Chapter 15

Ren Young

Banging at the front door woke me up. How long have I been asleep? I groaned and sat up. The banging was still ringing through the house. It sounded like a crowd was yelling outside as well. Shut up already. I sat up and walked out of the house. My head felt clearer now, though I didn't remember much of what happened after that creature showed up to beat me down.

My parents were at the end of the hallway, looking down the steps. I stopped and looked down at our front door. It was visibly shaking from the banging, and my parents had not only moved our kitchen table in front of it, but they had also weighed it down with every heavy object we owned. The table was piled with dense books, stone decorations, cast iron cookware, and apparently whatever else they thought would weigh it down. The table looked like it was starting to bow in from the weight.

"Uh, what's going on?" I had been standing there for a minute, but both of my parents seemed too deep in thought to notice.

"The people have come to voice a formal complaint," my dad answered. This seemed like more than a complaint. "It seems we have been found out for having rather unusual house guests."

"Ren, dear. Would you like to tell us something about Cynthia?" My mom didn't bother beating around the bush like my dad.

"Not particularly."

"Not particularly?" my mother repeated in a questioning tone. We stood in silence for a moment. My dad reached out his hand and gestured for me to hold mine out. When I did, he dropped the light cream makeup I had used on Cynthia into my hand. I let out a sigh.

"How long have you known?"

"How long have we known? I'm surprised more people didn't notice with the job you did applying the makeup," my father spoke in a friendly tone.

"It was obvious when we first saw her," my mother said.

"The rain was worse than I thought," I said aloud.

"Don't go blaming the rain for your lack of talent," my father said. He had once spent a year working to apply makeup to some magazine models when he was younger. The makeup my mother owned was acquired from that time, not that I would know, as I had yet to be born at the time. The industry would eventually crash, as the cost for magazines was too high for the demand, and they became rare collector items, but he was confident in the skills he'd picked up then.

"I'll head out by the roof and lay low at Andrew's for a while," I told them. This conversation could just keep going on at this rate.

My mother suddenly hugged me. I wasn't sure what to say. She let go, and my father walked up and put his hand on my shoulder. He smiled.

"Alright, be safe," my parents said in unison. They probably figured it was in our best interest for me to hideout. They could say I haven't been home recently while I hid. However, that exchange was a little weird.

I walked down the hallway and pulled at a rope we had tied onto the wall. The wall slid open onto some stairs, and I climbed up. The house was initially built with an attic, but the roof had been long lost in the past, making the stairs to the attic useless except to climb onto the roof. I reached the top and peaked over the edge at the crowd.

People filled the walkway from my front door out to the street. They were all yelling, and some in the back were throwing things at the house. I have no idea what they would do if they got a hold of me. I don't think they know what they would do either. I slipped back out of view of the street before anyone happened to look up and see me.

I would have to jump over a few roofs before I would be far enough away to get onto the street at this rate. I sighed. If I had never bothered climbing that mountain, I wouldn't be in this mess. I took off at the fastest sprint I could make in the short distance that was the roof. Pushing off with my legs, I landed on the roof behind our home. The neighbors would probably be surprised by the sudden bang, but I feel that they would be used to hearing it by now. With another sprint, I leaped across the next building and then the next, without slowing down.

It took some trial and error when I was younger, but I can now hop across about ten buildings if I keep up the same speed. Today was no different, as I landed on the last roof. After the first three houses the buildings were larger for businesses, so I could get a fair distance away easily. I never thought that something I did for fun when I was younger would be so useful now. At this point, I could no longer hear the crowd at my house.

I let myself hang over the edge of the building and drop onto the ground. Some people passed by and gave me a strange look while muttering to themselves. I imagine my reputation had spread everywhere at this point, but I didn't imagine I would get attacked by anyone that was not angry enough to come to my house this morning. I walked down the street in the direction of Andrew's. Whenever people saw me, they would move to the other side of the street or completely walk in a different direction. It would be a while before things got back to normal.

I broke into a sprint down the street. It would take a while to get to Andrew's, and I didn't want to stay out too long. In the distance, I could see someone looking in my direction. They were waving their arms as if to get my attention. I bit my tongue. It was York. I slowed my pace and stopped in front of him, just out of arm's length. For some reason, his hand was wrapped in bandages,

"What, York? I'm in a bit of a hurry."

"Oh, I bet you are," he spoke in a smug tone.

"Do you have something you want to say to me?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing after getting that beatdown." I sighed. Like everyone else, he must have heard about what happened. He must have guessed I would stay at Andrew's and knew I would pass by here eventually. He's annoying that way.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Oh, what about that pretty redhead you were with?"

"She's back home now."

"I can't imagine that it is having a good time." What was his point of being here? He had a sneer on his face, and his tone seemed like he was speaking down to me. He was starting to piss me off more than he usually did.

"Look, York, what do you want? I don't have time." York pointed his wrapped hand at my face.

"Well, you are going to make time!" he suddenly shouted. I don't think I've ever heard him raise his voice like this. He put his arm down and closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. Then he spoke in his usual tone, "You didn't tell me you met such a pretty creature up there. When I saw it, I might have fallen in love if I didn't know what it was." When did he see her? Did we pass in the town when I was walking Cynthia around? York didn't stop talking. "Did you spend any time wondering how that monster knew to go where the opening was? No, I guess you couldn't, with you getting such a beat down and all." He chuckled a little. It clicked faster than I could put it into words. I immediately grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and lifted his feet off the ground.

"Yo- how- wh- I couldn't put my thoughts into words. Somehow he had led that man to us and was now boasting about it. What did he even hope to accomplish? He knew, even if I were injured, I would win in a fight. Still, all he was doing was smiling. He suddenly leaned over to look behind me.

"Well, it looks like our company has arrived." I looked behind me. A large crowd was closing in. As they got closer, I could see that they were armed with wooden bats and beams. Words like traitor and sympathizer echoed through the streets. I let York go and turned back. He laughed and scurried to the side. There was no running now. If I tried, they would take off after me, and I wouldn't be able to hide at Andrew's as I had planned. "Good luck, Ren," York yelled off to the side as he was walking away, "I hope our next business venture goes better."

When the crowd got close enough, it split off and went around me until I was completely enclosed in a circle. There must have been about 30 to 40 angry people surrounding me. I could probably hold my own in a fight and take down a dozen or so, they were untrained after all, but I was going to get a beatdown, nonetheless.

We stood motionless for what seemed like an eternity, waiting for the first person to make a move when a voice rang out over all our heads. Immediately, we all turned to find the source. The ordinarily smooth, grey mountain was lit up with the face of one of the chimeras. It appeared as if several screens wrapped around the mountain in a band near the top with the same image repeated on all of them. We all stood in awe, staring. I doubt anyone knew the mountain could do this. I imagine the whole town was fixed on the image now. It was probably what they wanted with this stunt.

"Well, I hope I have all of your attention because this is the only time we are making an announcement."

The crowd's full attention was focused on the screen. If I was getting out of this, now was the time. I started to slowly move my way into and through the crowd as the voice spoke. "So, as you by now know, a human from our city found her way into your... city." There was a noticeable pause before the word city. I continued to slowly slip past the distracted crowd as they watched, dumbfounded.

"So, I have come to apologize for this incident formally. We never meant to allow this to happen." I broke free of the crowd and carefully tiptoed my way to the corner of the street. I broke off in a run once I was fully out of sight, as the crowd kept watching. I would have to take the back way to Andrew's now, to be safe.

"We hope this has not caused any ill will to our relations at this point in time," the person on the mountain was still talking, "I want to let you know that we will punish the one responsible for this mess." I ducked into an alley and stopped to catch my breath. "Due to that, we will be exiling code AL.I.C.E-2968442 promptly and efficiently. She will be dropped off in the wasteland, and permissions to pass through the barrier will be revoked. We hope that we will be able to cooperate in the future. Thank you."

The voice stopped, and the crowd in the distance began to yell loudly. I am not sure if what I heard were cries of anger at my disappearance or cries of joy at punishment for Cynthia. I leaned back against the wall. Cynthia was to be punished. I guess that was it. It would be suicide to go into the wasteland under normal circumstances, but with the sandstorm roaring right now, she had no hope of survival, more robust than me or not.

"Well, you heard them; what are you going to do?"

"Just sit here a while longer," I replied before realizing I had just been spoken to. I leaped up into the air from the ground and backed away a few steps. I recognized this man.

"Jeez, Andrew, don't sneak up on me like that." He laughed.

"I couldn't help it. You were the one not paying attention."

"Fine," I suppose he was right. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Just out for a stroll."

"Uh-huh"

"What are you doing here?"

"I was going to your place to hide out."

"Hide out?"

"Yes." This conversation was starting to bug me. I didn't want to spend any more time outside with that crowd after me.

"Well, let us get going." He began to walk down the alley. I followed several steps behind him. "It is a shame for dear Cynthia," Andrew said.

"Yes, she won't last very long out there."

"Oh no, unfortunately for her, she will," he said with a calm voice. He was probably right; he tended to be right about these things. Still, it wasn't like I could do anything. It wasn't like I should do anything.

"You may be right."

"Unfortunately, I am." I suppose I should be questioning him more. He never said it, but I'm sure he knew Cynthia was from up there. He seemed confident about her fate. Yet, he remained as calm as he always was. We turned a corner and reached the back door of his house. I followed him as he walked in.

Andrew's house was a unique place. There was no church to speak of when he first arrived in town, so people often called his home the church. It didn't look like a church when you entered, at least based on how he described a church ought to look.

"How long do you think it will take to get back to normal?" I asked after a moment of silence as I kicked off my shoes and walked over to the couch. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temple before responding.

"Oh, probably a few months before people stop panicking and trying to kill you. Though it will be a while longer before things get back to what you are going to call normal," he said as he sat down in a chair facing the couch on the other side of the room. I sat down on the sofa and faced him. I immediately looked at the ground.

So, it would probably take a while before things got back to normal. Honestly, if that guy never showed up to take Cynthia back, I would probably still feel like things are different for a while anyway. I guess it's for the best that the rest of the town will feel that way as well.

Do I want things to go this way? I have been telling myself that I do.

"Well, if you like, I have some clothing that would be suitable enough for a trip to the wasteland."

"Huh." I looked back up at Andrew. His expression was unchanged, as always. What does he mean? What is he trying to imply?

"Why would I want that?"

"I don't think I can answer that question for you."

"It would be suicide to go out there."

"Most likely."

"I wouldn't be able to get back easily."

"No, you would not."

"I wouldn't be able to find her in that storm."

"I never said anything about finding anyone," Andrew replied to me calmly. I bit my tongue.

"That doesn't matter." I got up and walked out of the room. Andrew had a study down the hall, with a collection of books. He wrote the vast majority, though he claims he is only transcribing books he read in the past.

"Where are you going?"

"To read." I walked out of the room, leaving Andrew sitting alone.

What would he expect me to do? Go out in that storm and wander until I find her? Even if I did, I couldn't bring her back to town. I stopped and banged my fist on a wall. We would have to wander around the wasteland until we hopefully found our way out into the lush mythical area outside of it? It was stupid. Why would anyone agree to that? She will just have to die there. She will just have to die there?

I turned around and slid down the wall. I wish Andrew hadn't made it seem like I could go out there and find her. I was trying to let her go, whatever her fate may be. I suppose I must have enjoyed the time we spent together, even if I wanted to deny it. I sighed and looked up. It wouldn't hurt to see what Andrew had here. I'm sure it would be ridiculous, and I would be able to deny using it right away.

I pushed myself off the ground and began walking down to where Andrew was sitting. I would humor him and then decline. That would be the end of this. There is nothing I can do now anyway, so no need to entertain ridiculous thoughts.