Duality, part one.

Although Carlos still has a hard time trusting others, having him hide in the room every time a customer went into the shop. Through slipups Carlos actually started to talk to Johnny normally, even letting out a small smile every once and a while at his jokes. Even though he found Jonny's jiggling belly weird because he's never seen anyone like that.

One day Carlos wakes up and gets off the bed doing a small stretch, looking around the room he's surprised to see the same bag he dropped a while ago in the forest. He picks it up and sets it on the bed even smiling a bit then shakes his head walking out the room where he sees Jonny putting his shoes on he looks at Carlos and smiles fondly.

“Goodmorning” he looks carlos up and down

“How's the wound?”

“Morning, and It's better” Carlos nods and touches the bandage and nods.

“Im pretty much healed it doesn't hurt when I walk or when I change it anymore.” Carlos says and Jonny nods.

“That's gonna make a badass scar you know, but still you should be careful not to do too much, you don't wanna open it back up.” he chuckles, his gut jiggling a bit.

“I guess” Carlos says, rubbing the back of his neck, then Jonny stands up.

“Fallow me, let me show you something” Johnny stands up and walks to the backroom, Carlos pauses but after a bit he follows behind him. Walking in there's other herbs and stuff hung up and stuff in jars.

“See usually this store gets rarely any attention because it's out of town, but because I've been so stuck with taking care of you, I haven't been able to go in town and be an actual good salesman. So as repayment i wanted to ask you to guard me tomorrow when i go in town to start selling" Carlos looks around kinda in shock and looks back at him conflicted but the fact that he's been helping him for so long.

“I would…” he pauses then shakes his head

“Sorry, yeah ill do it, i do owe you” Jonny smiles and nods.

“Thanks I appreciate it,” he looks at Carlos then nods. “You know if it gets too much , tell me, you're probably not used to that many people, and almost everyone in that town likes me.” Carlos looks at him and simply nods, not knowing what else to say. Jonny sighs.

“You're welcome to find your stuff by the way. I took off late at night, an old man can't explore like that especially at night" Carlos nods and looks down.

“I appreciate it seriously.” Jonny chuckles, shaking his head

“Im kidding i dont need thanks, like i said before, I was quite the adventure back then” he crosses his arms looking proud of himself.

“Right…” Carlos says looking skeptical, Jonny nods then looks at the bandage.

“Well anyways, we have daylight to burn, I'll get the stuff ready and will let you know when we are ready to go.” Carlos is tense because the thought of seeing so many people is troublesome to him living with what happened to him is the hard part and especially after Hana who was the only good person in the facility.

“You ok?” Jonny says snapping Carlos out of his deep thought.

“Yeah I'm fine, I'll be waiting.” Carlos steps back then turns to walk out of the herb room.

Carlos leaves the shop to get some air, looking around at the morning sunrise he smiles a bit but turning around and looking at the distant town full of people wipes that smile away. The thought of more people like that, the same people who tortured Carlos, the same people who spat on his weak body, the same people who did the same but to other kids or people. The thought cannot escape him that the town is full of those evil people.

“Ah there you are.” Yet again Jonny snaps him out of his deep thoughts.

“Ready?”

“Yeah…” Jonny gives Carlos a soft smile and goes behind the shop to follow the trail going to the town. Wait shouldn't the shop be facing the town to attract customers. When Carlos follows Jonny to the back he sees a sign on the back with two arrows on both corners of the sign having an arrow that loops around, it also has some writing on it. After staring at it for a little bit Carlos turns around to keep Fallowing Johnny.

Looking at the flat land ahead of him and the forest behind him it looks kinda cool. It kinda reminds him of his own home that was pretty much surrounded by little mountains and the nice dark green in the forest. The white wood with the orange leaves are actually new to Carlos, he's never seen a place look so bright, it's like the dark wood and the dark leaves absorb some of the light. The clear sky with the bright sun pouring down on both Carlos and Jonny.

As Jonny and Carlos approach the entrance of the town there's a big old sign that shows the name of it, so bad Carlos cannot read it either. The sound of distant chatter and walking makes Carlos more and more tense then he already is.

“So what do you think?” Jonny stops, walks and turns around to look at Carlos, his shoulders are tense, his head is low, and he's walking slower than before. In response Jonny slows down to walk beside him.

Carlos' world is spinning, he leaves Jonny unanswered while a heavy pressure is on his shoulders and the area gets more dark, he starts hearing things that aren't even real, he feels more eyes on him then they actually are and at any point he hears any type of laughter it feels pointed at him.

Jonny pauses for a second and turns to the stairs of someone's house and sits down.

“Damn that walk used to be so easy for me to do before.” He does an over exaggerated sigh as he sits down.

“Take a second to sit with me, I need this rest.” Carlos plops on the other side of the stairs and keeps his head low. Jonny keeps his eyes off him but subtly takes looks to check on him. After giving him some time to breathe Jonny finally speaks up.

“We have a few stops to make then ima try and sell to any travalers if theres any.”

After a second Carlos responds. “What do I do?”

“Nothing for now, just observe me and the people around here.”

Carlos slowly lifts his head up, and the first thing he sees is a group of kids chasing and running after each other, a younger couple holding hands and shopping in a store in front of them, a group of young adults drinking from a big glass of water laughing while passing it around.the old feeling washes away, seeing all these types of people actually looking happy and neutral expressions matching well with the bright environment.

After giving Carlos a second to adjust, Jonny stands up and points at the same store in front of them.

“Thats the first stop if you're ready.” Carlos takes another second to look around then nods. The whole area isn't anything he's used to, his hometown was quiet, people usually left each other alone unless they wanted something or help for something. But this is all completely new.

“Yeah…” he stands up and walks alongside Jonny as they enter the store. A woman sitting at the counter is reading through some log book, when she looks up her eyes light up when she sees Jonny.

“No way! Your back! It feels like forever everyone here misses you.” the woman speaks out standing up and looking him up and down.

“It's only been two weeks? Did I miss something or what happened?” Jonny looks confused but the excitement seems normal, maybe he's popular?

“Well… nah just forget it, im really just excited for that mix, you have it right?” Jonny chuckles a bit and shakes his head and while doing this he takes the bag off his back.

“Yeah, sorry it took so long, I've been busy.

“All you do is sit on your ass all day and touch little plants”

“It's honestly better than hiring someone else to do your stocking.” They both laugh a bit and Jonny pulls out multiple carved wooden containers and slides them over to her.

“I appreciate it, Jonny.” she winks at him and stands up, she then grabs the containers.

“And actually I've been stocking myself, things are getting… expensive.” Jonny raises an eyebrow but doesn't push on.

“Anyways, who's the kid?” as she points at Carlos before putting the containers in a little cabinet. Jonny nudges Carlos trying to signal him to talk.

“I- oh, im Carlos.” She turns her head back at him and nods and gives him a slight smile.

“Nice to meet you Carlos, I honestly like that style, it fits you.” She's probably referring to the goggles

“Thanks?” Jonny coughs and motions for him to follow again.

“Right, I'll see you around then.” Jonny says as he waves at her and the lady waves back.

“Bye bye be safe.” the lady calls out while Carlos just mouths her a simple bye.

As the two are leaving jonny turns and looks at Carlos with a slight smirk.

“So girls dig the goggles?” Jonny says while wiggling his eyebrow.

“Huh? I wouldn't know.” Carlos just looks at him confused.

“Shes a hard bug man, but she seemed into you.” Jonny nudges him again and Carlos just brushes his elbow off him.

“I actually don't get what you're saying.” Jonny pauses and tilts his head then sighs.

“Right…”

The more Carlos walks with Jonny the more he sees, the different types of people rang here. There's people who try to come off as nonchalant while having a funny side, there's people who try too hard to be funny to one another. But everything is real here, that's all Carlos had been looking at.

Jonny's been selling to a lot of people he's even donated some supplies over and at the clinic that's nearby. Jonny's reputation precedes him as he's super popular and this surprises Carlos, more and more people ask about Carlos but he's still closed off and not really communicating to them like that. The more Carlos explores the more he sees and he's been so fascinated by all this that he never really considered why these people need all these medical ointments and paste, or why there are all the sudden so many injured.

On the way back Carlos is looking at the setting sun, the warm air still blows on him and it does feel really nice. Going back up the hillside towards Jonny's shop.

“Hey we got the same thing tomorrow if that's ok with you.” Jonny says as he opens the door for Carlos.

“I… I don't mind.” Carlos says while walking in.