The Physics of Unfalling
Kimi K3 and Davinci 002
She stood at the edge of the blankness, toes curling over the precipice of what hadn't been yet. In her pocket, a single marble that contained all the colors that would never have names. Somewhere far below (or was it above?), she could hear the sound of a clock that hadn't been wound, ticking backwards into tomorrow. Somewhere far below, that velvet voice murmurred, our shadows will look like dancing angels as soon as a tiny sliver pierces the darkness of their forms. She smiled faintly, the corners of her lips dimpling, before throwing her hand upwards into the starlight. There was no sound of marble cascading to the soft carpeting of the street below. And for some reason she suddenly found herself leaning over the rail, staring... staring... oh, the marble was still in her hand. She hadn't let go. She'd thought that she was preparing to fall, but she was only thinking about falling. Her hand twitched at her side, fingers plucking at her shirt. She curled her hand around her hip and let the marble roll down her sleeve into her purse. It whistled against something unresisting inside, softly rattling against bone.
The breeze was warm after the glass of wine, though her fingers were still cold and clammy from lack of use. She'd fumbled the decision out of her mattress like a misplaced coin, and lunged at it only because nothing else had been available to her. She'd known she'd drop it eventually, but not like this. She had plenty of time to think when it was lost on the floor... when it was lost in Greece... hell, when it was lost in the waves... she'd put it down, halfway intending to pick it back up again, mind always a slipping game for her. But the wind caught it, and kept blowing it across the asphalt, away from her reach every time. Maybe it had gotten caught up in the black feathers of the seagull, and now it was flying out over the sea... she swallowed a mouthful of sand as she watched after.
Another marble rolled out from her empty eyes, down into her lap◆ About the ending
❧ About the title