Chapter 2: The Long Glum.
The next sun passes through the sky, and everything turns upside down as I awake. My pillow felt rugged like a stone, and my mattress was as wrinkled as a farm's plot. Even the broad afternoon isn't as warm as yesterday. I looked out the window and found something unusual outside my cabin.
One day, the town stops being happy, and the citizens no longer smile like yesterday. The people no longer perform and entertain as if the joy of creation and birth no longer fuels their hearts. The echoing silence turns the city into a dead place in a second, and I had never felt such eerie before.
*Swoong* A few leaps of a foot rush through corners of buildings as quick as a rabbit from a wolf. The two runners seek their escape from the chasing guards.
But in a moment, the track disappears, and the two prey outrun their captors into the air. When the guards come to check over the back of a tent, they find a dead-end in a dark room.
"Where is she? Where's the criminal?"
"She's gone! We're losing her track! Not even a track!"
"You lost the criminals?? Go find them!" The assassin steps into the tent.
"We lost him? The criminal's gone again?" Dion rushes to the group.
"Wait! *pant* *pant* *pant* Give me a breath!" Cyrus arrives late—if he was invited.
"Did we find her? Is she there?"
"No sign of two criminals! Only stupid clothes... We are trapped to a dead end..." The executioner walks out with shoes and clothes belonging to Eve and Charger.
"Did she really wear that thing over the town? That's ridiculous..." The boy's smile turns into a frowning thought at the horror realization.
"Wait, what is she wearing right now? Is she—"
"Start the search party! Call every citizens for an inspection...now!" The assassin commands the Hyperians.
"No one leaves this city until we've got the criminal out!"
"Alright. We can start from the exit, then...don't want
"Shut up, Cyrus. You're not in charge here..." Dion restrains.
"I do, actually. E-007 thinks I am. Right, E?"
The drunk witch wanders aimlessly around the town with three shots of green-like juice strapped around her waist. Their glowing colors and thin-shaped bottle serve as a reminder of her extraordinary alchemy and beverage skills. But the poor witch may have to look inward with her steps first.
"Eugh...huh? Yeah, whatever! *hic* Highschooler, *hic* you speak a lot..." The witch seems to hold onto everything around her to keep her head on. It makes the citizens displeased with her inappropriate attitude towards an important event.
The image doesn't draw right to Cyrus's head, and everyone seems to ignore it, which raises concerns for him. The witch couldn't even look at the mirror clearly, and the enforcers focused on their jobs instead.
"Why do you people let her drunk like that? Isn't that unsafe to drink while working?" He asks the others for their thoughts—But all he can hear is the patrol strategy described by the assassin behind Dion's back. It appears that he was the only one.
"Wow, these people weren't nice. I guess I wouldn't like being here, either."
For the first time, the whole town bears witness to the authority. Guards dispersed and scattered through corners, searching scoundrels from buildings and spots where the citizens lay disturbed in their houses—yet their smiles never faded amidst the bolt spears and iron shackles.
I refuse to walk out of my safety with all those eyes staring at me—lifeless and ill-intended. What happened with the jovial last night? Why is everyone walking in and out of corners without a leap? And why are they looking at me with such eyes? It was such a horror.
*Clank* *Clank* *Clank*
"Charger, are we really doing this??" Eve sneaks through a flipped trashbin with her companion through the alley—nearly contacting a passing guard who thought it saw her.
"Yes, friend. Trust me, this technique saved me from getting caught by humans since my arrival on Earth."
"Whatever happens with just a kind greet and negotiation? All we asked was to help you out of this..."
"I've tried, friend. But they don't like words with me."
"Wait, are you still writing those stories? Are you going to include me, too?"
"No way! I'm the main character here. Make your own stories if you want to be included..."
"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure I've already had one after this..." Eve pushes through with Charger.
Sorrow filled the town to the brim, leaving no hopes for me to excite upon. No one was willing to speak or interact with one another—especially me, who they praised before. Everything went wrong with this town as soon as I stayed. But it seems that they weren't blindly lost with their frown. It seems they were following...a light.
"Move! No one does something stupid on their back!" The guards push a line of citizens to the south—inspected unpermittedly.
"Woah! We're no downer, sir!"
"Aww, come on! When are we supposed to be this lame?"
"Eek! Watch the kids! They're going to be a downer!"
"You're a bad, bad downer, officer. Are you teasing us with such games of yours?"
"We are no downer! No downer!"
"Do you like to play with us, sir? We're bored..."
"They're somewhere here, I could feel it...Somewhere..." Dion looks left and right.
"You sure you didn't want to look back? Maybe you'll get more eyes there."
"I know, peasant! I'm trying to look harder."
"I don't think you're looking at all. Eve should've been that hard to see in a place like this...but where would she be right now?"
"*Hic* What are you incompetent bearers are doing out there? Go save yourself some fun while the guards do the deed!" The witch stood drunken at Cyrus and Dion, yelling their name out of the crowds and dragging them away.
"E-007, keep your drink behavior out of here, please. You're dragging unnecessary attention to us and my precious armor." Dion slaps her hands off.
"Plus, you're talking to a prisoner...not a friend. Can anyone check over that place? Guards, with me!" The paladin departs from the group to an untapped area. May the fog unveil before him.
"Woah! That's where you got it wrong! I'm friends from everyone...no matter how far they are. Young lady, why don't you show me some fun here while Mr. D-001 and his lame friends are doing boring work." The words
"*Hic* Huh?" The witch blinks at him—confused and dazed.
"I'm sure we can have more drinks around here...but I don't think Mr. D-001 wants to hear about that."
"Great! Time to go!"
"Woah! Woo~! Wee..."
"Woah! No need to be harsh, lady! I'm not going anywhere!" The cheerful yell from Cyrus can be heard from a distance—enough to lure the thieves out of their hiding spot. But he had walked far for them to see.
"Cyrus? What is he doing here? He really went all that far just to get me?" Eve peeks out of the trash.
"Ugh, I told him not to come looking after me. Does he knew what kinds of people is he facing out here? Sucks to see you on my enemies' side."
"Maybe mom was right. I need to consider more about my choices with people."
"Eve..." Charger whispers.
"Alright. Let's see what we have in the bag...a spare shirt for a change? Cause I just wasted a precious one for that stupid clown costume." The girl opens her bag for a treat. A black hoodie with a stingray-themed cover and short grey pants await her.
"Imp, where did you take this? I've looked for this hoodie for so long! And my mom said it was gone by fire!" She pauses.
"Of course...she knew I liked it so much she had to take it from me! Augh, I shouldn't have trusted her! How could she?"
"This hoodie belongs to me for so long...and she just took it from me."
"Eve..." The creature calls for her name again.
"Ugh, I really hate this place. What's so enjoyable here? Everything is just circus-esque and the masked chlidren are playing the worst kind of fun. This is even worse than Frayfoil!"
"This is why I don't like going outside! So many crowds looking at me like an idiot! I mean, you see how these people stared at me, right?"
"They must have seen such weakness as a chew toy. Because they're all nothing more than a lap dog. But I really can't find anything of importance here..."
"How am I supposed to go home like this? I'm not going home now, am I?"
Yes! The light had turned upon them—morphing their will into one state of thought. Those who saw the light seemed alleviated, determined, and abandoning their activities for a greater one. But here I am, missing that chance to feel the enraging spirit of an adventure. That means the light has no use for me other than a view. I can only follow its residue through the darkness and its mindless followers.
"Eve, the roof."
"I...I can't even write now! My purple eye still hurts! Everything hurts! I hate this place! Nothing to smile! Nothing!"
"I can't smile! I can't be content! Everything hates me! Just why??"
"Eve." Charger appears uneasy with Eve.
"I hate this! I hate this! I hate this! I hate this so much! This town is nothing but a nuisance!"
"Eve!" Charger points on the floor in an intervening yell.
"What??"
Creak. The tent's fabric grew loose by Eve's mass, leaving only a strand to hold her butt. Enough to make her silent.
"Wow, Charger. You could've just told me—"
Brak! The tent rips out a hole for the two to fall untimely. Their first land was heading straight to a cage of haybales—nullifying the damage and awareness from the nearby performers.
"Pwah! This wouldn't be too easy..." Eve mumbled with a hay stuck in her teeth.
"Alright. Time to go, I suppose. Charger, is it safe down there?"
"Uhm! No! It's too high..."
"Are you sure it's not your head that causes it?"
"Nope. It's not an average fall, friend."
"Ugh, alright! It's only a slight setback. We can think of something good coming from here...at least I'm not at home writing nonsense and talking to myself. That's good...that's good..."
"And I even got my favorite hoodie with me, too. Which means I'm in a good side of this task. But what can I do with a hoodie right now?"
The wanderers took a lucky break from the troubling guards and nuisance within Eve's head as they landed safely in a tent. But as they stepped off the stack of hay bales, they felt completely at the sea of darkness—confused and swayed by the oddities of the walls while their items lay helpless behind.
It appears to them that they lay mysteriously in a house they haven't been to before. There are no smiling friends or candles to light—nor a way out—for misery seems to allude. There is only an empty tent for a living haybales.
"Charger...where are we?" Eve glances back and forth. But everything is null.
"Hm...I've never seen this place before. And I'm usually very aware of even a smallest place!" The head of the creature glows brightly blue in the darkness—allowing vision to a dark hole in the tent.
"Uhm, I think we're in somone's house. The interior is limited—and there's not enough lights here." Charger rubs the tent-painted wall.
The light abandons the tents into a decrepit age of rust and dirt. I feel uneasy and left out in this city—the only one here who hasn't chased the southern light and left with a debt of this city. Doors are left open, houses are empty, and torches are extinguished. It was like the void before when I fell asleep.
*Shrug* *Shrug* *Shrug*
"Eugh..." Eve laid her knees on the ground by the passing darkness. The candle remains as dim as her hope, and she was weakened by the fall.
"Do you hear that? I hear something moving..." Charger remains aware of his surroundings.
"The only thing I could hear was the inevitable pain I would brought forever to my life after this, Charger. What can I do now?"
"Friend, I think you're overreacting. There's nothing wrong with what you are doing right now! What you are doing right now is important for your life and mine! You would bring so many reasons to school after this!"
"Really? And how about your journey here? I think we were better staying longer than heading home right now." Eve crawls depressed. Walking was more tiring than ever.
"Pfft! You're reading my mind, Eve. But that's exactly what I had hoped for you! As long as you follow my plan, I'm sure you won't need to worry about your book project any longer!"
"Anyway, I think I just found our escape from this horrid place, friend."
"You do?" Eve stands up.
"Yep! We could go over that dark, mysterious door with no lights..." That's his left with a rusty arch.
"Or...we could go over that entrance with spotlights and long-headed tunnel that seemingly headed over a cafe!" That's his right with ever-dazzling looks for an entry.
"So, what do we choose, friend?"
"Hmm...two doors, eh? Looks quite difficult for me."
Two doors stand before Eve and Charger, with only one coming to an escape. What could be the way out?
I feel less joyful and depressed without the light—but somewhat relished. The sun is quite hot to be a pleasure, and to think that I would blindly follow the light when the other citizens were afflicted with mindlessness? I would have used those lights for writing instead.
"Okay. I suppose we could go for the left one." She confidently pokes the air at the left door.
"Really? Why not right?" Charger swings his arms to the right.
"Because...that's what they want you to follow, Charger. But left is obviously the choice..."
"Who are they?"
"The people who tried to lecture you into thinking you are idiot and stupid for not following their way. I couldn't think of anything more annoying than those with idiocracy of a banana."
"The right path is obviously a trap designated in an inception. To fool the fool who thinks they wouldn't get fooled if they choose the fool one..."
"Besides, why are we heading to a cafe that would've been overrun by these bulb-headed creature?" Eve walks to the left door—a door of righteousness.
*Tap* *Tap* *Tap* "What is this haybale basket, anyway?" Charger follows Eve to the darkness—the left door.
*Shrug* *Shrug* The shrugging came again from afar.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" Charger glances left and right—following the sound.
"Shh! What are you doing?" Eve shushes Charger in the mouth.
"I hear a sound, friend! We need to—"
"Shh! Don't get too loud...we're trying not to get any attention here. Don't you know that's what they're looking after?" She grabs the creature by the head.
"They...did?" The two crouches on the floor.
"Just don't pay attention to this sound. If it couldn't attract our attention, it couldn't attack us...now, let's go."
*Tip* *Tap* *Tip* *Tap* *Tip* *Tap*
"Ooh, I like this. We're two steps ahead of anyone...!" He whispers. Their footsteps are slowly heading further into the darkness.
"Ugh, where are we heading right now? This place is ridiculously large..."
I sheltered under the least favorable tent—the dark, mushy tent crowded with many and torchless. The long hallway was an adequate cover from any danger, and its thick interior kept my shadow from spilling out. The sound of the citizens was never heard again—since I entered this tent.
*Shrug* *Shrug*
"It's the sound again...I mean, whoa! Looks like we're getting closer to an exit!" Charger glances to the front with Eve.
"Yeah. I guess we're getting closer...closer from going to prison..."
"Come on, friend. We should be quick or else we will miss a lot out there. Think of the time we could spend outside with your new bearer form and my sparks together! We will become unstoppable!" Charger remains joyful with his spark of hope.
"Augh! I can't believe that child just snitched onto me. I just can't...I just can't stop thinking about it. How could he? Does he knew what he's doing to me??"
Eve was frustrated and angered by her failure and the chase within the humans. The thought of a boy lingers in her head for so long that she loses track of her objective with Charger.
"Does he not?"
"Eve?" Charger glances with concern.
"I really want to shred that child into pieces. Look what he did to my clothes! What was he thinking??"
"Augh! This hoodie is the only thing I have now..."
*Faint* "I hear them...! They're somewhere over here!"
*Faint* "Is it on this tent? Has anyone checked on this tent yet?"
*Faint* "Open the tent, now!" The assassin can be heard from the other side.
"Eve, I don't think you should yell around here. The guards could find us out." He whispers.
"Yeah, you're right. But I should've brought some flashlights around here. Now, what am I even carrying here?"
"Charger, what is this? Why is there a cake in my bag?" She finds a wrapped treat with an unlikable scent.
"Oh, I'm just keeping it there in case you're hungry. You want to munch some?"
"No. Take it from my bag! You're making it smelly down here..."
"Alright, friend. That means more treat for me!" The creature willingly savors the cake.
*Faint* "Find the criminals! Find them!" Guards are running from the other side of the tent with their boots tapping harshly on the ground.
*Faint* "They better don't leave this place yet!"
*Faint* "Check every tent immediately! If they left then all of you are done!" Dion participates—but their faces are hidden.
But the light wouldn't leave me alone. It knows I didn't come for it—so it came for me. From afar, it yells my name with a trembling voice—guided by the storm to shatter the ground and blow the tent off. My heart sank with horror as I was nearly caught by the eyes.
"Whoa...they're close. Shh! Don't talk, Charger..." Eve stops.
"It's a light! We found a way out, Eve! Come on! Come on!" Charger holds tight on her palm.
"H-hold on! How do we know if it is safe? What did I tell you before?"
"Friend! What else do we have to wait for in this boring hallway? Look at that bright door before us!" Charger resists his attempt.
*Shrug* *Shrug* *Shrug*
"Charger? Did you hear that? It gets closer..." Eve looks behind her—still null as before.
"I didn't see anything, friend! I'm not sure what else do you see right now! But we need to go!"
"Charger, I'm being serious. I think it knows we're leaving..." Eve holds onto her ground.
"But, friend! Way out! Way out!" The creature persisted—holding onto her palms as he tried pulling her away to the door.
"I don't know, Charger. Does that shrug seem off to you?"
*Shrug* *Shrug* *Tap*
Clouds are dancing within the ground—blanketing my views and leaving me blinded. I couldn't tell anything from my position other than a grey light turning dark. I feel tremors and tense dissociation between the divine and reality. The only thing remaining in my foot is coarse granite and strong wind.
The light dissipates, and the doorway vanishes into the darkness. The two were stuck without guidance. As hope seems lost, Charger arrives with another surprise on his head. His horn glows blue and bright, illuminating dimly around Eve to see clearly that her ground hasn't changed yet. One thing could not be said on the door.
"Aah! The way out's gone! The way out's gone!" Charger panicked and held onto Eve's arms.
"Your horn... it's glowing? You didn't tell me your horn is glowing! I could've asked for that flashlight before!"
"Where's the exit? I couldn't see it anymore!"
*Tap* *Tap* *Tap*
*Faint* "Push!" The guard rams their way into the tent.
*Faint* "Push!"
"Aaah! They're coming to us!" Charger leaps into Eve's hoodie.
"Eve, please! We need to do something!"
"Charger, stop yelling! You're going to get us in trouble. Don't you think?" Eve silences him with her arms.
"But, what do we do now...? Eve, we're in danger!"
"We need to leave now! We have nothing to hold here!"
"Eve, please!"
"How do I know? Aren't you supposed to be the one who's finding it out? You have the horn!"
"I don't know anything about this place! And I couldn't think clearer without a source of light!"
"Then start thinking, because you're not going to do nothing here!" Eve pushes to the corner with her hand—reaching for a wall.
"I'm trying, friend! I'm trying!"
"Don't scream! You're getting us caught..." Eve shushes again with her hand on his mouth.
*Whisper* "This is your fault, Charger. If you really think about this in the first place, we wouldn't ended up here thinking about how we didn't prepare for this."
"I'm sorry, friend. I'm—"
"Shut up! You're not trying anything..."
*Thump* "Yes! Come on, Come on!" The tent shook momentously.
The creature continuously begs for Eve in the long, lonely hallway.
"It's coming! The soldiers are coming to arrest us! UHUHUHU! We're doomed...we're doomed! We're doomed..."
*Thump* "Come on! I see a light!"
*Tap* *Tap*
"Huh? Who's there?"
"You!" A child yelled with his finger pointed straight at Eve. His face is still a downer, with outrageous eyebrows and disappointment cloaked in his sad porcelain face.
"Oh? Hello, kid! What a coincidence to meet you in this...dark place?" Charger waves cheerfully.
"What?" Eve turns to confusion.