Washed Up

Should I kill this monkey?

Should I?

Should I?

Can I?

"Please don't kill me!" he yells, covering his dick with the newspaper. At least this guy has decency, but that's not relevant.

I walk past him and enter the shower. If this guy has any survival instincts he'd grab his stuff and leave the house.

I open the shower and clean water comes out… well it's a bit white but whatever it looks clear when you let it settle. The water flows and I take a bath with no regards of this guy's water bill, getting the filth out of every inch of my body.

I'll probably have to throw away my entire outfit too.

The floor is a bit slippery, but the man's bathroom has an array of soaps to choose from, so I doubt this guy lives alone, there's no way a man has more than one bar of soap.

I showered more than 10 times until I'm satisfied, I even started cleaning the trail I made in the bathroom.

I know I know, use magic to clean it up, that's not possible, magic is for killing people.

After setting a small fire in the backyard, for my clothes, and cleaning the house, I plop down on the couch nursing my aching bones and broken nails to myself.

"Haah…" I sigh, I look to my left and the guy is still here, eating cookies.

"Why are you still here?"

"Why can't I be here."

"I'm going to kill you."

"I have no where else to go, and this is my house."

"…"

"Want a cookie?"

"Are you serious?"

"Mhm."

"Ok."

So here I'm eating cookies now, watching a small television box. I don't even look at this guy as I'm eating his food. He hands it over to me anyway with no resistance. It looks like these people remain capable of thought after all.

The show looks interesting but I'm a bit sleepy now. I'm thinking of cooking something up first. I stand up and head back to the kitchen. The house is pretty cramped, I can barely run around or even take three steps without bumping into something but surprisingly it's homely and has enough space to do things.

I open the refrigerator to see cans of meat and beans, a tray of 6 eggs and a waffle. My lips tremble as I stare at this glorious spread. This is the face of true wealth right there. I bend down to unclasp the gasoline tank's pipe and I turn on the gas stove.

Cooking is always a chore, and as to why I'm comfortable enough to do all this it's mostly because that's something I can use.

…

Waking up in a new place is always disorienting, but I get it over with anyway. It was a pain cleaning this huge scroll, but yeah it has to be done. The lingering smell of shit still persists, but it's a good think I suddenly woke up with the cold and sore throat today.

I didn't want to but the sun started glaring at my eyes early in the morning, and today is a particularly hot day. I unfurl the scroll on the floor and there it is, the ethereal figure appears to me again.

My excitement is to say the least, palpable, my heart beating wildly my mouth opening and closing like I want to say something but no words can come out. I am speechless. I clasp my hands together, sitting on a chair, pondering.

What I'm looking at looks like a projection, but their eyes are looking at me. It's like a spell enveloping me, like powder on a woman's skin.

Floating words start surrounding me like a disk, and they start spinning rapidly, I watch them with amazement.

"Young one, the time has come for you to bear the burden of our ancestry, blah blah blah..." I didn't even listen as I nodded eagerly.

The scroll starts glowing a bright blue light, and the words that were floating around me start to coalesce into a single phrase, the phrase starts to sink into my skin, burning like a hot iron, making me scream, my skin starts to boil, my eyes bulging out of their sockets as the phrase sinks into my skin like a tattoo.

I still feel pain after all.

But it's not just a phrase, it's a symbol of my oppression. This mark will make me inch closer to my goals.

I stand up, feeling my body light as a feather, the pain from the scroll's inscription subsiding as the glow dies down. The scroll is no more. It turns to dust in my hand, like it never existed in the first place.

Now I have to clean up all this, what the hell.

I start sweeping up the dust, and the man who's been watching me this whole time starts speaking. "You're one of them aren't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're a witch, aren't you? I've seen enough of them to know the smell of burning flesh when I smell it."

I look at him, then look away. "It's none of your business."

"Well, if you're going to stay here, you're going to have to tell me. And you can't just destroy my scrolls like that!"

"It's not your scroll. And if you know what's good for you, keep your mouth shut, or I'll turn you into one of those scrolls and feed you to the shit river outside your window."

He gulped. "Okay okay, I won't say anything. I've always been curious anyway. What's your name?"

"You can call me B. What's yours?"

"I'm Adrian."

"Well Adrian, let's get me some breakfast, I'm starving. And you can tell me what you know about this city and where to get some decent clothes, I can't go around in these rags forever."

He nods lazily and moves downstairs to start cooking, probably happy to have someone to talk to, or maybe he's just happy I didn't burn his house down.

I sit down on the couch, the TV is still on, the same show from last night. I don't understand it, but it's oddly comforting, like the buzzing of a fly on a summer day.

Adrian comes back with a plate of eggs and toast, I snatch it away and start scarfing it down, I've been living off stolen apples and half-eaten sandwiches for so long, this is heaven.

I basically barged into this place after finding out the scroll was here.

"Tell me what you know about the City. And where am I right now."