OFLUXO

Comme à l’habitude, lorsqu’elle ouvrit le sas, ses yeux se plissèrent, éblouis par l’incandescence du soleil. Malgré les jours et les années passants, elle peinait à s’acclimater à la lumière extérieure, un inconfort qu’elle accueillait comme une bénédiction.

Once a day, she would escape the bleakness of the city; its density, its suffocating porosity on her skin; its atrocious smell. For one hour only, she would emerge from the simulacrum, reconnecting her consciousness to her body. Une heure où les aiguilles ne font le tour du cadran que pour elle. Une heure où chaque cliquetis de sa montre ne lui appartient qu’à elle seule.

First, she would be blinded by the sunlight. Then, she would feel the warmth of the summer wind on her skin. Soon her ears would be buzzing at the continuous reverberation of the grasshoppers. If she felt like wandering around, she’d have to move carefully not to set foot on them. She would often look up to the sky, picturing which stars she’d get to see if her brief escapes were to happen at night––for she can only dream of all the constellations unknown. But it was daytime, and she felt dehydrated.

Par précaution, elle resterait près de sa nacelle, car elle ne sait ce qui adviendrait d’elle si elle dépassait, ne serait-ce que d’une seconde, le temps qui lui était alloué. Cependant, au fil de ces soixante minutes fugaces, elle se sentait vivre. During  short period, she would regain authority over her own body; she would appear to exist.

As the sixty minutes would come to an end, she would take a look at her closest neighbor a hundred meters away. She would see the petite silhouette slowly coming out of the pod. Their eyes would meet momentarily. As she would go back into her own cell, her mind would wander, imagining her neighbor’s smell. The sensations would be so vivid that she would almost feel the touch of their hand or their breath in the crook of her neck. These short encounters would give her hope. They’ll meet again tomorrow.