Goody-Two-Shoes

"Hey! You're Jack, right? D'you like to get in one of those?" the boy asked me as he pointed to one of the stone houses.

"If it's fine then why not?" I told him. Though I'm not at all interested, I had to act like I am. If it means getting into their good side, it doesn't really matter, does it?

"Well, look at you, Sean. Aren't you a goody-two-shoes?" Suddenly, a voice of a woman rang in my ears. The two didn't seem to have heard it as they didn't react one bit. But the thing is the voice was so familiar. Very familiar. How could I forget? When it was the exact voice I heard before having a vision of my family in Veritas Homes? And how'd she known my name? No, I should be asking if she knew I'm not the real Jack Miller.

I didn't hear it again after that. But I'm having a hard time refocusing.

"Hey, Jack! Walk faster," the boy shouted. I was so distracted that I haven't noticed they'd gotten quite a distance already.

"Coming!" I shouted back. I then jogged towards them.

The boy opened the door and they entered. Mister Forcas was crouching as the house was clearly way too small for him.

The floors were made with bricks and this one here seems to be the kitchen and the dining area. There's a rectangular wooden table by the center. On top of it were kitchen utensils, mostly made of carved wood. And the way that they were arranged suggests that a family of five was about to eat. The large pot on the wood burner proved that. But where are they?

"Mister Forcas. Did people used to live here?" I couldn't help myself from asking which I soon scolded myself for.

"Yes, but they disappeared. All of them. But that was decades ago," he answered.

Decades? But that doesn't add up! The dust that has accumulated in this place should be more than this.

"Why'd they disappear?"

"I'm afraid I cannot answer that question," is what he said. His tone was slightly bitter though.

"I see."

"Hey! Not all of us disappeared. I'm still here." The boy who was now snacking on a purplish berry-like fruit from his basket interjected.

"Oh my! How could I forget?" It was Mister Forcas.

"My house is only by the creek not far from here. You wanna come?"

"Uhh… If it's fine with you." And so with his permission, the three of us went to his house. Just as he said, there was indeed a creek not far from his house.

"Please, come in. Though it might be too small for uhh… Mister Forcas. Right. Mister Forcas."

"Worry not. I'll wait outside," he said to the boy.

"Oh no! How could I possibly do that to you? Okay, I have an idea. I'll just show the inside to Jack. We will be quick, I promise. Let's then have a small meal with a bonfire outside."

"That would be fine as well," he told the boy before I was dragged inside.

Similar to the house we entered earlier, the floor was made of bricks. But if there's anything that caught my attention, it's that there seemed to be three people living here. Three chairs, three plates, three mugs, and so on.

"Where are the other two?" I asked the boy.

"No, I live here alone. There's no one in this village besides me," he said.

"Alone?" I can't help raising my voice. "How — How do you manage to live on your own?" Because if I'm not mistaken, he's just around nine years old.

"Ah! You must be thinking I'm just a kid, right? Well, that's not really the case. Everyone here disappeared decades ago except me. And I know for sure that since then, my body stopped aging. And if you're wondering how I manage to survive till now, it's because of this." He raised the basket he was carrying earlier.

"And that is?"

"This is a mashneh," He showed me the purplish fruit. "It has a calming effect and it will make you forget about your problems. But the side effect will make you forget about yourself," he said as if it's no big deal at all.

"And you're fine with that?"

"I admit it's kind of confusing like, why do I live here? Where's everyone? But if I eat mashneh every day, I'd pretty much wake up not knowing anything about myself every time as well. I was only able to get by through writing in my journal. That's been my routine for decades now."