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Chapter II
🕑 Added 2025-02-27 17:38:45 +0000 UTCSix Eyes, anyone could put two and two together when faced with these eyes. When the adrenaline and excitement wore down to a certain degree, I noticed a stinging pain in my eye that certainly was not caused by exposure to the smoke from cars or the fog seeping into the city. Of course there would be pain, I couldn't even put the detail I could see into words. It was worse when it came to involuntarily analyzing that energy to completion whenever I glanced at it.
My eyes burnt, but I was still not willing to walk around with a blindfold around my eyes. Besides looking stupid, it drew too much attention, doubtless, it drew the wrong kind too.
So I settled for the next easiest option.
Coughing, I eyed my fellow pedestrians for one with shades on him. Some people back home carried them around for no reason at all, this wasn't any different in London. It was easy enough to bump into some idling adolescent waiting for the stop sign and grab his shades in the process. Next, I quickly shoved a few of the bills I'd 'acquired' from the roadmen and went on my merry way.
Contrary to what I'd been led to believe, I didn't get a full slideshow or movie of Henry's life up till now. Instead, it was the same as when anyone tried to recall something. I only needed to focus and his (or mine, it seemed) memories would rush up to fill in any gaps. Instead of concrete information however, I was given tidbits and slight visions. This made sense, I realised. No one could definitively describe even the previous day, how could I expect a complete recollection of years past.
Reminiscing, or rather, recollecting, I wandered into Peckham. Where ol' Henry boy had lived for most of his life. A demure, somewhat shoddy maze of residential flats lined by greenery, small-time businesses and of course roadmen going by the wholly original and imaginative name of, 'Peckham Boys'.
It was easy enough to get to Henry's flat, and I was even greeted by his acquaintances along the way. All they got in response was small waves. I was too excited not to jumble my words if I replied.
Who wouldn't be?
Even knowing the prospects, and potential dangers, not many would be capable of holding themselves back from shouting, "Leroy Jenkins!" and rushing that massive swathe of swirling energy I could see even now if I took my shades off and looked up.
But enough, I was home.
Henry lived in a small one bedroom flat directly above a small fast food place with the words 'FISH & CHIPS' in bold red on a board hammered over the entrance. The smell of fried food lingered for long after it closed down, and even now, I could peer in through the windows to see the old owner arguing with a youth over something.
I shook my head with a sigh and rounded the building, quickly jumping over the stairs to see that the quaint, chipped doorway hung open as if his mother had known he'd be home. As was every morning, Miss Smith came storming out of the flat on squeaky heels, with a beaten olive bag hung from her shoulder as she hastily buttoned up her washed green sweater.
Louise Smith, a short woman that barely reached the crook of my shoulder. Her brown hair, streaked with grey from age and overwork, was done up in a bun. She hurried over, and I leaned down involuntarily for her to pull me down further and plant a kiss on my forehead.
"I cooked your favou-... What happened, Hal?" She tilted her head. I saw wrinkles across what Henry remembered as a beautiful face. "Was work hard today? And..." She gripped my sleeves and tugged at them. "You look like someone roughed you up. Who was it? Tell me right now, young man."
...How had she even noticed that?
I was left in complete disbelief.
Henry expected this, he was used to it. I... My mother had been quick enough to forget I existed when I didn't 'meet her expectations'.
"You're going to tell me all about it." She ordered, hands on her hips.
"Y-...You have work," I managed to stammer.
"I can manage the day off. Now, out with it, or do I have to ask Mr. James about it?"
James? ...Oh right, the librarian. What was I doing?
With a deep breath, I knocked myself out of my pathetic stupor, "I took a fall, ma'am."
She backed off with that but narrowed her eyes in a way as if to tell me that the conversation wasn't over just yet before stepping out of the door.
"Breakfast's on the table. It's pancakes. Wake Josie up, will you? She's a bit under the weather so she can take the day off."
I nodded dumbly as she disappeared down the stairs. When she was finally gone, I put a hand over my chest and let out a deep sigh.
"What the fuck was that?"
Was that how parents were supposed to be like?
If so, I could fully understand Henry's need to work so hard and take on jobs at such an age. I would too. Hell, that had been one interaction and I too wanted her to never need to work again.
Quietly, I stumbled over to the weathered old couch sitting in the drawing room and collapsed onto it.
There was only one bedroom, and it was shared by Henry's mother and his little sister while he slept on the couch in the living room, right beside the balcony. For a busy family, the flat was clean enough to eat off of, and nothing was just lying around. The cheap papered brown walls had smears though, courtesy of our neighbours, and I could still smell fried fish and chicken from downstairs.
"Not like they-... we have much." I mumbled to myself, putting my legs over the small table in front of the couch.
Part of me wanted to own up, and do something for the family first. The year was 2003. It would be easy enough to put together something like Flappy Bird for a quick and easy buck. Even though it would be equal to unleashing hell on Earth in a way.
"Oh well."
I was still going to do it.
"Internet cafe, it is," I decided. "But first, those pancakes smell heavenly and I am a hungry hungry boy."
"Hehe. Hal's gone mad."
"Cheeky brat." I replied, out of complete instinct, then promptly sprayed my milk all over breakfast when I noticed the small girl standing near the bedroom door. With some effort, she managed to wobble over to the table and climb up to sit beside me on the couch.
What manner of creature was this?
I'd never seen anything half as adorable. She had her powdery pink hair (from the father, I assumed) hanging down to her little shoulders, and was rubbing her eyes with precious, chubby hands, the kind you'd only find on a child. She looked up at me with big brown eyes, before opening her mouth wide and pointing at the food on the table.
"Give, please."
Awww... That British accent too!
I- Henry was a lucky young man.
I spent my morning feeding the little creature and, admittedly, I may have swooned a bit when she made her little pleased squeaks and giggles. I was going to take this thing with me.
"Hal, are you going to sleep now? Don't worry. I can take care of myself."
I cocked my head curiously, then realised that Henry slept through much of the day because of his late job. Well, I wasn't tired at all. No, I was raring to go at this new world. Wherein came a small dilemma, I couldn't leave her at home alone. Or maybe, I could? Henry seemed to do it often enough, and this WAS for her future.
Sometimes emotions just weren't worth it. I'd learnt that early on even if Henry hadn't.
It would only take a couple hours at best to do what I needed to.
"Alright Ellie, I'll be back in a few. You have your phone with you?"
She nodded her head up and down.
"You keep the door locked until me or your mum call, okay? If anybody else comes, pretend the house is empty."
"She's your mum too, silly!" She jumped and giggled.
"True enough."
"And why are you wearing glasses? It's morning."
She innocently reached for my glasses, but I quickly evaded her hand. That was a discussion I needed time to prepare for, or avoid entirely. She pouted at that, puffing up her cheeks much like a chipmunk.
But, in a testament to my superb willpower, I did not give in and managed to stumble out, locking the door behind me.
After a few hours of walking around though, it became evident enough that Henry didn't care enough to know about internet cafes and my directional sense wasn't to be relied upon at all. In my defense, I was curious enough about this new world to just pick a random direction and start walking. Even if the buildings all had that ugly square design.
It seemed like my own, except the date was all wrong... and that I could see energy with my bare eyes. But, that particular trait appeared to be rare enough. At some point, after evading cars and pedestrians all too eager to get into a scuffle, I managed to somewhere in the vicinity of the swirl of magical energy (no one could blame me), I entered a library.
There was a slight, invisible push and a sudden desire to go somewhere else as soon as I opened the door but when had that ever stopped me.
The fat receptionist raised a sharp brow, giving me a once-over. Ever confident, I flashed her my best grin and leaned onto the table. Unfortunately, it creaked and almost gave in so my attempt at charming her was completely ruined.
Coughing into my hand, I started again, "You folk got any computers?"
She grunted and moved her head to the side.
"Thanks a bunch, boy... or girl. I can't tell. I'm sorry, person of ambiguous gender."
He did not enjoy my enthusiasm.
The library was full of well, what anyone would expect from one really. Tall shelves with thick and 'dusty' tomes lined up and down. There was a clearing a ways to the side, where rows of tables were set up for different computers. Strangely enough however, that particular place seemed strangely abandoned.
"Fair enough," I wandered off to a computer and plopped down.
It was an ancient system. The keyboard was slick with some kind of disgusting grime and the sensitivity was all the way down for some reason. People were weird about things. I even found a piece of gum under the monitor.
Not to toot my own horn, but I was skilled at what I did. I would have quit long ago if I wasn't. From scratch, I managed to boil it to barely a hundred lines of code on Python, which had come out just a few years prior and wasn't as popular but was still freely available to those who deigned to give it a look.
"Well now, this is odd. I was of the thought that your kind weren't allowed in here. You certainly do not look the part of any of our students... I suppose it can happen every once in a while."
My what now? My kind? What?
I cast a quiet glance at my skin.
"I'm innocent. Look."
"And what have you got there, boy?"
The Six Eyes were a visual cheat code, but they were only a visual cheat code. Their original user had a degree of other abilities to make up for the rest, I had none, and no practice with manipulating the energy I could see.
Maybe it was time to start? Wasn't it supposed to be real easy?
Why had I not tried yet?
I slowly glanced past my shoulder. An old lady was standing right behind me, with a black veil over her grey hair, and a green dress that fell down to her ankles. She held a fan to her face with one hand, with the other folded under her chest, lightly gripping a strange bag.
That seemed quaint but no cause for concern... up until I noticed her wide amber eyes looking at me like I was some kind of naked animal at a zoo. It was wholly unnerving to the point where it barely veered off the edge of terrifying.
Like a particularly rusty swivel, I slowly turned my head back to look at her. Noting only then that even the few library goers I had spotted earlier had completely disappeared. The receptionist turned the other way, leaving us in deathly silence.
Then there was the downright absurd quantity of that mystery energy moving about in her body along a network of nerves, latent but ready and poised to flush out.
"A game... I just made it even. You wanna give it a try?"
"Certainly. What manner of game is this? This is modern technology, yes? On a PC? And I shall be the first to sample it? My, I seem to have lucked out. What sort of payment do you require?"
"A million bucks will do." I joked awkwardly.
Something told me smashing the keyboard over her head wasn't the best of ideas. I was willing to listen to that something.
"That's all? Well, do you take checks? Yes, I also know how to use those. It's caused quite the stir among my peers."
I uhh... what?
"Ah, I am Inorai Valualeta Atroholm. It is always a pleasure to meet young talent. I imagine it is the same for you. Now be a dear and lend me your phone so that I may arrange the transfer."
Why did she look so proud of herself?
-
I hope you're sufficiently entertained.
Comments
Potato
I an very confused but idk what by
GoT779
Good start
