It was evil, it was horrifying, it was insidious and it was menacing.
It chased us everywhere, it hunted us everywhere.
We tried to hide but it was omnipresent, we tried to deceive it but it was the devil himself.
We struggled, we pleaded but we were mortals in making and thus we will remain mortals in death.
We hid till there was nowhere to hide, we ran till there was nowhere to run and we searched till there was nowhere to search.
We were left stranded and tired as we awaited the coming of doom.
As the dark one swallowed our mortal shells, my sister's flitting voice that was filled with gratitude reached my ears. "Big brother Duncan, don't be sad when you wake up for you are the best brother I could ever wish for. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
******
"LUNA!" Duncan's voice drowned in despair as he called a name of someone who was no longer with him. As cold sweat drenched his body, it dawned him that he just woke up from a nightmare. He shook his head to get rid of the remaining douriness.
With great effort he managed to make a second attempt at standing up. Despite his shaking legs, he managed to attain a descent foothold.
A chuckle escaped his dry lips. "Should I just end my miserable life?"
His lips trembled and formed a pained smile. "I wonder what Luna will do if she were to ever hear me saying such words. I will probably get a scolding of a lifetime."
A sigh escaped his lips, as the weight of the burden threatened to crush his weak body.
My little Lillie wherever you are, please besafe.
But he knew such thoughts were fatal, he could already guess what fate awaited a ten year old in this unforgiving city.
His only hope is that he finds her before she suffered too much. And to do he had to find the source of all this, the man.
Anger built within him at the mere thought of the man. "What right did he have to take my sister away from me?"
He soon tried to calm himself down for anger in such a situation becomes an obstacle.
With little effort, he managed to navigate around the shack. It was his home for four years and thus he knew it like the back of his head, at least if yesterday's commotion didn't misplace anything.
He took two steps forward and turned to his right. "This should be where we placed our belongings."
Which in truth didn't amount to much. It was just a mishmash between whatever garbage they could find useful and what little they managed to keep from our old home.
By using his hands to get a sense of his surroundings, he managed to locate a filthy bag filled with garbage food and a wooden stick less than half of his height. These two were the only useful things within the whole shack and thus he had no reason to linger anymore. With the wooden stick as a guide and the filthy bag safely secured on his back, he made his way towards the shack's entrance.
As he crossed the shack's door, a wave of melancholia washed over his body. The shack might not have been the best home he could wish for, but it was a home nonetheless.
He lifted his right hand and placed it on the wall of garbage that supported the shack. "Hey, buddy. This seems like a farewell, thanks for giving us a place to call home. Hope that I find you still standing if I ever visit again this forsaken place. That is if I live long enough to see such a day."
With that he turned his back to the shack and walked away with the wooden stick as his loyal pathfinder. Throughout his journey across the outskirts bad smell assaulted his nose and with it an unbearable chorus interwoven with despair and fear.
He had to still his weak mind for the cries seemed to pierce his very soul. By the time he managed to reach the edge of the outskirts, he was literally sweating bullets with his legs threatening to succumb to weight. He had to sit down and catch his breath for a few minutes.
This gave him a chance to think about what he was going to do once I crossed the boundary separating the outskirts from the rest of Ashton city. While he may have the drive to search for his sister, he neither knew how to start searching nor where to begin searching.
The basic structure of Ashton city was known to all its inhabitants even to him, a rat of the outskirts. The city of Ashton was a large settlement populated by millions of dwellers of different classes. It was divided into four sections namely the core section that housed the Royals, the inner section that housed those belonging to the upper class and land-owning elites, the mid section that housed those belonging to the middle class and the lower section or as most like to call it, the outskirts where the poor and the homeless lived.
While he may know the basic structure of the city, the inner working of each section excluding the outskirts was beyond his knowledge. He was more desperate in need of the knowledge about the mid section of the city, since it was the region that he was about to set his foot on. As he sat on the dirty floor encompassing the edges of the outskirts, he suddenly heard a low feminine voice coming from his right. "Hey kid, are you lost?"
He turned his head to his right side and shrugged. "I might as well be."
The next thing he heard was a startled yelp with it the sound of someone falling."Kid, what is wrong with your eyes?"
He tilted his head slightly. "Isn't it obvious?"
"I will tell what is obvious alright, it is you staring at me with those creepy eyes of yours." This time the voice carried a hint of fear.
"Ooh, I am sorry about that." He shook his head and shifted to face ahead. "As for what is wrong with my eyes, I am simply blind dear lady."
A sound of laughter permeated his surroundings. "Di-Did you just call me dear lady?"
Despite the fact that he couldn't see, he had to blink his eyes in confusion. "Yes, I did."
Another round of laughter assaulted his ears. "That is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. Kid, I think you should be proud because that list also includes my parents."
He decided to stick to silence for he didn't know how to reply to such a statement.
Should I be happy or should I be sad.
The voice continued as if nothing she just said was wrong. "Kid, you just earned yourself a boon."
He scratched the back of his head. "And what should I use the boon for?"
There was a stretch of silence and then he heard a sigh. "Kids these days seem to have become even more stupid. My name dummy, you could ask for my name."
Shame flashed across his face, but I did my best to hide it. "And what is your name?"
"Finally, I am Isabella but I prefer Bella. And you?" The voice replied with a casual tone.
"My name is Duncan" His voice weak as I was still embarrassed from the early exchange.
"Okay Danny, what are you doing here?"
He could barely contain myself when he heard his adult name being reduced to a mere.....cute name.
"I was just resting before I head out into the mid section."
"Do you mind if I tag along?"
"No, I wouldn't mind at all." After all he was in desperate need of a guide and having a grownup will probably increase his chances of surviving in the mid section.
It took Bella awhile to prepare herself while he continued to rest. By sunset, they departed into the mid section. A sense of unease filled his heart.
Will we meet again my dear Lillie, amongst the living or shall we embrace each other amongst the dead.