Sonya laid in the hammock. It seemed to her that she could stay there forever, simply watching the wind sway the treetops. The evening before was something she wanted to forget, as well as the previous few weeks. Sonya remembered how she had argued with a friend, yelled something at the bartender, broken a glass, and cried from helplessness. Helplessness had flooded everything she once loved… Moving out of the country, a tennis ban due to an injury, failed attempts to work (diplomas weren’t recognized, foreign language), children wandering their own paths and thoughts. At first, she tried to prove something to everyone, then she just shared her feelings, and then she gave up and closed herself off in domestic concerns, replacing communication with internet surfing. Reality turned into a picture created by AI. And then, finally, she bumped into an old childhood friend by chance, but with the idea of taking a closer look, who happened to be in her city.
At first, it felt like there was nothing to talk about, then they recalled all their childhood outings and crushes, and then they were served a truth serum, continually topping it off even when they stopped ordering. Gradually, she wanted to say and hear EVERYTHING in return, to shatter that virtual world… And that’s how it happened. Reality returned with the flying shards of the broken glass and everything she had said to the bartender’s remark. Tears choked her, she wanted to stay in the moment, to cry everything out, but the taxi was already taking her away from the bar and her past life. Arriving at the new apartment, she was finally able to say, "Phew, well, I’m home." Her husband wasn’t asleep…
“You know, let’s set up the hammock in the yard, it’s time to settle in,” Sonya said to him. The hammock was waiting for her in the morning.
“Here is where I’ll start putting myself together again,” Sonya thought and did just that. The wind swayed the treetops and Sonya’s thoughts, weaving the past into the present, setting into motion what had been shattered. Everything is connected, everything will reveal itself, let go…