Noche Buena

BY ERIC KOPP

What’s normal? What can be considered normal? Certainly not your lips touching mine. But it still happened. For a moment, I felt light. Weightless, almost. The world began to drift away. The sound of the T.V. fading until it was us, alone, in that godforsaken hotel room.

Standing there, as two creatures seemingly devoid of reason, I saw for the first time what was meant to be. The warmth. The radiance. So close, yet seemingly miles away. That radiance faded, replaced by a sudden surge of life. Was this what the Fates prescribed, or was it one of their planned cruelties?

In between us was flickering images of what was to come. Destruction, Denial, and Betrayal. A man’s touch solidifying my body as Medusa had done so many eons ago. Another, sitting on his bed, fingers interlocking with mine as the T.V. set released the same monotonous sound. Me, standing alone as sand slides down my neck, preventing the utterance of a single sound.

You. As you evoked a proclamation of innocence, from the deeds that we had once taken part in.

As your hand went further and further down the arch of my back, snow drifting in the view, I realized that this was their cruelty. The kiss of Death. He had come to collect his prize. So sweet, so sound.

Eric B. Kopp (he/him/they) is a Latine, gay, junior at Hamilton College majoring in History, minors in Government and Music. His research ranges from queer identity in the United Kingdom and India, to expressions of historical nostalgia and memory. They served as Student Assembly President and Vice President in Fall '20. His work has appeared in The Hamilton Historical, The Spectator, Hamilton Magazine, Pascack Press, and Public Citizen News.