Chapter V----A look back II: Interesting Discoveries
The Chrysler 5th avenue rode through the empty streets of France, the driver as quiet as ever, while the passenger simply stared at his relaxed stance, his left elbow over his left knee as both his hands rested easily on the bottom of the steering wheel.
-Check the radio for something….I hate these uncomfortable silences- he spoke easily, his gaze turning to both sides of the crossing street before taking a left turn.
She turned on the radio quickly, her eyes never leaving the quiet conductor. The sound of a falling object, seemingly followed by flames, surged from the vehicle's speaker; this strange effect was quickly followed by a strong yet not frightening guitar.
Born from the Sun, Crashed to the earth
-Must've left the tape in- quickly spoke Hiroshi, stopping the recording before the song continued –Anyhow, we're already here- the car's engine suddenly died.
Her eyes then turned away from the conductor, meeting a somewhat unwelcome surprise. Hiroshi lived but a few blocks away from her own home, the similar housings being a dead give away and of course there was also the vandalized street sign on the furthest corner of the street, a sign she had passed by many times while heading for school. Now that she recalled though the brown and rather old car seemed familiar from the moment she had laid eyes upon it. It had crossed her path many times during the year yet she'd never bothered to identify the driver.
-What are you waiting for?- he spoke opening her door and interrupting her line of thought.
She nodded absently, the surprise still fresh in her mind. Once again her sight was focused on the male, though if she had taken the time to notice the house she was about to enter, she would've known that it was almost identical to hers, though it had been painted a tan white, with the roof edge colored a deep black.
-My parents must be off working- the key turned inside the door knob –just brace yourself for her-
-Her?- she asked, a strange animal-like sound coming from behind the still shut door.
-You'll see- he added, slightly smirking.
The heavy wooden door opened and, as if following an awkward command, a large beast jumped from behind, tackling Hiroshi and knocking him down. At first it appeared to be a wolf creature of sorts, yet slightly smaller and hairier.
-Yumi- spoke the kid from the ground, the medium sized hound playing with his shirt –Meet Niggurath, my personal guardian- the hound turned towards the girl, it's jaw was similar to a wolf's, yet the white mane and fur that covered it's body, coupled with a few brown spots, simulated more of a street dog. It wasn't as large as it had first appeared to be, the extended body reaching Hiroshi's waist, the boy being only somewhat taller than the Asian girl.
She kneeled down, patting the dog on the head; her instinctive loathe of Hiro dispersed for a moment as the mutt licked her wrist –Hello Niggurath- she spoke, the dog quickly stepped off his master and walked towards her, it's furry tail moving swiftly from side to side.
-She likes you- spoke Hiroshi as he got up –That's strange, she barely likes anyone apart from other dog owners- he reopened the door, which had closed amidst the surprising presentation –Come on, my room is on the second floor-
The girl followed closely, the mutt entering the house after her.
A large living room welcomed them; to the far left of the room laid a long couch in front of a 26 inch flat screen; the far right side of the room had various bookshelves, all full, and a small coffee table in the middle, surrounded by four cushions. The stairs were directly in front of them, yet first they had to walk past a small corridor, two doors on each side of it. The end of the small corridor, apart from having the stairs; spread to its sides seemingly occupying the whole length of the structure. Behind the stair was a crystal window that spanned the whole length of the structure as well; a sliding glass door communicated the house to a beautiful backyard, the wall that bordered the next house covered completely by a large sheet of greenery and plants.
Niggurath must've stayed behind, for she was no longer following them.
They went up the spiral stairs, which lead them to three doorways, spread across the length of the structure yet again. The boy walked towards the doorway on the far left and opened the wooden but robust door. It creaked heavily as Yumi's primitive instinct came rushing forward as a sudden illness; nothing could've prepared her for so much…abstraction.
The room itself was quite common, on the left side, right past the door, was a desk holding a Macintosh computer over it and some empty software boxes. Right across them was a small window, covered by an almost transparent indigo curtain. Under the window was a night stand, though its use seemed more of a trashcan for it was cluttered with many empty soda bottles and wrappings from different sweets. Next to the overflowed stand was a sofa bed, its sheet's jade green. The whole sanctum lacked any kind of lighting apart from the weak beam of light from the veiled window, though an empty flashbulb socket could be seen on the ceiling of the room.
What had surprised her most was not the room itself but the contents of it. The walls were full with varied posters from many sources, movies, rock groups, videogames, etc. Among which she could most easily recognize (either by memory or by reading the poster's message) one poster from "Aliens" the image being of an Alien Egg about to hatch; a large black explosion also struck her gaze, the wording reading "Akira" in large red font; next to it was the psychotic face of Jack Nicholson, smiling his evil grin from "The Shining". Many other movie posters were visible, The Professional, The Terminator, Metropolis, The Clockwork Orange, etc. There were also some anime images, Ninja Scroll, Pet Shop of Horrors, Serial Experiments Lain, Alexander, etc.
The rock groups were the strangest of all….some were unrecognizable to her, others she had just heard about, and others she had never imagined existed. From the few she did manage to recognize there was one with a large black bell that had the syllables AC/DC over it; the strange zombie called Eddy from Iron Maiden rising from a grave as thunder struck his body; next to this was a poster with a magnificent yet fearsome metallic angel, the only visible text reading Angel of Retribution, was that the name of the band? The next item simply read DEICIDE, a large golden demon, encrypted within a metallic sphere, behind the word.
Many other posters were visible, yet she could only recognize those that belonged to the artist named H.R. Giger, his style unique and easily identifiable.
There was also a sole painting among the many posters, it had been beautifully framed and it represented a monstrous human feeding off a smaller one, the pure force struck her more than any of the other objects.
The boy stepped into the room as anyone else would step into their own room, yet she took a few seconds to follow. The wall extended past the entrance on her right, meaning that it was there where the closet was.
Something made her turn to her side as she walked past the extension, and noticed the strangest and most surprising of all the insignia in Hiro's room. Another poster, though she couldn't effectively describe it. It was some kind of vortex, or hurricane, typhoon perhaps; its eye was present, though she couldn't point it out effectively, for it seemed to rise from every point inside the black background….or was it crimson…the color of the hurricane, if you could call it that, was either black or crimson since only those colors were present. Something rested inside the shapeless maelstrom, a figure of some kind…it had anthropomorphic characteristics, though they could've also been of a standing beast; some unknown race of animal. She couldn't define it, since she had never seen something like it, nor could she pinpoint the style used, for it was also something new to her. It wasn't abstract nor a portrait, surreal perhaps? As she kept analyzing the drawing, she barely managed to recognize a signature that read: "Azathoth, by Madracke".
Focusing all her strength she turned away from the figure, which seemed to have acquired a subconscious lock on her mind.
-Dimensional reality- said Hiro, turning on the computer –Few artists that can use the style, and even fewer that manage to invent new images with it- he knelt on the carpeted floor before continuing the browsing.
-Take a seat- he continued –I've got some foldable chairs in the closet-
She turned to her side again, trying not to look at the strange drawing. As the closet's doors slid open, a thick folder fell from the top shelve.
-Found them yet- added the boy. He turned due to the inexistent response and saw the girl's eyes glued to the now open folder resting on her hands –took me a couple of months to gather that much info, but everything you need to know is there-
She didn't listen however, her gaze lost in the plethora of information inside the yellow folder. Countless photos, articles and graphs regarding someone named Alexander Espinoza…someone she knew from school.
The information was almost obsessive yet intelligent; the graphics told of the habits of the kid, his destinations during lunch hour, his closest friends and even a background text about him and his family.
-Cool, isn't it?-