Chapter 3
I wake up the next morning, or I think is morning, my clock does say that it's ten in the morning. I woke up a little late than I wanted, but I'm still leaving this awful city, even if it's the evening. I sit on the edge of my bed, stretch, and yawn. I look down, and find the Sram still asleep. Damn, I almost forgot that I let her sleep in my bag, and I'm more surprised that I woke up alive. I get up, carefully pass over the Sram, and go to my cupboard. I open it, check my money, and find that it's all in there. Good to know that she didn't take anything from me because that would mean that I would have to look for her, and kick her ass. Well, with that out of the way, I go to my dresser, open it, and take off my pajamas. I put it inside the dresser, and pull out my clothes for today, which is another tank top, vest, pants, and shoes. Now, I need something to eat for breakfast, which I think it would be eggs with some ham, toast, and juice. I go to my fridge, get what I need, get the stove ready, and start preparing my meal. While working on it, I hear the Sram stirring, and look behind me. She sits up, rubs her eyes, and starts looking around with half-closed eyes. She seems confused at first, and I think she doesn't know where she is. Then, I see she calms down, which means that she just remembered where she is. I'm done watching, so I got back to my cooking. After a few moments, I hear her approaching, and I start to feel a presence next to me. I look to my side, and I see her looking at the food on the stove. I think she felt my eyes on her because she looks away from the food, and looks at me in the eye. She doesn't say anything, but I know what she wants.
"Want some?" I ask, in hopes that she says no.
"Please?" She asks. Of course, why did I expect anything else? I look back to my food, and say.
"Go take a seat." She leaves me to my work, and I hear the chair moving. Well, what was supposed to be my plate, turns out to be hers now. I put the food on the plate, and look back. "Grab a cup, and serve yourself something to drink. I got juice and milk in the fridge." She gets up from the table, and goes to my cupboard. I grab her plate, put it on the table, and go to my fridge. I see that she picked the juice, and she also holds the door open for me. "Thanks," I say, and grab what I need. Then, she closes the fridge, and goes back to the table. When I'm done preparing my breakfast, I put it on my plate, turn off the stove, and take my plate to the table. I'm a little surprised to find a cup and the juice left next to it on the other side of the table. I guess she can be considerate, even though she eats like she was an animal. By the time I finish serving myself some juice, and sit on the table, I see that she was already half way done with her food. I ignore it, and start eating my food.
When we're done, I take the plates, and put them in the sink. I also put the pan, and everything else on the sink. I was about to start cleaning the dishes, when the Sram stands next to me.
"I can wash the dishes," says the Sram, and it surprises me. I just look at her for a moment, and shrug my shoulders.
"Okay," I say, and leave her to do just that. After that, I go to my fridge, and check how much food I have for my travels. With what I just used for breakfast, I have enough food for a week, once I get rid of my guest. I close my fridge, go to my chest, pull out a map, and take it to the table. I take a seat, and start to check on my next destination. According to the map, once I leave the city, there's a little town nearby, which would take me at least two days to reach on foot. There might be some work for me over there, and if I'm lucky, it's some kind of monster that needs to be killed. That's my only kind of favorite job, even though I can do something less dangerous, but they tend to pay less. Oh well, I put the map back, and go to the toilet. I don't know how it actually works, all I know is that there's something in it that gets rid of the waste. When I'm done, I go back to my kitchen, and see that the Sram just finished washing the dishes.
"Thanks for that. Now, let's go," I say, and start walking towards the exit of my bag. I hear her following me, and when we reach the exit, I let her get out first. I don't trust her alone in my bag, she might close it once I'm out. With her out of my bag, I get out of my home.
Once outside, I grab my bag, we leave the area, and head straight to the zaap of the city. We reach it without any problem, except for the unbelievable line to leave the city. I mean, oh my goddess, there's no line that goes into the city, but this line is so long, it could take us an hour just to reach the zaap. Oh well, no choice, and there's no point in whining about it, I have a lot of time, and nothing to do at the moment. Just as I expected, we finally reach a booth, which isn't surprising because they charge for everything. They charge for the both of us, which would have cheaper if it was just me, but no, I had to pay for the extra weight. Fortunately, it isn't that expensive, and pay the toll. They let us pass, and we go through the portal.
We come out to an open road, with green fields to the sides, the blue sky with some little clouds, and the warm sun. It takes me a moment to adjust to the light, and I look at the Sram. She takes a bit longer, but when she's ready, a look away. Then, I hear a gasp coming from the Sram, and I look back at her. She has her eyes wide open, and starts looking around. Then, she looks at the grass, runs to it, sits on it, and starts touching it.
"Oh my god," says the Sram, and then, she grabs a little bit in her hand.
"What's wrong?" I ask, and I'm honestly confused about it.
"Is this…grass?" Okay, that's weird.
"Yes, that's grass." Then, she looks at the sky, and points at something.
"What's that wool-looking thing?" I look at the sky, and look for something like that, which is a cloud.
"That's a cloud."
"It's so pretty!" That does it.
"Let me ask you this, how long have been in Brakmar?" She gets up, while looking at the sky, and answers something unbelievable.
"My whole life." Then, she looks at me. "I've been in there my whole life." She starts to approach me, and I can see a tear on her eye. "Since the day I was born, I've been in Brakmar, in the city of darkness." She stops once she gets close to me. "I've never seen the green soft grass, never seen a floating cloud in the sky, and I've never seen the bright orb in the sky."
"The sun." I can't believe she has never seen it.
"And you," she points at me with a finger, "you took me with you, out of the city, even after what I did."
"Let's be honest, you would have kept trying anyways."
"And you still took me with you." I was about to say something, but she suddenly grabs me in a hug. "Thank you, thank you so much." This is a little awkward, and we weren't the only ones coming out of the portal.
"Okay, okay," I say, and tap her a few times on the back, "that's enough." I lightly push her away from me.
"Sorry, I'm just…happy."
"I can see that." We stand there and look at each other for a few moments, before I break the silence. "Well, I'm done here, later." Then, I turn around, and start to leave to my next destination.
"Let me come with you." I immediately stop, and turn around.
"We had an agreement, I would get you out of the city, and that was it. I don't care where you go, or what you do, remember?" I turn back, and resume my path. After walking a few steps, I can hear someone behind me, and I look behind me. The Sram seems to have gotten a bit closer, but I might be imagining things. I look away, and continue on my path, but once again, I hear footsteps behind me, which makes me turn around again. Okay, the Sram seems to be at the same distance, even though I got farther from the portal. "Are you following me?" Please goddess, make her say no.
"Nope." That was suspicious.
"Okay." I turn back, start walking, but on the second step, I quickly turn around, and see the Sram taking a step forward. "Stop following me."
"I'm not."
"You're following me."
"I just happen to go the same way you're going."
"Stop following me."
"I can be of use."
"I don't need help. Now, go away." I turn around, and start to leave. Unfortunately, I hear her following me, but I ignore her this time. She will eventually get tired, and decide to leave me, it's just a matter of time.