"A man by the river told me about a kid with a prize on his head. Said he wanted to find him and get him and his kid a nice place, outside of the city.
A few 'days' ago, I went back to the city after running away and saw a poster on a mortar wall. It said I was wanted, alive, with a reward of 66 Ozels. I'm don't know how the money works here. I don't know how I feel being a fugitive, of sorts. I've never been wanted for anything. Sometimes, I feel really awful thinking I caused all of this chaos. I don't think I'm a bad person, I'd like to call it being unlucky.
I took the poster off the wall and it came with me to the river. It's a nice little, bucolic place where I can escape to and there are things I can eat here. Well, mostly only the pepper apples, they grow on tall, vine like trees that change colors three times a day. The fruits are the sweetest when the trees are most vibrant and they're the hottest when the trees are dullest. My palette has no preference but my stomach does.
I've spent the past two nights at the river. It's been pretty constant and static as I've only survived and done a good amount of thinking and napping. I got a visitor today though.
There was a man at the river today, El. I heard him singing folk tunes while he came wading down the river. The current brought him to me. I don't think he knew I was looking at him, that's how I heard him. He saw me eventually, he was unashamed of his singing. A modest man, he introduced himself and I found a name on the spot, Jamie.
"Jamie? That's a funny name. What brings you to the tesch, boy?" He asked, his feet resting in the water, sitting near me.
I was conscience of what I shared with him. So far, he's the only person I've been able to talk to. I haven't seen him since I've come down here and that worries me. Someone could've sent him to look for me.
"I like the water, it's a nice break from the city." I told him, that was why he came too, that's really all we had in common, he went on to tell me a lot about himself. I made sure not to let him get a good look at my face.
El used to work at a 'Pettatron' plant. Pettatron's, he explained to me, are large, metallic towers where energy is made, similar to a nuclear power plant. He told me about the time one of the 'Sta's' or, towers, almost melted, killing a handful of workings and how it could've potentially taken out a large portion of the surrounding populace. El also noticed
Like my experiences talking to anyone 40 some years my senior, El wore out his welcome pretty quickly and didn't give me much room to 'speak'. There were a few times I felt I should've caved, telling him where I was from. Tell him that I'm the wanted kid with the reward on my head.
Tell him that I'm alone and scared here and I'd just like someone to tell me things will be okay.
Around the 5th hue, after talking for 2 or 3, El went back to whatever little Suburb or 'Zha' he resides in. He said he was going back to his kid. He told me he was some kind of an age, my guess is he's around 10 or 11, I could be way off though.
El told me to get back to my parents. And that got me thinking.
As he was walking away, I thought about her and how my face was all over the city and how she has to be incredibly curious as to who the wanted boy that yelled her name one day is. It does bother me a little to know that there are guys like El looking for me, but that gives me hope that she is too.
It was around the 6th hue, under a lavender sky, that I packed my sparse belongings and made my way back to the city. All day I was dreading going into the forest and hiding out there and maybe even running from the city.
And now, I'm filled with a different kind of dread and new kind of excitement as I'm back and on the same overpass where I first saw her and drew all that attention to myself. There aren't many people out now, especially entering the 7th hue. I've made sure to keep my face plenty hidden. Looks like I'll be sleeping on the overpass tonight.
I'm not sure where I'll begin, but tomorrow and for the rest of my time, here at least, as long as she's alive, I'm going to be devoting my time to finding her.
-A.J.
