Night had long fallen on the city... After a short summer rain, the clouds cleared letting the stars shine. A cool breeze carried a fresh scent. Large electronic billboards were silently displaying latest ads throughout the avenues for lone passers hurrying back home or some other destination. Nobody knew if this night would be an ordinary one or fate had designated a different path for them...
On a dark, narrow street a door opened, two men came out of a downtown bar. One of them seemed to be heavely drunk, leaning on the arm of his younger companion.
"This time you drank way too much, old man!"
"Whaaa! This is nothing!.. hk.. remember the day before your sister's wedding.. now that's what i call drinking!... ha ha ha haa..."
The younger man sighed. "..she still has grudge against you for that, i think..."
"Ha ha ha haa... grudge you say.. hkk... i know my cute little niece's grudges.. they last for at most a week he he heh..."
"Even if you say that, you should take care of yourself a little more.. you want to see how your grandchild grows, don't you?"
"Heh!.. when i become a grandpa i'll teach that little rat how to drink!.."
"Whaaat!..."
"That's the way to become a man!.."
"But uncle, it's going to be a girl, not a boy!.."
"A!.. was that so.. anyway... but i still don't understand!.. why doesn't Anna remember about me!..and I rocked her world that night like that!.. he he he...
"Uncle!.. again with that..."
"Yeaahhh. You could hear her joy from two blocks away, ha ha ha haaa..."
"Well.. you say that but are you sure about it?.. since she didn't seem to remember you at all. In fact, it seemed to me she made up that excuse just on the spot, saying she lost her memory of that day completely.. don't know why but seemed like a lie to me.." said the young man with a suspicious manner.
"Heh! What do you know!.. I told you!.. hk... she really had the time of her life!.." he yelled turning towards the man, but losing his balance. The other one grabbed him by the arm.
"Hey, hey! Careful now..."
"She did!" insisted the drunk.
"Ok, ok... she did... by the way, on that day you talk about, a lot of dead bodies were found near the area where she lives, by that river, right? She said the police even questioned her about it, but she couldn't remember anything at all about that day..."
"Hmm... yes, that's creepy... so many murders happening so close to her... poor Anna, she must've been frightened!.. those bastards!!." cried the man with rage.
"Certainly... hmm.. do you think she was frightened by something she saw and she doesn't want to recall it?.. or can't recall, actually..."
"Haaa?..." the man looked with a confused expression at the younger one who had a serious look in his face.
"Actually it has become more and more common lately... stories of people losing their memories regarding a certain time period or regarding certain people... it's said that they've seen something they shouldn't have, and their memories regarding that are somehow erased completely..." The older man look with disbelief.
"What are you babbling.. as if something like that were possible.. such dangerous man.. hk... would kill the witness in that case... why bother.. hk.. to erase their memory.."
"Because that would be too suspicious, of course! Killing is a serious crime, police would investigate afterall. If they were able to erase someone's memory like that, it would be very convenient for those kind of people..."
"Really?.. you think that could be true?.."
Now the couple turned a corner leading to a wide avenue filled with billboards.
"Yeah... in fact i know someone who lost the memory of her husband, whom she'd been married for two years!.."
"Really?!.. but are you sure she didn't hate the guy a lot?.." The man looked with disbelief.
"No.. not like that... she said she can't even remember his face!.. and it's said they were really happily married.. it's as if she never met that person... it's strange.. no, even creepy to forget such an important person completely... something must've happened to her memories, there's no other logical explanation... stories like that are common, nowadays..."
The older man had a stunned expression on his face.
"So.. that's it! Then my poor Anna must have faced something terrible that day! May be she saw those murderers, and they erased her memory because of it!.. that must be why she doesn't remember her time with me!.."
The younger male looked amused.
"Hey, now, old man.. aren't you jumping to the conclusion too fast?"
"Of course, that's what must've happened!.. there's no other way she'd forget about me!...ha ha ha haaaaa... but those bastards! Doing that to her!.. if i could just lay my hands on them!..." the man squeezed his fist with anger.
"Calm down, geezer.. you'd better stay away from those kind of men..." he lowered his voice. "There is also the rumour of dangerous people with extreme abilities..." he had a concerned look.
"Extreme abilities, my ass!.. I'll let them have a taste of my extreme fists!
"That's not what i mean.. like superhuman powers.."
"Superhuman?.." he had a puzzled look on his face.
A suspicious middle aged man, smoking, passed by them, casting a furtive glance at them while he passed. The younger male waited a moment until he was away and talked in a whisper.
"Hey, now don't tell anyone about this talk... government and police officials are hiding it but in forums on internet a lot of talk is going on about it.. since the crash of that meteorite ten years ago, these people started to appear, they say.."
"Haa.. what kind of people?..."
"Cursed people.. they have superhuman abilities like lifting object with mindpower, igniting objects, shooting invisible bullets from their hands... even flying!.." he said with a warning tone.
"Flying?.. have you been reading too much manga, you little bastard, haaa?.. ha ha ha haa..."
"I'm telling the truth!" cried the younger one. "That's the rumour spreading lately all over the net.. They say these people are related to the gate.."
"Gate? What gate..."
"The gate! You know those two strange places that appeared after the meteorite crashed on earth ten years ago! .. they built a gigantic wall covering the area, so nobody knows what's inside exactly.. but they say bizarre things happen in there, like the rules of physics change.. i also read they're making creepy experiments inside that Pandora facility built inside the gate... "
"Stupid, I know what the gate is!.. I'm asking which one!.. the Hell's gate in Tokyo, or that Heaven's Gate in South America.." yelled the drunken man.
"Which one?.. I don't know.. both of them!.." answered the younger man after a moment of hesitating. "Right after those gates appeared the rumours started... about these cursed people... they say those are humans whose souls were stolen by the gate in return for their powers... since then they lost all human emotion and turned into soulless beings.. killing machines.. anybody who witnesses one of those people have their memory erased about the incident by the government, in order to keep the public quiet..." whispered the younger man.
"Hmm... seems more like a science fiction story to me..." said the man looking at the other with one eyebrow up. "But whatever... those damned gates feel like something out of a horror movie too... even if they paint those walls with blue skies and clouds!.. pff.. that's even more creepy, god knows what evil they're covering with all that make up.. hk... who'd believe something like that would happen, ten years ago?.. that a meteor would crash.. hk.. and those two bizarre places would appear... and the moon would suddenly disappear from the skies forever.. and stars too!.. there isn't a single star in the sky now that we knew before!... all those Milky Way and the Bear thingy constellations hk... that we used to gaze with chicks at nights.. hk... are gone..." the man sighed. "Who knows whether those things shining at the sky are real or not!.. fake stars.. hmpf...like that fake clouds painted on that wall.."
"Yeah.. there is talk about that too... they say those stars are the stolen souls of the cursed humans, and when one of them die, his soul falls back to earth, like a falling star..."
"Fallen souls of cursed people... superhuman powers... goverment officials erasing peoples memories to conceal truth... are you sure you haven't drunk too much too?.. you sure know how to sound drunk, anyway he he he he..."
"Uncle!.." the younger man sighed.
"...whether real or not, who cares about it as long as nobody butts into my life.. you young people think too much!.. hk.. let me give you an advice.. ignorance is bliss my friend, you better learn that soon heh he..."
"Hmpf.. it's my fault trying to explain something to an old drunken geezer..." the young man whispered in a low voice. Then he heard footsteps approaching and lifted his head to see. A young girl in her twenties was walking towards their way, listening to music in high volume through headphones. She had a coat outlining her figure just long enough to cover her tighs, and underneath she wore plain jeans and boots on her slim legs. Her long black hair were swaying with every step she took.
Wow... such a beauty at this hour... where could she be going... nice legs, by the way.. thought the young man as she passed, then his train of thought were broken as she looked at them for an instant. Wh.. what a pretty face!.. so innocent and charming...
She walked past them and slowly disappeared while they turned around and stood watching her as she disappeared.
"Nice bottom... right, you little fox? He he hee .. stop surfing on the net and use your head to find a girl to lay down under the stars... even if they are fake!.. if you don't want to end up as a lone geezer one day!.." said the older man.
"You mean like you, uncle?.." teased the other.
"Like me, you bastard!.. I have my Anna!.."
"Well, Anna doesn't seem to have you, however.. eh he hee..." grinned the other.
"You are asking for it, young man! Come here!.." The older man pulled his ear, while the other tried to avoid.
"Come on, now uncle, heh he hee.. calm down.."
"You piece of.. I'll let you have it, this time!.. come here!..
"Uncle ok ok I give up!.."
The two men walked away on the silent avenue and disappeared into the night, leaving the avenue still again...
A little far away, the young girl was walking listening to the music flowing to her ears, softly whispering a sad melody. The wind blew brushing her hair to her face.
Aahh!.. feels so nice tonight!... so still... wind is blowing nicely too.. i feel like wandering a little more tonight... I'll take the longer way home... she thought and turned to another street whispering her melody...