When my eyes did open; it was to an empty room. The beds to my left had sheets spread across the floor as if the three boys had leaped from their slumber. I took my time ascending from my bed. My eyes felt stiff, and my beard curled up into my nose.
I walked out of the bedroom, scanning the house for any movement. There was nothing. I went outside to be hit by that blinding, white void. The cold dirt beneath my feet sank in between my toes. The carrot field stretched past my field of vision, going on endlessly.
I heard a faint voice of one of the boys yelling from behind the house. I turned my attention toward that and started walking. I could see the outline of the boys.
As I got closer to the boys, I saw the boy in the black helmet clubbing on the ground with a tool, and the boy in the blue helmet throwing carrots into a bag.
"And even if that was true, we all know you couldn't kill someone with a hoe. It is made for digging, I would use a sword." The boy with the black helmet argued.
"No way. If I throw it at someone right in the head, it will surlily kill them." The blue helmet remarked.
As I got close to them, they both abruptly stopped working and peered at me.
"You are late man. You are supposed to be up at the windchime to harvest carrots. Red would have never been late-" The black helmet was cut off by Blue's sudden slap to his shoulder.
"You are the new tool guy. You will be harvesting the carrots and putting them in the bag. Black is promoted today by Skip to be the bag bringer. He will start carrying the bag to the shrine while we work."
Shrine? I couldn't see such a thing around. I nodded to them and grabbed the hoe from Black. That is when a windchime echoed in the distance. Black and Blue looked at each other, but I couldn't tell what expression they were making with the woven helmets on.
"Lunch break." Blue set down the bag and stretched.
"Alice made us pie! When that chime plays again in twenty minutes, be back out here to work when it chimes." Blue and Black set off back to the house. I stood around, thinking about if this was my new life.
"It wouldn't be too bad to pluck carrots all day."
I couldn't remember anything before the bus ride, if this was even a bad life or if I had lived one before I had arrived. I spotted a small dot sitting in the carrot field. I decided to wander since I had the time to spend.
The dot took the form of the white helmet boy. He sat, staring away at the carrot field in front of him. His small body had carrot stems surrounding him that almost reached for his elbows. I stood behind him and pondered what he was looking at.
The boy spoke to me, noticing my presence.
"Skip is sending Black tomorrow to the shrine."
The boy lifted his frail arm and pointed out toward the horizon. I never had noticed how small the boy was. His neck stood out to be so skinny to be supporting such a large helmet.
I decided to sit down next to the boy. He reacted with a head tilt. I could not tell if he was filled with panic or contentment.
"Red was the oldest here before you showed up. They didn't have face hair like you, but they were taller."
This Red person caught my interest. I looked toward White with a blank face. I wasn't sure how to ask, but I thought it wasn't going to hurt to start with what was circling my brain.
"What is the shrine?"
The boy almost shot up at my voice.
"Wow! You almost sound just like Red. They always asked questions about the shrine."
I could not think of any reaction but an awkward smile.
"The shrine is where we take the carrots. I don't know much about it, but Red had told me stories of how it was so dark there, they couldn't see anything, not even their own hands."
He paused and made a childish gesture like he was looking up at an imaginary thought bubble.
"Skip won't tell us much about it. But, when Red didn't come home, it was hard for Skip. Alice stopped baking for us for a while. She wouldn't leave her room."
White's deminer changed suddenly. He started plucking the leaves off the carrot stems he sat on. That is when the windchime struck.
"Lunch is over. I must run. I will see you at dinner!"
White shot up from the ground and began sprinting to the hut. I slowly stood up and investigated the distance. I had so many questions, but I knew, at least for now, I would have to shovel out carrots.
Working with Blue was simple. I would plow a carrot out of the ground, and he would put it in a bag. It was silent for the most part. I couldn't read the boy. I could feel some spite from him towards me, but he didn't speak a word.
A few hours passed before the next chime. Blue took hold of four filled bags to the brim, and we hauled them to the hut. Skip was at the door to meet us with widened eyes.
"Four bags!?"
Skip was in absolute awe. Blue stood up straight and claimed out to the world.
"Yeah! The big guy here is the strongest guy I know. He knocked every carrot out of the dirt with one swing!"
Now I was in absolute awe. I almost blushed from the random compliment. During the celebration, I noticed Alice peering through the window. I smiled at her, but I didn't receive one back. Instead, I was met with a face full of horror. Her black eyes glistened, and she quickly ducked her large ears back through the window.
White had come back to the hut shortly after, and they proclaimed it was bath time. They repeated the same show as yesterday and ran butt-naked toward the creek. Blue turned around toward me and waved his hand to come along.
I smiled and walked to the lake. White dived straight into the creek, causing a huge splash to cover Blue. He jumped in after White and started to splash him.
I stripped down and slowly sat down in a corner. I washed the dirt from my beard and allowed my sore arms to rest. I looked around and made note that Black wasn't joining us tonight. I couldn't unsee Alice's face. It sat in the back of my mind as the two boys in front of me washed off and laughed.
We returned for diner and sat around the table. Pie and carrots covered the tabletop. Alice joined us for the meal, but Skip and Black were nowhere to be seen. Everyone went quiet as Alice sat down with a sorrowful face. Our attention was stuck on her.
"The plans have changed. Because of the bountiful harvest today, we are ahead of schedule. Skip is getting ready to send Black off at any moment instead of tomorrow."
Blue suddenly shot out of his chair, slamming his fists into the table.
"Are you serious!? What about the Shadows?"
Alice set her front paws on the table in rebuttal.
"Sit down Blue!"
Her shift in tone was aggressive. It sent chills down my spine as it echoed through the dining room. She waited to gather her thoughts and responded in a crackling voice.
"Black is ready. Skip will prepare him to walk to the shrine with his safety in mind. Black will be home by the morning windchime."
Skip hopped into the room. Everyone's attention went to him. Behind him was Black. He had a large bag that spanned from the back of his knees to his shoulders. Attached to his waist was a small bronze blade that shined from the surrounding candlelights.
Blue and White walked up to Black. White gave Black a sudden, remorseful hug.
"You better come back home."
White held on tight as Black looked up to Blue. They nodded off to each other as if they could read each other's minds. White let go of Black and walked off next to Blue. He looked down at the floor and held himself silently.
Skip looked up at me. His little, beaded eyes glistened in a serious tone of color. Black took a deep breath and began walking toward the door. Skip held the door for him as they shimmied his large pack through the door frame.
White and Blue followed Alice back into the back of the house. I don't know what stopped me from following them to the back of the house. I just couldn't move my feet.
I turned back to the door. On the floor sat a carrot.
"It must have fallen out of his bag."
I immediately jumped from my trance. I grabbed the carrot with a swift swoop and jumped out of the door. The bright blinding light of the endless void outside blinded me. I lifted my hand to my eyes as I rammed straight into the back of Black.
We both tumbled into the ground, dirt and carrots flying up into the air with us. I landed straight onto my back as Black landed above me. Something landed on my face, covering my vision. It felt like woven cloth. I pulled it from my face as I winced from my tailbone vibrating.
I looked over my hand. My eyes lit up as I recognized what I was grasping. I looked up at the boy who was sprawled on top of me.
His black hair reached down past his eyes. His skin had never seen light. His lower eyelashes grasped onto tear drops that leaked from his blue eyes. He was crying. He was petrified.
He scrambled the helmet from my hand and threw it over his head. He stood away from me and grabbed the carrots that had spilled from his bag. Black threw the bag over his shoulder in a swift motion and took in a deep breath.
I was still lying there, cold. I lifted my head to see an upside-down Black begin walking down the field. I lifted myself from the ground. That's when the twenty-minute warning windchime echoed through the void, louder than the night before.