THE UNFAITHFUL MAN

Once the flow coming out of my mother's mouth has dried up, she begins to discuss the choice of radio with my father.

I put my headphones back on my ears and shrug at my older brother who rolls his eyes. So I focus on my music and start a new album. I nod my head but get woken up by my phone vibrating on my thighs. The screen displays a new message from Enora. After the Bahamas, Tahiti and Hawaii, she is now leaving for Reunion Island. Some people are luckier than others. I hope she will think of bringing me a pineapple. Once my message wishing her to crash in the Indian Ocean is gone, I try to get some sleep but the sound of my rumbling stomach prevents me.

- I'm hungry," I say to the car.

- You already ate three hours ago," my mother complains.

- Nap time makes you hungry! Do we have any chocolate by any chance?

- I want some too, Mom," adds Louka.

- Okay, but only a square," replies my mother, who despite her many reproaches never refuses us anything.

I grab my square before Louka eats it and swallow it in a few seconds. A minute or two later I start to stress as I scratch my arms. I never scratch my arms. Not since we cut almonds out of my diet. Big red patches appear and I start to swell up around my ankles. Seriously? Did this really have to happen to me now? I try to tell someone, to speak, but as I expected, no sound comes out of my mouth. Taking a deep breath should help me. But the air doesn't reach my lungs. I try as well as I can not to succumb to the anguish but dizziness also makes their appearance and my concern turns into terror. I really can't hold my breath very long. A few seconds or more. Is my life really just a few seconds? I lean towards Louka, ignoring Logan who is between us because I know he wouldn't notice. In any case nobody reacts because Louna sleeps or at least tries to sleep. I approach slowly because my body hurts me more and more and I have only one desire it is to tear off me each square centimeters of my skin. I try to catch my breath, but nothing reaches my lungs. I begin to think that if no one notices me, I will soon leave this world. Then, strange as it may seem, a small sputtering sound comes from my mouth, followed by a bit of drool dripping down my chin.

- Logan, I'm trying to sleep," Louka says, mistaking me for the idiot who is our little brother.

He opens his eyes with the very probable aim of ordering Logan to be quiet or he abandons him somewhere but he sees my state and pests while shouting. My father brakes again and we are all, once again, thrown forward. A concert of horns is heard and several cars pass us, probably insulting us behind their windows. We start off again slowly and my mother turns around to ask us to be quiet. She sees my condition and yells again.

- Philippe! Stop immediately on the side of the road!

My father cuts all lanes when he sees my condition in the rearview mirror and a thunder of horns is heard again. As soon as I got to the edge, Louka ran out of the car and almost got hit. Cars avoid him but he gets a lot of insults. My mom takes a bottle of water from the trunk and opens my door. Louka takes me on one of his shoulders and puts me on the ground. I see the water bottle open and spill on me. I can't do anything. The water freezes me in place. The patches on my body start to disappear though, but my body has to eject the stored almond and I lean to the side to vomit after taking a sip of water. After that, my mother hands me a bottle of water which I grab before getting up with Louka's help. My father wraps me in a towel he took from the trunk along with some spare clothes.

- We'll stop at the next highway rest stop so you can change, he explains.

I swallow some water that I spit out to rinse my mouth and I get back in the car. I settle against the window and Logan finally realizes what is happening around him.

- Why did we stop? This is not the way to get to the cousins' house," he sighs. And why are you all wet, Aline? Don't touch my PSP.

- Aline has an allergy to almonds, my mother answers in order to make him shut up.

- And she can't watch what she eats?

Louka glares at him and Logan rolls his eyes.

- All right, I'll shut up.

- I'm so sorry, honey," my mom apologizes with tears in her eyes. I'm always very careful about what I buy, but your brother insisted on buying this booklet at the rest stop where we stopped three hours ago.

- No problem, I'm safe.

I close my eyes to hide the tears that threaten to show their nose and lean my head against the window, taking a breath of air. The fear that seized me a few moments ago is gone but the feeling of lack of air remains and makes me anxious. Once on the area, my father fills up the tank while my mother buys some cakes -without almonds- and I go to change in the toilets. Back in the car, I open a package of cookies and check my phone. I chat with Amy for a bit before she ditches me for Joshua, her new boyfriend. I go back to sleep again with the music in my ears. When I wake up, I'm not far from my cousins' house. I look at the scenery and everything around the car is admittedly a bit of a wonder. I have been coming here since I was a child, and yet I am always amazed at how green and fat the grass is, how high the trees are, and how gray the sky is, just like in Paris. Once I take off my helmet, I hear the local radio announcing an orange alert for heavy rain. I sometimes envy my cousins for living in this big house on the edge of the cliff, but when they tell us all what they have to do to get to the smallest town 30 minutes away by car, I tell myself that my life is not so bad. Anyway, they tend to never forget the bread.

- Mom? Can I wake up Louka, I ask mischievously.

- When we get there, let him sleep. But you can take Logan's console if you want," she said hopefully.

- No thanks, the last time I went on a mission like this I ended up with a terrible headache and a sore hand, I justified myself.

- It is beautiful to dream, sighs my mother without much conviction.

Not being able to have a little fun annoying my brothers, I refocus on myself and the memories I have of this place, the laughs with my cousins and the good times. At least with this, time passes faster. The house finally stands in front of me and once stopped my parents get out to start emptying the car. I decide to wake up my brother who took a good hour to find sleep:

- Louka? Louka? Wake up," I whisper in my most soothing voice.

He opens his eyes and looks at me strangely, then comes to his senses.

- We're here," he asks, leaning against the window.

- No, there are still two hours to go, I say, keeping my face as neutral as possible.

- But then why do you wake me up, you are boring Aline. Mom, he adds to complain.

He looks at me with a killer look when he doesn't get an answer and then turns his head towards the window to go back to sleep. A few seconds later, he opens his eyes again and exclaims:

- But we're here!

- Of course you did, you idiot, otherwise mom wouldn't have let me wake you up," I explain.

I don't wait for him to reply and get out of the car. I take my two suitcases which wait quietly beside the car and I go towards the door of the house when a huge dog jumps on me.

- Lightning! Let Aline breathe! She has just arrived," exclaims my uncle to their dog, who is doing what he wants.

- Hi there! How are you doing, handsome? Did you miss me? Yes, yes, I'm here, don't worry! Why don't you go and see someone else to welcome him, right? How about Louka for example?

I love animals and it's mutual. I've always wanted a pet, preferably a dog. Unfortunately, a dog in a Parisian apartment would be unhappy, as my mother often tells me. So I gave up the idea. I may be in adoration of animals but I only want them to be happy. So I took Lightning by the collar and put him in front of Louka's door. He opens his door -still on the gas-, gets out and sees Lightning. He steps back but can only lean on the car. I let go of Éclair who rushes over to welcome him.

- Aline, Louka yells with fear.

- It's me, I'm glad you know my name. Well, I'm going.

I go towards the house and say hello to my uncle who has followed the whole scene with his eyes.

- How is my favorite niece, he asks.

- Your favorite niece? It's so easy to say that when you only have one," I exclaim, pretending to be offended. But I appreciate the attention. Look, I'm fine, how about you? How are you doing?

- Fine, and I'm kidding of course, just because I only have you doesn't mean I can't like you better.

- I'm not sure I understand," I said, bursting out laughing.

He laughs with me before calming down:

- I think you should toughen up our little Louka. Lightning isn't a bad animal though. I don't know what he sees in him.

- I've tried, but he's still very fearful when it comes to dogs. And be careful, I can't tell his friends about this or he'll be teased," I exclaimed, imitating my big brother's voice as best I could. I put my stuff in the hall and went to help him.

I enter the house, which is silent, and come out to help the incompetent brother. He is still against the door and Lightning rubs against his legs, as if he wanted a hug.

- Oh, you're so cute, Lightning, come see Auntie Aline," I say.

- Take that dog away from me right now. He's going to hurt me," Louka yells at me.

- What am I doing, you idiot? Lightning wouldn't hurt a fly anyway. He never hurt anyone.

- You never know! Hey, wait, are you calling me stupid?

I laugh and grab my dog by the collar. Louka gets out of the car and goes into the house. I follow him and when I come back, I find my aunt. She is younger than my mother, but the fatigue accumulates on her face and under her eyes. She is dressed in a white apron stained with tomato sauce that is tied around her neck and she wipes her hands on a cloth.

- Aline, how are you my beautiful, she asks me.

- Everything is fine and you?

- Fine, don't worry about me. You can't imagine how much Lucie is looking forward to seeing you. She's been talking about you for days.

As if to prove her point, I hear Lucie yell my name and run down the stairs. Going too fast, she'll fall down one of these days.

- Aline," Lucie shouts.

I have just the time to open my arms, that she jumps on me. She gives me a big hug and finally gets off my arms a few moments later. She walks over to Louka, hugs him and says hello to my parents. She only shakes hands with Logan, who doesn't care.

- Max! Why did you change the wifi code, he yells.

- Logan! You're finally here! I was waiting for you to play my new war game on PC, you'll love it! Come upstairs," replies Maxime.

I see mom and aunt Agnes making a six feet long face. They must be sick of them spending their time on video games.

- Jordan! Jordan! Get down here! There's Aline and Louka," Lucie shouts through the house.

- Come on up, guys, I'm too lazy to come down," our cousin says from the second floor.

I giggle, take my things and climb the stairs. Louka grabs his suitcase and the bag containing the sheets before climbing up after me. Once arrived there, I find Jordan and after having said hello we come very quickly to the discussion of the beds.

- Well, the two small ones are in the room of Max, Louka sleeps with me in my room and you take the guest room Aline, says my cousin.

- Oh no! Not this time," I cried, recoiling at the thought of sleeping alone in this room.

- What?

- There's no way I'm sleeping alone in the guest room.

- Why?

- Why?! Because the floor creaks at night, the wind whistles through the trees and the shutters rattle. It's like being in a horror movie! And it's too dark," I added in a low voice.

- You're afraid of the dark," Jordan bursts out laughing, and he's the only one. No, but you're a big girl, Aline, you can't be afraid of the dark.

- It's not a joke, man," my brother sighs, putting a hand on our cousin's shoulder. She wakes me up in the middle of the night to sleep with me.

- I thought that was over when I grew up," he said to himself as he stopped laughing.

- Well, no," I replied curtly, offended that he was making fun of me about it.

- In any case, welcome to Brittany, he said.

- I'm from Paris and I hate the weather here.

- Otherwise we take the mattress from the sofa bed and put it in my room and your parents sleep in the guest room.

- So you move the mattress by yourself, I say to my cousin, crossing my arms, impervious to any remark he might make.

He looks at me with a desperate look but I hold on and he must understand that he hurt me so with Louka they take care of the mattress. I go back to the room to set up my things and call Jordan once I'm a little calmer.

- Where do I put my clothes?

- Third and fourth drawer of the dresser.

- It'll never fit.

- You didn't come here for a fashion show, it's going to fit without a problem.

- Let me do it Aline, says Louka. So, cousin, you should know that a girl's suitcase is made up of 80% just in case, and she needs at least one whole wardrobe for the remaining 20%.

- Damn! Just take the four drawers and leave one for your brother and then you have the empty spots in my closet, Jordan says.

- Okay, thanks a lot, I'll leave my shoes in their bag," I replied.

While I put my things away, the boys finished setting up my bed and Louka put his suitcase away. All that finished, we go to get Logan and Max in front of the computer and let's go play pool in the living room. The two opposite teams are Louka, Logan and Max against Jordan and myself here. It is necessary to know that I am totally null in the billiards or everything that is sport of precision. But the result is in, we won!

- Yeah! We beat you! You all suck! Nanani nanere, I sing at the top of my lungs.

- Ah but you're a kid in fact, shouts Max to which I answer by sticking out my tongue.

- But it's because of Logan," says Louka.

- Yeah right, you really think I won because of Aline," laughs Jordan.

- We won, and fuck you Jordan," I said, patting him on the arm.

- I love you too, Aline," smiles Jordan, whose laughter is threatening to escape.

- Kids, let's eat," shouts our mother from the dining room.

Once we are all settled in our assigned seats, Agnes tells us about the meal she has prepared for us.

- So I made a veal sauté, and I thought of you Aline, you have an eggplant gratin, and without almonds," my aunt explains.

- Thank you auntie, it's very nice of you to have thought of me, I tell her.

- You're welcome, my dear.

- By the way, Agnes, you don't know that Aline had an allergic attack on the road, my mother asks, eager to tell the story.

- Oh no, tell me about it," said my aunt.

My mother tells her the story with the help of Louka who corrects the little mistakes my mother makes. At the end of the meal, we go up to Jordan's room and watch a movie. I managed to get them to promise not to put on a horror movie. Oddly enough, I feel like they were just messing with me.

During the scary scenes, I hear the boys laughing and promise myself to make them pay. I watch the movie anyway, covering my eyes from time to time. Well, almost the whole movie. That's not bad considering I can't stand horror movies. As a proof, during a date, I left the theater at the beginning of the movie because I couldn't stand the horror images. So I waited for an hour and a half for the guy I was on a date with to come out. According to him, the tickets are expensive and already that I had made him lose 10 euros he could not lose more. I might as well tell you that there was no second meeting and that since then I avoid him in the corridors of the school. Finally, after this moment of apocalypse, we both lie down on our mattress and talk, until I fall asleep first.

In the morning, my alarm goes off and I hear Jordan and Louka grumbling.

- What's with the crappy music, Jordan asks me, grunting and rubbing his eyes.

- My alarm clock, I'm going for a run, go back to bed, I reply.

- You don't have to ask me, says Louka.

I let them sleep, took my clothes and left the room. I put on my jogging suit and T-shirt in the bathroom, put my hair in a ponytail, plugged in my phone for music and left the house. I see Lightning hanging with his leash in the kitchen. He makes eyes at me and I decide not to leave him there.

- Well, come with me," I tell him.

I take his leash, hold it in my hand and start running. He follows my rhythm, and seems really happy. That's all I need, and a big smile comes over my face. Lightning is really perfect, he barks when a car comes by and brings me to the edge to avoid being run over.

As I turn a corner, I see a car, speeding, going straight into the ditch. I take my courage in both hands and head towards the accident accompanied by Éclair. I see a man who has been thrown out of his car. He is on his back, and seems unconscious.

- Sir, sir. If you can hear me, move a finger, an eye, a body part," I say in my most reassuring and confident voice.

I use the first aid course I took last summer. I put him in the Lateral Safety Position and look for other people. I discover a woman screaming. Shit! What do you do when the person is conscious?

- Ma'am, ma'am, are you okay? I ask to show her that I'm there.

- My baby, my baby, my baby, my baby," she screams, crying.

- Calm down, I'm going to call for help.

I quickly look at the car and see who she is talking about, a bloody baby in the back seat. I grab my phone and dial the number I had trouble remembering.

- Hello, you've reached the emergency service," says a female voice.

- Please, come and help me! I don't know what to do, they're all going to die, I yelled, losing my temper.

- Calm down madam, what's going on? Tell me about it.

- I was jogging, when a car passed me at full speed and ended up in the ditch. I went to look and saw a man ejected. I took a first aid course and put him in a decubitus position because he was unconscious.

- That's very good. Where are you?

- And then I saw a lady who was conscious and I don't know what to do. She's been screaming "my baby, my baby, my baby" for a while now, and there's a bleeding baby in the back seat. Please, come and help me.

- Where are you ma'am?

- In Brittany, I would say 15 kilometers from Roscoff in the direction of Falaise-Nord.

- Well, I am sending a team that will arrive soon. Stay by the car but don't touch anything. I will keep in touch with you.

- Thank you.

After this call, I see that the woman has calmed down and she stares at me.

- You! Save my baby, save him, he's going to die, she yells at me.

- Calm down, he's fine, help is coming.

- Help is not going to be able to do anything if he's dead!

- He's okay, he's not going to die.

I say this without really knowing if he will survive. He seems to be in bad shape and I'm afraid he won't make it. The paramedics don't take long and I hang up with the lady from the paramedics. They want to take me away but I refuse, giving the excuse that my parents will be worried. But I am afraid. Afraid to be alone with the woman who risks losing her child. Fear of being alone with the unconscious husband.

I leave my phone number and run home as fast as I can. My face is white and I feel like throwing up and even Éclair seems to understand that what we have just experienced is serious. I run through the back of the house to the breakfast table in the backyard. Everyone laughs, but when they see my face they shut up.

- Are you all right, Aline?" my uncle asks worriedly, saying out loud the question that everyone is asking inwardly.

I shake my head and tell the story. The adults are shocked, but seem proud of me. I ask to change the subject, and my uncle offers to show him my progress in boxing. I discovered this sport thanks to him, and he constantly wants to see my progress. We went to a match and I loved it. I took a class and I immediately got hooked on the sport. Now he loves to see me box, and he watches all my moves.

- What have you learned since this summer, my uncle asks me.

- Defending myself against two opponents," I replied.

- Well, why not against Jordan and Louka? They have the same build.

They seem to understand the idea in my head because they both shake their heads negatively. Too bad for them that I'm not giving them a choice.

- Can I wear a helmet?" asked Louka.

- Why," my uncle told him.

- I don't want to ruin my beautiful face.

- What a beautiful face, I said, laughing at him.

- I see we have no choice," Jordan added.

- That's right," I said with a smile, trying to forget the last hour.

They resign themselves and settle in front and behind me. Perfect. They both throw a fist at the same time. I bend down, and lie down on the floor. Louka grabs my ankles with all his might and threatens to crush them. Images of the car crashing into the ditch come to mind. Jordan does the same with my wrists. The woman's screams echo in my ears. I squirm, trying to free myself. The blood staining the baby's body and her incessant crying never leave me.

- Focus on the fight, my uncle orders me, echoing my thoughts.

The fight. I have to knock them down.

- Well, my old lady, there is progress to be made, my cousin laughed.

- Don't talk too fast," my uncle replied.

But it was too late. Jordan released the pressure on my wrists and I turned around and kicked Louka in the stomach and he fell to the ground. I put a fist in Jordan's belly and move on Louka who got up, I go to put a blow to his head when I feel Jordan's presence in my back and give him an elbow in the jaw. He moves back and I hit my fist as quickly as possible on Louka's temple so that he falls to the ground. I put a foot on his chest, and put my hands on Jordan's neck who is still prostrate on the ground.

- End of the game, I announce with a pinch of euphoria.

- Bravo Aline! You can let them go now," says my uncle.

I let them go and immediately lay down on the floor. I was right, because they are banging against each other trying to get me. They give up after this failure.

- You don't go halfway with your moves," Jordan complains.

- I don't like horror movies," I replied.

- You've improved a lot since last time," my brother said.

- You would have seen it if you had come to my competitions," I replied, getting very angry.

- You know I was busy!

- Busy yes, with girls.

- Let's calm down, guys," Jordan said, trying to avoid the argument that was inevitable.