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…1… Shadows in the Dusk
A young man of average height, wearing a heavy black pea coat stands alone in a cemetery. Rows of tombstones, seemingly endless, were lined horizontally throughout the graveyard; all had been aged with time. However, the grave before the young man in the pea coat was aberrant by all means. The color of the tombstone, argent white that seemed to almost shine in the glare of the sun. He stood a few feet from the grave, his shadow on the other hand reached the base of the headstone. His hair, an aggregate of brown and black values, swayed madly like a plastic bag in a rushed gale of wind. The young man's eyes seemed dull, consisting of a low tone of blue and gray. His eyes, seemingly lifeless orbs, peered into the grave before himself. Clenched tightly in his hands was an amply packed bouquet of flowers, ranging from roses to lilies. He forced his body to take a few steps toward the grave then fell to his knees, the bouquet was slightly released from the tight grasp. Tears came now. A multitude of clear droplets slid down his pale face, they were a sign of life in his placid eyes. He slowly lifted his arm and extended it toward the tombstone, the bouquet slanted forward and seemed to become an extension of his arm. Words were mumbled behind a choked voice, and then repeated until he could no longer speak. Without warning an eerie force seemed to grasp his wrist and pull down on it, he dropped the bouquet at the base of the headstone. The young man was on his feet promptly, gazing at his arm. What had grabbed his hand? He pondered for a time then returned to his previous thoughts, he held the approaching tears back, he would not submit to his anguish again. To the clouded sky his eyes soared, he couldn't bare the sight of the names on the tombstone, Torroto. Roger and Ann Torroto, his parents, both buried under the same tombstone, Torroto, the name he had known for so long. This name, Torroto, seemed to vanish in his mind along with his parents. Only four weeks earlier his parents had died in a disastrous train incident, leaving him only with his grandfather. The young man thought about his name, Ilan Torroto. He thought, could it really exist anymore, was he real anymore with no parents and only a grandfather who barely had an ounce of life left in him? A strong feeling of relief rushed through his body, like a canoe darting throughout a raging river. He shook the notion away, it was absolutely absurd, of course he would remain in existence. In the distance he caught the slight sound of metal clank against the stone of a headstone. Through the corner of his eyes he caught a glimpse of the blurred anatomy of what seemed to duplicate a tall human. With a swift movement of his body he turned to face the conundrum of what he had seen. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Ilan frowned then started aloud in an apathetic tone, “Maybe I'm going insane.” He slowly forced his feet to move, one and then the other until he managed his way out of the cemetery. A flat and large square of decrepit cement that was slightly slanted and upon a mild hill served as a parking lot. Two vehicles, both meager compared to the fresh “master's of the roads” seen on countless daily commercials. One, parked strangely in the middle was a dirty shade of maroon, the tires were bedraggled. This vehicle was not Ilan's. Directly across from this vehicle was one of a dull shade of yellow, however only the doors of his car remained the original bright yellow. Ilan moved his right hand into the side pocket of his pea coat, he slowly removed an assortment of oddly shaped keys. He sorted through them until he located a short key, he slid the key into the hole in the bright yellow door. Within a few moments he was inside the car, starting the ignition, and slamming the door shut.
The road, slick from a recent rush of flurries, was rough on the vehicle’s tires. Ilan peered out of the front window, activating the windshield wipers to brush away some of the flurries that had fallen earlier. Traffic became slow as more flurries rained down, getting slightly heavier, however they fell at a hasty pace. About half an hour later he pulled up at a small building, a sign with an enlarged coffee mug beside a tall glass of light brown tea. After parking in a slanted position, he opened the door then stretched his legs out above the concrete, then yawned. Ilan shut the door then headed for the entrance of the building. As he entered the restaurant the ecstatic eyes of a blonde hostess shot to his face. A loud and joyful phrase of words struck his ears, “Good morning, welcome to Brimstone Brewery!” Ilan tried to evade a conversation with a mumbled, “Hi.” She started to come around the hostess stand when another voice rang out Ilan's name. The hostess turned to see a young lady with long dark brown hair, she wore a white blouse on top of an olive green long sleeved shirt, and a short skirt that consisted of an assortment of orange and red covered her legs to the knee. Ilan began to walk towards the lady in the multi-colored outfit after noticing that the hostess had backed down. After greeting each other with a long hug they sat down at a circular maroon table, the chairs were light red. Ilan had slipped off his coat and laid it on the chair before either had sat down. She looked at Ilan in a sincere way then cleared her throat, “So how are...I mean...how are you handling things?”
Ilan began to frown, “Well...it's definitely been hard...I mean how am I supposed to handle my parent's death?”
“No, that's not what...never mind Ilan. Well are you busy this afternoon?”
“I'm going home; I'll probably just go to sleep. What about you?”
She sighed, “Well I was hoping we could, I don't know, see a movie or something.”
“Aren't you still with what's his face?”
“Yeah but we could go as friends, I'm sure Reed would be fine with it.”
“I think I'll pass tonight, I'd rather-”, he was cut off by her sneer.
“Don't be like that Ilan, I know it's only been four weeks but...I think it's better if you spend time with others, to help you get over things.”
Ilan seemed to have become flustered, “Julia, I don't want to get over-”, once again he was interrupted but this time by a server with a squeaky voice, she wanted his order. He named a special type of sandwich off the top of his head and a green tea. Julia glanced at the menu then named a sandwich and an herbal tea. Ilan gave a weak smile to the server as she headed into the kitchen, her shouts of their order could be heard from there table. Julia looked into Ilan's eyes and blushed as he stared back into her dark blue eyes.
“What is it, is there something on my face”, she stammered.
“No...nothing at all.” He steered his eyes away as he laughed.
“Well, I wish you'd reconsider coming to the movies with me tonight.”
“Ah...alright, call me tonight and I'll see...it depends on how I'm feeling.”
She raised her arms and rejoiced with a rather loud, “YES”, calling the attention of all eyes of the others in the restaurant. She quickly lowered her arms, a feeling of embarrassment rolled over her. Ilan snickered for a quick second then stopped when he felt the end of her shoe collide with his knee.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“That was for laughing at me!”
Their lunch came soon afterwards, they finished up then continued some aimless conversation then headed out of the restaurant. He said his goodbyes as she entered her fresh, “master of the road”, which was gargantuan in comparison to his own car. As she drove off he, once more, heard the sound of metal clank against the brick of the building behind him. Ilan turned quickly to the building behind him, with a movement of great haste the figure from the cemetery flew over his head. A black cloak that seemed nearly three times the size of the figure in both length and width cast a dark shadow over his body. The figure grasped hold of a nearby street lamp at its center with one slightly tan hand, a pair of long legs, caped in black leggings, were placed against the pole for support. The large black cloak seemed to almost be slowed in motion as it swayed aimlessly in the wind. Ilan's dark brown eyes scanned the figure, slowly from the cloak, then to the legs, the grasping hand, and then onto the face of the figure. He was taken aback by the sheer beauty of the cloaked one's face, it was a woman. She had a head of long hair that at the top spiked off in random directions; from her eye level the hair slowly became straight and ended with two long strips, one on her left and right. The color of the hair was a vibrant blooming red infused with a dull orange that created an enchanting color. The woman had perfectly curved eye sockets, the cornea of her eyes were a fulgent white, and the pupil was black surrounded by a brilliant green iris. The women peered through Ilan's eyes and into his soul; he could tell that she was searching for something. He decided to engage her with a question, “Who are you?”
Silence filled the parking lot for several long moments until she spoke, an angelic voice, seemingly inhuman, “Raiko. I have been summoned to return to my former duties, thus I am searching for the Podam.”
“The Podam...what is that?”
She commenced in a blurred movement that resulted in her appearance behind Ilan. He jumped at the sound of her voice, “A Podam is a great being that can heal the world, save it from its deadly mistakes.”
“Wha... is that some sort of joke, you can't expect me to believe-”, he was interrupted by her voice.
“Kira! Micah! Ruso! Fernous! Geriuk! Reveal yourselves!” In a fraction of a second each of the others appeared, one by one, behind Ilan, the five of them also wore the over sized black cloaks. Raiko gave each of them a stern glare, they quickly responded by giving their names to Ilan. A bald man, stout with muscle, cleared his throat and began, “I am Geriuk”. The one beside him was tall and thin, nearly no muscle, his hair was gray and spiked backwards. He started with a heavy British accent, “The name's Fernous chap! How do ye' do?” Ilan replied without words but with a simple nod. Next in line was a tall woman with short blondish-brown hair with bangs that were swept to the left side of her face and nearly covered her light blue eyes. She spoke softly with what seemed to be a light German accent, “Hello, I am Ruso.” Following her was a shorter man who was about Ilan's height, his hair was short and slightly curly with random hints of straight spiked clumps, the hair seemed to be a dark shade of green. Ilan noted the man’s alluring grayish-blue eyes and nearly terrifying smile. He started in a low tone, “My name is Micah...nice to meet you Ilan.” Ilan's eyes opened widely, his head was filled to the brim with questions like, how they knew his name, and if their motives were true, and what did this Raiko mean when she said, “summoned to return to her duties”. Ilan heard the sound of someone clearing their throat loudly; he quickly located the one making the noise. A short young boy stood before him in one of the black cloaks, his hair was fairly short and light brown. The boy peered at Ilan through giant brown eyes, a sense of great enthusiasm shown on his face. A rich Australian accent started, “Hi, I'm Kira! It's great to finally meet you Pod...I mean Ilan!” Raiko looked at Ilan and could see that he was extensively confused at the moment. Ilan looked down at his hand which grasped the keys, these people were clearly insane. In a sudden movement he had jumped into his car, he slammed the door shut then started up the ignition. Ilan switched the car into reverse, backed out of the parking lot, switched into drive, and then sped down the road. The bald one called Geriuk approached Raiko, the apparent leader. “Should we follow him?”
Raiko closed her eyes for a moment then reopened them, “Yes. However, time may have stopped for our summoning but it will soon begin again, cloak yourselves from normal human eyes and follow the Podam. Alright, let's move out!” In a flash all six of them disappeared into the air, in the restaurant all were frozen in time. Exactly three seconds after they had gone, time restarted. Ilan had not even noticed this during his conversation with the six of the cloaked figures.
As time restarted Julia slammed on the brakes and held her chest in a panic and started to breathe heavily. “What was that?” She panted heavily, keeping a firm foot down on the brakes. After a few minutes she hesitantly eased her foot off the brakes and began to drive again. Her car made its way quickly to the end of the back road she was on. As soon as she escaped from the narrow back road she was engulfed in the heavy traffic of the main roads. A loud yawn erupted from her mouth; she tried to hold it in with her right hand but failed and placed it back on the steering wheel. A red light about thirty feet from her changed to green and the rush of cars began down the extensive road. Before she got to the next light she turned on an exit, the sign had been splattered with mud and dirt to the point where the numbers were covered, but she knew these roads. Almost half an hour had passed as she got off at another exit and neared her destination, Julia began to think about the strange feeling that she felt as she left the restaurant. Julia pulled into the driveway and parked the car. She owned a fairly large one story house that she and Reed owned. As she got out of the car a man made an egress out of her front window. When she saw him she called out his, “REED!” He turned with haste and an excited look rushed over his almost oval face. Reed was tall and muscular, at least more than Ilan, he was known for his good looks, and his name brand, “Rich Boy” clothes. He approached her, his chest made a firm outline on his tight beige shirt, his long blue pajama pants swung back and forth over his bare feet. He reached Julia then wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, “How was your lunch? I mean, how was he?”
She embraced his hug then gave a weak smile, “He was doing alright, might come to the movies with us tonight. That’ll be good for him, at least that’s what I think.”
“Yeah. I think it’ll be good for him if we all hang out together.” He let go of her and started back to the house.
She followed slowly behind him until they reached the front door and she grabbed his neck and pressed her lips lightly on his then began to give him a passionate kiss. “I love you.” He repeated those words to her and they entered the house.
 Dual blader · Tue Feb 05, 2008 @ 01:30am · 3 Comments |
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