XIX | Zoo

❦

I haven't visited the zoo since primary school.

It's stupid.
Singapore imports all the animals.

We buy tickets
and go inside.

Rowan's wearing a bucket hat,
a long black skirt.
She looks like an auntie
with that free National Day tote bag.

I don't know where
I'm supposed to look.

Yesterday

I told her about the kid
at the petrol kiosk

and his/her parents who vanished.

Me: I think the kid is from the golden city?
She: There are no children in eternity.

In her world,

eternity means an
ageless society.

'The kid told you to visit the zoo?'
she's asking this now

after we've wandered

aimlessly

for half an hour.

I stick my hands in my pockets.
'Not really.
'But the kid mentioned a lion.'

It doesn't make sense
but Rowan nods.

We walk in silence.

A tram rambles past.

I'm following Rowan
but I don't think
she knows where to go.

'Does she even exist in your world?'

Rowan looks at me.

'What?'

I think about
how to phrase this
nicely.

I give up.

'She died.
'No matter which "world" it is,
'isn't she gone?'

'She's not gone,'
Rowan says.

'Even you exist in my world.'

[Read the full story at novelconbini.com!]