[NetBehaviour] The Valentines Card

[marc.garrett]

The Valentines Card

[Valentines day_web 2024.png]

It was Valentine’s Day, and I was fifteen. I had a thing for Lucy North, a girl my age at school. We got along well, sharing meaningful conversations, and I found myself craving a connection—someone who truly understood me. In hindsight, I wasn’t even sure who I was, so expecting her to know was probably naive. But we enjoyed each other’s company, and our shared taste in music, particularly the edgy, non-mainstream sounds of Tubeway Army and early Ultravox with John Foxx, brought us closer.

We also bonded over dystopian literature, swapping books like prized possessions. Lucy once lent me Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock, a mind-bending novel about a man who travels back in time only to realise he is destined to become Jesus and be crucified. The story shook me. Moorcock’s work heavily influenced Hawkwind’s music, though I found both too hippy. Still, Behold the Man was an unforgettable read.

Since Lucy and I had grown close, I thought making her a Valentine’s card would be a fun, personal gesture. We were fascinated by humans' evolution into cyborgs—half-machine, half-flesh. So, the night before Valentine’s Day, I poured my artistic energy into creating something unique. The card was an intense labour of love, maybe too intense. It featured a self-portrait of me as a robotic being, pulling my heart from my chest, its raw, bleeding mass held out to her as an offering.
I found Lucy in the hallway before lessons the following day at school. My heart pounded as I handed her the envelope. She smiled politely, slid the card out, and examined it with her friends. For a moment, they were all silent. Then, Lucy wrinkled her nose and said it was creepy, that I was sick in the head. Without hesitation, she tossed it into the bin.

A section from the book Feral Class by Marc Garrett. To be published by Minor Compositions in 2025.
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