Nowhere Fast
On the 19th of August 2016 at exactly 4:37pm, Kyoko Mogami leant her head against the cool glass of the bus window, and looked out upon a landscape that was sickeningly green. The air was thick with dust that danced in the muggy air, highlighted by afternoon sunlight that filtered through thick layers of grime on the windows.
Suddenly she was violently shaken as the empty bus sped over a particularly vicious pothole. She quickly jerked away and began to nurse her bruised forehead, looking up silently to scowl at the bus driver. To her relief, the vehicle seemed to be slowing down. It stopped.
"LA BROSSE!" the old conductor yelled "FINAL DESTINATION EUGNES!"
The doors clanked slowly and noisily open, and a ridiculously tall, imposing man stepped on.
"One ticket to Eugnes please Jaques" he said, smiling politely and depositing a handful of coins.
" 'Course Ren. 'Ere, take a nice seat a' the back, I'll get you 'ome in a jiffy"
"Why thank you"
The man named Ren made his way to the row next to Kyoko's as the doors laboriously worked their way shut again. Then they were off. They hurtled past vineyards and churches at breakneck speed, cutting corners and flying over speed bumps. The landscape blurred as they zoomed over hills and crashed round bends. Kyoko held desperately onto the seat in front of her, tightening her grip until her fingers turned white. I feel like throwing up…
"Are you okay?" a voice from a few seats away chimed.
The man who had just boarded was smiling amicably and was extending a hand in which was box of pills.
"I have some Dramamine with me if you're feeling motion sick"
"Thanks… I mean yes please… I mean, what I mean to say is…" stuttered Kyoko, who was having a hard time stringing sentences together between holding on for dear life and trying not to vomit all over this lovely stranger.
She took the box and after 10 seconds of struggling pushed a pill out of the blister packet. She swallowed it and handed the box back. The man smiled and put it back in a bulging leather bag at his side, before turning back to face her.
"So what brings you to Eugnes?" he inquired.
"I'm… sorry I'm- " the motion sickness pills had not quite taken effect yet "I'm going to be caring for Mr & Mrs Berger"
"So you must be . They've been talking about you for a few days now. I'm Ren Tsuruga, the local livestock veterinarian, by the way. Nice to meet you."
Figures. No one else goes around in a white lab coat and stethoscope.
"Nice to meet you too." The drugs were kicking in, and none too fast.
"So why did you come all the way out here?" inquired Ren, who looked suspiciously amused.
Kyoko turned her mind back to the past week. Waves of rage and pain rolled over her, taking complete control. Before she had had any time to put together an intelligent reply, the word had already slipped out of her mouth:
"REVENGE"
Ren's smile disappeared and his eyes turned cold. There was a moment of dead silence.
"So you're not here to take care of an old couple out of the goodness of your heart?"
Kyoko didn't reply. She desperately wanted to deny his words and yet she knew that she didn't deserve to. An almost tangible, crackling electric tension rose in the air, accompanied by Ren's million-lumen smile. As if willed by the gods, the bus decided to screech to a halt at exactly that moment. There was a painfully long wait as the bus doors worked their way slowly open. Ren made a point of loudly conversing with Jaques and ignoring Kyoko for the entire minute, before briskly stepping off the bus to the cheer "Good day me lad, good day!". Kyoko stepped off the bus slightly later, having finally extracted her luggage from a rack that she was far too short for.
It was thus that on the 19th of august 2016 at 5:12pm, Kyoko Mogami was greeted by the life that awaited her: a cool breeze ruffles her freshly-dyed orange hair, pushing her through narrow streets and past quaint little cottages. Some distance away, a dog barked and a bicycle bell chimed. The sun was low in the afternoon sky, setting everything aglow with fiery orange. She would almost have been optimistic about her future if she had not realized that the house in front of her was the one in which she was supposed to be working.
It was a crumbling farmhouse covered in ivy. It leaned strangely to one side, and was unnaturally discoloured around the door and windows. There was an enormous window that stuck out from the roof, covered by tattered lace curtains. This gravity-defying house was surrounded by a jungle of wild wheat, weeds and almost impenetrable brambles.
There was a cry from inside:
"EEH BY GUM PIERRE SHE'S 'ERE! AH TOLD YOU SEW"
An ancient, desiccated woman opened the door and looked down on Kyoko.
"Yew must be Kyoohko then, mustn't ye? Come on in"
On the 19th of August 2016 at 5:27pm, Kyoko stepped into the light of a crumbling doorway and wondered where life was taking her.