No Legs

Lee wandered into the hotel, theatrically holding his hands behind his back, and hummed to himself loudly, giggling at his own act, as he looked around him.

He imagined himself as a proper young master, just like Shen, and paraded himself as a parody of all the strict, choreographed grandiose movements that his friend performed when he was still a child and lacking the pot belly of his grandfather.

Lee paused for a second when he saw the complete lack of stilts on any of the buildings, and the indistinguishable grains of wood at the bottom of the buildings and their tops.

The particular structure that had been partially standing within the lake, with a rug draped over one of its openings, was fully out of any reach of the grabbing hands of the lake's waves and a solid rectangle of a building with no protruding editions and with no need for them.

He smiled sadly, before turning away to keep on his path through the hotel, past a notice bearing the date of four years ago.

The soft gold that shone off every surface almost brought tears to his eyes, and he tilted his head up to the ceiling to see even more light shining down onto him.

There was a lady up ahead, standing slightly off to the side.

Perfume leaked off from her as if she were a flower garden personified, her eyes an azure, perfect blue, the perfect shade of hydrangeas. She wore a soft, sunflower hanfu and pins in her hair, studded pink just like roses. There were blood red carnations painted onto her lips, and a black, inky splotch of the night sitting on her eyelashes, stars within them and shining through her hair, loose and flowing.

"You're not human," Lee said to her, stopping just short of brushing against her.

"No. No, I'm not," she replied, her lips stretching into a downturned smile.

Within the dream, Lee felt free, his thoughts flee flowing through his mind and body, no longer displaced like the river rock sitting into the field.

The lady's skin looked soft, and Lee wanted to find somebody just like her.

Her face was open and he could see everything about her: all her intentions and her wants, and they were all in her eyes.

"You're not attracted to me, are you?" she asked Lee, pulling her arms over his shoulders and drawing him into a hug.

There was something supremely black and white in those eyes, leaving nothing ambiguous or any question to her demeanour and her actions.

"I'm not," Lee replied to her, answering the embrace by wrapping his arms around her in return.

They began stepping from side to side, almost dancing to a song that didn't exist.

"You're so lonely. Has there ever been anyone that you've loved?" she asked him, stroking through his hair.

Making sure that no matter what she did, she did not not muss up Lee's hair badly and that she did not pull out the ribbon from his hair.

"I love my sister," Lee explained in reply, pulling up one of his hands to wrap the ends of his ribbon around his fingers, twisting the platted threads of the fabric, not disturbing or damaging the composition of the brown band that kept his hair up and tied away from his face.

"Am I your sister?" the lady teased him, pinching at his cheeks, her dimples fully on show.

"You feel like it... Yeah, you do," Lee answered her, pulling away from the hug to fully look at her.

A warm red radiated out from her body, reaching up and brushing over Lee's face, smartly keeping away from his mouth.

Lee felt the warmth under his eyes almost tickled him, prompting a hand to come up to his mouth to hide away a small giggle at the feeling.

The lady bent over slightly, a hand brought up to her stomach as he laughed out, her voice sounding like bells.

She laughed just like his sister.

The glow of the feeling on his face felt like the rushes along the river, like the fur of fat squirrels, like the feeling of a soft hide rug.

Lee relished in the feeling, placing a hand where he felt it all happen, opening his eyes and looking upwards, watching the world fade around him until he saw nothing but the calm of the lake in front of him, the buildings all empty, and a flat plain of grass ahead.

The lady was now gone.

The hotel was now gone.

And Lee found himself sitting down, a hand still at his face.

The sky above him was a burning red, the yellow sun sinking over the lake, the white light of the scene fading into the black the more Lee looked further and further away from the scene, white pinpricks becoming visible and the last vestiges of the blueness that once dominated the scene, only present between the two extremes.

The pinks of the clouds above looked like pulled dragon's beard candy, long and thin, stretched out across the horizon there, and reflected in the shining mirror of the lake's surface here.

The rippling waves had stilled themselves, the wind dropping and becoming non-existent. A quiet, heavy hush fell upon the town, finally living up to its name, and flattening every prospective noise under the blanket silence.

Lee stood up as if he was compelled to by forces external to his body and will. He needed to leave the room. He needed to come closer. He needed to be able to see the whole town.

Lee found himself unable to speak or make any noise, all his footsteps sounding as if they were transgressions against the laws of this place.

Lee sat himself down at the opening of the room of his base, his feet and legs dangling over the boundary and sprawling onto the grass outside, which seemed to have gained a bluish tinge, despite the heat of the fire displayed on the canvass of the sky.

Lee sat and waited.