Hey guys, I am so sorry I took so long with this! I have had a lot to do and my life has just been emotionally stressing, still is but I'm getting through it. Anyway, I'm back with a new chapter! I however do have one new change. From here on the main character's name is Sofia. The more involved background I had for this changed and so has the individual Sofia was based on. She is actually my Hetalia character, Scandinavia and instead of naming her whatever the fuck I felt like I did some research and gave her a more northern European name. But that's the only change.
Without further ado, let the story begin~!
Song Used: I'm A Member of the Midnight Crew - Eddie Morton
Chapter 7 - Dull Dances
My feet shuffled across the fallen leaves in the forest, they in themselves crunching beneath my shoes in a way that seemed to imitate my irritation. Not once in my life had I ever met someone so annoying as that damned Alfred. That pain in the ass cat. Sure I've met those that were irritating in an outright way, but it was his speech pattern and vague way of riddling that made my teeth grind against each other. In the end however I suppose he did give me some useful information. Without him who knows how long I would've been in that forest or where I would've ended up had he not given me the few pointers that he did.
It was with his pointers that I had now found my feet scuffing against the pale concrete... but something was wrong with this town... something was dreadfully off..
The brows above my eyes were slowly rising up in confusion as my eyes were as well twisting in the same confused motion. The concrete wasn't the only thing that was pale and dull. The entirety of the town matched that criteria. Windows on houses were cracked. Signs on doors were chipped and breaking. Buildings were crumbling and eroded. Heavens even the people were the same! They moved slow and zombie-like across the pavement. Their skin was as well an odd shade of grey, like something right out of a black and white film. The town itself carried an aura of abandonment.. Like time took a pause in this place.
"What in the world..." and I had to remember that this place was strange. I couldn't forget the very way in which I'd arrived here... that hole in the ground, the sudden twist of gravity taking a life of it's own and suddenly I was here. So, with my past recollections in mind I blocked out the normality of my world and continued in my quest to adjust to this place I was in.
That was when a threatening rumble came from below my upper torso and I was suddenly very thankful these people seemed stuck on a continuing rut, unable to register my presence. Again my stomach roared in hunger and a sigh slipped through my lips. I hadn't registered the last time I had eaten was hours ago and it was only just now starting to get me.
Time to find something to eat.
My eyes scoped out the town before me, looking to see of course if there was a place to eat at. I noticed a few places but of course none of them looked any appetizing. They looked the same as the town. Gray and dull. But if I wanted to eat, or have a shot at eating I'd need to give one of these places a shot. Being the lazy person that I am I ventured to the one closest to me. I wish I could tell you what the name of the place was but the sign was a faded shade of brown and the letters were just black smudges upon it. Completely illegible. How did I know it was a restaurant then? Or even a place to acquire something to eat? There were faded gray and white pastries in the window. They didn't look all that edible but it was better than nothing.
With hunger set in my stomach I ventured into the building, which had a decor that was more like an 80's bar once I actually got inside. There were people idly holding onto big glass cups, sitting at wide round tables. While others seemed to be attempting a pool shot, but moving so slow their sticks barely even moved the ceramic balls on the carpeted green surface. Off in the corner were men in hats and suits playing cards, it was either black jack or poker that was their objective game, I couldn't really tell.
After my quick observation of the place I strode up to the counter, looking at the woman slowly washing at the dishes with a solemn look in her gaze. Her faded blue eyes gazed out the window as if in reminiscence of memories long since past... ones she longed to return. It was a gaze I could relate with... one I knew very well. But my stomach was beckoning for something to devour.
"Excuse me miss" I inquired softly, afraid she might snap at me had I been too loud. However she did not what I had expected... in fact she didn't do anything at all, just kept staring out the window with that look in her eyes. Of course it confused me but I just figured I hadn't been loud enough, she was pretty deep in whatever she was thinking about. "Uh, miss? Excuse me, but could I get something to eat? I'm starving. Miss...?" she wasn't responding no matter how loud or how much I spoke. I waved my hand in front of her and still no response.
"You're not going to wake her you know~" came the voice that led me here.
"Not you again" I sighed in irritation that he'd returned to haunt me.
"Oh come now, I'm merely here to help~" grinned Alfred who now sat on the counter, his tail swaying idly in the air. "That woman, nor any of these people can hear you, nor react to you~"
"Would you mind telling me why that is?" I wondered, now actually intrigued. It would explain a lot of things. Why no one had looked when I entered the town and why this woman wasn't reacting to me.
"Well it might have something to do with that record player over there" purred the mischievous cat as he gestured over to a machine with a fancy looking megaphone on top of it off to the left near the window. Of course more commonly called a record player, I was wondering how I had missed it when I walked in. It stood out among everything and it had this... enticing kind of feel to it. That kind of feeling where you just NEEDED to touch it.
"What's so special about it?" I just had to wonder. Even though that feeling of enticement was there... I had to wonder what was so special about it. Sure it did stand out among the dull environment, it's shiny black surface glinting ever so brightly against the pale walls of the building. But like everything else though, it was stopped, caught in the paused momentum that this town expended.
"And can you please not be vague about it this time. I'm having a hard enough time just trying to grasp the abnormalities of this place" I pleaded, a sharp look in my azure eyes as I looked to the chessy cat for some answers.
"Aww you're no fun" pouted Alfred, pausing for a moment before continuing on with his seemingly planned explanation, his tail swaying with more fervor this time around. "Well see, once there used to be a man who played his piano here. His playing kept this town lively and happy. But then, as Wonderland began to change the King fetched for him to be brought to the castle so that his highness' inner demons could be quelled through the man's wonderful melodies" he hoped down from the counter. "With no more melody," he continued. " the people resorted to this megaphone here" he twirled around the shining machine. " But one day, it just stopped and the people were stuck in a rut, nearly locked in the moment they'd been experiencing before the record stopped" he finally finished.
"Why didn't anyone wind it up again? Wouldn't that be the obvious thing to do?" I couldn't help but ask, almost a bit baffled that no one had thought of such a thing.
"No one ever comes here anymore and those who do are too scared to touch the record player. They don't know if it'll have a positive effect" Alfred smirked softly, a little glint in his eyes that hid behind his glasses. "I wonder if you have enough gut to start it?" he inquired. "Well do you?"
"Well... I suppose I could give it a try... I mean this thing did give this town life before it stopped right?" and as confident as I sounded... I was hesitant. What if this really did have horrible consequences? What if it caused something terrible? I really didn't want to be responsible for something like that... but then again no one deserved to suffer like these people were.
"So? Will you~?" Alfred taunted me, moving slowly around the machine, almost as if trying to entice me further. I gazed at the glinting black surface, sparkling at me, enticing me forward and my feet guided me forward. One foot in front of the other and soon enough I was standing right before it. My hand outstretched for the needle and with a careful movement it descended, the record beginning to turn and music blasting from the giant black funnel.
I hate a moral coward
One who lacks a manly spark
I just detest a man afraid to go home in the dark
The music floated out of the machine and the most magical thing I'd ever seen began to take place right before my eyes. The walls began to colorize, turning a dark, glossy shade of beige.
The people sprung to life, the man taking the pool shot cheering as the ceramic spheres tumbled into the holes on the side of the table.
I always spend my evenings where there's women, wine and song! But like a man I always bring my little wife along!
The men playing cards laughed cheerily as they put up their stakes and the people sitting at the round tables clanked their beer bottles together. The woman staring out the window shed a single tear as a smile broke through her features and she sniffed softly, coming to terms with reality and returning to cleaning the dishes before her.
I'm a member of the midnight crew. I'm a night owl and a wise bird too. Home with the milk in the morning, singing the same old song~
This town was alive again, moving to the rhythm of a renewed beat.
