Enthusiasm,
You create wonderful, unique worlds that one can somehow feel, but not bear to immerse oneself in. This particular world is angular and futuristic; somehow every description has taken on parallel and perpendicular juxtapositions for me. Man, I hope I don't drop my coffee in the solarium.
But I'm getting ahead of myself...
...And I'm also out of coffee. Dammit. Well, here we go anyway.
At first blush, we are presented in incredible sci-fi world, much like The Matrix. However, I have to wonder if this is sci-fi or sci-emo. This scene could be virtually internal, as well. We have some clues that it is external: "neural lace," "terabytes of trauma data." But in one interpretive sense, I also see this as a person lost in the world of cyberspace, all but integrated into the world of scrolling, inundated by bad news, traumatized by negative messaging and targeted hatred, and attuned to Evelyn. In this context—which is the one that fits this reader best—Evelyn has passed away in an untimely and/or violent manner, perhaps even as a suicide.
The speaker is once again in stasis (static) unable to move forward past the memories of Evelyn. His consciousness wants to move forward as he plays the dissonant notes of grieving; but his subconscious is not ready. The grief he tries to feel is not adequate to lift the numb apathy of shock.
Your use of biblical references is fascinating, as always.
Leviathan: You describe the main character's surroundings, his city, his shocked mental environment as "Leviathan," which is the powerful negative creature referenced in the Christian Bible.
Caelum: Caelum, which represents the heavens in biblical references, interprets the same in this story: heaven, open air, freedom, freshness, escape. Aris longs for this escape from self-purgatory, but is unable to accept it, trapped by his leviathan of guilt. But his memories of the enjoyment under the stars, presumably with Evelyn, are sharp and cutting within him.
Evelyn: The character of Evelyn is carved in negative space, which you so expertly achieve in many of your works. Her name is suspiciously close to "Eve." Leviathan and Caelum were created in the beginning; so was Eve. Biblically speaking, Eve was succumbed to temptation and began the cycle of sorrow on Earth. Perhaps this points to an act on Evelyn's part—suicide, perhaps, or even having succumbed to the temptation of addiction leading to overdose—which has begun this seemingly unbreakable cycle of sorrow for Aris.
Once again, you refer to memories in a very negative tone. Eve admonishes Aris to let her memory rot. This seems to imply that memories of her are a trap, part of the guilt-sorrow-penance cycle Aris seems trapped in. When a memory rots, we hurt, we feel pain, we grieve. Aris is unable or even unwilling to grieve at this point. His isolation in this state is nicely painted in the beginning as "bespoke vacancy."
His visions of Evelyn are disjointed, but marred. She is beautiful except for slightly misapplied makeup—her perfected memory damaged by something. The tube of lipstick represents her elegance as well as her fall. The smudge of it left behind resembling blood reinforces my theory that she died violently or suddenly. (Perhaps there was something in her passing that was related to her mouth? Drink? Pills?)
The dissonant notes on the piano remind me of groans and moans of a person in shock as they try to scream...but can't. Although, this could also represent a small step forward. He has made a decision to scream that next scream rather than remaining in the protective cocoon of shock. The jagged note on the piano makes the image of Evelyn go away, though remnants of that memory remain in the smudge of the lipstick. Perhaps Aris is slowly—painfully and slowly—emerging from shock and guilt.
I may have gotten this all wrong this time, but the story strikes me again as one of self-isolation, guilt, sorrow, and the turbulent, turgid journey to become free and whole again.
Mechanically, I have to note that the change in fonts tripped me up. Since it only changed once in the story, there was no context as to why it changed. Probably indicating a change in thought process and then settling back into the familiar pattern. Well, maybe. I guess one notch in the armor of this piece ain't so bad, right?
This story is sprinkled with your usual double-layers and analogous contexts. It is a stunning piece of work that I am happy to come back to again and again.
Fantastic work, my friend.
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