They say the ones who seek constant crowds are but nothing alone. Their souls lie in the masses, existing only as a part of something bigger. An organism of its own, born from an unspecified quantity that despite broken down by just its elements are powerless, it amounts to power greater than an individual in weight, volume, and voice.
他们说，那些寻求持续人群的人只不过是孤单。 他们的灵魂存在于大众中，只是作为更大事物的一部分存在。 一个自己的有机体，由一个未指定的数量诞生，尽管仅由其元素分解是无力的，但它在重量、体积和声音上都大于个人的力量。
Marcus bent over to tie the laces of his shoe. He stood up before the front door of his apartment and stared into it as if it were a portal into another world. A world that was loud, chaotic and unpredictable. He routinely patted his pockets making sure he had his phone, wallet and … but thoughts rushed his mind, distracting him as they do.
Marcus弯下腰系鞋带。 他站在公寓的前门前，盯着它，仿佛它是通往另一个世界的门户。 一个嘈杂、混乱和不可预测的世界。 他经常拍拍口袋，确保他有手机、钱包和……但思绪涌上心头，分散了他的注意力。
So big and loud this mass of nothingness. Big and fearsome like a monster in a child’s dream. Preying upon him, fueling nightmares and fears that would grow up alongside him, in a generation plagued with social anxiety and a lifestyle of commercial convenience which would enable this fear to newer and higher limits.
如此巨大和响亮的虚无。 又大又可怕，就像孩子梦中的怪物。 掠夺他，助长噩梦和恐惧，这些噩梦和恐惧将与他一起成长，在被社交焦虑和商业便利生活方式困扰的一代人中，这将使这种恐惧变得更新、更高。
He put his hand on the door handle and listened for one last time in comfort to the noises from the other side being muffled behind the walls of drywall and brick. Birds singing, children laughing, cars honking in chorus with the cacophony of traffic.
他把手放在门把手上，最后一次安慰地听着另一边在干墙和砖墙后面被闷响的声音。 鳥兒在歌唱，孩子們在笑，汽車在不和諧的交通中合唱地按喇叭。
But then what of I… The one who seeks constant solitude. He who has infinite battery life safely stowed away in the prison of his own design. However, not a watt to charge the amount it would take for a flick of the wrist to gesture a ‘hello’ at a neighbor when he takes out the trash.
但是那我呢…… 寻求持续孤独的人。 拥有无限电池寿命的人被安全地存放在自己设计的监狱里。 然而，当邻居倒垃圾时，轻轻一弹手腕就能向邻居示意“你好”所需的收费不到一瓦特。
But then what of I… where is my power?
但是那我呢……我的力量在哪里？
Marcus opened the door and walked out, closing the door leading into his haven behind him as his body tensed when exposed to the reality of being outside. He froze for a moment. After a moment of adjusting his breathing to the oxygenless crowded world, he pulled the hood of his hoodie up and over his head.
Marcus打开门走了出去，关上了通往他身后避风港的门，当他暴露在外面的现实中时，他的身体紧张起来。 他愣了一会儿。 在适应没有氧气的拥挤世界的呼吸片刻后，他把连帽衫的兜帽拉起来盖在头上。
He walked down the stairs of his apartment complex and saw his first big hurdle, a group of children playing all sorts of games. Some kicked a ball, while a few rode around in circles on bicycles, and the remainder chased each other around playing soldier with toy guns.
他走下公寓楼的楼梯，看到他的第一个大跨栏，一群孩子在玩各种各样的游戏。 有些人踢了一个球，而有些人骑着自行车转圈，剩下的人互相追逐，玩玩玩具枪的士兵。
As he descended the steps he walked astray from the guided path, intending to avoid the young crowd and their stabbing glares. However Marcus’ attempts were for not, as the children could smell the fear that wafted off of him. They looked over to the man in his middle twenties concealing himself in a hoodie on a hot summer’s day.
当他走下台阶时，他误入歧途，打算避开年轻人群和他们刺眼的目光。 然而，Marcus的尝试是徒劳的，因为孩子们能闻到从他身上散发出的恐惧。 在炎熱的夏天，他們看著那個二十多歲的男人，他穿著連帽衫把自己藏起來。
A child did not scare Marcus. But more than one times two was not a child, but a nightmare.
一个孩子没有吓到Marcus。 但不止一次两次不是孩子，而是噩梦。
Marcus walked faster, anxiety having set in. His eyes darted to the ground as he momentarily met with those of the genial groundskeeper pushing his wheelbarrow of gardening tools in his cursed direction. He passed him, pretending to have not seen him but he felt the old man’s overly friendly eyes on him as he walked by.
Marcus走得更快了，焦虑开始了。 他的目光飞向地面，他瞬间与那个友好的园丁看守人的目光相遇，他推着他的手推车的园艺工具朝着他被诅咒的方向前进。 他从他身边经过，假装没见过他，但当他走过时，他感觉到老人过于友好的目光看着他。
He then heard someone call his name from across the way. After processing it he recognised it as his neighbour from across the hall, Sandy. She was a talker. And he would gladly agree to a text message conversation or even a chat on the phone with her while he was back in his apartment… but not out here in the open where it, the monster lurks…
然后他听到有人从马路对面叫他的名字。 处理完后，他认出它是大厅对面的邻居Sandy。 她是个健谈的人。 当他回到公寓时，他很乐意同意发短信聊天，甚至和她通电话聊天……但不是在怪物潜伏的露天……
He had just one quest to seize, the whole reason why he chose to leave the sanctuary of his cozy flat on this Sunday afternoon. To pick up a package the delivery man left in his mailbox in the management office.
他只有一个任务要抓住，这就是他选择在这个周日下午离开他舒适公寓的避难所的全部原因。 取包裹，送貨員留在管理辦公室的邮箱里。
Marcus hauled to the office and in a flash, using his quickly diminishing battery life, he walked inside and approached his mailbox. He reached in his pocket for his keys when…
Marcus拖到办公室，在一瞬间，利用他快速缩短的电池寿命，走进去，走近他的邮箱。 他把手伸进口袋里拿钥匙，当……
Where were his keys…? His hands kept feeling around an empty space, but kept searching… in denial that what he was looking for, what he desperately wanted to believe was there, and at the crux of the matter, what he needed there to be to breathe.
他的钥匙在哪里……？ 他的手一直在空旷的空间周围摸着，但一直在寻找……否认他正在寻找的东西，他迫切想相信的东西就在那里，在事情的关键是，他需要呼吸的东西。
Marcus sat on his rear, while his arms hugged his knees on the floor below the lockers. He was locked out of his mailbox… but more importantly… he was locked out of his apartment. His mind raced for a solution to his problem. But with each second devoted to resolution, he lost a minute of battery life. This was the end. Although a metaphorical lightbulb went off in Marcus’ anxiety induced mind ( however wasting even more energy in doing so…)
Marcus坐在他身后，双臂搂着储物柜下面的地板上的膝盖。 他被锁在邮箱外面……但更重要的是……他被锁在公寓外面。 他的头脑争相寻找解决他的问题。 但每一秒都用于解决，他失去了一分钟的电池寿命。 这就是结局。 尽管在Marcus的焦虑诱导的头脑中，一个隐喻的灯泡熄滅了（然而，这样做会浪费更多的精力……）
‘Alex’, he thought.
“亚历克斯”，他想。
He had left a spare key with one of his closest friends, who he hadn’t seen in a while. His name felt blurry to him as well… But he had a one track mind and couldn’t focus on anything else but his goal, fueled by the desire for survival.
他把一把备用钥匙留在他最亲密的朋友身上，他有一段时间没见过他了。 他的名字对他来来也感觉模糊不清…… 但他有一个单轨的头脑，除了他的目标，无法专注于其他任何事情，这被生存的欲望所驱使。
Marcus stood up from his defeated slouch and looked towards the street facing the management office, and all the cars and people and quantity which roamed and owned the streets.
马库斯从被打败的懒洋洋地站起来，看着面对管理办公室的街道，以及所有漫游和拥有街道的汽车、人和数量。
“I’m going to have to face the monster…”.
“我必须面对怪物……”。
Marcus waited for the bus tapping his shoes on the ground, impatiently depending on the late bus backed up by traffic to arrive. He would have driven… but no keys equals no car. He stood as far away from the group of people who sat in the shade, even though he stood in the beating hot sun. At least he stood alone.
Marcus等待着他的鞋子拍在地上的公交车，不耐烦地等待着被交通堵塞的晚点的公交车到达。 他本可以开车的……但没有钥匙就等于没有车。 他站在离坐在阴凉处的人群很远的地方，尽管他站在烈日下。 至少他独自站着。
The bus finally rolled up and as it screeched to a halt and the doors aggressively flung open he saw people as they spilled out, packed so close together they could make one giant bus-sized human meatball.
公共汽车终于卷起来了，当它尖叫着停下来，车门猛地打开时，他看到人们溢出来，挤得很近，他们可以做成一个巨大的公共汽车大小的人肉丸。
Marcus stepped back in horror and he ran away in fright.
Marcus惊恐地后退了一步，他吓跑了。
Just as he thought he had escaped the presence of that terrifying sight the sky grew dark and it began to rain, the streets became tighter and heavier with congested traffic, the whole city conglomerating into one giant mass. It was there… the monster that grew from the deepest darkest depths of Marcus’ fears. And it kept growing bigger and stronger and flooded down the streets until it absorbed everything and everything was all one and the same.
就在他以为自己已经逃离了那可怕的景象时，天空变得黑暗，开始下雨，街道变得更拥挤，交通拥堵，整个城市聚集成一个巨大的团块。 就在那里……从Marcus最黑暗的恐惧中成长起来的怪物。 它不断变大变强，淹没在街道上，直到它吸收了一切，一切都是一样的。
Alex cut carrots on a chopping board, listening to the pitter and patter of rain on the window sill of his apartment.
亚历克斯在砧板上切胡萝卜，听着公寓窗台上永永的雨声。
Out of the blue from the dark and stormy sky he heard a knock on the door.
从黑暗和暴风雨的天空中，他突然听到了敲门声。
He put the knife down calmly and wiped his hands off on his apron and walked casually but curiously to the door.
他平静地放下刀，在围裙上擦了擦手，随意但好奇地走到门口。
As it opened he saw a man in a hoodie soaking wet and shaking.
当它打开时，他看到一个穿着连帽衫的男人浑身湿透，浑身发抖。
“… Marcus…?”Alex said in surprise with a soft tone.
“… 马库斯……？” 亚历克斯惊讶地用柔和的语气说道。
Just as he did Marcus fell forward from total exhaustion and Alex sprung forward with almost fatally slow reflexes and caught Marcus before he fell to the floor.
就像他一样，马库斯完全筋疲力尽地向前倒下，亚历克斯以几乎致命的缓慢反射向前冲，在马库斯倒在地上之前抓住了他。
Marcus sat across the dining room table from Alex. His eyes were glazed over, fixed on the spare key to his apartment and mailbox placed before him on the table.
Marcus坐在Alex的餐桌对面。 他的眼睛瞪得发呆，盯着他公寓的备用钥匙，邮箱放在他面前的桌子上。
Alex sipped a hot cup of coffee and stared at Marcus from afar at the opposite end of the table. “You know you could have called first before showing up on my doorstep like a wet lost puppy”, Alex teased.
亚历克斯喝了一杯热咖啡，远远地盯着桌子另一端的马库斯。 Alex调侃道：“你知道，在像一只湿漉漉的迷路的小狗一样出现在我家门口之前，你可以先打电话。”
Marcus blinked but he remained entranced by his key, the end result of his trials and tribulations.
Marcus眨了眨眼，但他仍然被他的钥匙迷住了，这是他考验和磨难的最终结果。
Alex sighed and laughed empathetically. “It’s ok though. It’s been a while I haven’t seen you or really heard from you since the quarantine began. But… it’s coming to an end, Mark… you can put your fears aside now and we can resume normal life…” he said sweet and tenderly.
亚历克斯叹了口气，富有同情心地笑了。 “不过没关系。 自从隔离开始以来，我已经有一段时间没有见到你或真正收到你的消息了。 但是……它即将结束，马克……你现在可以放下你的恐惧，我们可以恢复正常生活……”他甜蜜而温柔地说。
Marcus blinked and looked up at his old friend. “I know”, he said. “Battery is just… low…”.
Marcus眨了眨眼，抬头看着他的老朋友。 “我知道”，他说。 “电池只是……低……”。
Alex stood up from his chair and walked over to Marcus without making a single sound with his feet and handed him a phone charger.
亚历克斯从椅子上站起来，走到马库斯面前，他的脚没有发出任何声音，并递给他一个手机充电器。
“Here then. Recharge your battery. Then you should stay for dinner”, Alex said smiling.
“那就在这里。 给你的电池充电。 那你应该留下来吃晚饭，”亚历克斯笑着说。
Marcus’ eyes glimmered and he smiled in return as he took the charger from Alex’s hand.
Marcus的眼睛闪烁着光芒，当他从Alex手中接过充电器时，他微笑着作为回报。
“We can face the monster together… as a crowd of just two”, Alex said.
亚历克斯说：“我们可以一起面对怪物……就像只有两个人的人群一样。”