Chapter 76
Karl chillaxing in the front seat of the campervan, hands folded in front of him, staring out at the long, deserted road. Valencia cruising like a boss, one hand on the wheel, the other playing with her flowing hair. The faint scent of coffee still lingering in the air, mixed with the smell of fuel.
"I don’t want my campervan to smell like sperm," Valencia suddenly blurts out, breaking the silence. "That’s why you’re sitting up front, far away from my bed."
Karl side-eyes her, feeling slightly offended but choosing not to make a big deal out of it. He goes back to gazing at the road, his mind drifting to all the shady stuff he’s done. All the crimes that felt so easy back then, now weighing heavy on his mind.
"Do you think I’m too evil?" Karl asks out of the blue, his voice unsure. "Sometimes I’m not even sure who I am. All the things I’ve done... like I don’t have morals anymore."
Valencia chuckles softly, her eyes still focused on the road. "You’re overthinking the unimportant stuff. Humans always enjoy torturing themselves with the concept of morals. As if the world is black and white."
Karl turns to look at Valencia, intrigued. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, no one is entirely evil, and no one is entirely good," Valencia replies, her voice flat but full of certainty. "Humans are gray. You can do good to those you deem worthy, and do evil to those you think deserve it. That’s it. Simple, right?"
Karl falls silent, digesting Valencia’s words. Slowly, the shadows of his past start creeping into his mind. The face of Julia, the woman he used roughly, appears in his thoughts. Julia was a kind woman, full of love and not judgmental. Karl destroyed her life by nailing her, and now their banging tape is all over the internet.
Then there’s Elena. Equally kind, a woman trying to fill her emptiness by creating poetry. But Karl dragged her into a whirlpool of lust and manipulation, robbing her of the happiness that should have been hers and her family’s.