Eer... yes. I can't speak a word finnish, so thanks. Heh.
---
You decide not to. No point getting in to even more trouble. You smile at him and lift your hands in a excusing manner.
“Nothing. Sorry, go on with whatever you were doing.”
He nods and disappears. You turn to Zeke and start explaining before he can ask you for it.
“I didn’t think he could help us anyway. I mean, who knows where he could take us?”
Zeke shakes his head.
“Yeah, whatever. Your choice. We still have a long walk in front of us so I suggest that we start walking about now.”
You walk for days. You don’t stop often, and when you do you take all your chances to rest your feet and get some sleep. Zeke doesn’t have much money, and Mike’s bag is soon empty. You find yourself sleeping on the street and begging, stealing or even taking food from the few trashcans you can find. You see a lot of people doing the same thing. You grow thinner and you often wonder how someone as small as Zeke could survive that way. You wonder how you can live that way. Everytime you sleep, pictures of your past haunts your mind, if the creature called Claire isn’t there to chase the little calm out of you there is. But everyday you get closer to the Pillar.
One day.
You stumble forwards. Your feet are bleeding and your innards seems to be writhing around themselves. You think that you are hallucinating, but you aren’t sure. Zeke is somewhere behind you. You walk into something soft. In your state, you’re convinced it’s a pillow and almost falls asleep on it. It pushes you away.
“Hey! Keep off me.” Someone says. You look on him. It’s a big man standing in front of a very, very high wall. You try to focus on his face. It’s blurry, but it’s definitly there.
“Who are you?” you ask. “Am I in the Pillar yet...?”
“Aah! I see! Another freak from the Compound. Look, buddy, if you want work, I’m sure you’d find something over there. Don’t drag everything over here.”
“Noo...” you mumble. “I’m here to see Mike.”
“Mike who?”
“Uuuum...”
You search through your pockets, trying to find the card. You find it, but can’t read it. You give the card to him instead. He looks at it and then back at you.
“You don’t look much like an actor.”
“I’m not. I’m a friend. Or, uh, yeah.”
He hums and gives the card back to you.
“Why do you need to see him?”
“He’s got something to tell me. I’m not sure what exactly... But hey, I’ve almost died to get here.” You say and frown. You look back. Zeke is standing a bit back, looking at you. You turn back to the man. “And he too.”
The man shakes his head.
“You look like trash, the two of you. Look, I’ll let you in, mkay? But I advice you to go to someone who can help you first. A doctor or something.” The man says and opens a door next to him. You look at him, the door and then on your feet. You come to a conclusion.
“I don’t think... I can go anywhere right now. Excuse me...” you say weakly and collapses on the street.
You wake up a day or two later, feeling much better. You’re lying in a large bed. Your feet are bandaged, you are full for the first time in... a long time and you’re not thirsty. You don’t think that anyone ever felt as good as you do now. Someone comes in through the door.
“Good afternoon.” Zeke says, he seems to be in an extremely good mood as well. “I just came in to ask a question. Do you want to stay and rest or should we get going?”
You try to move your feet. They don’t hurt the slightest. In fact, you can’t feel them. You sit up and touch them. You still don’t feel a thing. You stand up to try walking on them. You manage to take a few steps before something cracks loudly. You sit down again.
“I’d like to, but I don’t think I can.”
Zeke shrugs.
“I don’t mind. I like it here anyway. Have you tried the soup? It’s fabulous!” he says and goes out of your room, still talking about the luxuries.
You later find out that you are in a local helper thing. You don’t know where exactly or who owns it, you’re just glad that you get a little help. You and Zeke leaves a couple of days later (your feet still feels like someone else owns them) to find Mike. When you first step out of the house and takes a look at the city, you are amazed. You’ve never seen anything like the Pillar. Every house looks like it belongs to a rich man back on Aeris. You don’t know if it means that everyone in the Pillar is rich, or that the houses are very grand. You ask around, trying to find Mike from directions, but no one seems to know him. You then asks a man about the numbers on the card, and get directions almost right away. You follow them to a house that seems to hold atleast six or seven large families. You go in and look for the door with the right numbers. It’s on the top floor. You ring the bell and waits for him to come answer it. Instead, you hear something familiar. Inside of your head.
“Who is it?”
You groan. Another problem.
---
Last edited by Silversnow; 02-21-2004 at 12:38 PM..
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