I met Andrew when we both worked in Antartica, we'd gotten along well, everyone who goes to work in Antartica seems really easy to get to know like they've given up trying to pass for something else in the flesh. There everyone has ice gear and beards. Anyway as I was leaving Andrew mentioned something to me: "Hey man if you like this sort of stuff you should try a visit to Styx. I'm going there next month if you want to come alone." He spoke in such a casual way about it that it took me some time to process that he had indeed said 'Styx', the river you have to cross to reach Hell. I would have felt stupid if I asked "what are you talking about" so I just said "is it fun there?", "oh yeah, well, like Antartica, just stuff that happens that you don't get to see very often." I was intrigued and the work in Antartica was just finishing so I was in that mood that you get when you reach the end of an epoch wondering "Ok, now what?" so I said "I'd love to, man, can you take me?", "sure, man, well, first I'll have to find us a ride. I'll write you." Why wouldn't he email me or phone me, I wondered but didn't ask, just said "thank you." For the next month I sat in my apartment waiting for nothing, it was strange, being back in a city and it being Summer, sometimes I went for a walk in the older part of town, and noticed that sundresses were really in fashion, it seemed as if every girl in the world had decided to wear a sundress that Summer.
In the mornings I ate cereal, and each day I would cut up a different kind of fruit into my bowl. Monday: banana, tuesday: strawberry, wednesday: pear, thursday: peach, friday: apple, saturday: kiwi, Sunday: plain. I wanted to eat cereal just like it appears in the cereal boxes, with fruit and a glass of orange next to it. I always thought that was strange, are you supposed to drink the orange juice while drinking the milk? In the middle of the month I received a postcard from Andrew from Amsterdam, it said "hey man hope you're doing ok, I am, and I got us a ride, head to this exact location on the 4th at 00:00."
And below were some numbers which I took a while to realize they might me GPS coordinates. Below it said "PS: Make sure to go exactly here." "Exactly here" underlined twice. I checked on the internet to see where it was and it was nowhere, there was a nearby side road and it stopped short, 3 kilometers away, the map just shows some green squares, forest, some blue, a lake I guess. Nowhere in particular but I guess I could drive to that road and walk the rest, it didn't seem right so I took the postcard again and retyped the numbers slowly and carefully to make sure I wasn't doing a mistake. Andrew had written the numbers (even the minus sign) in clear round unambiguous numerals, again the same place appeared on the map. I couldn't confirm with Andrew because I didn't have any way to reach him, as he wished it probably, so I decided to trust him and go there on the date. I could always turn back if he wasn't there.
For the rest of the month I didn't do much. I decided to eat cereal for every meal for two weeks to see what would happen, I didn't mind it at all, but my bowel movements were awkward.
From the 1st to the 3rd I decided to eat at restaurants for all meals since I wasn't spending money on anything else. For years I've been around in this city and not once had I eaten in any of these restaurants. I wore summer clothes, some even thought I was a tourist.
On the date I didn't sleep, I didn't want to risk being late so I planned to be there one hour early, so I got in my car at 13:00 and drove, but by the time I was getting close it was still 14:30, so I sat at the coffee shop at a gas station, and watched people go by for two hours. It's funny because the people going there to buy stuff don't know how long you've been there and don't see you but the attendants are always looking from the corner of their eye, wondering what are you doing, waiting here so long? If I was a gas station attendant, what would I think all day?
I bought a packet of cigarrettes even though I don't smoke, I chose the one with the funniest picture. And I drove to the road. Bit by bit as I drew near there were less and less electricity poles, and then less fences and then I got to the place, my phone has a GPS apparently so I used that to know which way to go. I brought food in the car but it wasn't far away so I thought about leaving everything in the car and going, and if nothing happened, come back since it was close enough, and all you had to do was head straight, north. It was still 17:00 so I ate in the car, then I smoked three cigarrettes in a row, just like drinking water, no taste.
I thought about nothing for a long time then I got enough food for three meals in the backpack and put on my Antartica clothes and walked to the spot.
I started walking through the woods, I wasn't sure if I was on the right track but after a while I noticed that every couple of meters there were cross shapes cut into the trees on what seems to be the right way, so I kept following them, but always looking at the GPS coordinates on my phone. It got dark earlier than usual and the trees upwards started getting thicker but the marks sort of glistened faintly and they were easier to see in the dark. So I kept walking for I don't know how long. Eventually I reached an open area and the tree had two crosses instead of just one. I put down my backpack next to the tree and walked around seeing if there were other trees with marks on them but there weren't.
It was completely dark. Even if the area was a clearing the treetops were so dense that you couldn't see the stars, and there was no moon that night. I sat on my backpack aand took out the cigarrette pack, it was 22:00. I smoked the pack from beginning to end, waiting 10 seconds between each one, and I wondered what I was doing here in the middle of nowhere, that this was crazy, how was Andrew going to get here, maybe it was just a joke, and I was stupid enough to take it seriously, but as far as I recalled, even though he was a funny guy, he never joked around. I can't imagine he'd send me here without any purpose. I wondered if there were wolves around, then I though that would be ridiculous. I thought it would be nice to see the stars since there's no light at all around here but all you could see was faint shapes even with your eyes attuned to the darkness.
Suddenly there was noise of someone going through the branches, it was Andrw, he had on a bright white snow jacket, the one from Antartica, "hey man, how are you, you're early"
*soul truck soul truckers, take me when i die , soul bike
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