Sarah has spoken to them about the FMRI option before but none of them listened to her. She knew it could be a neurological issue but then the mass thing what could lead to that? Damien agreed to do it. He was happy too.
"You will be doing it?"
"Yeah. I promise you."
"That's great then. We have an FMRI machine at the main hospital. We can do the test there."
"Let's go for it tomorrow." He said.
"That will be very good," Sarah said. She stood and walked away.
" So Damien are you going to read to us? Saw some books with you."
"Oh! Yeah. We'll be reading to you. A long Poem by Keat subtitled Ode on melancholy." He started reading the poem and it seemed the walls will fall apart. His voice merges with words making them come out perfect.
"No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist
Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;
Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kissed
By nightshade, a ruby grape of Proserpine;
Make not your rosary of yew berries,
Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be
Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl
A partner in your sorrow's mysteries;
From shade to shade will come too drowsily,
And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.
But when the melancholy fit shall fall
Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud,
That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,
And hides the green hill in an April shroud;
Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,
Or on the rainbow of the salt sand wave,
Or on the wealth of globed peonies;
Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows,
Imprison her soft hand, and let her rave,
And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes.
She dwells with Beauty—Beauty that must die;
And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh,
Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips:
Ay, in the very temple of Delight
Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine,
Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue
Can burst Joy's grape against his palate fine;
His soul shalt taste the sadness of her might,
And be among her cloudy trophies hung."
"That's the poem." He said. " That's Keats for you."
Catherine and Sam applauded him. He smiled and raised his cup to them.
"To new friendship."
"To new friendship."
***
They couldn't do as planned. Damien was too cool to be changed. He's now a writer and he reads books. It was there they even knew we were no longer the Alpha of the pack. He left them because he thinks he needed to do greater things even though he doesn't know himself.
That night, Damien sat under the stars and read poems to them. It was Sarah that first joined him, then Catherine followed. The other humans followed too and Sam followed lastly. He was still skeptical of Damien's action. He could be pretending for a greater goal.
"If you forget me
“I want you to know
one thing.
You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.
Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.
If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.”
A dog has died
“My dog has died.
I buried him in the garden
next to a rusted old machine.
Some day I’ll join him right there,
but now he’s gone with his shaggy coat,
his bad manners and his cold nose,
and I, the materialist, who never believed
in any promised heaven in the sky
for any human being,
I believe in a heaven I’ll never enter.
Yes, I believe in a heaven for all dogdom
where my dog waits for my arrival
waving his fan-like tail in friendship.
Ai, I’ll not speak of sadness here on Earth,
of having lost a companion
who was never servile.”
Every day you play
“You are here. Oh, you do not run away.
You will answer me to the last cry.
Curl around me as though you were frightened.
Even so, a strange shadow once ran through your eyes.
Now, too, little one, you bring me honeysuckle,
and even your breasts smell of it.
While the sad wind goes slaughtering butterflies
I love you, and my happiness bites the plum of your mouth.
How you must have suffered getting accustomed to me,
my savage, solitary soul, my name that sends them all running.
So many times we have seen the morning star burn, kissing our eyes,
and over our heads, the gray light unwinds in turning fans.
My words rained over you, stroking you.
A long time I have loved the sunned mother-of-pearl of your body.
Until I even believe that you own the universe.
I will bring you happy flowers from the mountains, bluebells,
dark hazels, and rustic baskets of kisses.
I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees."
"That's the last poem I'll read tonight. It's nice meeting you all. It's nice sitting here and reading Pablo Neruda."
"Thank you," Sarah said. The other thanked him too and Catherine remembered when they use to sit out with Jenn and read poems. Now Jenn is gone too and this memory they are sharing with Damien is unique too but she felt it will be sweeter if he remembers who he was.
"See you tomorrow, Sarah. The FMRI thing, I mean." He smiled.
"Oh sure. We'll go tomorrow morning. We still have a car right?"
"I don't think so," Sam said. "Use the bike over there. Martha used to own it."
"Thank you, Sam." Said Damien. "Soz I'll sleep here tonight?"
"Yeah," Catherine said. "So that you can go and come back earlier tomorrow."
"Alright."
***
In the morning they took the bike and went to the hospital for the fMRI. Damien was happily riding a bike again for like the first time in months. The city looked quiet and even the hospital. They entered and found no one. Not even one patient was there but dead humans. Blood was everywhere but she knows where the FMRI is and she can operate it.
They walked in after she asked him to dress in the simplest of clothing to him. He sat under the machine and gently slide in.
"Focus, " she said. The light flickered and then became stable.
"Now think of whatever comes to your mind. Don't force them out. Just let the flowers in your subconscious."
She watched as the scan captures his brain and gradually read through it like it was a manual for work.
He was there about 2 minutes he was paid and Sarah said they are good to go.
The FMRI revealed nothing. It only shows his brain evolution is normal and not some sickness. Sarah became puzzled and she thought now they'll want to stab him to prove themselves right. Catherine is our best friend but Damien should move away from them and enjoy his life in peace. She thinks his present life is better than the previous one.
"Damien," she called from behind him. "Please when you get home with me, pack your things and leave. They want to do something to you and I don't like that."
"What's that?"
"You won't understand. Just make sure to leave. I love the way you read poems. You should read poems."
"You are right. I'll do just that. I'll not stay again Tonight."
***
"Boy, we are going now," Damien said as they entered the house.
"What?"
" I said we are going."
"Yiu should stay," Catherine said.
"No. We have a reading tomorrow. We need to practice. And it's a longer poem."
"Alright. We are glad to have you around."
"Thank you."
Damien went out with his boy and they walked back to where they came from.
***
The next day, he started reading poems again. Since he lost himself it's better to read poems. He sat outside. The other werewolves walked passed him ad he started reciting another of Neruda's.
"Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
Write, for example, ‘The night is shattered
and the blue stars shiver in the distance.’
The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.
Through nights like this one I held her in my arms
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.
She loved me sometimes, and I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.”
He found sad joy in poetry and he hopes to know himself.