Chapter 31: Chapter. 31: Lost

I woke up feeling much more refreshed, though I immediately recoiled feeling the grime in my body. Right, I hadn’t washed myself yesterday. I stretched, seeing the colors beneath the curtain, I assumed it was early morning. I didn’t really feel like doing anything. Nonetheless I had to clean myself up.

I sluggishly moved from my bed and headed towards the bathroom in the room. At least today I didn’t have anything. Upon opening the bathroom door I was greeted with the usual, though there was something extra⁠— a bathtub.

Not having used one for quite a while, I did the natural thing to do and instantly got excited, completely forgetting my previous laziness. My heart couldn’t stop rushing. I hadn’t used a bathtub since I had gotten here. Moreover, the entire bathroom was sparkly with whites and black tiles.

Taking a deep breath I thought things through, normally one should wash themselves before getting into the bathtub. A deep sigh left me as I removed my underwear and simply started the shower, though the water took a while to become a nice temperature.

Eventually I got it done, and managed to set up the bathtub for my enjoyment as well. And then I saw a peculiar container that read, ‘bubble bath’. I thought nothing of it, but since it was soap, I generously added it to the water.

Soon I was submerged, and bubbles emerged. Bubble bath? That was nice.

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Update: the bubbles had gotten out of hand. Covering up to my neck, nonetheless they were nice. So I basked on the feeling for some more time.

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Update⁠— the bubbles had overflowed out of the bathtub.

In the end, I had to pull out the plug and clean.

The bathtub bath wasn’t as pleasant as I expected it to be. A sigh left me while draped in towels. Though I still felt relaxed, I couldn’t really sense Ash⁠— well not like her emotions were particularly strong anyway. I was alone in the house for today.

That made the experience of cleaning up the bath with random towels and toilet paper less obnoxious⁠— I had a feeling that it was wrong to do so, but I had never actually cleaned before. Let alone make such a mess…

I shook my head and finished drying myself up, though my hair was a bit hard to dry. I turned to my pile of clothes and wore my last remaining shirt⁠, and the not destroyed jeans I had. Though after I was a bit lost on what to do. Should I go outside and⁠— explore? I mean, I had already gotten the message that my views were different from others…

At the same time, while I understood it, I just wanted to relax. Not worry about whether people think I am being weird or not. Or just trying to convince them of something that they simply wouldn’t believe. Elysium existed whether they believed in it or not. And that was the end of it.

I grabbed my phone, and decided to begin some research. Though I had no idea what I was going to look for, maybe whatever Ash had found so funny. I moved myself to the living room, and Ash ⁠— as expected ⁠— was missing.

Upon sitting at the couch I stared at the search-bar of the phone, but simply shook my head. I didn’t even know what to search about. I had nothing to research. A sigh left me as I put my phone down, my eyes finding the black object Ash had messed around with yesterday.

It had a lot of buttons, but I was a bit curious on what the TV had to offer. I mean, the video yesterday seemed ridiculous, but there seemed to be multiple videos, so perhaps some had redeeming qualities. I mimicked Ash’s movement and pressed the button that said ‘power’. The television turned on.

“Oh…” I turned to look at it, and began tapping on the buttons. The volume, or menus randomly popped up, but after a few seconds I found how to change videos.

And so, I began browsing…

Most were… uninteresting.

One had sounds that made my heart tighten as the video zoomed into the faces of people, their panic somewhat visible as they⁠— made food? The mean host of the video approached one of them and ate their dish.

“It’s raw!” He bellowed in anger that made me shrink a bit.

“No chef⁠—” The other person tried to argue but he was interrupted by a grunt.

“Get out!” The man roared and pointed elsewhere.

“But che⁠—

“Out now!” The host of the video was scary…

The other man choked a bit and gave him an apron before leaving the building.

I switched channels.

Others seemed to have some sort of narrative, but it was in the middle of it so I didn’t really understand what was happening.

A few more minutes went by, but I couldn’t find anything. A sigh escaped me. What was I even doing? I shook my head while making a decision. There was nothing to do inside. Then I had to go outside. While I didn’t really know where to go, I at least had a place of reference.

Though⁠⁠— I scrunched my face. I didn’t really want to take a taxi to get there, not after what had happened yesterday. After slight deliberation I summoned my scythe and prepared to slice the air.

The tree in the park. I pictured the place, and swung down. In an instant, I vanished my scythe and jumped. In less than a second I had crossed a long distance. And⁠⁠—

“It’s tree lady!” Hearing the familiar voice I looked to my side.

There he was, the kid ⁠— Zac? ⁠— looking at me with sparkling eyes. His happiness had overflowed in an instant.

“Yes…” I agreed awkwardly. Had he seen the portal?

“I knew if I kept coming back here you’d come back!” He chirped happily.

I scratched my head. “I guess so?” Zac was very happy to see me, but I didn’t really understand why. Well I didn’t know how kids worked to begin with. And I didn’t bring candy with me⁠— I hadn’t bought candy for a while.

“Though,” Zac called my attention, his finger pursed on his lips. “What brings you here?”

I opened my mouth but subsequently stopped. Nothing had brought me here. But I guess I wanted to buy candy now? Well, there had to be a store nearby.

“I was going to buy lots of gummy worms.” I smiled.

Zac hurriedly nodded but quickly frowned.

“Can you come with me?” He asked, a bit insecure.

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“Sure.” I nodded. “But why?”

“Mom told to me to ask her before I go elsewhere with a stranger⁠—” He gasped and covered his mouth in nervousness. “You’re not a stranger tree lady!”

I paused, but agreed anyway. “Then let’s go.”

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We met the mother, but unfortunately for Zac she couldn't let him go unsupervised. So all three of us went. Though, the kid was sulking, not like his mother seemed to mind. Instead she looked at me, her golden hair radiating from the sunlight.

“So, tree lady, what name do you go by?” She asked with a pleasant smile.

“She’s tree lady!” Zac protested but his mother ignored him.

I sighed. “I am Kaiti.”

“Oh, Kaiti,” she said slowly. “Strange name. You can call me Amanda.”

I nodded. And we continued walking in the direction of the nearest store. Or at least it was the nearest according to Amanda.

“So, Kaiti, are you a college student?”

I frowned hearing the unfamiliar word. No, I had seen it before. It was in my resume. Things in the resume were things that I had apparently completed. I nodded to myself, and sensed Amanda’s confusion.

“Ah, I am not a college student.” I awkwardly shook my head. “I am not from around here, I recently moved in.”

“Oh,” she gasped in small surprise. “Do you have a job then?”

Another problematic question. I frowned. I mean, I was technically employed now, though I hadn’t even gotten paid. How did that even work? Wasn’t I supposed to be paid? No, that didn’t matter at the moment. What had Ash even called the hunters. Border patrol?

“I work in… border patrol…”

“We aren’t near the border though?” Amanda asked in confusion.

“Well, I am on vacation right now.” I looked at the ground, hoping to not face more questions. I was technically on vacation.

Amanda nodded. “So you keep the borders secure? That’s an amazing job for someone so young.”

“Eh?” I tilted my head. “Yeah, though I almost died in the first day⁠—” I paused what I was about to say, but it was too late.

Amanda gasped. “God. Are you alright?”

I slowly nodded. “Well, it was my mistake. And I am not injured.”

“That’s good.”

Zac scoffed. “Of course, how could they injure tree lady! She can teleport!”

Eh? Amanda patted Zac and turned to me. “Isn’t he adorable sometimes?”

“Y-Yeah…” I wiped my forehead. Perhaps I had to be a lot more careful…

Eventually we arrived at the store, and I generously paid for candy and shared it with Zac, though Amanda seemed hesitant. After a lot of reassurance she finally caved in.

“Fine, however.” Our eyes met. “I’ll pay next time.”

“Alright…” I didn’t really see the problem, but maybe she just wanted to return the favor.

Still, she joined us on eating gummy worms. Though she seemed adamant at first. After a few minutes of doing nothing she bid her farewell. Which was unexpected.

“You’re leaving already?” I asked in confusion.

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I have a long day ahead. And so does Zac.”

“But, Mom!” Zac protested, but his mother simply shook her head. “Sorry…” He sulked before turning to me. “I hope we can meet again Tree lady.”

I scratched my cheek. “I hope so too…”

“Her name is Kaiti.” Amanda was displeased.

“Right. Sorry Kaiti…” Zac looked to the ground. Before I could say anything, Amanda opened her mouth.

“Well, we should get going. See you around Kaiti.” She waved with a smile as they walked away.

Once again I was alone. I sighed and walked back to the park, not really knowing where to go.

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And then, I saw a familiar figure sitting on a bench. His eyes made contact with me and he smiled.

It was the Old man!

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