In the wet sand, two lonely sets of footprints made their way along the shoreline. After a long uncomfortable silence, Mike sighed loudy. Deliberately to get a respose from me. I pretended not to hear him, turning my head heavenward.
The sky was black. No sign of stars or a moon.
"You wanna go first?" Mike finally said.
I stopped and put a hand on his shoulder. He wasn't gonna like what I had to say, but I still needed his full attention. Mike turned to face me, his face an expressionless mask.
I asked him if he remembered the night of the traffic roadblock.
"That night I got a 300 ringgit saman for my number plate?" he laughed. "What about it?"
I didn't answer. Waves crashed against the beach.
"That's when it started?" there was rising panic in his voice.
I nodded.
The words were heavy in my throat, but I told Mike the truth. That he didn't actually exist.
His face went pale. His lower lip trembled.
"No..." That was all he could muster. The way his eyes widened, I could tell there were a thousand other things racing through his mind. But unfortunatley for Michael Stone, that was it.
In the sand, only one set of footprints left the spot where we were standing.
