You guys...I am SO sorry. I hadn't realized it's been 8 months since I last updated! I really haven't forgotten about this story at all! In fact, I've been working on planning during that time! So here is chapter that I wrote a few months ago just to tell you that I am alive and that I will keep writing!
Again I am so sorry about the delay! (Your reviews have been very encouraging! I won't be posting as frequently, but I hope to be updating faster than every 8 months-that's completely ridiculous!)
Hotarou headed north as best as possible then suddenly found himself flying towards the mountains. He flew over them, looking for a place to land then noticed an old abandoned city next to a large lake. It was clear enough for him to land so he circled his jet and landed gently in a green pasture. He walked up to the old city and looked around. This place has obviously been a beautiful bustling town in the earlier years, but since everyone had migrated to other planets it had been abandoned.
He walked slowly through the streets, considering a place to stay. He turned a corner then saw a large building slowly being engulfed in ivy. He walked towards it and realized that it had once been a church. It wasn't large, but it still had tall spires, though broken, that reached up. The windows were mostly boarded and the paint had faded, however the front doors were left slightly ajar. He wedged one door open and slipped inside. He admired the size of the building, with tall wooden arches on either side like ribs, but there were a few holes in the ceiling. It was cool inside so he decided to only look quickly so he wouldn't get too cold. He walked to the front and imagined this place filled with people like in the old stories and books he had seen.
He suddenly heard a shoe scuff behind him and he turned quickly. A person looked up at him with surprise; a small woman with wiry gray hair who had covered her shoulders with a blanket that was once white. She said something in a language Hotarou didn't quite understand. He shook his head to show that his didn't comprehend. The woman looked back at him then grabbed his wrist and pulled him along. Hotarou, a little unsure of what she was doing, followed anyway. She pulled him to a back room filled with many books and papers. The room was old and somewhat musty; Hotarou sneezed and looked towards a window. Through the gap in the wooden blinds, sunlight streamed in highlighting the dust particles floating in the air. Around the room he noted that dust had coated some books and had layered on others showing that some books had been viewed more recently. She released his wrist and pointed to a book on the shelf. He recognized the word "Español" but he knew he didn't understand Spanish of any kind.
"I don't speak Espanish…" he attempted in broken English while moving his head side-to-side. He could read and write English better than speak it.
The old woman pointed to another book that read in faded letters "English Dictionary." He nodded. "English…" he offered. The woman smiled then hustled over and grabbed a short pencil then pulled out another book. She blew dust off of it which made them both sneeze. She thumbed through the pages quickly then pointed to a word.
Speak? Hotarou read to himself. Speak what?
The old woman turned to another page then pointed at the word "Spanish" then directed a bony finger at herself. She gestured with her hand to Hotarou.
"No, no!" he said shaking his head quickly. "No Espanish."
The woman nodded and said something that sounded similar to the word "English" while pointing at him. It was his turn to take the book and point out words. He pointed to write, read and English, then he pointed to speak and Japanese. The woman's eyes widened then she nodded in realization. She pointed to the word "impressed" then took the pencil and found some old paper.
"I write and read English too. I am Isabella, call me Isa," she wrote. "I am deft so writing is good."Hotarou understood that English was still a trade language, even in the distant reaches of space, which would explain her knowledge of it.
Hotarou took the pencil and scratched a few words on the paper as well. "I am Hotarou. Are you the only one here?"
The woman nodded. "Everyone else died already. I haven't seen another person for a while. When I saw you I thought I was insane! Seeing ghosts!" The woman chuckled hoarsely after she finished writing. "It's nice to see someone so young!"
Hotarou looked at Isa and wondered about her. Wasn't she lonely? Why didn't she work her way back to civilization while she was still young? How old was she anyway? Why was she here in this supposedly abandoned church?
Isa leaned back and stretched, then walked over to a wall. She pointed to Hotarou as if to say "watch" then drew with her finger in the dust. She said something in Spanish and laughed. Hotarou was impressed with how thick the dust was, the woman wandered back then scrawled on the page, "I always wondered if a day like this could happen. Come to my house, I have a good solution!" Hotarou watched as the woman scuttled out of the room then looked back to see if he was following. She sure is spritely for her age.
The woman stepped lightly and quickly, Hotarou followed with long steps to keep up. The woman suddenly turned down another road that was covered with trees on either side and was gravel rather than the bleached, worn asphalt they had walked on. She turned again, but this time walked towards a white house that looked very well taken care of for someone of her age.
She opened the door and showed him into an old, but tastefully decorated house. It wasn't of the same high-fashion standards of housing on other celestial bodies, but it wasn't anything ugly. She hustled off to the kitchen to make some lemonade.
Hotarou looked around the room and noticed it was fairly well-lit by natural light, but the color palette was cozy and gave a homey feel. For working with only what she had on Earth at the time, Isa did a very nice job with her house. She came back with the lemonade and two boards that had white plastic on them, as well as two markers.
"White boards!" Isa wrote on the one she had. "Back when there were other people here, I was a teacher. So I have markers and boards."
"Then you would have some children here?" Hotarou wrote.
She shook her head, talking to herself as she wrote. "No, no, I taught adults."
"Then how old are you?" Hotarou responded.
"Long ago it was rude to ask a woman her age." As she showed him the board, Hotarou frowned. "That was long ago, before I was born." She winked at him to let him know that she was teasing him. "Try and guess how old I am."
Hotarou thought this was a dangerous endeavor. Say she was too old and, like most women, she'd get offended. Say she was younger and she could be flattered or think he was making fun of her. He thought about it. While she has wiry, gray hair and bony hands, though, it could just be from her diet, Hotarou contemplated. However the fashion of this house says that she can't be too old and the gardens I saw briefly outside would say that she's still young enough to do manual labor.
The woman waited patiently, having noticed the concentrated look on Hotarou's face. Then Hotarou began to write on his white board. "I would say you're somewhere in your fifties."
The woman gave a somewhat startled expression. "Why?" she wrote back.
"The environment you live in is harsh, so that would age you by a few years. But your garden is nice and your house is fairly fashionable for what is known on Earth. So you must be less than sixty, but over thirty." Hotarou showed her the board then erased what he had and further wrote, "You must be between your 40's and 50's. I say 50's because your fashion is out-of-date and you said all others died before you." He erased again, but began having a difficult time thinking of the English words for some of the things he wanted to say. "People start dying off at the fifties. Earth people have shorter life-times because of the weather…" Climate or atmospheric conditions in Japanese, but how do I say that in English? He showed her the board and Isa nodded her understanding. "That's how it is," he muttered to himself seeing that she knew what he was talking about.
The Isa sat for a moment and thought. "I am 56." She returned on her board. "You are very smart and observant. I bet you would be a good student!"
Hotarou shrugged. "I'm average," he replied.
Isa took a sip of her lemonade them made a face as if she remembered something. "You must have some car or plane, where is it? Squirrels will climb up inside if we don't move it."
Hotarou nodded his agreement then replied that it was only a little distance away. They decided to go retrieve it sooner than later and so cleaned up their things.
The jet moaned as it was forced to move again, but he carefully followed Isa's instructions and parked it in the barn she directed him to. The engine shut down with a sigh. When he walked back out he realized it had started snowing, he wasn't prepared for snow so early in the season and was still only wearing a light coat. Isa appeared from around the corner with a scarf and gestured for him to bend down so she could wrap it around his neck. Hotarou suddenly felt a sense of nostalgia wash over him.
His mother briefly calling him over and tying a scarf around him said that he needed to be kept warm. He didn't want it and tried to pull it off, at which action she told him a story about a woman who lived in outside of the domes in the mountains who ate children which didn't wear scarves and clothes filled with love to keep them warm. Hotarou didn't believe her, but some part of him thought enough of it was true to wear the scarf every time he went outside.
He also recalled at the orphanage, though, that it was children who wore scarves when they felt sick or really cold that often was taken away by a person and never seen again. He always though it was the woman in the mountains who was taking the children away to eat them because their clothes didn't have love. He made sure never to wear a scarf at the orphanage.
Isa made a sound which brought Hotarou back. She said something then began walking back toward the house. Hotarou followed slowly behind, admiring the snow as it fell and stuck to his clothes. When he came back inside the woman showed him her white board on which she had written: "We can't spend too much time outside. The snow can burn you."
Acid in the snow would be my guess, Hotarou thought; with as much ash and smoke was released into the air when the volcanoes erupted there would still be some days of acid rain or snow on occasion. Isa erased her board then wrote something else on it and showed it to him.
"A movie?" he wondered looking at her. "Do you have electricity?"
The woman pointed to her ear to remind him that she couldn't hear what he was saying, then went to a cabinet under a small square box television set; Hotarou hadn't even noticed that television.
Isa pointed to her collection. Hotarou crouched down and looked at the movies on DVDs and VHS', most with English titles, some in Spanish, and others in Portuguese. He didn't recognize them this his eyes caught on to an old cartoon he pulled it out and looked at the title: Cowboy Bebop.
What was this type of thing called back then? Anime or something? I think Ibara said she enjoyed things like this. Why not try this? He pointed at it; Isa nodded then took it to set up the player.
He sat back on the couch and watched as Isa turned on the television and the tape began to track. He wondered how the television worked without electricity, but he ignored the question for a bit. Isa said something Spanish which, though he didn't understand, he could tell she was happy.
The video was in English so he didn't pay too much attention to it and mostly began to think.
He had come up all of this way to run away from the Organization's goons. He probably had hardly any fuel left and he doubted Isa would have jet fuel of any kind. He noted some cars, but they were old and he didn't have a clue how to drive an old car; he didn't care to learn either. Maybe she had a horse or a donkey, but feeding an animal like that could be difficult. He was surprised, though, to think that he hadn't seen any dogs in this town. With at least one person living here you would expect to see at least two or three, or maybe some cats. Either way that's neither here nor there. What about the other crew members? He sent out a distress call and sent Satoshi his message; trusting that Satoshi understood, were they all looking for him? Were they trapped? Hotarou felt his stomach tighten uncomfortably with that thought. I'm sure they're fine, he thought as he saw the show turn to a jet-fight scene. He tried not the think about it.
But then there's Loki… his brain wandered back moments later, to his irritation; no, I'm sure he's just some guy. He's not someone to worry about. I shouldn't be worrying about them. They're not my problem; they should have known things like this would happen so it's not my problem what happens to them.
He shifted his arms across his chest and slouched back into the couch. Yet I'm up here, hiding, as if there's not a problem. Watching a movie with a person I hardly even know. Why did I suddenly let my guard down around this woman? Maybe I'm tired from flying so much so I didn't have all my wits about me.
He glanced over at his viewing partner who was gazing with child-like glee at the television, eyes gleaming. Would it be so bad to stay here and live like this? Living just to survive? Outside of the Organization's sight? No ulterior motives, spying, living in fear…just forget about the past?
He sighed quietly to himself. Could I live like this the rest of my life? Without seeing other people? No more Ibara, Satoshi, Irisu, or…Chitanda. Never seeing that curious, selfish, rich girl, Chitanda? Somehow Hotarou didn't like that idea, he wondered why. All I ever wanted was to be left alone, so why do I care that I won't see her again if I lived like this?
Before he knew it the episode had ended and another had started. He watched this one and forgot to think. He took some interest in it then took the back of the cassette case and read the description. Then he noticed the date on it said 2001 and laughed a little to himself. Who knew they'd guess the future so accurately. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching every season Isa had of it and when they reached the last episode, just before they look at each other.
"Do you remember how this ends?" Hotaoru scribbled on his white board.
Isa shook her head. "It's been over 40 years. I don't have a clue. Let's start."
The two agreed and began the last episode. By the end, Isa was in tears, Hotarou was fighting back the urge to scream and punch something. They had become very invested in the series.
"I'm not satisfied!" Isa scribbled furiously while saying so in Spanish. Hotarou agreed then glanced at his watch.
He pointed to it. "It's already one o'clock in the morning," he said.
"You don't have a place to stay!" Isa wrote. "I have a spare room, come with me." she stood and lead him up the stairs and around the corner. "Let me dust; there should be some clothes in the closet if you'd like them." Hotaoru nodded and went to go look. When he returned the room was dusted and the sheets changed. "You stay as long as you want. I sleep downstairs, if you need something, don't hesitate to ask." She left him to the upstairs.
Hotarou prepared himself for the night then lay in his bed. From the traumatic ending of the show he was tired, but his brain kicked in and wouldn't let him sleep. This is how it would be for a long time afterwards.