Advice

Andre was walking around in the city, wandering his sight here and there while trying to memorize the very shape of the city. He didn't truly get a chance to observe what apparently was going to be his new home earlier since he had volunteered himself to help prepare the party.

He didn't mind giving a hand, moreover, contrary to many of his colleagues who came back from the war, it seemed that he didn't have friends or family who were waiting for him and whom he couldn't wait to meet again. Andre had used to be a slave of Konny, the person who was ruling Fog city and due to whose special ability she had used to subdue him, he had lost all the souvenirs of his previous life, just like most of his city mates.

When he arrived in Stainfall and observed the people as they were reuniting with each other, he thought that if he ever had any relatives or friends from his previous life whether they were with him back in Fog city, among those who had fallen under Konny's powers and thus they mutually lost souvenirs of each other or they were among the refugees who came in Stainfall days ago and thus were waiting for him. However, he quickly realized that, in the crowd, no one was looking for him which confirmed the intuition he had deep in his heart since he woke up from Konny's control, he had always been alone.

But that situation didn't bother him that much.

After walking for a while now, Andre found a bench on a side of the road and went to sit as he decided to have some rest. He put aside the small plastic bag he was carrying and took out a bottle of water and a sandwich wrapped in a piece of aluminum he had brought from the festival.

Andre found that he was not the kind of person who enjoyed those types of gathering, so on the first occasion, he sneaked out. Since he was a calm and quiet guy, nobody paid particular attention to him, so it was quite easy to leave without being noticed.

He swallowed the last sip of water, put his palms on both sides to support his body, and tilted his head backward while releasing a sigh of satisfaction. He stared at the blue sky and began to think.

Even though he knew it would be quite complicated to approach him during that festival since he was a very popular man, Andre was motivated to meet and talk with Jamal, so he played along with the others for a short moment, moving from one stand to another while he kept watching, waiting for an occasion where Jamal would be alone, but that never happened so he decided to give up temporarily and go for a walk far from the gathering.

" I must be pretty exhausted, " he remarked after he yawned for the third time. He stood up, threw the empty bottle and the piece of aluminum foil in a trash bin, and walked away, following the direction of the address of the apartment he had been attributed earlier.

When he arrived to put the key to unlock the door and after entering in, he went straight to lay his body on the sofa in the living room, and before he realized it he fell asleep.

He woke up in the middle of the night, gazed around him a little disoriented, and took a short moment to organize his thoughts. As he was feeling a little hungry he walked to the kitchen and reached the fridge, with low hopes to find anything to eat since he knew that it's very rare to find food in a home one just moved in. However, unexpectedly, he found two plastic boxes containing food.

[ It seems that they are the leftovers from a dinner ] Andre supposed after he opened and checked them out. He was too hungry to think about where that food came from. He took one box, went to light on the stove, and began to heat up the food in it.

He left the spoon on the plate after finishing to eat and sighed while stroking his belly, satisfied. He left his back fall on the backrest of the sofa as he was eating in the living room and asked himself " what to do now? "

It was evident for him that he won't be able to fall asleep again before a while since he had just woke up from a long nap and thus he wasn't feeling tired anymore. He passed his hands behind his head and while staring up at the roof he started wondering what would be the next step of his plans. [ I followed the mass and came to this city without knowing what I will be doing ].

Andre remembered that Lina, the mayor of Stainfall, planned to use the knowledge, skills, and individual talents of each person and put them at the service of the city and the citizens. It was true that they still had the most basic and essential resources like food and electricity and that, thanks to the efforts of her townspeople, the city was somehow barely living economically and socially, but Lina still recognized that there were still many things lacking, and that was the reason why she asked for every people's help to make the city somewhere they can live on their expectations together.

But, though Andre was enthusiastic about that idea and was willingly supporting it, he soon realized that he just couldn't fit himself in that big picture. He didn't have any knowledge or talents that could be of any use for the city, and because of that and other personal issues he couldn't yet understand, he sometimes had the thoughts of maybe leaving the city to look for somewhere he really belonged to.

" Is it a good idea? Where would I go? " he started interrogating himself.

Still, with those thoughts of his, Andre stayed there wondering until the sun rose without him even realizing it.

It was only when he perceived a presence in the living room that he held on the run of his thoughts. He startled a little after he came back to reality and began to move his sight everywhere in that room, worriedly, looking for that presence he just felt a few minutes ago.

" Don't tell me you have been sleeping there since yesterday when I found you? " said Matteo with a tone of surprise. The boy was standing on the other side of the room, facing Andre, while wearing a light T-shirt and a boxer with a towel on his head covering his wet hair.

" Wh-who are you? " Andre was still lost trying to figure out who was that kid before him.

" You have already forgotten me? Don't you remember who gave you the key to this apartment? No? " Matteo replied while looking a little disappointed.

Andre rummaged in his memory while replaying the events of the day before until the figure of Matteo appeared in his mind. He remembered Volga had been pushing him to go reclaim his new residence, and there, he found a long line of people who came for the same reasons, he had decided to stay behind and wait for the others to get theirs. When Volga noticed that she returned to him exasperated, scolded him while saying that it was nice of him to think about the others but he had to learn to care about him first. As a result, he was among those who got the last batch of residences.

" You're Matteo, right? The assistant of Miss Lina? " He said after he remembered.

" I'm not her assistant. I just happened to work with her, " the latter corrected him, a bit irritated by the tendency of people to associate him as a mere assistant. [ That's all her fault for forcing me to do all her works ] he couldn't help but think.

" Sorry, my brain is pretty slow when it comes to remembering something or someone ".

" Don't worry, I understand, " the boy shrugged while waving his hand. " Anyway, I was planning to inform you that I'm going to be your roommate but when I came yesterday I found you asleep and to say the truth I wasn't expecting that you will keep your eyes closed until today. You must have been very tired ".

The young man suddenly opened his eyes wide as he just figured out something, " so that means that the food I found in the fridge was yours? "

Matteo, who had noticed the dirty empty plate on the table, nodded before he quickly added, " it's not a problem. We will be living under the same roof from now on and I don't mind sharing my food so don't hold back feel free to help yourself whenever you want ".

" Sorry and thank you " Andre replied, noting in his mind to always ask him before deciding to take something to eat in the fridge.

" Well, I have to prepare to leave since we have a load of work waiting for us at the city hall, and I'm pretty sure Lina will come late again, " Matteo let him know while letting the towel falling on his shoulders.

" You will be starting to collect the census of the new residents like me who came yesterday if I'm not wrong " Andre guessed.

" That's right, " he confirmed, " that makes me remember, don't forget to pass by the city hall later to register, and depending on your capacities we may be able to find you a job ".

Andre bowed his head in a sudden bad mood, making Matteo feeling confused. As he was about to ask him what was wrong, the young man opened his mouth and said " about that, if... " but he immediately shut it up as if someone just put a hand on his mouth to hold him to say further.

The boy thought having already an idea about what he was thinking but he couldn't say it to him. He was not Jamal nor Lina, he was not very good when it came to those kinds of discussions, so he decided to just ignore it for the moment. He walked toward his room and came back minutes later with new clothes and found Andre in the same thoughtful position he had left him.

" See you later at the city hall then," he said to him before he left the house after a last glance at Andre.

A few minutes later, he latter finally decided to move and so he went to the bathroom first, after a bath and a teeth brush, he went to wear the same clothes since he didn't have others to change and left the house.

He got, the day before, the address of Volga and as he thought he really needed someone to give him some pieces of advice, he couldn't think about anyone else at that moment. In fact, he first thought about meeting Jamal but he was afraid that he might be too busy with some important matters of the city, moreover, Andre didn't know where to find him and besides him the only other person he could trust was Volga.

He, later, arrived in front of the apartment and before he could knock on the door, it got opened from inside and a man, he remembered having met briefly during the carnival, came out. Different from Matteo earlier, Andre remembered about that man faster since he had seen him for a longer time than the boy.

Don had his attention directed toward the inside of the apartment, busy discussing with someone else, he didn't notice Andre until he bumped into him.

" Sorry young man, " Donald immediately said.

" No, I'm sorry, it's clearly my fault " Andre replied before extending his hand while introducing himself, " I am Andre, we have met yesterday ".

" Yes, I remember you. You are among the people of Fog city who have lost their memories, right? A very brave man as it has been said about you, " Don praised him while shaking his hand with a large smile on his face, " how can I help you? "

As he was about to respond, Andre heard the familiar voice of Volga, coming from behind Donald, saying, " who are you talking to? " She came to place herself behind her man to peek at the visitor. " Oh, Andre, how are you? Are you feeling good today? " she exclaimed after recognizing the young man, " what are you doing here? "

" To say the truth, I wanted you to help me with some matters but if I'm interrupting you I can go and come back later? " he responded with a gesture of leaving.

" No, no wait, I was the one who was about to leave. I have a load of work waiting for me, " Donald stopped him quickly before he went further.

" Do you really have to go? Can't you just take one day off? " Volga tried to convince him to stay while holding his hand and leaning her head on his shoulder.

Don put a kiss on her forehead before he declared, " I really would want to stay with you but there are many patients who depend on me and who are actually waiting for me. But I promise to return back as soon as I finish ". As Volga raised her head to look at him in the eyes he put another kiss on her lips before he passed beside Andre and left. " See you later! " he shouted as he was walking away in hurry.

" So? What about entering inside to have some tea, I'm pretty sure you didn't take your breakfast yet, did you? " Without telling him anything else, Volga left the door open and walked inside.

Andre entered in before closed the door behind him and, right away, he tried his best to pay attention to his surrounding so that to ignore the extravagant suit Volga was wearing which was composed of a unique long blue shirt which stopped just below her butt.

" Wait for me here I will be right back," She said while pointing to the sofa in the living room.

After Andre went to have a seat, she walked bare feet to her room and came back a moment later dressed more decently, with a grey tracking suit but still bare feet. she went to the kitchen and came back to the living room with two cups of hot tea.

" Well, tell me now what is bothering you," the woman asked after she sipped her tea.

" First of all, I wanted to say that I'm truly grateful to you for having saved me from Konny's control, back then in Fog city, and that I'm happy that you brought me here in this peaceful town, " Andre paused, looking for the best words, he could think of, to express what he was feeling, " but... to go straight to the point since I came here I have these thoughts that keep bugging me. A feeling that I can't get rid of it. The feeling that I don't belong to a peaceful place like here. I feel like I don't have my place here ".

Volga didn't reply immediately. She nodded, drank some tea again before she sighed, " you know the job of Donald? " She waited for Andre to shake his head before she carried on, " he is a psychologist and he discussed very much with the people who have escaped the atrocities of their home cities, but still keep some deep scars within their hearts, and the phrase the most repeated by those patients of his, he told me, is that they don't belong to this city. I'm not a psychologist but based on my observation and wisdom I can say, that instead of moving forward like your fellows who lost their memories, you are looking for the person you used to be and eventually you came to feel that way "

" I'm not trying to say that it is bad to try to figure who you were in the past, just that you should not let that past hold you to live your present life to the fullest, because what is important is not who you used to be but who you are now. I'm pretty sure that you already figured that out yourself but you were just looking for someone to tell it to you, so I will say it loudly so that you can engrave it in your head. No matter what kind of person you were in the past you have the right now to look for happiness, go find a job, a girlfriend, and live up your dreams because you have the right to "

The young man kept staring at the floor for a long moment, wondering about Volga's words until he finally said, " but Miss Lina is only looking for knowledgeable people or people with outstanding talents to develop the city, I don't think I have any of those ".

" You didn't understand anything. Lina is trying to make this city a place where everyone would be able to leave in peace without fearing anything, and for that dream to work, she needs the participation of everyone. You just have to go to the city hall and tell them whatever you can do and even if you don't have anything you can do, if you just tell them, they will do their best to teach you " Volga said clearly after she thought that the Andre was still looking for excuses.

Since he remained silent, she added with a softer tone of voice, " Andre, you have to stop trying to find excuses to not live your life ". But still no reply from him.

She stared at him for a while until she suddenly found an idea. She lifted her cup, reached her lips, and drank until the last drop of tea before she put the cup on the table and announced, while standing up, " quickly finish your drink, I have to bring you somewhere ".

" Where exactly? " Andre immediately rose his head, obviously curious.

" Just do as I say, " Volga simply responded, and with a smile full of mystery she added, " trust me, you won't regret it ".