128. About life, 8

(Myls)

I entered one of our storage houses.

Most are just empty or gathering dust around our main living place. A few we use as extended storage rooms.

I pack the clothing I've brought back into dressers and drawers, neatly.

I have a passing memory of my mother's dresser inside the plane, when I was still very little.

I look outside at the floating clouds, daydreaming for a short moment.

Then I turn around and return to work.

~

Something sinister courses through the air and sky. Like a flash of shades.

It's rare but it's not the first time this happens.

It does get me twitchy though.

Thankfully, it doesn't forecast another monster's arrival this time either.

I still go to check on Zeslinry near the main gate.

She's alright and also looking around as if she heard something uncanny.

We both noticed it, and it's already gone.

A non eventful flash between light and darkness coursing briefly through the land like a ripple.

A wave of these unscientific energies that feed evil things and oddities.

M - I'll do another check around.

Z - Be careful...

If I notice anything bubbling ominously, I'll return hastily.

I head out.

Only a few minutes have passed, but once more it might have been enough for some subtle things to change.

Hopefully not...

Outside, nothing immediately noticeable is different. I tread cautiously, watching for colourful moulds and water.

Usually, well, for as much as a trend as it may be, the early signs of danger are traces of mould along the landscape. Things rotting and bacteria or fungi growing a little too eagerly for our good.

So I watch for funny stains and colours that clearly feel out of place, or at least in a way that tells me they weren't there ten minutes ago or yesterday. There are hard to explains colours and stains everywhere otherwise, it's an abandoned city. You have to spot the difference.

They just generally don't spread nor move very fast.

I continue my walk, wary of my surroundings or any newly sprouted lichens. I don't notice anything especially off-putting.

I slow down by a side of a wall on a streets corner I know rather well.

It seemed lower, slightly?

I got closer and checked my height against the fissures I recognised on the wall.

I felt a little thrill and smiled.

I've grown more than a centimetre since I last checked.

I'm smiling, feeling a little tougher now. Maybe this blink of light did bring something good this time.

~

Zeslinry checks my height herself as she's doubtful. She didn't believe me. But at least she then appears quite pleased to be wrong reading the clear result.

M - I'll be taller than you before you know it.

Z - That is quite likely. You appear to still have ground to go. Were your parents tall?

M - I don't know...

It hurts a little. But it's fading.

I have this clear sensation of a beating heart below my skin, but all shrouded in the absence of light. I think I have a moment of panic. My emotions for my old family continue to fade gradually into that night.

I feel like my body is gradually filtering them off, erasing their existence and memories from me, little by little when I'm not looking.

The days here are enough to keep me...

I raise my glare at her. She tilts her head, wondering what I'm thinking about.

M - My parents were about the same height as you...

She's smiling. I'm feeling nervous, as if I could feel my kidneys filtering old memories away and out of my body. It's odd.

Everything feels odd.

Except that I know where I ought to stay.

~

I cleared another flat.

Then another house.

I'm sweating, pulling suitcases of stuff I recovered from there.

We're stocking more merchandises than we could ever sell, if that still meant something. I know the principles of buying and selling, but that became obsolete before I could make use of it myself.

Money is old. Old like Rose.

That weird one...

I hope she and Ann are okay. They were weird, with both very different looks in their eyes, but equally as weird.

They made me feel happy because they are the only other humans we've met since we've settled here. And they were travelling.

They also made me feel shitty because of how weird they are.

Ann stank. And Rose's sadness filled the air like a fart. Being in the same room as them for too long made me sick.

Curious and disgusted I was.

I hope they're okay nonetheless.

When they return, we'll have another house ready for them maybe. That's an idea.

I think about the future, still looking ahead, sweating painfully as I pull more stuff toward our home.

We'll never have enough...

Because no one makes them anymore. I get the idea.

That is why Zeslinry spends all her bloody days working the fields, trying to grow food from dawn to dusk...

I can tell she suffers at least as much as me, while I'm carrying bags and pulling chariots of scavenged goods back.

She's ploughing, weeding, seeding, watering, feeding, pruning, and so on.

All so we can eat...

We have a city to ourselves, entirely. Every house and their contents are ours. This is our town. But our fragile spot is food. It's meaningless to own a town without a proper food supply.

We gather everything that grows and is edible in the good seasons, but it remains risky.

Zeslinry is doing her darn best to give us some independence from the seasonal whims.

On good harvest seasons, this city has gardens and fields outside, providing us our yearly supply. We didn't settle here randomly. But the margins remain narrow over one year.

And outside, sometimes giant animals come by. Or worse things even. it's not secure outside. One day the crops will be poisoned or we'll get bitten by something awful.

Zeslinry thus focuses on the essential. It's my job to insure everything else is supplied and the area secure.

It's good teamwork I guess, but sometimes I still feel like I got the easy side of things.

Although somewhere and sometimes, I think she enjoys it too.

Farming has been her dream for a long time, in some meek way.

The context has changed, but maybe a part of her is satisfied now.

M - Are you happy?

She looks at me with clear surprise. She didn't expect that question. We're both physically exhausted tonight.

She gives me too bright a smile...

But it echoes a little with mine.

~