ALL NOVEL (Chpt. 17) Gearing up (2)
I tried to twist the knob and— I couldn’t do it! What if they saw my ears?! What if I simply looked like a pretty girl nice to steal?! I… didn’t want to go, no idea what it was… The “peacefulness” of waking up in a bed and having food could not be hit by people… The security of knowing I won’t get beaten up…
I… As I pondered about things I hid my hand in my pockets and started to fidget, I didn’t want to go outside, I wanted to and yet, I didn’t want to. No one was forcing me to go outside but me, and yet, I still wanted to…
I kept shuffling my pockets trying to come up with an answer, maybe just maybe— my hand hit something cold and hard. I fondled it inside my pocket, simply going by the shape of it, I could tell it was the detergent potion I received from the collector. I guess if things went wrong I could… do something about it…
With my new reassurance, I gripped the doorknob once again and opened the door, it made a nice click. The door was slightly heavy but nothing I couldn’t open. The fresh air hit my face with slight coldness, I could see the air-particles floating about under the sunray that entered through the door. It was time to go outside.
With a gulp, I took a step outside and closed the door behind me. I stood on the firm yet uneven cobblestone ground and looked at the buildings around me, they all had an orangey tone, just different shades of orange, I suppose vibrant colors weren’t really a thing. Although it was oddly pleasant to look at, the greenery of bushes running alongside the small street compensated the lack of variety.
I stood there for a few seconds, waiting for something to happen, but nothing happened. I suppose I was just being skeptical, it wasn’t surprising though…
“Flashbacks are normal…” I reassured myself in a mutter. At the moment I stood before the door, it felt daunting and almost impossible— telling me to stay inside… And yet, I am standing here.
With decisiveness I started walking, I was aware of things going on around me, not like I wasn’t before, but more like even more aware, it was almost hard to walk on the uneven cobblestone since it felt as if I was overthinking it. But I got used to it, maybe it had to do with the ring?
I took the ring off and the eye icon went away. I continued to walk and… it was still very similar, I guess it simply made me more aware of things going around me, but if it was something that I still focused on it simply made the focus a lot more prevalent, or simply more noticeable to my brain I suppose.
“Well… might as well…” I wore the ring once again, and the icon came back. “I have to get used to it, so it becomes my new normal.” Although it might backfire later since instead of being a secret powerup, it was now a passive powerup. There was no longer the cliche development of using my hidden item.
“Hah… well, I would certainly love a chance like that.” I laughed at my fantasy as I kept walking, it was nowhere near as noticeable as before. Although as soon as I thought about it, it became hard to walk again, I suppose overthinking did make things hard at times.
I stood there, at the edge of the small street, looking out to the main street. I had no idea if it was the only existing main street. But I am sure all of them were just as daunting, again, it simply gave me bad feelings.
People absentmindedly walked by, I did get a few curious stares but none of them were of disgust, I suppose that’s simply how things worked. Some people that looked at me, some of them were even fearful. I guess I looked different? Perhaps it was because I was a cloaked 12-year-old? Thug kid!
I felt a lot more cheerful as I let my mind run wild, while not to say I was normally serious, I normally did not have childish episodes. Well, new body new me? No, that’s just as stupid as when people say: 'new year new me', 'new day new me'. The same idea, if you need a year to change then it’s an excuse. If you want to change, do it now.
“I stepped into the street and looked around, the foot traffic wasn’t heavy but I felt motivated. I felt almost as if I could quote myself with my own monologue! It was oddly empowering, and so I started to look around, for the shopping district, or commercial district. But, where was it?
Well, first I had to choose a direction to go to. In my case I chose the opposite direction to the mountain, if I got away from it, I would be getting closer to the center of the city — where trades normally flourish, where there is the most density of people, and maybe even the safest place in the city due to increased security.
Well, that’s how I thought cities worked anyway, and so, with reasoning in hand. I started walking towards that direction, people still gave me curious stares, but again, nothing too bad. I continued to walk as I watched the buildings, I saw some three-floored ones. I suppose they were inns.
I continued to walk around, saw some street vendors. Some of them were selling food, it seemed tasty.
“Oh girl, want to buy a brochette?” I turned to him, he seemed oddly stiff as I approached. Although the food seemed really tasty, the meat was leaking its fluids and seemed also kind of roasted, I was already salivating, the skewers looked nice. I mean, I guess he called them brochettes? Same thing.
I stood in front of the little stand, it had a grill using coal for the skewers. The vegetables it had— no idea.
“Yeah… I… did… not…” He was sweating and looking at me with embedded fear.
“Is something wrong?” I asked out of concern, he made a little squeal.
“I… collector… sorry…” Eh…
“Collector?” I tilted my head and looked at myself, then at my clothes… Remembering every collector had the same clothes, I pieced it all together and shook my head.
“How much are the ske- brochettes?” I asked as gently as possible, the man’s eyes widened for a moment and sighed.
“5 Rwyd.” I stuck my hand in my pocket and gave him a coin of 10, he received it and gave me a coin of 5, this one was bronze colored. I pocketed it without admiring it, although as he handed me the skewer with the wood stick I noticed he was still horribly shaky.
I awkwardly received and… He was still trembling, not knowing what to do I walked away. I heard him sigh. I got to thinking as I kept walking to my initial destination.
I munched on my new food as I walked, it was yummy, juicy, soft! It was amazing. But into what really piked my interest.
Why would he be so fearful? No, that’s not the right question, I suppose he got borrowed money or something. But why are people so fearful of collectors. When people saw me they would shake, or rather some of them would. But why? Actually, I feel like I already know the reason. As the woman from yesterday said— "how does it feel to strip people’s lives away?"
Our job was basically to get the money, if the person did not have it, we would take goods from them. Except it seemed oddly merciless, I had a feeling that if they didn’t have something to take away something more twisted would happen. I didn't want to find out truthfully speaking.
As I thought about things I looked around and noticed a lot of people wearing cloaks, they seemed to be dressed like me! I saw one of them coming my way, as I was ready to greet my coworker I noticed. His clothes were not completely black, while his cloak was, everything else was green.
He waved at me, I waved at him. But we walked past each other. I tried to think about what this meant. If the actual collector, the man received his name from the city major, and collector is a work line then I suppose there needs to be more similar cases. For other lines of work.
I nodded, seeing that what I thought about made sense.
Before I knew it, I found myself in a big plaza. I guess it was the central plaza. As I looked ahead I saw a big mansion with towering walls and no visible gate, the only reason I could see it was because the second and third floor peeked over the wall, the second floor barely being visible. It was painted in some kind of arctic white with yellowed paint, it looked old and yet it was awe-inspiring.
“Is there something I can do for you, Mrs. Collector?” Someone gently asked to my side, in confusion I turned around and it was a guard. I instantly felt nervous and became a bit stiff.
“Aah… Ah? Ah…” STOP… “I was wondering if this is District A, not very familiar with the city.” I was stupid... The guard gave me a discerning glance but nodded. I don’t know where he was specifically looked at, but he seemed to be thinking of something.
“Well, it’s the first time I heard such a thing, but you do seem to be a legitimate collector.” I sighed. “You do have the ring after all.”
“This?” I asked as I lifted my pinky finger, he nodded. I guess he simply was saving himself a headache by forcing me to wear it…
“And yes, you are in District A, there is no one to collect here. So I assume you must want to buy resupplies, your line of work is pretty tough. I would express my sadness for a small girl like you, but collectors are well-versed people.” Eh. “And are highly skilled in a lot of aspects.” Yeah…
“Well, I was wondering where could I buy a master board? The last one I had was broken yesterday by accident.” I lied with a weak smile, as I looked at the guard.
“You can find one in The Commercial Arlesh Tradehouse.” He pointed at a building that was way bigger than all the other ones, it was black and had people coming in and out of it, most of them were well-dressed. It seemed like a very important building, well it was very important... I turned to the guard once again.
“Ah thank you.” I made my way to the building and stood before it, I didn’t notice it before, but the building was taller than the mansion, it’s black brick and windows made it look haunted. The only thing that made it look welcoming was the candle-lit insides. The build felt even more daunting and insurmountable than the door, this thing was unmovable...
“Move.” I got pushed by someone as he entered.
“Weir—
“Move.” I got pushed yet again.
I guess people were busy, going with the influx of people I walked into the busiest building I had ever gone into. I was still unsure about things, but nothing too much.