Chapter 6

Riley continued to look at Hanna as Abel adjusted his head, following his friend's stare. Quickly turning back, Abel mouthed, "Oh fuck" before pivoting his body to face the woman.

"Hi, everything is fine here," Abel tried to cover. "My friend just had a little...uh, stroke—heatstroke!"

"Are you sure?" Hanna asked as she leaned over to look at Riley. "He seems pretty pale, and that book—"

"Magic trick!" Abel cut in, thrusting his face into her view. "Yeah, no...um—the heatstroke and book are part of this new magic gig. You really got me, Riley."

Abel quickly turned around to face Riley. His face was panicked as he mouthed, "Shit, sorry."

"S-sure," Hanna replied awkwardly, trying to look around Abel to Riley. "Well, I just wanted to say that having questions about the climate crisis is nothing to be embarrassed about. And if you have more questions, we'll be around for the next week as well. You know—if you want to talk."

"Thanks," Riley said softly from the ground.

"Yeah, thank you." Abel cut in as he approached Riley to help him up. Quickly taking up the book, Abel tucked it under his arm. "Come on, buddy, I think this illusion is worn out now."

"Okay—" Hanna said, watching Abel lift Riley and quickly guide him away. "Well, umm—good luck with your magic tricks. It looks...terrific, so far?"

"Thanks." The two said simultaneously as they passed, quickly making their way back across the parking lot without looking back.

"What the hell?" Riley said quietly once they were well out of earshot.

"I'm sorry, your name just slipped out," Abel spoke up quickly.

"No-no-no," Riley replied. "A stroke? At what point does someone ever say, it's a little thing...a stroke."

"Well, I didn't say it like that." Abel crossed his arms in protest as he came to a stop in front of the car. Realizing he was still holding the tome, he quickly handed it over to Riley. "And you can't just be whipping your thick, leathery book out in public."

"Yeah, you're right. I was having a moment..." Riley replied, taking the tome and throwing it into the car.

"Yeah? Ya think? Now, what's this whole vegan thing?" Abel questioned as the two began their walk towards the large blue sign of Lux'Mart.

"The word—sacrifice—I think the book needs me to give something up," Riley spoke as the reasoning appeared in his mind. It felt as though the words were forming not from his consciousness but from the tome. "I need to give up something to bring me closer to nature."

"And that means culinary seppuku?" Abel asked. "Why not walk to work, take shorter showers, or live under a rock or something?"

"No—I..." Riley grew quiet as he thought, but the tome didn't have an answer for him.

He remained silent as they made it to the front of the store and stepped through the sliding doors. A blast of cool air immediately rushed over him, snapping him back as it briefly chilled the sweat that hung to his body. As they made it through the second set of doors, Abel quickly grabbed his own cart, disappearing into the maze of aisles as Riley wandered into the fresh produce.

Though Riley frequented the store, he had never spent time picking over vegetables. His fresh produce experience typically being the few seconds on the outskirts as he grabbed a bag of apples or bananas on his way out.

Suddenly, as he stood between the tomatoes and cucumbers, his mind rushed with thoughts of what he could eat as a vegan. Only familiar with the term in passing, he knew that meat was definitely off the table, which made his stomach churn in frustration.

"Salad it is." He muttered as he approached the wall of mist and grabbed a bag of prepackaged leafy mix.

He threw a nearby package of cherry tomatoes and baby carrots into the cart with an accomplished nod before moving to the end of the aisle. There, Riley found the corner where the croutons were situated.

"Okay, no dairy, that's a thing too," Riley muttered as he flipped the boxes over one by one. "Dairy-dairy-dairy-fuck, everything has dairy. Plain it is—you have fucking DAIRY? Oh, come on!"

Throwing the last box back onto the shelf, he looked over the assorted bagged vegetables he had selected and sighed in defeat. He pushed his cart down the baked goods aisle, eying the sweets covetously, knowing they contained dairy and another forbidden product, eggs. His stomach growled in disapproval as, with a huff, he grabbed a plain loaf of bread. Riley wandered for a while longer, selecting odd vegetables and a few cans of soup, before Abel rejoined him.

"Hey man, you ready?" Abel asked.

"Oh, yeah—" Riley replied as he put a can of soup down. "Hey, did you know cheddar cheese is in, like, every fucking soup? Why?"

"Fun shopping trip?" Abel inquired, looking at the scattered selection of food options in the cart.

"I don't want to talk about it," Riley muttered as they both pushed their carts towards the checkout. "I realized that I have no idea what's vegan. And it's funny because nothing is anyway."

Cutting into the nearest self-checkout, Riley made quick work of scanning his items and stuffing them into a plastic bag.

"Reduce." The voice spoke into his mind, causing him to stop.

Looking around, he eyed the other customers as they checked out, oblivious to him. Scanning a few more items, he placed them into another plastic bag.

"Reduce." The voice spoke again, louder this time, causing him to flinch.

"What?" He muttered quietly, looking around. He allowed his gaze to settle on a fabric, reusable bag. "Oh, are you fucking kidding me?"

Riley sighed as he picked out two bags, quickly scanned them, and repacked his groceries. With another item swiped, he gently placed it within the bag and was met with a peaceful silence.

"Good—happy?" He mumbled as he tapped his card on the machine to pay. "Pushiest book ever."

Meeting up with Abel at the other end, the two made their way back to the car. They drove home in silence, hitting every red light from Lux'Mart to the apartment. This made the trip significantly longer, giving Riley more time to overthink the changes his life had taken in two days. The thoughts consumed his mind until he stepped into the hallway leading up to his apartment. There he saw John standing in front of Abel's door.

"Hey, guys!" He yelled out and nodded in their direction.

"Ugh!" Riley groaned, playing it off as if his arms were tired from the grocery bags. "Hey, John."

"Hey, Riley."

"Sup, John—oh shit, right, I told you we'd play some Call of Commitment on Zii-Box Four." Abel looked over at Riley.

"Yeah, no—it's cool," Riley said as he lifted the groceries. "I'll put away my stuff and be over later."

Parting from the two, Riley snuck into his apartment and closed the door behind him. Placing his groceries on the counter, he held out his hands and mumbled away in Druidic. The tome appeared before him as he caught it firmly in his grip.

Giving it a quick look over, Riley thought about the words it had spoken to him. Home. Sacrifice. Reduce. As he walked the book into the bedroom and placed it on the bed, Druidic rang in his memory. He remembered the seedling squirming in his palm and the calm that slowed his racing mind on the balcony.

Turning away from the book, he heard the voice once more speak out to him. "Reduce."

Riley stopped and examined the room. His eyes drifted everywhere possible before finally settling on the last place he wanted to look; his gaming station, cluttered with plastic figurines and metal bobbles. Feeling his heart sink, Riley ignored the voice and escaped back into the kitchen. After putting away the various assorted vegetables he had purchased, he withdrew a carrot and began to chew on the end.

"Bleck." He grumbled as he begrudgingly continued to nibble at it.

"Reduce." The voice roared more forcefully, causing Riley to jump. He felt his attention drawn to the bedroom once more. This time, as he looked, he could feel a pit growing in his stomach.

Carefully making his way to the desk, Riley looked over the trinkets with a feeling of disinterest. Items he once looked at with a sense of pride and enjoyment were now uninteresting and wasteful. Sickly bile built in his stomach, and, like earlier, the feeling of nausea overwhelmed him. Rushing to the toilet, he coughed and gagged as the thoughts of giving up something else to the tome terrified him.

Riley felt his mind rushing with each heave. How far would he go? How far could he go? Another heave crunched his stomach and curled his toes as he punched his gut to make it stop.

Collapsing beside the toilet, tears rolled down his cheeks, but he didn't know why. He touched them at the point where tears met sweat and stared at the droplets they left on his fingers. Riley thought about Hanna and sacrifice and reducing. Then his mind was consumed with thoughts of the tome that appeared in his possession and refused to leave it.

Like a waking dream, a memory washed over him. He thought back to when he was a child, swimming in the ocean and being ripped under by a wave. Riley could feel the pressure over him and the panic settling into his mind as the darkness of the water enveloped his body. Rolling onto the floor, he tucked his knees to his chest, as he had as a child. Holding his breath, Riley remembered rolling across the sandy floor until his feet touched the bottom. Planting his heels, his legs sprang, launching him up to the surface, where he breached the ocean with a gasp of air.

Riley's consciousness broke through, and he opened his eyes. His mind was made up.

Standing with a start, suddenly sure of his decision, Riley flushed the toilet and exited the bathroom. He grabbed the two new bags he had purchased and dropped them in front of his computer.

Hand-over-hand, Riley shovelled the figurines from their shelved position and emptied them into the bag. Reaching a particularly favourite possession, Riley examined its oversized head and stoically standing body. Moving it and the three others that made up the collection to the side, he continued to pack away the toys.

"Eighty-twenty." He said and nodded. "Keep what brings me joy."

With the addition of two more bags that Riley found hiding in the house, he packed up the rest of his desk by the time the door to the front opened and closed.

"Riley," Abel announced as he entered. "Hey, we're going to grab a—whoa."

Turning with a bag of bobbles and books, Riley looked at Abel with a wild expression before noticing John.

"Abel..." Riley replied anxiously, looking down at the items before him.

"Bud—"

"Whoa!" John interrupted as he snuck his head past Abel and looked at the bags of figurines that Riley had packed up beside the bed. "Is that a limited edition Thanatos JoyCo Snap Figurine?"

"Yeah," Riley replied, his eyes never leaving Abel. "There's plenty—I don't need them anymore."

"Yeah? Who says?" Abel strained in the second half, and Riley knew what he was asking.

"I heard it in an audiobook."

"Oh shit, minimalism—dope." John smacked his lips before looking around for something that wasn't there and turning his attention back. "So are you, like, donating them?"

"I don't know...why? Do you want them?"

"No, no, I couldn't." John scrunched his face, pretending not to be interested.

"Reduce." The voice insisted once more.

"I insist," Riley said as he grabbed John and led him over to the bed. "Take whatever you want—from the bags." Riley clarified. "I won't need them anymore. They're yours."

"Wow, that's awesome! Thanks, brosideon."

"Please don't..." Riley whispered under his breath.

"M'whyjuh'quhwhy." The voice of the tome whispered in response to him.

"What was that?" John asked curiously in reply to Riley as he began to dig through the tchotchkes.

"Oh, just mumbling to myself." Riley laughed in reply and, like a knee-jerk, spoke the Druidic he had just learned. "M'whyjuh'quhwhy."

The book jumped on the bed, slamming against the sheets and flying open. The pages flipped feverishly as thick, leathery roots began to crawl out from the spine and wrap around the edges of the mattress. Vines burst forward, tethering themselves to the roof and walls. They crept and crawled, consuming the space in foliage. Along the ground, where the roots wriggled and snaked their way around obstacles, tiny white hairs gripped to the wood and snuck between the cracks. In a matter of seconds, every surface of the room had become covered in roots, vines, bark, and foliage. And, as Riley looked to Abel with a mortified expression, he could see large purple and yellow flowers beginning to bloom around them.

"Umm—" John began to panic as he backed away from Riley towards the apartment's entrance.