5 CHAPTER I: A GHOST TOWN - Part 3

"Hold on!" Virla stops long enough to watch Telos pick up the missing food and run after her "Wait for me!"

Virla looks at him as he reaches her side. Not knowing what to say, she just continuous to walk again silently.

The closer they get the louder the murmur, and the girl's heart seems to turn before the crowd. There are several people, all equally confused. There doesn't seem to be much in common between them, except that none of them appear to be an adult. Virla is impressed by the number of children in the place, and the most empathetic part of her seems to itch in her chest when she decides to turn her attention to getting information first.

When they arrive almost none seem to notice them in the commotion that there is, those who do approach them quickly and ask them if they know anything about what is going on, only to walk away disappointed. Several have clothes similar to Telos's, while others have more casual clothes that they apparently found in the rooms they woke up in, most also not having hair longer than two fingers.

The two of them also interrogate as many people as they can, but despite the number of people present, no one seems to have come from anywhere other than under the building. Everyone woke up under that damned building and any hope they had of finding answers seemed futile.

Virla tries to seem less affected than she is, Telos alone is already upset enough for the both of them. People have already started to disperse as well, saying they have to move because of whatever the voice said. Apparently, everyone heard it.

After talking to a boy who knew nothing more than they already knew, Virla puts her hand gently on Telos' short hair in hopes of reassuring him a bit.

"Don't worry, someone has to know something" and just as she finishes talking and Telos is taking her hand off his head, someone starts screaming for people's attention.

"Listen, right now we don't know what's happening, but we have to calm down, if what the voice says is true, there will be an earthquake and standing still like this won't help us."

The girl seems to be one of the oldest in the place, she must be about seventeen years old. There is always someone who assumes the position of command and tries to control the situation immediately. But no matter how controlling that sounds, it's often what many need when they're lost and with no one to lean on.

Those who had begun to leave, return with curiosity to hear the words of the girl. Virla and Telos also approach the car she is standing on in hopes that she can give them a clue in some way. Several of those who are there murmur, more to themselves than to anyone else. That was another thing they had discovered when asking, no one seems to know each other.

Like before, the murmurs are of doubts, nothing really helpful, but the voice of a person seems to stand out when they say that the voice had not mentioned anything about an earthquake. "What else could it have referred to?" says someone else.

"Regardless, we have to start taking precautions and seek shelter or find out where everyone evacuated; as for the shelter we can go back under the building."

Virla waits for someone to suggest that it may not be safe and, seeing that no one does, decides to do it herself, but the moment she opens her mouth someone interrupts her.

"And how do we know we can trust you?" A guy who also seems to be about seventeen screams from the other side "as far as we know someone put us here and we have no way of knowing which of us may be helping them or being part of it all."

~But she's right, we have to seek refuge.~ Virla stops paying attention, not trying anymore to distinguish the voices that are now discussing, aware that it is not worth staying there. She looks at Telos for a moment, wondering if he wants to accompany her.

They don't really know each other, it's very likely that Telos isn't even his real name. But the company does no harm. Not knowing what to tell him, she waits for a moment, seeing that he is very focused on what they are saying she doubts more.

"Telos, emm, I'm going to leave, in case..." Virla rests her hand on the boy's shoulder to get his attention when she realizes he's not listening to her, to which he gets startled and turns to look at her in a jump "I'm going to leave, I don't think they're going to come up with any decisions any time soon."

The boy looks again in the direction of the girl who is screaming at full blast over the car and then at Virla. After a moment, he nods. They begin to move and a half smile is drawn on Virla's lips as they move away from the crowd.

For some reason she is grateful for the company. No; by his company in particular, and she is surprised at this.

Although Virla simply settles for the fact that she won't be alone, at least for a while longer.

…............................

The girl looks at Telos again, it's at least the fifth time in the minute of relative silence since they walked away from the hustle and bustle, since they decided where they would go now.

"What?" asks the boy more abruptly than he wanted.

Virla is startled a little by the tone, but responds calmly.

"Why did you accompany me and did not stay with the group of people? It seemed like you were keeping an eye on the plan they seemed to be forming," she processes for a moment what she just said and adds "or at least whatever they were trying to do."

In the distance, behind them, they can still hear the muffled screams of the fight, which has somehow ended in insults. But Telos just asks.

"And why did you ask me if I wanted to accompany you?" Telos looks at her with the tip of his eye, waiting for her answer.

"I'm not sure, when I see you, I feel like I remember something important." Virla looks back at him and smiles when she sees his dubious expression "Or maybe simply because I thought you would miss my company."

"Very humble on your part."

Virla laughs slightly and looks back in front of her. Telos looks at her and realizes that she is wearing a hospital gown that reaches up to her knees under the green jacket, barefoot just like him.

When the boy woke up in the hospital room - even if it wasn't really a hospital in the end - one of the first things he saw was what he believed was a screen on the opposite wall from where he had woken up, which gave him some indications of how to get out. He had also noticed a small pile of clothes folded next to the stretcher where he woke up, but despite the need and instinct to take the clothes when he saw them, he ran out of the room as soon as he could, the hallways completely empty.

Telos begins to feel the silence get heavier. He tucks his hands into the pockets of the coat in the hope of scaring away the numbness of his fingers, and to give himself a little courage to say a few first words, but Virla gets ahead of him.

"Is Telos really your name? You don't have to tell me what your actual name is if you don't want to."

The boy looks at her again with surprise. Her light wood-colored eyes meet his gaze, eyes that for some reason give him the impression of having been darker before. As well as those of Telos. When he left the building and saw his reflection in one of the mirrors of a car, he did not find the dark blue eyes he used to see there, his pupils looked like two ice crystals. But he hadn't really thought much about it until now, about the rarity of that change. He quickly pushes the thought away and responds to Virla.

"Yes, why wouldn't it be?" The boy responds.

Telos feels the dubious look that the girl directs at him, but decides to ignore her. Silence settles back between them. And just as Telos begins to feel the heaviness in it again, he hears a gasp next to him.

He immediately flips over and finds Virla walking away in an excited step. Telos feels the urgency to follow her, the same impulse that has led him to accompany her until now.

Between the premises a floor-to-ceiling window reveals a gallery full of any kind of artwork imaginable on shelves equally beautiful to the works they hold. Virla glues her face to the glass to the point that it looks like she is going to go through it.

Telos imitates her, putting his face in between his hands so he can see better inside. In the center is a large glass table laying out small figures of all shapes, from normal animals to mystics to people with strange proportions and limbs in impossible positions. Even the ground is a work of art, although piles of clothes interrupt the mosaic and do not let it be fully seen. It looks like a mandala of flowers.

"She would have loved to see this." Telos is surprised, and finds Virla still contemplating the gallery while biting her lower lip somewhat resisting her emotion.

"Who?" asks Telos curiously.

"To..." For a moment the girl seems to surprise herself, and her excitement disappears from her face, and whispers "I don't remember."

After a moment, the girl turns around, and when Telos thinks she's not going to say anything else, she talks again.

"What's the last thing you remember before waking up under that building?" her voice letting on that she's not really thinking much about what she is saying.

They start walking again in the same direction as before, they had decided to take this path to see if they could find any store or clothing store to be able to change, since among the places where they met neither of them had seen anything like that.

"I think I was skating... in a park, I suddenly felt immense heaviness and fainted."

"Do you like skating?"

"Yes, although it is mostly a hobby."

"Artistic or for racing?"

"Inline skating." Telos looks at Virla, who just keeps walking "Do you have any hobbies?"

"I like the sea," A glimmer seems to twinkle in her eyes "when I had the chance I would take some time to go to the beach," that expression of surprise appears on her features again, she corrects herself "when I get the chance."

Telos looks around. They haven't yet come across any warehouses, or haven't been attentive enough to notice it. His inspection is in vain.

Still, he isn't sure what to expect. Everything looks so different to what he remembers. The architecture, the cars, the streets, and even the coloration; not to mention that when he walked into the food places it took him quite a while to realize that what was on the shelves was even food. He had tried to ignore it, a part of him forgetting what the world he knew really looks like, but now that he had heard Virla mention sometimes not remembering things, he was more aware of what he recognized and what he didn't.

Virla had insisted that they had to get changed, it had been almost one of the first things she said when they walked away from the building with people. Telos didn't blame her, it's cold and her legs are bare to it. But in that she had also said that the best thing was to find a shopping center, to collect provisions and to get better briefcases for the both of them to carry them.

"I've always wanted to see the sea, but I've never had the chance" when he finally responds, a heaviness lands on Telos' chest, not knowing exactly why.

"Well, you still have time to do so" and, for some reason, her words resonate in Telos' head like a promise.

Finally, Virla points to a building in the distance as she hurries by saying that it must be the mall.

…............................

Telos leaves the bathroom a few minutes after entering. But the time they take worries Virla less than it should.

The boy takes a few steps outside while accommodating the mustard yellow jacket that he is wearing and has a strange sign in the center; an "s" inside a circle with a line running through it. He now wears black pants, under which is surely the thermal clothing that she passed him, and his formerly bare feet hide behind a pair of black and white tennis shoes.

Virla had decided to wait for him to come out before changing herself, she didn't want him to finish changing and not find her there. She's not sure how much time has passed since the notice from the voice, but she knows they must have wasted a lot trying to find a warehouse or mall so they don't wouldn't have to use the clothes on the streets; and she's not sure how much more time they'll have spent trying to get the provisions out of the stores at the mall without being hurt in the process.

They had failed in the latter. Virla still has her hand a little numb. For some reason there were detectors that threw an electric shock at the doors of the stores in case the products came across – Virla imagines – without paying. She spent quite a while unable to move her hand. She still can't shake off the tingling sensation she's had since the first time they tried to cross some clothes outside a clothing store and realized the small problem they would have to deal with.

Without saying anything, the girl passes by Telos to enter the bathrooms. A part of her mind reproaching her when she asks herself for a moment which bath is for women and which for men.

Interestingly, the bathroom is one of the few somewhat familiar things she's found since waking up. The building, the premises, the strange electric shock triggers; everything gives her a feeling from another era, even thinks she saw some robots when they were exploring the mall.

She had heard of countries that were more advanced than where she was from, with more modern technologies and all those things, but she had never had the opportunity to go to one. She never thought she would do it in those circumstances.

Virla chooses to change outside of a cubicle, too small to be able to move without hitting the walls with each movement. In a matter of a few moments, she is wearing a black shirt along with a beige jacket with a hood and shorts that ended with hem along with some dark veiled stockings. She had also had to look for underwear as she desperately needed it, but had decided not to wear thermal clothing. For some reason she didn't feel so cold now that she was calmer, even though she had always been the one to feel the coldest in her family.

~My family.~ Upon awakening the thought in her mind, Virla is disappointed in herself for having forgotten them so easily, blurred memories or not. She knows that she had vaguely thought about them when they were looking for the warehouse, about someone specific from it, but she now realizes that she should have prioritized finding them from the beginning. Althoughs he doesn't really know what her priority was before that.

Virla comes out of the bathroom, with half her mind on those thoughts and the other trying to keep her attention on what she's doing: picking up the shoes she had left out. They were clear brown boots of fabric, which she is regretting a little, unsure of how long they will last with that material.

~First, I have to know where I am and find a way to communicate with them. I already tried to use the cell phone, but it had a password and the emergency call only let certain numbers be called, so that doesn't help much.~ Although the girl really isn't sure if she remembers any of her family'e cellphone numbers.

As she approaches Telos, sitting on the edge of a still-functional fountain waiting for her – their briefcases with provisions at his feet – she can't help but wonder where her family will be and if they even know where she is. But then her thoughts are interrupted when a tremor nearly causes her to fall.

The time has come for the separation.

[End of chapter one, next chapter will be posted in two weeks]