his footsteps echoed along the desolate street, filled only with the light of street lamps and decorations, it was a small island of light immersed in darkness. in front of him stood the darkness, as if it were a real wall, which he eventually had to cross. when he decided to embark on his journey, he saw that darkness began at the end of the road, so he went to the parallel road to the right of the house, past a plot of land on which a house was going to be built, and saw that streetlight were also broken there, so he continued along that road as the options were identical.
he had never heard the city be so quiet, there was always someone talking or arguing, there was a constant noise even light at times. now, to keep him company there were only his deep, anxious breaths. his eyes constantly flitted from one house to another and then from one apartment block to another as he moved away from the outermost suburbs, looking for signs of life, for people barricaded in their homes, but nothing, many lights on, many doors wide open, but no sign of movement.
the immense wall of darkness was slowly getting closer and he wasn't so sure anymore that was a good plan to walk in the dark streets. he cursed himself for what he had thought some minutes ago, there were just too many variables and he was not sure of even one; not all monsters could be huge, just as not all of them would make noise, maybe they could see well in the dark, as that guy he had met said. in the end it was a risky option, on the other hand walking through the lit streets was also risky, being the only person moving in an empty street was not the best, especially in the suburbs, at least towards the city centre he could hide under the trees. at least in the lit streets he could see the dangers, but as he could see the dangers, the dangers could see him.
with all of those thought in the head he cursed himself for having left the house, there wasn't much food but he was safe, for not going with the group of boys who were going somewhere far from the city, where he wanted to be now. he slowed his pace a little and looked at the line on the ground that marked the end of light and the beginning of darkness, it was an area where light tried to illuminate but the deeper he went the more it was swallowed up by darkness.
<
nothing, he was really alone, instantly his mind was full of the memories of how the four boys were killed, the very thought of coming to the same brutal end as them at any moment caused his heartbeats to increase and his breaths became shorter and faster.
he tightened his grip on the knife as he imagined how he would kill that human monster or troll, he wasn't sure how to call it. as soon as he sees it he snaps at his legs to cut his calf tendons, that thing will have to fall to the ground and he has to hurry up and climb on his back, then it will puncture his lungs and if he succeeds his heart. it was a thought that appeared and disappeared as fast as a train.
<
he kept imagining the troll's death at his hands, but every attempt, no matter how much he thought it might work, had the same ending: his death. at every death his grip on the knife loosened and slowly it was slipping from his hands.
<
<
<
with that new hope in his heart he crossed the line effectively entering in the dark. the knife's blade was faintly reflecting the light of the streetlights and decorations. he further he went, the darker it became, he could hardly make out the apartments on either side of the street.
he was slowly advancing in the darkness, not so far from the lights behind him, when he stopped himself when he heard a voice.
"Amelié?" the voice was coming from one of the apartments, maybe from the second floor up, and was definitely from a little girl. there was a small street that divide him from the building, so it was hidden by darkness and couldn't understand if she was talking to him or to someone in her apartment.
"Amelié?" asked again the little voice. Silmo realized that it was too clear to come from an apartment with the windows closed, even in that silence. he clicked the power button on his phone to turn on the flashlight but the screen's light illuminated him from his torso all to his face.
"a stranger?" the voice sounded surprised and betrayed a little bit of excitement. "Kellen there's a stranger" she said, this time the voice was less clear and he heard footsteps moving away.
Silmo's mood immediately changed from depression to a happiness he had never felt before. he remained there, still illuminated by the phone's screen. suddently he heard a noise at his right. his survival instinct acted first than his mind, he rotated his entire body in the noise direction, brought forward the knife placing it between him and the sudden noise, he turned on the flashlight and pointed it towards in front of him.
he saw a girl with a grey jacket, jeans and a pair of black sneakers, behind her there were a glass door of an apartment block, the light went in projecting her shadow all over the floor of the entrance hall to a big and fat man's shoes.
the girl emitted a sharp cry of fear, bringing her arms to his chest and her closed hands covered her mouth, leaving visible only her nose, her brown eyes surrounded by the black frames of his glasses and her bob-cut dyed blonde hair. the light illuminated his right hand and the knife which was so clean it reflected the light so much that seemed to come from it.
Silmo with a sigh let out all the adrenalin, the anxiety and calmed his heart that was pounding in his chest. before he could lower the knife the door opened again.
"what the fuck are you going to do?!" a deep voice of a bald man echoed in the street. he placed himself between the girl, making it almost disappear, and Silmo.
"oh. sorry, i thought you were a monster." a nervous laugh came out and lowered his knife. while he was still laughing footsteps could be heard.
"you must never take your eyes off him if you want to help." could be heard faintly.
"but was I helpful?" the little girl's voice was a bit sad but hoping for a positive response.
the man just ignored her and turned on a torch illuminating Silmo.
"drop the knife." ordered Kellen.
"yeah, sorry, i wanted only defend myself from monsters." respondend Silmo dropping the knife on the ground the metallic noise resounded in the air hiding the girl's whisper.
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
"i don't trust him" the man tried to whispered but his big voice was difficult not to hear.
"I am a survivor like you, I suppose. I just want a place to stay." Silmo spoke a few moments after the man.
"there are many empty houses where you can stay, you can look after yourself." said coldly the bald man with the gaze of one who doesn't accept compromises.
"it's not up to you to decide." Kellen's tone was rigid and grave.
"and to whom? to that stupid half-dead old man? it's easy to give orders when you're up there, if you want to tell me something get down and say it to my face, or are you scared?" the bald man's voice grew grave and deep the more he spoke.
Kellen remained silent meanwhile Silmo was astonished before that scene, that man made him uneasy, his blue eyes were fixed on Kellen as if he could see in the dark and his aquiline nose made a noise every time he breathed.
"oookay." she said in a high-pitched tone to play down. "this is not the place to talk about this, we need every hand we can get." she placed her hand with red nail polish on his large shoulder.
"so you first lock up the food and then you say you welcome everyone." the man turned his head toward her, his nose pointed right at her left eye, for a moment Silmo thought he would blind her because of how close they were.
"the situation is complex than that. and again, this is not the place, monsters might hear us." her tone became more sad when she said the last phrase.
The bald man remained silent for a moment, then all of his tension seemed to vanish and became more relaxed, he let out a deep sigh. "We'll die sooner of hunger than of monsters." said before trying to open the glass door but it was locked and he remained in front of it. Silmo could feel a growing annoyance in him that was stopped when the woman opened the door for him with the keys.
"Come." Said her to Silmo while she walked towards the solid and old wooden door of the other condominium. the light pointed at him turned off and Kellen's footsteps began to become harder to hear.
"Have I been helpful?" was the last thing he heard from them.
"Turn it off, use only the phone screen's light. we should be grateful that they have neither seen nor heard us." She said in a peremptory tone. that change of tone left Silmo surprised but did what she told him.
she opened it, Silmo was behind her lighting up the lock. "thanks for welcoming me, I won't give you too much trouble." he said like a child who has just been scolded.
Amelié sighed heavily. "we need every hand we can get. we're in a fucked up situation." she said looking in his eyes. now Silmo saw that her eyes showed a certain tiredness that could explode into anger at any moment.
"I'd be happy if I could be of any help." he said with a big smile on his face.
they entered in the hall, it was empty and dark, filled by the noise of someone coming down the stairs. Amelié took a few steps forward and turned on the light. at his right there were a lot of mailboxes attached to the wall, then a closed door, in front of him there was another identical door, at his left there were the stairs and saw a pair of worn brown boots followed by a pair of little black boots.
"Amelié the others have already arrived." said Kellen. he was wearing sand-colored pants, an heavy brown pullover and a black jacket with fleece inside. he had a warrior cut with brown hair, a really thick eyebrows, Silmo was impressed that his eyebrows were as thicker as his beard which covered his jawline and surrounded his thin lips and his nose was a little crooked to the left. he looked at Silmo with his brown eyes as if she was peering into him, watching and judging something inside him.
Silmo couldn't handle the eye contact for too long, instead of looking at the little girl just behind him, he turned to look at Amelié rubbing her eyes.
"I can't get a moment of rest" she said exasperatedly, her eyes were more tired than before.
"pretty exhausting, right?" he responded with a little laugh as he descended the last step. He was a little bit taller than Silmo.
"you have no idea. especially repeating things over and over again. He was the worst." she gave a little tap on his shoulder to make him move. "the sooner I go, the sooner I sleep." she said while she passed him.
"he has more fat than neurons" responded Kellen with a laugh.
Amelié exploded in a stifled laugh and went upstairs but she was interrupted by the little girl.
"I can finally see daddy?" asked enthusiastically the little girl, her blue eyes seemed to glow with their own light, and her big smile gave a glimpse of a fallen tooth.
"yes darling" Amelié's voice was loving, gave a caress on the smooth skin of the little girl and, finally, went upstairs.
while the little girl was jumping out of happiness, Kellen moved in front of him, covering his view and forcing him to look at those unkempt eyebrows, from which he was almost certain a monkey would pop out and jump into his face.
"want a kiss?" said emotionlessly Kellen as he continued to look into his eyes. Silmo was brought back to reality thanks to his words and looked at him better, besides that he was visibly getting more pissed for every second passed, he noticed his hand with open palm.
"oh right." said Silmo taking his backpack off his shoulders as quickly as possible and giving it to him with a nervous smile.
Kellen took the backpack and opened it. "where do you come from?" asked while searching stuff inside it with his hand. the little girl calmed down and now was looking at Silmo, as if she had never seen anyone other than Kellen and Amelié.
"From an abandoned mansion in the hills." his words came out emotionless, as if he was a machine, staring at his backpack. "and I am not being chased by monsters, or I would be dead already." he looked up at Kellen's face and saw his mouth closing and turning into a confused grimace. from his backpack he kicked out the hammer, which looked smaller in his hands, and peered at him with a very serious look, bursting out laughing after a short while.
"What were you going to do with this? crush the monsters's balls?" said while he was dying of laugh.
Silmo laugh too. "that's why i took the knife.". Kellen wiped his tears away with his fingers, he threw the hammer in and then he laugh a few more times before taking a deep breath.
"you did well, it's always better to get something that will make them bleed." said in a serious tone, Silmo was surprised by the sudden change in his mood. "but tell me one thing, you didn't celebrate the new year alone, right?" this time his face was intimidating, Silmo felt like he was being interrogated by the police.
"i was with some friends and a bunch of people. we had a fantastic view on the city and then," he was fighting with all of his might to not recall those scenes. "all of this happened." but his memories were much stronger and continuously the images of mutilated bodies appeared to him and he heard the laughter of the human monster, His gaze was that of a dead man. "it was a massacre. only i and a friend manage to survive."
the little girl wasn't happy anymore, rather the face was contorting, in a constant struggle between crying and not crying. Kellen's face was harsh "where is your friend now?"
"we separated long before arriving in town"
"don't be afraid of those memories, now this world is ruthless, you have to get used to stuff like that. Don't be a crybaby like the others." he said, without a grain of empathy, Kellen as he approached the door through which Silmo and Amelié entered.
<
Silmo, with a face full of hatred, was staring at Kellen, who was staring back at him with a face bordering on boredom.
<
"Savi, do you want to be helpful?". Silmo could clearly see the big blue eyes of the little girl glow with their own light, her face was on the verge of tears but after those words a smile appeared on his face that warmed his heart. "accompany... oh right, i forget to ask your name, mine's Kellen."
"Silmo" he turned to him, Kellen had just inserted the keys to open the door.
"well, then accompany Silmo to the old man's apartment. I'm going to get the knife back, it could be useful. " he unlocked the door and went out.
Silmo turned to Savi, who climbed a few steps of the stairs to match his height. She was wearing a gray jacket and blue jeans with dirt marks on them, she had a big smile on her face, but in her eyes there were some tears and one came down as soon as she began to speak.
"hi, my name is Siva Culd. nice to meet you" her voice was acute, more annoying than sweet, however Silmo did not care, his thoughts were fixed on that tear that was running down her cheek, until she with the excuse of scratching, removed it.
he placed his hand on the center of his chest, made a slight smile appear on his face and said. "Mine is Silmo Elys. apparently you will be my tour guide here." Siva laughed and that brought immense joy to Silmo, being able to make a little girl laugh in all this mess.
"I will introduce you to everyone. my daddy told me to always be kind and happy to everyone." She was excited and constantly making and breaking eye contact with Silmo. "and be helpful." Although she still had a smile on his face, the tone of the sentence was more somber and sad than before.
"oh really?" he said, pretending to be amazed. "you're doing an amazing job then. I imagine that your father is also a kind person to everyone."
"he is the kindest and bravest, he saved me from the monster. but now he is always inside the decision-making-room. some people didn't like what he decided." her voice tone grew darker with each word spoken.
"tough choices are left to the best people, not everyone will be pleased. For this you must bring happiness everywhere. you must be a beacon of happiness to others as you have been to me." Silmo's voice was warm and inspirational for Siva, who looked straight at his eyes and exploded in a happy laugh, turning and hopping around on herself. he was stroking her full head of brown hair that brushed her shoulders.
"I WILL, I WILL. I will make everyone happy." her face lit up so much that even Silmo became more relieved and happy just for looking at her. "come on, come on, dad and the others are about to leave the room" She said taking Silmo's hand and dragging him up the stairs.