Page 57 of Death of the Author
“Leave this place,” Ngozi said, thunder crackling in the distance. “I’m dead. I’m free!Youhave to save the Earth!”
I could only stare at her, confused and terrified. When Ngozi said, “Go!” yet again, I got up, shook myself off, and trudged out the door. Without a look back. Yes, I wasn’t sure if I believed in spirits, but I believed in all kinds of ghosts.
It was time to shake the rust flakes off my shoulders and arms. Time for me to leave Lagos. Time to continue my journey to Cross River City.
Humankind was done. It was officially the age of automation. With the terrible information I carried, I wondered how long this age would last. Regardless, I walked into it on new and improved legs with a new and taboo mind... one that had been infected with a Ghost.
25
Who Am I?
Zelu bought a three-bedroom condo facing Lake Michigan in the Lake Point Tower, right beside Navy Pier. She paid for two-thirds of it in cash. It wasn’t far from home, the autonomous vehicle had no problem getting there, and it was all hers. The first property she’d ever bought. And what a place. However, of all her family members, only Tolu helped her move in.
After a conversation with Hugo about the concept of minimalism, Zelu decided to become part of a social media community called The Minimals. It was a group of people dedicated to minimalism, living sparse, uncluttered lives. Zelu loved and believed dearly in their philosophy. She enjoyed the idea of being able to pick up and leave without much fuss if she had to. Or even better, packing all she owned on her back and being able to hit the road. Now, she could never go that extreme, but she loved the aspiration of it. To carry all you needed on your person. What a beautiful concept.
“And the fewer possessions you have, the more space you have to move around,” Hugo had said. “Less to bump into with your exos.” It made so much sense. According to her group, it was perfectly fine to own a huge house as long as you didn’t fill it up with useless things. You only broughtin what you truly needed and truly loved. Clutter was the monster to avoid. This was how she approached her spacious condo in the sky.
In her bedroom was a bed that consisted of only a skeletal metal frame and a mattress, no headboard or box spring. All edges were lined with soft pads, so banging against them wasn’t a problem. On one wall she hung a giant framed piece of green, white, and blue Ankara cloth. She’d found a nightstand made of glass and even a full-size dresser covered with slabs of mirror to make it look like it wasn’t really there. The floors were wood and she left them mostly bare, except for a small rose-colored rug beside the bed. She’d had the walls painted cyan blue, and above the bed hung two dolphin paintings.
In her living room, she had a couch, a small trophy case for her growing number of literary awards, and a bookcase with her favorite novels, all in hardcover. And that was it. Aside from her kitchen, the rest was open, unfurnished space. Tolu didn’t have much work to do, and once she was moved in, he didn’t come by again.
Before he’d left, after they’d finished properly setting things up, he’d said, “This is how you want it to look? It’s so... empty.” He paused, staring at another dolphin painting, the sole decoration on an entire wall. “Even my voice seems to echo in here.”
“It’s not empty,” she’d said. “It’s just essentials. My closet is the only place that’s full. This is how I like it. I won’t bump into anything; I won’t have to always be so exact in my movements. I feel like I can breathe.”
Tolu shrugged. “Whatever works for you, Zelu.”
Msizi was a different matter. He’d been on his way back from Los Angeles and scheduled a layover so he could give her a proper housewarming. “If you need to be in LA so much and you have a green card, why don’t you just stay here with me?” she asked without thinking too much about it.
Msizi was sitting on her couch. He looked up, startled, and gazed at her for so long that Zelu began to frown. “What?” she asked.
He pulled at his short black beard the way he always did when he was thinking hard. When he’d first seen her with her exos, he’d stood therestaring at her for over a minute. Then he’d walked around her, taking in every angle. He’d knelt down and touched her cyan-colored mesh foot. Then he’d said, “This is bloody unreal.” They’d gone out to eat and she’d purposely made herself taller than his five-foot-seven frame, a passive-aggressive trick Hugo had taught her. They’d left early because he couldn’t stand all the people coming up to their table to ask for autographs and selfies. Zelu still wasn’t sure if he hated her exos and was simply tolerating them.
He got up now and walked past Zelu, stepping toward the window that faced Lake Michigan. She joined him. It was cloudy and the water looked mysterious. From up here, if a lake monster decided to surface, they would be some of the first people to spot it. Zelu smiled to herself, thinking yet again about how much she loved her condo. And she loved the idea of Msizi being here so very much, but she wasn’t about to beg him.
“Your exos annoy me,” he said.
Zelu chuckled nervously. “Okay?”
They were quiet. She waited, her nerves starting to creep in.
“Moving in is a good idea,” he finally said.
Her heart fluttered, but she stayed cool. “Yeah.”
He looked around. “I like this minimalist thing you’re doing, too.”
She slowly nodded, not wanting to make any sudden moves. He was right on the verge of taking her up on her offer.
“But you’re not monogamous,” he said, turning back to her. He hesitated and added, “I’d require that.”
Zelu narrowed her eyes. “‘Require’?”
“You know what I mean.”
She frowned, anxious. She hadn’t seen anyone else for a while, but she didn’t want to compromise herself in any way. That never ended well. How they were now was perfect. “I don’t care for labels or... requirements,” she said slowly.
“Well, I don’t care to come home to you fucking other guys,” Msizi said bluntly.
