I'm afraid to describe it, even now. But what's a story without it? Besides, those were the days.
Born from the deepest pits of hell, destined to stay there for all eternity—but why were they here? It's simple: they escaped their prison. They haunt and torment, scouring for destruction and ripping themselves into worlds they never should've been in. One could say they were the holes in life's creation.
You know that very well, don't you?
You're not entirely nescient nor oblivious, are you?
…
The entire place was a mess—the floor was faulted like a crack on the earth; glass, rocks, and dying mana... leaves surrounded us like countless bodies in the aftermath. The image of that scene never left my mind.
This won't read for much longer. It will be the last time I do so.
…
How wonderful, one is.
Imagine a morning, during the evening—cold, in an autumn spring weather.
What was sunlight existed in the presence of a rising moon.
When it dusked outside—in there was a sunrise.
You know, in all my years in there, I only recently noticed that time passed twice as slow inside. I remember thinking vividly at that moment—"how blissful." I was almost convinced.
Troubles and hardships come in all sorts of forms—this one had a short mane of gleaming white.
It had hair that caught the orange light like lamb's wool dipped in moonlight. A coat clung to its thin frame—once black, now rotten-iron and dried-blood, hanging off pale, almost silk-smooth skin. Curved spikes, one half-cut, jutted from either side of its small head. A deep phosphorescent red hue in its eyes that glared like a snake.
Fraudulent. Young. A child.
It was made to deceive, but believe me, and everyone else—in an impulse it could kill.
They say you should never stare into a //N)lLgZNKX!='s eyes, or hope never to see one at all.
Hope never to see one at all.
Hope never to.
Hope.
________________________________
"So, who's they?" I asked.
"I caaan't..." he squinted his eyes, jaw pushed forward, "...see anything, still FOGGY."
"Alright."
From the top of my head down through the eyes and to the rushing flow of adrenaline in my legs—it all slowly began to subside. Less of a thumping heart or a shivering skin, and more of an "ahh~" sort of feel.
As if my body was already glued to the surface of the ground, it was a struggle to push myself up. That—or I just didn't want to stand, the ground was warm and actually therapeutic. The trimmed blades of grass pushed me up against the surface, some brushing against my cheek, the small pointed stones massaged my bottom half while the other half basked in the warmth of a Dungeon's sun.
The sun felt real. It looked real to me, at least in the lack of mana. If it did, it'd have that pinkish glow... or maybe I just couldn't see it from here.
"Hey, monsieurleh~?" I lulled, mouth sizing and tongue moving around playfully, "Canuh you puuuulllluh me upuh? Let me take a look."
"..."
Silence.
"Uh..." My eyelids budged. I didn't want to open them—it hurt a lot after seeing all that.
But he didn't say anything, not after three seconds, nor even after ten. A blank reply from this guy was enough to scratch my eyes slightly open and force me to tilt my head down to glance.
He was still there—the same old muscle and brawn.
Thought he was kidnapped or something.
He was off, though, still staring into an unknown distance in that same position, twitching up and down as if his legs were unsure whether to extend or fold.
"Are you... what's going on?"
"..."
I raised my voice.
"Someone's there? Something...? Bi—"
Like a jolt of lightning hit him from the top of his head and shocked him all the way down to the tip of his feet, he lunged at me and clasped both his palms right on my mouth.
"AFUAFFUF—"
"SHUT IT...!" He let out a forced whisper, teeth gritting, pupils as constricted as they could have been.
Without a second wasted, he pulled me by the collar and sat me up behind the crystal. He knelt down, then began tearing apart the sleeves of his uniform with his teeth.
"What did you—"
"STOP...!" He pulled me back down before I could even get a chance to peek. "Stop. Just—calm down."
I was calm.
I looked to my feet, they were numb, sure—but I could probably run with a jump start. I turned to Bino; he was frantically rolling the torn cloth around his hand—all while the hairs on his skin stood up.
"Hey, calm," I gestured the gun plastered on his hip, "we can use the gun, it's loud."
"NO." He pointed to a torn crystal fragment on the ground. "Give me that. That—that, YEAH. Hand me that, HURRY!"
His cloth-covered hands gripped on the crystal like a hydraulic press that couldn't break diamond, to the point where it began to pierce into his skin. Blood spilled—painting a lifeful velvet on the topsoil's green canvas. While my mind was still secreting off the daze of being overwhelmed by the wind's mana, trying to make sense of what could be, Bino was drooling, body parts moving back and forth, still reluctant to agree on a mutual decision.
Then he just sat still.
"I'm not sure," Bino said.
"Your hand."
"This? Oh... don't mind it. I have a suspicion but my eyes were blurry."
"Tell me what it is."
"I DON'T KNOW. OKAY?" He grunted. "If they were closer I'd be able to know. But if they're what I think they are, then... try not to say my—"
|| clack— Footsteps. Behind. That of rubber shoes pounding on concrete.
Bino's words snapped like a thin cord, head jerking to the opposite direction.
My hair knackered up, as the blue sky and the vibrant sunlight retreated behind the blue fog. Like the land and the surrounding pillars were changing in front of me—suddenly...
—suddenly, I felt that I was alone. I looked everywhere and saw nothing, just the lifeless ground and a solid fog.
But it wasn't nothing. Rather, everything—everything I was seeing was mana.
|| CLACK—! Another step.
Louder.
Closer.
Wetter.
For all I was seeing, every step they took was the loudest thing I could hear—it had replaced the sound of my own heartbeat. It made me shun my own body, made me think I couldn't move, until I saw its shadow, honing in on mine.
A wicked silhouette.
A Durmian.
________________________________
The air grew heavy. Blood boiling. The hair on my skin formed into spikes. Hands clawing. Bells ringing—I held my breath—until something happened—
Bino leapt forward, crystal in his blood-stained grip—
and he bludgeoned it deep into the Durmian's neck.
Blood splattered on our faces, a whistling sound inclined.
The Durmian's dripping hand snapped up, glowing. Without a thought in my head, my body instinctively pushed forward to grab Bino by the shirt—because then—
|| BOOM. An explosion of Lodiac wind.
Bino flew away, but I was carried with him. With my hand still on his back, I shifted both our bodies such that our backs would collide with the quartz pillar.
|| THUD! The pillar sounded.
We bounced onto the floor—a large crack left on impact. Small pixels and remains of mana were suspended in the air on our trail. Bino coughed out blood, the back of his head slightly bleeding, but he was already trying to get up.
"Q-quick, we gotta... go," he uttered.
I, too, was quick to get back on my feet, but unexpectedly—my eyes felt as if they had been stabbed. Even as I opened them, all I saw was the blinding white that flashed me from the Durmian's hands. A curse—these eyes really were. Bino had already started fleeing when I just stood like a lost lamb.
"I can't see...!"
"What?!" He stopped and looked at me, confused.
"Help... I can't open my eyes."
Bino turned to the path, then to me again. He hummed in hesitation, feet tapping on the ground, as his mind wanted to help but every other part of his body wavered for survival.
Then, the Durmian crawled back up in the distance, behind the crystal, both its hands covering its neck that continuously leaked out red. On its own puddle of blood, almost seemingly laughing, it glared at Bino with a salivating mouth, right in the eyes.
Bino's nerves spiked, as he finally took control of his own body.
"Put your hand around me, quick."
"Where, I can't see you,"
"FOLLOW MY VOICE, YOU IDIOT—"
|| CRASH!!! A large pillar crumbled down and crashed into the others.
"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST OPEN YOUR EYES?!"
"Bino, I'm trying!"
"DID YOU JUST—"
"Bino...? Ferobino, do you believe in fairytales~?" it whispered rasp by his ears—what sounded like a snake trying to sound human.
Bino looked beside him.
The Durmian was there.
|| Swoosh—!
Bino crouched us down, with but a hair away from the Durmian's lunge. It crashed its face straight into the pillar's wall, with more of its blood splattering on us.
I wiggled and struggled to balance my body, as Bino just picked me up on his back instead. As my chin touched the tip of his head—all I felt was a fountain of liquid iron, with more almost constantly pouring out.
Behind us, it groaned like the creaking of an old wooden door, but Bino ran so fast that the still wind was hitting my face.
Bino turned to the left path—more platforms and stone bridges unexplored.
What felt like leaves and branches brushed past my face, as Bino's footsteps pounded on a wooden floor. From a distance, in the direction deeper into the Crossroads, I could hear the ringing clock tower and the collapsing pillars.
What's more, even as I couldn't hear or sense its presence anymore—its bloodlust struck me like a thundering bolt, and I felt like I was being watched. Stray rocks and pebbles started to hit us like slow projectiles and my uniform was getting torn.
Sharp right.
Up a bridge.
Straight forward.
Jumped across a small gap.
But at that moment, Bino started to see less of what is—more of something that caused his heart to beat significantly faster and his muscles to tense up. His pupils dilated, yet he never stopped running.
He saw a different world—
a world laid into waste, with once wooden floors now rotten with worms and old corpses. The vibrant light of the sun shone green, with the skin on his face and legs covered with mud and grass.
Bino was hyperventilating.
"Calm! Hey!" I felt him, thus I started nudging his head. "I thought you said don't panic!"
"THERE'S WORMS EVERYWHERE!!!" he yelled out.
"What?!"
|| Clomp! Clomp! Clomp!
Moist footsteps rapidly followed us behind—it sounded heavy. I rubbed my eye sockets just as Bino shouted—
"We're gonna JUMP!!!"
Huh?!
The lids on my eyes finally got the strength to fully separate, and I was immediately surprised with an open sky rid of mountainous pillars... and a tall drop onto a running river. I took a glimpse of our pursuer, promptly disgusted given how it was already right behind us—a hideous creature clad in brown hair and moldy fluff all around, with not a face, just mouth and teeth visible.
Time felt slower when the adrenaline took over.
Birds were singing.
Butterflies roaming around.
Pillars were roaring in pain.
I wasn't fully prepared.
But Bino had already taken that leap of faith—the monster lunged forward, its fangs just about to close on my feet.
In less than a millisecond, suspended in the air, Bino pulled the gun out and snapped back around. Before gravity could pull us down—he aimed straight at its head—and shot the last bullet.
|| BANG!
The creature fell back on the platform, hair blasted apart—it was indeed the Durmian.
On the other hand, the rushing water snarled at us. We shouted in the air, and braced for a fifteen-meter drop.
We hit the surface on the sides of our body and dove deep, rolling and unable to control our movements. Immediately, we got caught in the stampede. Not even our weight was enough to disturb its flow nor make a splatter louder than the raging water.
I managed to stay on its surface, but I got separated from Bino.
"Bin—" I was gurgling water, "—no!"
"AAAHHH—GURLghhg" he yelled constantly from far ahead.
"Conserve. Your—energy!"
"AAAHHH!!!"
"I said control your—aughgrgrlg."
The river held us tight in its ancient grasp, carrying us past an endless wall of trees with not another life form in sight. Ahead, a large tree log crossed over the river with little space under it. Just past it was a waterfall that we didn't know how tall.
Bino managed to catch the log, and shortly after, so did I. But when I got to it, the log shook ever so slightly, just enough to cause Bino's grip to loosen.
Before the river could take him, he took hold of my leg.
With the strength of the river seemingly growing stronger—I, too, couldn't hold on for longer. Kidnapped by the water once again, shortly before getting pushed to a drop down to the bottom of the waterfall.
But it wasn't even a waterfall—but a small drop back into the same old current.
I submerged, and when I rose back up again, we weren't the only things there anymore—
|| SPLASH!! A large head dove into the water.
Three yellow creatures with long necks—I had narrowly avoided becoming their dinner.
To the left, there were things of many colors snatching fish below the water.
To the right, more that had their eyes on us two humans trapped in the flow.
Behind me, Bino, still screaming his heart out.
I flopped my body around until I got to the middle of the river, Bino seemingly doing the same. It was wide enough to keep us out of the monsters' reach, but a risky move it was since there were fewer opportunities to hold on to anything.
Eventually, my hands were shaking and I struggled to keep my nose up. I couldn't even talk if I didn't want liquids to flood my mouth.
How much longer does this river go for?
There's no guarantee it'd end in either an ocean or a waterfall, we wouldn't be able to—
Wait...
If there were trees around us, a river and a Crossroad, then—there's...
There's no ocean in this floor.
"GATEN," Bino yelled, "IT'S GONNA BE A WATERFALL."
He seemed to have thought of it too.
"I know—just hope it's—not a big one!"
It was the largest I'd ever seen.
Only a few seconds had passed.
The wall of trees abruptly stopped at the river's end. The closer we got, the more the skies pushed down the horizon of our river. The drop was meters away—water vanishing over it in a smooth, deadly curtain.
"G-GRAB SOMETHING...!" he cautioned.
There wasn't a single thing we could've held on to further ahead.
The lip of the final fall rushed toward us, water smooth and slick. A fog up ahead rose like clouds that died from the impact of a fatal fall.
SHHHH— Rumbled the heavy waters.
Gravity acted like its bouncer, and we weren't invited. I tried to swim away, hands drastically pushing against the violent river, but what's a boy to do against a force of nature?
…I-it'll happen again, huh...
One fine day, a boy would be walking home with his sisters, or even a brother. By and by, they'd reach their home without a nick of dust on their uniforms nor a leaf stuck on their shoulder. At the end of the day, they'd eat with their mother—with their father—with their uncle and friends. And they'd sleep without a worry in the world, or maybe play a little until the moon checks up on them through the open window.
Would've been me...
…Bino wasn't reacting. Did he see the same thing I did?
Another fall... a scenario I'm not new to.
Another time the bells rang in my ears, a calm in my heart.
Within a heartbeat, it seemed like the river had become my sanctuary. The waters stilled into a smooth and open channel. No longer did it force me to be a part of it, as it carried me gently. The sun had disappeared and I felt like I became a part of the water...
I expected that beautiful voice to speak again...
But it didn't.
|| TUG—
There was an interruption.
"...Umm."
I stopped moving, the river water coursed past me, as I hummed in confusion.
"AAHHHH!!!" Bino inhaled. Then exhaled. "AAA—"
"Bino—shut up!"
"AAH... Ahhuh… hah?!"
I first noticed the things on the rocks by the edge—fishing poles stationed on hollow bamboo. The line extended down to the bottom of the massive waterfall.
I looked below me, and the fall was so much more than I had anticipated. Chills went through my spine. I touched whatever was stuck on the back of my uniform—a thin wooden pole. As I followed it with my eyes to its other point, a cloaked silhouette appeared almost perfectly blended in with the brown bark of a large tree.
The humanoid gestured with their gloved hands in symbols—I turned to Bino's side of the river and there was another, doing the same. Their faces, obscured by hood and mask, with poles that stuck to both of us.
They raised the poles until only the tip of our feet touched the river's surface. One of them spoke aloud—
"Almost, you two. If we didn't look back, you'd be little birds with broken wings." A woman's voice, spoken stern and fast.
"Children like you, here?" coaxed the other, a woman as well, with an indiscernible gentler accent. "Do you understand what we're saying?"
"Oh please, that's the Capital uniform," the other interrupted, "but for you to be… explain."
Bino and I stared at each other, with him first taking the initiative to talk.
"We—"
"Speak up," exclaimed the stern lady.
Nerves bulged out the side of Bino's head.
"I was about to say—we're lost. Now that you're here though, will you HELP get us out?!"
The two turned to each other, as the stern lady continued—Bino still the one answering.
"Do you know where you are?" she asked.
"Been through the Crossroads, that's for sure. Thanks to this IDIOT here."
"Hey…!" I muttered.
"Crossroads—way up the river, miles away," replied the stern woman, "and what Capital uniform is that?"
"CEA." Bino answered, but the two looked at him with their heads turned slightly. "Oh COME ON, you don't know? Capital Entrance Academy. Are you two even from Capital?!"
"Oh, right." Bino's pole was lowered, the water reached his knees.
"HEY—WHAT ARE YOU—"
"Don't question us," chastised the stern woman, "we deal with creatures like you every day. And you just started to sound like one. Didn't he?"
"They was, but they're getting smarter now, I think," sarcastically remarked the other.
Naturally my side followed, I was brought closer to the rushing water.
"H-he's telling the truth, madame…!" I interjected.
"If you're just gonna do us like this—" Bino fumed, "then just drop us down and KILL us, you stu—"
"NO—NO—NO." I spluttered. "Don't listen to him! Bino, just—let me do the talking."
"Oh we're gonna drop you, alright." The two lowered the poles even further, now at our hamstrings.
I coughed.
"Sorry for his temperament, he doesn't mean any of that. Could you perhaps, raise us a bit? Or just me—I can't think with all this water on my legs."
"No." Both immediately replied.
"Okay then, it's fine. We're human, believe me—students of the CEA—it's in the town of Zhaya below this Dungeon… And yes, we got lost, that's true!"
"You know, the thing about mimics," the stern woman added, "they can never get the uniform right. You mean to tell me there's another Academy down there?"
"It's not 'Academy', madame, respectfully. It's Entrance Academy, where stu—"
"Should there be one," she interjected, "that doesn't explain why you're here. In the 23rd floor of all places."
"Um, LADY?" Bino cut in. "We're students, students can wander off, what's your problem?"
"Shhh." shushed the gentle woman holding him. "I think it's best you let your friend do the talking. Speak one more time and I'll let the water take you."
I looked at Bino with raised brows.
"So?" the stern woman queried me.
"Oh—here's the thing, we may have done something that's a little… frowned upon by society."
"No, I didn't—"
"BINO, YES WE DID."
"…?"
"And no, no, no! I know what you're thinking—not the first floor, children suddenly appearing—mimics! But as I said, we may have done something to, let's say, transport us here 'accidentally'." I said in rising tones.
"Last question," she pointed her finger to my face, "your eyes are all red, abnormally so… Thought we wouldn't notice?"
"That's…" I hesitated. "I'm allergic."
"I'm..." She paused, "I'm intrigued by your lies, but we should probably stop wasting precious time."
"Hold on! Ask me something a human would know." I beseeched.
"Not how this works." But her tone remained indifferent—more confident and firm, in fact.
"Then what can we do?!"
"Mimics love rivers, especially this one for some reason."
Bino splashed his feet against the water, violently wobbling around. "Why grab us in the FIRST place—you egoist?!"
"Research. And you seem excited for your fall, eh?"
"I bet under that mask is an ugly face," growled Bino, "and you're not Capital, you're MURDERERS!"
"Rude." she sniffed. "I've always had one thing to say to creatures like you—fly high, birdies~"
The poles holding our backs lowered, our bodies gradually getting caught once more in the stampede. As Bino cackled and continued with his barrage of insults, I pleaded with the two to reconsider. Just as the water was below my chin, before the pole could slip away—
"Wait." the other woman hesitated. "What did you say your names were?"
"E-excuse me?" I mumbled, spitting out water that intruded my mouth.
"Your names, tell us your names."
"What are you doing?" voiced out the stern woman.
"You heard them too, didn't you? They said their names." The gentler woman, holding Bino's pole, lowered her hood and removed her mask—a short hair with a long ponytail, a woman with drooping eyes and a scar near her lips. "What's your name?"
"G-Gachizen, Gaten for short. And-and that's Bino, Ferobino in whole." I answered shakily.
The still-masked woman blustered, "I know what I'm doing, just let me—"
"Who are we kidding, Jekaal? These are actually children." She pulled Bino onto the land and threw the pole off the waterfall's edge. "Are you okay, Ferobino? Or Bino, whichever one you like?"
"STOP TALKING TO ME, UGLY WOMA—" he coughed.
"Forgive us, will you now?"
Bino was sucked dry of all his energy—not from all the action but rather from the shouting. The unnamed woman patted him on the back, as he coughed the water off his system. It reminded me of a mother prompting her baby to burp, a hot-blooded, angry fat baby.
"...Oh—Jekaal!" she yelled out. "Pull him out of there now!"
"Chaleuse, I was gonna—oh…"
When Jekaal, the stern woman holding my pole, shifted her attention to me, my head was completely submerged and my mouth was gurgling the water.
Whoosh—!
She raised me up in the air and pulled me to her side of land. I flopped onto the floor, gasped for oxygen to find its way back into my body, heart pumping drastically.
She bent down, gazing straight into my blood-tainted eyes.
"Can you stand?"
I opened my mouth.
Couldn't find the motivation to speak more than two words.
"T-thank you~" I sneezed, shortly before getting up on my knees.
Jekaal crouched down, still covering her face.
"For your information, I'm not without knowledge of the CEA… and your uniform."
"Oh…"
"I wasn't actually going to let go, just wanted to clear all uncertainty before my partner, Chaleuse, got impatient."
"H-how would I know?! You looked like you were actually going to!" Chaleuse deflected—Bino seemingly knocked out with his head on her palm.
Jekaal sighed. "Well?"
I turned to her, confused.
"Got anything to say or ask before I put you to sleep?"
"Uh—"
"I'll take that as a no. Well then!"
She raised her hands and waved them along each other. Small light illuminated her fingers with mana in the form of spirals revolving each one. A warmth, I felt by my chest, as parts of my body slowly succumbed to this foreign comfort.
"Vedhastra, stranger, welcome to Elstrolo," she purred. "Save your questions for later, birdie."
Lodia Out; Forest Slumber~
________________________________
"HUFF—!" I sprung up.
Felt like just a second ago that I was at the edge of the waterfall half-asleep—now I was invigorated, but my bones hurt and both my hands and the top of my head itched. My skin shivered as the air encompassed me with chills, and I couldn't even smell anything with so much snot up in my nostrils.
|| Snort! I blew my nose.
I observed my environment, found myself in a wood cabin—a thin blanket morphed around me, with simple clothes over my thoroughly bandaged skin.
A white t-shirt made of cotton.
Brown shorts also seemingly made of cotton.
There wasn't much furniture, just a cabinet and some drawers purely made of wood, and it looked like I was in a small infirmary of sorts—there were beds lined up along my row. It was practically empty inside besides myself, the morning atmosphere, three other lonesome and classic beds…
And an old wrinkly man.
He leaned on his cane, sat on a chair right by my bed.
How in the world did I notice him last? And I thought I could see everything. I couldn't tell if his eyes were open, such that his skin was saggy, and the cloak he wore had perfectly blended in with the full brown interior... What if I...
Whack! He slapped my hand.
"Aw—" I pulled my hand back.
"What do you think you're doing, boy?!" he grunted with a deep and brittle voice. "How old are you?!"
I massaged my hand that had turned red. "What?" I asked.
"I said, how old are you?!"
"Why?"
"Answer me now!!!"
"M-might be sixteen, monsieur."
"No you're NOT." he started poking his fingers on my forehead. "You look like a ten-year-old boy!"
"Stop poking me, please…!" I recoiled. "Control your temper!"
"Why you…" he growled. "So what are you—brainwashed?!" he exclaimed in an annoyed tone.
"And what are you—a bundle of anger? I don't know what's going on so please give me some time to think!"
"Oh I knew it… You're a Durmian spawn!!!" he raised his cane and charged it up, then he swept it at me.
"Eek!"
WHOOP—! The cane swept through the air, but I leaned back and dodged it.
"...!"
Somehow, in the blink of an eye, its sharp tip was then pointed right at my face. I raised my hands up in the air on instinct. I didn't even see how he did it—just that it was faster than I perceived.
"Where are you getting this information—?" I gulped.
"You're a Durmian puppet, admit it."
"L-look at me, do I look like one?!"
"Hmm." A moment of silence, and an awkward stare-down between me and his cane, as he scanned me with judging eyes from top to bottom.
"You reckless… RECKLESS children don't learn." Thankfully he set his creepy cane aside. "Can't even wait to graduate before sneaking in and finding yourselves in perilous situations. You lot just love to throw your youth away. What do you expect? Not everyone's bound to help you all the time."
"I get where you're coming from."
"Stop talking back!"
"Apologies! Can I at least… ask you something, respectfully? Monsieur?"
"The nerve…" He sighed. "Just one question."
I don't even know this person, nor does he seem to know me—but old age or seniority doesn't give anyone the right to act that way. Aside from the lack of integrity and discipline, who does he think he is—Bino 2.0?
Nevermind… It's rude to think of such things.
"I should be here with my friend." I inched back and reclaimed the bed's center. "A boy my age but doesn't actually look like it. Bigger muscles, smaller sharp eyes? Where is he?"
"WHAT?!" he yelled all of a sudden.
"Big body, sharp eyes, a little rude actually. He's a bit prominent."
The old man's skin de-wrinkled around the chin, so much that I could actually see some light grey and a tint of light in his eyes.
"Oh that... that despicable BRAT...!"
He quickly changed his demeanor. Growling, his face heated up in unleashed rage, as his mouth frowned and the prominent brows contracted enough to fully suggest—he's pissed off.
What did you do, Bino?
"Ah—nevermind! Sorry I asked. I'll just… look for him." I lowered my voice.
I took a quick glance at the other side of the cabin—there was a desk at the corner by the curtain-less window, and a slightly open exit letting harsh sunlight peek inside. From here, as I focused my hearing, there were mumblings.
The man sighed.
"You just had to remind me." he muttered, much calmer in tone. "Compared to that freakshow, I can tell you're a really nice kid. Now get out of my house."
"Could I… just have a few minutes, please?" I replied.
"What?"
Though I felt like I'd slept a long time, my body wasn't quite full of it yet. The lids on my eyes were tingling, and the warmth in my feet was infectious. The soft and warm pillow pulled my head down. The thin blanket drifted over me and repelled the cold.
Then came the tip of my fingers and my toes—slowly folding into their neutral state. The lids on my eyes stuck together, and the breeze let itself in and caressed me on the head.
Let's just say…
I don't think the old man liked it.