
She threw her apron and towels in the washing machine and grabbed the dog leashes. "Obviously, no Latin today."
"Lucky you, I won't ask you for words you don't know," he smiled.
"Deux minutes."
The dogs barked like crazy at the sight of the leashes Zazie put on them and they all left for the hills. Alone with the sound of the radio, he immersed the last bit of his pain au chocolate in his bowl. Daniel was expecting to enjoy it with a last song. The volume of the radio went down while the sound of static increase, making it impossible to listen to it anymore.
Conspiracy, I'm telling you.
He had told his mum they needed to buy a new one. He drank his juice, switched the radio off and got rid of his bowl in the sink. His mum's ultimatum has surely ended by now, therefore he went to the bathroom.
***
When Daniel next checked his robot watch, it was quarter to ten. It had taken him slightly more than an hour to clean his Augean bedroom. In the past he'd promised himself to tidy thing as he goes not to have to spend that much time tidying in the future. Unfortunately, again he had failed. He was nevertheless proud of his feat for his Castle Grayskull play-set was standing on a small table in a corner of the room with a few chosen figures disposed on and around it, and he could freely walk to it. He had even found time to eat a chocolate bar for energy. All he had left to do was to choose the games the boys would entertain themselves with. They might not even have time to play as they had so much to catch up since the holidays they spent together in Cornwall. Anyway, he browsed them for a few seconds and decided to challenge his friend on a car driving game. He took the Out Run game out of its box and inserted it into his game console. By the time he checked the front of his house again, a white Renault 21 was already parked there.
Daniel wasn't surprised to see his mum was already outside and had started a conversation with Mehmet Ali's one. After all, nothing could escape her eagle eyes. Meanwhile he could also hear the sound of dynamic footsteps going up the stairs.
"Seni görmek güzel," Daniel said while his friend opened the door.
Mehmet Ali had a few second of reflection. "Nice to see you as well. Learning Turkish as well now?”
“I can learn languages easily. Unfortunately, I never get the accents right.”
"In Turkish, Spanish and French, that's your English side which is stronger. However you speak English with a very prominent French accent."
"Great! I sound like a tourist wherever I go," Daniel said.
The ginger boy sat down on his bed while Mehmet Ali stood up, looking at the books on top of Daniel's library.
How was Cancale?" Daniel asked.
"Mükemmel, I even ate a Roussette."
Daniel gazed at his friend with his “what was that” look. Even though he knew the answer, Mehmet Ali tapped each one of the bilingual dictionaries and grabbed the French-English one.
"It's a catshark. A one-meter long shark that we can actually consume. It's peculiarly tasty."
“Glad to have the details. Shall we play a game?”
Daniel got up without giving his friend any time toanswer and he switched the television and the console on.
"Was is your fortnightly mandatory tidying-up day?". Mehmet Ali wiped his finger on the library noticing that Daniel didn't managed to dust it though. He grabbed the Rubik's Cube, wiped it as well and started playing with it.
"You never showed me how you solved it," Daniel said, "Did you buy the solution from a guy at school."
"Are you challenging me?" Mehmet Ali looked at Daniel, his fingers moving softly ready to mix the rows and start it all over again.
"If you teach me how you do it, I might one day.”
Daniel heaved a mental sigh when he saw Mehmet Ali relinquish the multi-coloured cube. The Turkish boy looked at Daniel's schoolbag which seemed far from ready for the next day. It was empty and the tag was still stuck on it. Mehmet Ali's one had been nearly ready for the past week, though he had only placed his newly bought scientific calculator yesterday as he had been using it during the week. He lifted the schoolbag to see how light it was. The ginger boy looked down.
"I wish I could get home tutoring instead of going to school." Daniel said.
"Who would I converse with then?"
"Memoli, you've got your team-mates. I've got no one else."
"Why don't you join us? It isn't as arduous as it seems. And Robert hasn't even tried to bother me since I've joined the team."
Daniel thought about the proposition for a few seconds. He knew he wasn't the sociable or popular kid in the school by far. He didn't have many people to talk to and even less friends and for good reasons. A few years ago, he had revealed his unusual middle name to a friend expecting him to keep it with him. This “friend” repeated it to the whole school, making Daniel the subject of mockery even until now. This taught him he couldn't blindly trust people, Mehmet Ali being the only exception.
"Robert is far too busy picking up on anyone he can, and a ginger geek with an odd nickname like Orion is a very easy prey," Daniel said, “but I don't really like basket-ball, I won't be any good at it and they won't let me in the team anyway.”
"Dan. Look at the big picture. That's not about basket-ball, it's about feeling safe. Who cares if you're rubbish? Try. You already barely attempt to speak with anyone at school. I even bet that if Anne was asking you out tomorrow, you would decline."
"You're the one who's got the crush on her, so of course I'd decline." Daniel turned the pages of his history magazine so fast that he couldn't possibly look at its contents properly. "She's not the clever type anyway. Ever heard the stories-"
"Mere rumours!". Mehmet Ali paused to think. "Nonetheless, I wished she wouldn't go out with this-"
"Numbskull."
"Robert really didn't make your life easy last year."
"How would you know? You were not there when I really needed it."
Nobody said anything anymore until the “Passing Breeze” tune of the video game broke the silence. Daniel immediately regretted to have said that. He never had the intention of blaming his friend for what happened in May, and he didn't plan to talk about it today. Mehmet Ali, who didn't show any emotion, kept quiet.
"Désolé! Shall we play Out Run?" Daniel said, hoping a quick apology and a diversion would make things better. The 8-bit magic had a history of cheering up teenagers whenever they were in a bad mood. Moreover, this game had always been a subject of competition between the boys and most of the time Daniel won easily. There was no surprise here. Daniel could drive the virtual red Ferrari every day if he wanted to, while Mehmet Ali couldn't. His mum never allowed any of these video games in the house as she was sure they were making people lazy at best, if not violent.
Competitive as ever, Daniel finished the game three times using different routes while Mehmet Ali failed twice just before the finish line, only to be successful only at the last attempt.
"Three to one. Bow to your master," Daniel exulted.
"I actually dread the moment I finally beat you," Mehmet Ali answered.
"That's never happening, though you could ask my mum if you want to know your future."
"You never give up. I don't believe in these flaky things, remember?"
"You're religious, though."
Mehmet Ali frowned at his friend. "What does religion have to do with occultism?"
Daniel didn't want to make another mistake with his friend. Once a day was enough.
"I mean you're a scientist. I'm just surprised you believe in-"
"I do." Mehmet Ali realised his voice might sound somewhat aggressive and he sat back. “There's no incompatibility between science and religion."
"Back to my mum, she's predicted many things in the past. She even said I might be gifted one day as well."
"You're already gifted. You're a trustworthy friend." Mehmet Ali stood up. “A bit irritating at times, but still trustworthy.” He stroked his belly with his hand in a gesture that seemed forced.
"I feel tolerably peckish now. Could you prepare me a hot chocolate, please?"
"Chocolate? I thought you said the levels of sugar were way too high?"
"Today, that's what I need," Mehmet Ali said.
The idea to eat another bit of chocolate hurried Daniel to the kitchen. As soon as he'd left, Mehmet Ali took a notebook and pencil out of his back pocket. He browsed the top shelf again and penned a few quick notes. He sat down, attempting to look as natural as possible. Unsurprisingly, Daniel came back a few minutes later with another pain au chocolat stuck in his mouth while he carried a tray with their drink.
With Daniel talking with a muffled voice, it took Mehmet Ali all his attention to understand what he just said: “Another game?”
"Find when Orion is hiding and kill him!"
The voice resonated in his head as if this order had just been given to him. Whatever he tried, he had to comply. So did he on that day.
The dark silhouette slowly materialised near an octagonal basin. The fountain in its centre was still spitting out the water whose sound could be mistaken with soft rain. The fully-armoured man raised his left arm mid-air in an automatic and lifeless gesture. A green phosphorescent key line revealed the emplacement of a compartment within his plated forearm. He opened it and tapped a five-digit code away. His whole armour blended in with the darkness by magic. He briefly checked his surroundings. Thankfully for them, no organic beings were in sight. Even La Place de la Comédie, which was usually so packed during daytime, was deserted. He could now tick the first two rules of the rebel group he'd joined and later on betrayed:
1. Never get noticed
2. Remove undesirable witnesses
His hand, protected by a gauntlet made of nanotechnology fabric, pressed the side of his helmet. It released a labelled holographic map of the town that only he could see. He zoomed it around L'Esplanade Charles de Gaulle, at the beginning of which he stood. The zones highlighted in yellow around it represented the areas his target may have reached since he last felt his presence. These zone were growing, he couldn’t waste any more time. He wouldn't let Orion escape him.
He pressed the side button again, for about three seconds this time. The outlines of two recent sets of footprints, invisible to the naked eye, emerged. They were the most recent traces he could retrieve and with no other humans being around, apart from this couple situated exactly at fifty-three meters from him, he had no other trail to follow.
But he will find him!
***
Sunday 10th September 1989 - 8 am
Daniel wouldn't get up. He would make the most of each second until the end of the holidays. He looked at his alarm clock. Nearly nine o'clock. It would be ringing in a few minutes. The older we get, the faster time flies his dad told him this summer. The last few months of the previous school year felt like decades to him though.
He rested on his back to read each and every cast member name on his "Back to the future" poster. Stopping time or time travelling was the solution, probably. He closed his eyes and yawned noisily. That was the prompt the two adorable weights resting on his legs had been waiting for. Their silhouettes bending over Daniel and the wet feeling all over his face – nose and ears included – made him laugh both in joy and in disgust. He sat up in an attempt to keep them at a distance.
Dogs on a bed! That would drive Mehmet Ali's mother mad. His friend had mentioned to him he could get infected with Toxocara Canis, whatever that was. Daniel wasn't worried the slightest about it. Au contraire! He kept on kissing and stroking them.
The alarm rang.
Horrible sound. He hurried to hit the stop button, his hand knocking off a book which had miraculously managed to keep its balance on the edge of the bedside table all night long. The sudden noise made both of the dogs jump.
Three knocks on the door.
Not waiting for an answer, Zazie entered. The two beagles immediately ran out and could soon be heard barking in the garden.
"Mummy says you need to get up now. You need a shower and shake your bed sheets, " she recited like a poem.
"Coming..."
She closed the door.
Daniel was definitely convinced that he was the victim of a conspiracy to prevent him from staying in bed any longer. He sat down, picked up his "Spanish Vocabulary Book", quickly went through the pages to insert his bookmark on the last page he remembered to have read (page sixty four) and placed it back on the bedside table, on a safer spot this time .
He got up and jumped into a pair of yellow shorts and a neon blue T-shirt. He opened the pine shutters and leant on the window ledge. It was a hot day, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky and very little wind. If this weather was to last for the whole week, he'd regret to be stuck at school even more> But there wasn't any mistake on his Master of the Universe calendar as tomorrow will be “la rentrée”, the beginning of the new school year.
He wasn't going to spoil his last day of quietness with that thought and he kept staring at the sloping hill covered with olive trees, Provençal herbs and rocks that is known as garrigue. Hidden within its grass, the mesmerising song of the cicadas (a tree bark-coloured insect close to the frog-hopper) could keep him under its spell for hours unless-
"Stop dozing and get your breakfast. Your room needs tidying!"
"I'm not-" he tried to argue.
There was obviously no point for Daniel to add anything. His mother always had the knack to be able to know whatever he was doing at any given moment. Mehmet Ali would be here at eleven o'clock sharp. He was never even a second late. He gave a look at the pile of dirty clothes (he never gave his mum to wash), floppy disks, video tapes and other toys or video games related items on the floor. She was right, he'd be barely able to do all this in the given time. That was like asking to finish the whole Wonder Boy III game in a single day. He closed the window and made his way to the kitchen.
At a distance uphill, light blue particles flew in the air creating a translucent whirlpool from which a man emerged seconds later. Dressed in a pair of black leathery trousers and matching jacket, he observed the house and smiled.
***
"Ton chocolat est sur la table. Tu as six minutes," Mme James said while finishing her washing up.
That was what Daniel really loved: being given an ultimatum to enjoy his breakfast. Daniel sat down and ripped off a bit of his pain au chocolat which he dunked into his hot chocolate. The only non-chocolaty thing he'd have in the morning was his orange juice. His sister had left a dozen colourful ponies with combs matching their mane and tails on the three steps leading to the garden. Was it a vicious attempt to make someone slip and break their neck? Ponies are so cruel. She was now in the garden running with the dogs and making them bark like mad. He got up, closed the French door and switched the radio on to his favourite pop music station. Back on his seat, he ate another bit of his favourite patisserie while listening to Matt Bianco's Get Out of Your Lazy Bed.
"How are you feeling about tomorrow?" his mother asked.
"You already know the answer," he answered, mouth half-full. "But you, were you able to sleep OK last night?"
"Like a squirrel."
That was a blatant lie! Daniel heard her getting up in the middle of the night while he was discretely playing on his Master System. It happened repetitively enough in the past two weeks that it would have been hard, even for Daniel, not to notice it. He never caught her lying in the past and he didn't like it at all. It wouldn't take Danger Mouse's deduction to notice it. Her face didn't look as fresh as it used to, she ever had a spot on her cheek, and she yawned so frequently that one could wonder if she drank too much camomile tea.
If only she would let him know what was worrying her, not that he would be able to do anything anyway. Nothing seemed wrong with his father as they all spoke to him on the phone when he made a stopover in Canada last Monday before carrying on South. She went back to work to prepare her lesson for the week coming, so she could have done with a restful weekend before starting with her new classes. Yes, Daniel's issues with a few of the boys at school was a nightmare, but she never seemed to worry at all about this to the boy's disappointment.
Unless she had seen something else.
She threw her apron and towels in the washing machine and grabbed the dog leashes. "Obviously, no Latin today."
"Lucky you, I won't ask you for words you don't know," he smiled.
"Deux minutes."
The dogs barked like crazy at the sight of the leashes Zazie put on them and they all left for the hills. Alone with the sound of the radio, he immersed the last bit of his pain au chocolate in his bowl. Daniel was expecting to enjoy it with a last song. The volume of the radio went down while the sound of static increase, making it impossible to listen to it anymore.
Conspiracy, I'm telling you.
He had told his mum they needed to buy a new one. He drank his juice, switched the radio off and got rid of his bowl in the sink. His mum's ultimatum has surely ended by now, therefore he went to the bathroom.
***
When Daniel next checked his robot watch, it was quarter to ten. It had taken him slightly more than an hour to clean his Augean bedroom. In the past he'd promised himself to tidy thing as he goes not to have to spend that much time tidying in the future. Unfortunately, again he had failed. He was nevertheless proud of his feat for his Castle Grayskull play-set was standing on a small table in a corner of the room with a few chosen figures disposed on and around it, and he could freely walk to it. He had even found time to eat a chocolate bar for energy. All he had left to do was to choose the games the boys would entertain themselves with. They might not even have time to play as they had so much to catch up since the holidays they spent together in Cornwall. Anyway, he browsed them for a few seconds and decided to challenge his friend on a car driving game. He took the Out Run game out of its box and inserted it into his game console. By the time he checked the front of his house again, a white Renault 21 was already parked there.
Daniel wasn't surprised to see his mum was already outside and had started a conversation with Mehmet Ali's one. After all, nothing could escape her eagle eyes. Meanwhile he could also hear the sound of dynamic footsteps going up the stairs.
"Seni görmek güzel," Daniel said while his friend opened the door.
Mehmet Ali had a few second of reflection. "Nice to see you as well. Learning Turkish as well now?”
“I can learn languages easily. Unfortunately, I never get the accents right.”
"In Turkish, Spanish and French, that's your English side which is stronger. However you speak English with a very prominent French accent."
"Great! I sound like a tourist wherever I go," Daniel said.
The ginger boy sat down on his bed while Mehmet Ali stood up, looking at the books on top of Daniel's library.
How was Cancale?" Daniel asked.
"Mükemmel, I even ate a Roussette."
Daniel gazed at his friend with his “what was that” look. Even though he knew the answer, Mehmet Ali tapped each one of the bilingual dictionaries and grabbed the French-English one.
"It's a catshark. A one-meter long shark that we can actually consume. It's peculiarly tasty."
“Glad to have the details. Shall we play a game?”
Daniel got up without giving his friend any time toanswer and he switched the television and the console on.
"Was is your fortnightly mandatory tidying-up day?". Mehmet Ali wiped his finger on the library noticing that Daniel didn't managed to dust it though. He grabbed the Rubik's Cube, wiped it as well and started playing with it.
"You never showed me how you solved it," Daniel said, "Did you buy the solution from a guy at school."
"Are you challenging me?" Mehmet Ali looked at Daniel, his fingers moving softly ready to mix the rows and start it all over again.
"If you teach me how you do it, I might one day.”
Daniel heaved a mental sigh when he saw Mehmet Ali relinquish the multi-coloured cube. The Turkish boy looked at Daniel's schoolbag which seemed far from ready for the next day. It was empty and the tag was still stuck on it. Mehmet Ali's one had been nearly ready for the past week, though he had only placed his newly bought scientific calculator yesterday as he had been using it during the week. He lifted the schoolbag to see how light it was. The ginger boy looked down.
"I wish I could get home tutoring instead of going to school." Daniel said.
"Who would I converse with then?"
"Memoli, you've got your team-mates. I've got no one else."
"Why don't you join us? It isn't as arduous as it seems. And Robert hasn't even tried to bother me since I've joined the team."
Daniel thought about the proposition for a few seconds. He knew he wasn't the sociable or popular kid in the school by far. He didn't have many people to talk to and even less friends and for good reasons. A few years ago, he had revealed his unusual middle name to a friend expecting him to keep it with him. This “friend” repeated it to the whole school, making Daniel the subject of mockery even until now. This taught him he couldn't blindly trust people, Mehmet Ali being the only exception.
"Robert is far too busy picking up on anyone he can, and a ginger geek with an odd nickname like Orion is a very easy prey," Daniel said, “but I don't really like basket-ball, I won't be any good at it and they won't let me in the team anyway.”
"Dan. Look at the big picture. That's not about basket-ball, it's about feeling safe. Who cares if you're rubbish? Try. You already barely attempt to speak with anyone at school. I even bet that if Anne was asking you out tomorrow, you would decline."
"You're the one who's got the crush on her, so of course I'd decline." Daniel turned the pages of his history magazine so fast that he couldn't possibly look at its contents properly. "She's not the clever type anyway. Ever heard the stories-"
"Mere rumours!". Mehmet Ali paused to think. "Nonetheless, I wished she wouldn't go out with this-"
"Numbskull."
"Robert really didn't make your life easy last year."
"How would you know? You were not there when I really needed it."
Nobody said anything anymore until the “Passing Breeze” tune of the video game broke the silence. Daniel immediately regretted to have said that. He never had the intention of blaming his friend for what happened in May, and he didn't plan to talk about it today. Mehmet Ali, who didn't show any emotion, kept quiet.
"Désolé! Shall we play Out Run?" Daniel said, hoping a quick apology and a diversion would make things better. The 8-bit magic had a history of cheering up teenagers whenever they were in a bad mood. Moreover, this game had always been a subject of competition between the boys and most of the time Daniel won easily. There was no surprise here. Daniel could drive the virtual red Ferrari every day if he wanted to, while Mehmet Ali couldn't. His mum never allowed any of these video games in the house as she was sure they were making people lazy at best, if not violent.
Competitive as ever, Daniel finished the game three times using different routes while Mehmet Ali failed twice just before the finish line, only to be successful only at the last attempt.
"Three to one. Bow to your master," Daniel exulted.
"I actually dread the moment I finally beat you," Mehmet Ali answered.
"That's never happening, though you could ask my mum if you want to know your future."
"You never give up. I don't believe in these flaky things, remember?"
"You're religious, though."
Mehmet Ali frowned at his friend. "What does religion have to do with occultism?"
Daniel didn't want to make another mistake with his friend. Once a day was enough.
"I mean you're a scientist. I'm just surprised you believe in-"
"I do." Mehmet Ali realised his voice might sound somewhat aggressive and he sat back. “There's no incompatibility between science and religion."
"Back to my mum, she's predicted many things in the past. She even said I might be gifted one day as well."
"You're already gifted. You're a trustworthy friend." Mehmet Ali stood up. “A bit irritating at times, but still trustworthy.” He stroked his belly with his hand in a gesture that seemed forced.
"I feel tolerably peckish now. Could you prepare me a hot chocolate, please?"
"Chocolate? I thought you said the levels of sugar were way too high?"
"Today, that's what I need," Mehmet Ali said.
The idea to eat another bit of chocolate hurried Daniel to the kitchen. As soon as he'd left, Mehmet Ali took a notebook and pencil out of his back pocket. He browsed the top shelf again and penned a few quick notes. He sat down, attempting to look as natural as possible. Unsurprisingly, Daniel came back a few minutes later with another pain au chocolat stuck in his mouth while he carried a tray with their drink.
With Daniel talking with a muffled voice, it took Mehmet Ali all his attention to understand what he just said: “Another game?”
