Stacey didn't know where she was going. She just ran. Ran out of town and didn't stop until she recognised the signpost and bush she had woken up under a few days ago. She kicked at the bush in frustration but then upon spotting the panting cameraman following her, she jumped away.
"What did you follow me for?" she panted at the cameraman. "I wasn't meant to be there in the first place. You heard everything. Marvel doesn't want me there. Everyone said that he was a good man, so I thought that maybe he wouldn't mind. I'll probably ruin his show anyway. Go away. Don't follow me anymore."
"But do you know where you're going? Do you have anywhere else to go?" the cameraman puffed back at her.
"No, but I'll find something," Stacey said, lifting one shoulder and backing away. She rubbed her sore, red wrist where Marvel's fingers had marked her skin. "I'll be fine."
She ran away again and continued running until she couldn't hear the cameraman following her anymore. He was carrying a heavy camera on his shoulder after all. She ran far away enough that she felt nobody would catch up to her unless they took a car. Then she walked, following the road and kicking at the stones on the side off the edge of the road into the dry scrub.
Stacey wiped her eyes and noticed that her makeup was being wiped off onto her sleeves. Nevermind. It didn't matter anymore. She wasn't going to be standing in front of a camera anymore, so it didn't matter.
Although she had finally had her first meal in days, she was going to have to start thinking about where the next would come from. Would Ken, Endo and Flail miss her? Probably not. They'd only just met this morning.
Goodness. Had it only been just this morning? It felt like it'd been days already. It felt like she'd known those boys for far longer than just a few hours. So many things had happened today and it was almost too much to process. Her mind was in a mess. Although she didn't normally talk to herself out loud, right now, she needed to vent and get her thoughts organised.
While she walked, the town remained on her left. It was a much bigger town than she had expected. She saw the open plain country outside the town spread out beneath golden afternoon rays that heralded the coming twilight. In the distance, forests and mountains could be seen. Feathery clouds were spread out across the sky, lit in gold edging with tinges of pink.
It was beautiful.
It was useless.
"This is stupid," she muttered to herself at first and then ranted out loud in frustration. "What kind of a person only knows their name and nothing else? Am I stupid? Is there something wrong with my brain? There is, isn't there? What's wrong with the way I talk? What's wrong with these clothes? I was only meant to be going for a short walk anyway. Who knew I'd end up in the middle of nowhere. You want to send me away. I wanted to leave too, ok? It's just I don't know where I'd leave to. I want to go home but who can tell me where my home is? Can anyone even tell me where on earth I am? What's wrong with wanting to know what date it is? How does the calendar work? How many hours are there in a day? What country am I in? What continent is this? What's the capital city? Is there even a name for this planet? And what's with Tadpole? I've never seen that language or heard it before. I thought I was just an ordinary girl but I don't even know what ordinary is anymore. Have I gone mad? Who has a dream and stays stuck in it? Am I dreaming? Will I wake up if I die? Will anyone ever answer any of my questions?"
"I have to admit, that's a lot of questions," said a deep male voice from behind Stacey.
Stacey jumped and turned around at the same time, leading to her feet getting tangled with one another. She fell hard onto her backside. She hadn't heard this man or the cameraman arriving.
A tall, handsome man she had never seen before walked silently toward her. How come her feet made crunching noises every time she put her foot down but his didn't? The cameraman was there beside the handsome man filming both of them. His feet barely made a noise either. How had he caught up with her? Hadn't she left him far behind? How did he sneak up on her like that? She had run so far along this road.
"You said you went for a walk from home before you ended up here? From where from and where to?" the man asked, eyes gleaming with interest and slight amusement.
"I left home to go for a walk," Stacey replied, feeling defensive for some reason. As if she didn't want to tell the man anything. As if it might be dangerous for her to do so. "Just a walk around the neighbourhood."
"What did home look like?"
"A house," Stacey replied, inching away on her hands and backside, "with brick walls. That's all I know."
The apartment building had brick walls and it was kind of a giant house. Why was the man getting so close? He exuded a kind of lofty high pressure that only people with great power did and Stacey felt like it was hindering her thought processes. Making her feel slow and stupid in comparison. She almost didn't dare to move in his presence, let alone breathe.
She was a scaredy-cat. Yep. A right scaredy-cat and coward. Acknowledging her lack of courage only boosted her boldness far enough to answer his questions off the top of her head.
"And where were you walking to?" the man continued to walk slowly toward her and stopped when he stood towering over her. Like a giant. Or a harbinger of doom. Stacey didn't dare to look into his face properly but had the impression that he was fairly good looking. Definitely of some sort of Asian descent. Probably Chinese - no, Tadpole.
"The park. There was an old yellow brick road I'd never seen there before. I followed it and then… then I was here," Stacey gestured behind herself helplessly. Somehow, she felt like she shouldn't mention the black stone monolith.
"Hmm," the man nodded slowly and then crouched down to her eye level. "You had a lot of questions earlier. Let's see if I can remember them," the man counted off on his fingers. "I'm pretty sure you're not stupid and that your brain is working perfectly well if you've got all these questions. They seem perfectly reasonable to me. There's nothing wrong with your accent. We can understand you fine. You must have just grown up and come from a distant place where they speak differently from us here. As for your home, I'm as curious as you are as to where it is. I hope we find out one day."
He seemed to genuinely mean what he said. The calm, gentleness with the way he spoke and moved reminded Stacey of how one might approach a frightened animal - her, in this case. And it did soothe her raised and spiky defences somewhat. Enough for her to relax a tiny bit. Just a tiny bit, mind you.
Stacey continued to put more space between them but stopped to listen upon realising he was actually addressing the questions she had asked herself aloud one by one. Almost in order. Not many people would have been able to remember such detail, which meant this man had an amazing memory and was probably very smart. Smart enough to know she wasn't telling the whole truth but was allowing her to get away with it for the moment.
"There's nothing wrong with your clothes. They're just not a fashion choice most girls your age that we know of would normally make. The girls here mostly prefer to give off fresh, cute and innocent vibes or more classy, elegant and sexy looks. There are very few girls who are openly tomboys. It's generally considered a rebellious style that girls aren't encouraged in. Your style isn't too bad. It's unique. If we market it right, it will give way to a whole new way for women to be able to express themselves without being considered rebels with a poor upbringing."
Stacey had noticed that there was a lack of fashion styles here among the girls. There had been another group that had looked somewhat like ethnic, tribal people too, but the man hadn't mentioned them. Maybe he was just talking about mainstream looks.
"As for where you are at the moment, you are currently walking on the Wistledown Ring Road and so in case you're wondering, you are literally walking in a circle around the town. That's how we found you so easily. Wistledown is regional town in the state of Spearhedge and is located to the northeast of the capital city, Centaurus City - also known as CC for short. Spearhedge is a state of the country of Benitas, which is located on the Western Wesley continent. Our planet is called Gaius and is located in the Allegretto Galaxy - a spiral galaxy, in case you're wondering."
Allegretto Galaxy? What happened to the Milky Way? Were they the same galaxy if they were both spiral galaxies? Was she literally in another galaxy on an alien world talking to aliens who could speak English? What were the odds? Even on Earth, if you just landed on a random place on the planet, it was highly unlikely to land in an English speaking area.
If this planet was called Gaius, did it have a relationship with Earth? Didn't some language or culture on Earth call it Gaia - the Earth Mother? Some Greek goddess, maybe? Was Gaius like the male counterpart?
And she was walking in a circle around the town? Stacey felt like an idiot. She patted her burning cheeks. These two men thought she was an idiot right? The people watching from the other side of the camera would likely think so too.
Great job, Stacey. You just arrived on another planet and already showed the whole world how stupid you are.
"The calendar has eleven months in a year and thirty-two days in each month," the man continued answering Stacey's earlier questions. "This is the year 4000 and it is the first workday of the week. There are seven days in a week. We name each day by a number and start counting from the first workday. There is one half work day in the week and one day of rest. Those are days six and seven respectively. The date is the fourteenth day of Amethyst - which is the second month of the year. The months are named after precious stones."
If months were named after precious stones, did they follow the same birthstones for each month that she knew of? Or was it just a coincidence? February's birthstone was Amethyst.