“I hope so.” Valeria sighed and sank into Wallace’ arms.
She was no longer a larger-than-life apparition with rich velvety gold-embroidered robes. She was just a thin young woman, shaking, with slender tattooed arms and a beautiful, if not perfect smile.
They were finally together.
~
Valeria calmed down quickly and looked thoughtfully at her hands, feeling the skin on her arms. She was once again a whole person, body and soul, and very much alive. She looked at Wallace for a long time.
Soon they were laughing playfully and shoving each other around. Valeria ran away, and Wallace chased her. When she let herself be caught, they embraced and they did not want to let go of each other. They were one. He listened to the sound of her breathing. She was with him.
“How long … how much time do we have?” he asked.
“That depends.”
“How long is that?”
“You have to accept, Wallace.”
“I am so tired of that. I want a world with you and me in it and not much else.”
“I know.”
“Don’t we have the right to love and be free?”
Valeria leaned herself into him. He stroked her long curled black hair, shiny and full. She nodded. The waves of the ocean crashed against the sands. Larry was gone, The Man, and what was left of the veil was a sheet of fine fabric, a see-through coat that lay immovable without vanishing. Wallace watched it. What was it, he wondered.
“Valeria?”
“Yes?”
“Why did the others fail?”
“Larry fooled them. He built this contraption …”
“And they were too terrified to not believe him.”
“They did not have as much love and insight as you do, Wallace. Not everyone does.”
She looked up at him. “Larry had been a witness to the veil once, and when he recovered from the initial shock, he was furious. He built an artificial one to dupe all the people worried about what went on with the children.”
“He wanted them to worship it,” she continued.
“I’m sure he was jealous. He couldn’t accept healthy boundaries of any kind.” Wallace added thoughtfully.
“He wanted to control everything and everyone.”
Wallace took her small hand, brought it to his mouth and kissed it.
“He was not able to control my love for you.”
“For the time being, we are safe.”
“What does that mean, Valeria?”
“We have one year, Wallace.”
“Where?”
“In Harold’s house.”
“Where?”
“In Harold’s house. You’ve inherited it.”
“I … understand.”
“And I, I am your wife.”
“Wow.”
“Things have changed. Come and see.”
He took her hand and they walked from the beach to the parking lot. There stood the black Honda.
THE END
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