Seized With Life - Chapter Three: Walking Through A Hidden Eden Of Paradise
The sky grew increasingly dark and it worried Tino a little. The fact that it was quite overcast yet it barely rained made him fear that something big was on its way. However, much more troublesome was the apparently fickle woman whom Tino was chasing after. Periodically she would stop walking away from Tino and simply stare at him, but every time Tino began to catch up she took off again. This little game of cat and mouse was taking its toll on Tino, and now he simply wished to reach the woman to spite her.
"Damn it, woman. What's your problem? This is insane," Tino muttered to himself.
No matter how hard Tino tried he could never get close enough to the woman. His body wasn't in good enough shape for something as stressful as this. Soon his legs were giving out on him and he stopped for a little while to rest. He wasn't worried about losing track of the woman since she never left him out of her sight. Tino sat down on a small wall nearby and closed his eyes. He breathed heavily trying to catch his breath. Tino opened his eyes and looked at his current surrondings. The building across the street looked slightly familiar. Tino dug deep into his mind to try and recall the place. It was missing a door and he could see that the place was completely gutted. It looked like the building had suffered a devastating blaze. The walls on the inside were black and a few pieces of wood were strewn on the floor all of which had burned ends.
"What a depressing sight. I wonder what used to be here?" Tino thought.
It was then that a large, partially smashed sign caught Tino's eye off to the side in a small alleyway. It read "Funville". The name echoed in Tino's mind.
"Funville, Funville, it sounds very familiar. Why can't I remember this? Maybe this- no, wait, I got it. Funville. That's right I know this place. I know it well. At least I used to know it well."
The crumbling building was a mere shell of it's former glory. Kids running every which way more noise than you could shake a stick at. The place was a haven, a getaway. It was a paradise of games. Now it was a decrepit shack of lost dreams.
"I wonder how much money I spent there. How many games did I lose there? It's little more than a dream now."
Somehow Tino couldn't tear himself away from looking at the pitiful sight. It drew him in and locked him in place. Perhaps his childhood was gnawing at him.
"Well, I guess that the kids around have to find entertainment elsewhere. Although, I'm not sure where else you can go for the games that Funville had. Come to think of it, I haven't seen one kid anywhere around this town. That's certainly different from when I lived here."
Tino looked away from the building not being able to bare it much more. He saw the woman down the road staring at him. Tino squinted to see her better. Her eyes looked like she was pleading him to keep moving.
"Alright, alright, I'm getting up. You're a real demanding woman ain't ya? But I'll keep playing along with you," Tino said aloud as if the woman could hear him.
Once Tino was on the move again the woman contnued to walk away. Turning throughout all the streets snaking through the town.
"God, I never realized Bahia Bay had so many backstreets. C'mon woman, put an end to this already."
Tino continued on panting and stumbling through the streets. He was determined to catch that woman and figure all of this out. However, his age and lack of exercise caught up to him and he had to rest again. Tino sat down on a small beat up bench, that was on the corner of the street. The woman, who was about half way down the street, turned and saw Tino resting so she too stopped walking. Tino looked at her and held up his hand motioning to give him a minute. Then he looked behind the bench at the building that stood there. It was a bank. It had an enourmous, gaudy piggy bank sitting on top of the building.
"What an eyesore. I know this wasn't here 35 years ago. I'm sure I would remember it if it had been. Who agreed to the zoning notice on this?"
Tino shook his head at the sheer absurdity of the pig. He much more enjoyed looking at the bench he was sitting on rather than at the bank. The bench was full of dents and splintered ends. Gum was embedded into certain spots and various words had been carved into the wood. Tino carefully went around reading some of the more legible things written on the bench. Most of the carvings were the dumb prattlings of children, but one at the end of the bench caught Tino's eye. The edge of the bench had a carving that read "Later days -Tino."
"Hmmm, I can't remember writing that, but I must have at some point. That's odd, though, it doesn't seem like something I would do. Either way, before this bank there must have been something here that I cared about otherwise I wouldn't have sat on this bench at any time."
Tino stared hard at the scenery trying to see if any of it could spark a memory in him. Slowly, piece by piece, the surrondings looked familiar to Tino. He got up and took a few steps away from the building and looked back at it again. He finally pieced it all together. The bank used to be the ever changing pizza shop.
"I knew I had been here before. So the changing pizza shop finally changed into a whole new business? Nothing ever stays the same. It was just a matter of time. The money it must have cost to keep changing themes every week, no wonder it's no longer here."
Tino stared at the place a little longer. Another hallmark of his youth no longer existed, and it made him feel a little like his childhood was disappearing forever.
"I'm done resting here. Time to continue this trek of tranquility."
Tino began walking towards the woman and she once again took off. This time the woman walked in a pretty much straight line, only turning once, much to Tino's delight. After the turn, Tino could tell that the woman was headed towards the ocean. He looked past the woman to the open expanse of the sea and saw horribly dark clouds rolling in. So far the clouds had kept at a very light drizzle, but Tino knew something strong was on it's way. The woman made it to the boardwalk and quickly turned off to the side out of Tino's view.
"Damn it, woman. Wait for me, I'm not there yet."
Tino tried to hurry a little, but he could only move so fast.
"All right, I'm here, now if you would just-"
Tino stopped walking. He had turned the corner but the woman had disappeared. She was nowhere in sight. Tino stared off down the boardwalk not sure what to make of the whole sitaution.
"Fantastic, this is just what I needed, to be led around town by some strange woman who just disappeared. First my mother's funeral and now this, what a wonderful day. I should get out like this more often."
Tino grumbled to himself now wondering why he ever started following the mystery woman.
"Maybe I'm just losing my mind. Perhaps that woman was a figment of my imagination. Who knows, no point in really thinking about it anyway."
Tino sighed, and for no reason whatsoever he began to walk down the boardwalk. Every building along the way looked the same. They all were in terrible shape, with boards nailed to a bunch of them. However, none of this seemed to penetrate Tino. He walked as if in a trance, deep in thought, yet not thinking a single thing. After walking a bit further the trance was broken when out of the corner of his eye, Tino spotted someone sitting on a bench. The person's back was to Tino, but he knew he had seen the person before. Tino approached the person slowly, since he still felt like he was in a trance. The person heard Tino walking forward and turned away from the ocean to look at him. It was Dixon. Ten feet stood between the two men, but no words were spoken. They simply stared at each other.
End Of Chapter Three