Chapter 5 - Exodus

January 4, 2021

Well, that's one way to tell someone that you want the person to go outside.

I mean, that was really laying it thick there, just hammering on for pages... I think that's a long essay's worth words in there. Way to go, leaving just 10 pages for me to write in.

(AN: Dafaq? There are more than 10 pages left in this book though... Did he just stick more pages?)

Next time, just do once, whoever is writing here. I mean, you tell me the kid will be in danger, I'll do what I can to help her.

Guess I'll tell them that I'll come with them, but first, breakfast.

Can't focus too much on an empty stomach.

Arrivederci,

Joseph

-

So, breakfast went well. Cooked up sausages, sauteed tomatoes and eggs which was... edible. Safe to say it wasn't great, but it was still good enough for humans to stomach.

As professional as the recipe sounds, it wasn't complicated. All I had to do was put it in a pan with some spices and make sure it doesn't burn. As for the egg, it's just what you would expect, frying it for a bit.

Anyway, I told them this and May moved closer to her dad.

Was she scared of me?

Why?

I mean, my cooking sucked but it wasn't that bad... I think.

Still, her father was OK with it. He said that the settlement could always use some extra hands. He also said that the trip is around a month long, though it could be longer or shorter depending on things like obstacles, whether or not we get a car that we can use, things like that.

Safe to say we won't be coming back here any time soon so we went ahead and packed as much as we could carry and left the rest in the fridge, which was still functioning somehow.

Anyway, we's currently going to get a car to use. The batteries can't be dead yet, right?

Anyways, I'll continue this after we start on our way.

Joseph

- (Mini J)

And now, your play by play commentary by your's truly, Mini J.

(AN: And would you look at that, I guessed it's name!)

And so, our hero, the little girl and her father find a usable car which they enters and drive onward towards the future...

Okay, not the future exactly, but this guy sure as hell ain't ever going back considering the length of the journey. Not until a significant amount of time has passed, at least.

The ride will be long and arduous, or not.

I don't even know what arduous means for sure. From the context in which I've heard it used, I'm assuming something like tough.

This is fun. Wonder how he'll try to explain this now?

I'll be back later when this is left alone

(AN: Here there's a name scribbled out completely. I mean, it was scribbled to the point at which the paper should've had a hole from the pressure of the pen and the sogginess of the ink. Pretty good quality paper. That, or it's some supernaturally good paper. Who knows?But who's trying this hard for a prank?

I mean, a prank is fine and all, but what's this guy's budget? And who wants to prank me of all people? Well, not really my issue. ONWARD WITH THE STORY!)

- (Joseph is back)

To the wind,

So... what just happened?

Like, how did new text appear in my book? It was in my hand, not a bag so there's no way that it was someone writing in it.

So the book's alive?

Is that how it is?

And here I was thinking that I'd seen shit. Now I find out that my book is either alive or possessed by a spirit or something.

Gotta say, a step up from 2020. Back then, I couldn't talk to anyone, now I can talk to a book.

Upgrades people, ya gotta love 'em.

Anyway, the trip is just about what you'd expect. Just a casual drive with nothing outta the ordinary going on.

Gotta say, part of me's kinda disappointed. I don't know what I was expecting, it's an empty world. The fact that I have two companions is a miracle in and of itself.

Why do I want something to go wrong?

I should want to get there as fast as possible, without a hitch, but I want us to get thrown off the road or the an elephant from the zoo to chase us.

I want something to get my blood pumping... never knew that I was an that much of an adrenaline junkie. I mean, I loved roller-coasters and have always wanted to try things like skydiving and bungee jumping (CURSE YOU LACK BUDGET AND TIME!!!) but I didn't think that I would want to do something that could be very risky and potentially fatal.

Don't get me wrong, the other stuff I wanted to do can be dangerous as well, but we don't have the luxury of modern medicine in this forsaken world...

I don't think I talked about my new year's resolution yet.

I think I was planning on writing it exactly at the new year, but then, you know, the whole disappearing act for the entirety of the human race happened and I forgot all about writing it.

It's nothing major. I just wanted at least one of my dreams to come true, no matter how ordinary or weird it may be, just any one.

Moving on from my dreams, I took a look at my old tweets recently... I saw them before, the shadows.

I didn't think about it till now, but if I had done something about it, would anything have changed?

Could we have avoided all this if we had just paid attention to them?

And the shadows themselves.

Were they human?

All of them?

Were they still in there? Alive?

Could they still die?

I mean, common sense would state that there's no way those shadows could be alive but still, given what I just saw with the self writing book and how everyone's disappearance doesn't seem to have a possible explanation, it seems like this is all supernatural in origin.

If that's the case, then it's possible that the shadows themselves are conscious.

A sort of half dead state.

In which case, it stands to reason that they could be brought back to being human?

From what I've read (from my Rick Riordan phase) Egyptians believed that the shadow was part of the soul.

Could these shadows be part of the people's soul?

Maybe we can bring them back too, just like the story brought back the dwarf guy... but that was bringing a shadow back.

Maybe something will come up soon and we can do something about their disappearances but for now we just have to survive. We can figure out that stuff later.

I guess I'll think about that stuff once we have a place to sleep that doesn't have the scent of a hundred fallen chips (or crisps or whatever you call it). We brought sleeping bags, but it doesn't seem to be a good idea to go outside.

Anyway, that doesn't really matter all that much. Sleep wrong and you wake up with a back ache, that's all. Food isn't an issue either. We're eating the food that can spoil quickly first, the preserved food is left in the bag for emergencies and some are still left at the apartment cuz we can't bring everything with us and the fridge shows no signs of stopping.

The biggest problem right now is how to entertain May. I can't drive, though Jake did give me the run down in case I need to drive us away and he's down or worse, so that's the only job for me. Only issue is, it seems like she's actually afraid of me.

Hence begins my quest to find the true reason for May's fear of me.

I mean, I don't look scary, do I?

Ok, quick self description.

I'm a slightly short dude with a slightly dark complexion. There's a bit of hair on my face from the lack of a shave, though it never was much to begin with and didn't really grow in the span of a few days. My hair's basically a ball of puff... I really can't see what she sees in me that's scary.

I mean, my cooking is still bad like I said before, but she already tried my food and was fine with me. It started some time before her dad arrived, though that's probably a coincidence.

It's starting to get late, I should probably sleep on this and I'll write what I think tomorrow morning.

On other news, I've never seen the night sky so clearly in my life. All the stars, you can even see the Milky Way. Back before all this, I could barely see a few stars. Even then I was entranced. You can Imagine how I am now.

Goodnight.

Joseph