nathansnook

The Eternal Daughter

We fell asleep by the thirty minute mark because we drank too much and ate too little and I could hear his stomach grumble because my head was there, listening to his organs churn and process day to night, unrest to rest. At first I thought it was the windows clattering, the creaks in the stairs in the film, but it was him. I slapped a sleepy cheek of his awake because something was happening. This essence of a ghost in the film. A ghost. That is. That isn't. The haze, the film grain, something. It's nothing at all, he says. Only atmosphere. And he goes back to sleep. But I'm watching through one eye open. And I realize the climax of the film really is just Tilda Swinton singing Happy Birthday to herself. I begin to laugh. And then sob a little. And I repositioned my body, and of course, I faced my own reflection in the window. And quickly, I turned away, because I didn't want to see myself, then and there on a cold yesterday that feels ages old. What happens, happens. And then we are gone.

ؘ

The Eternal Daughter

I don’t know what’s going on here.