Sowing : Peek & Boo (I)
Tic tac
Tic tac
Clic tic clic …
Tic tac
Tic tac
Clic tic clic …
Within the darkness, a small flame struggled bravely to establish the reign of light. Its attempt proved to be difficult though. Fed only by a small wax stick, the flame could barely light up an area of three feet radius.
This didn't make its endeavors worthless.
Lying two feet from there, was a motionless figure. The glimmer wasn't strong enough to make out their face or features.
Mmmmmh….
Perhaps was it because of the clicking concerto or the light that was wavering, but a few moments afterward the faceless figure began moving.
First and flabbily, their head, still numbed by their slumber. Then their upper body in an attempt to straighten up. Only an attempt. They weren't able to sense a response from their torso to their lower body. It was as if a rock were blocking them.
[What? I'm paralyzed? Is it the rumored night paralysis?]
The mysterious fellow didn't intend to let it get the better of them. With a keen motion their upper body rose from the ground.
[Eh?]
Plaf!
The sound didn't reach them. Breaking free from the paralysis felt too easy. The faceless was a little confused. It should have happened gradually and required an impressive amount of will and sweat. Not been as fast and easy.
The featureless fellow still wondering about the matter, let their gaze wander on their limbs. That was when they noticed the item lying near their thigh.
It was a pretty thick book with a worn out brown cover. Golden lines half erased and mimicking plant-like patterns adorned it.
The featureless picked up the book. It was as heavy as it looked. They cast a glance at the cover.
[E?en… The won-…. Wonder ga-… den… The Wonder Garden?]
They were barely able to decipher the scriptures. The book's poor state wasn't of much help. Some characters weren't readable and they were all in those infamous forgotten languages loved by archaeologists.
Under the candle's dim glow, the faceless pursued their observation by opening the book. Crumpled and yellowing sheets threatened to wither to dust at each turn. The hands handling them were thus doing it with the gentleness of a falling feather.
[Was I reading that? No wonder I fell asleep.] Inferred the faceless as they examined writings akin to the ones on the cover.
Feeling their head aching from the endeavor, they quickly closed the book. A sheet took advantage of the motion to escape by twirling in the air.
[Oops…]
The featureless fellow barely caught the floating sheet as it closed carelessly toward the candle. They sighed in relief before glancing at it one last time to feel safe.
[?]
The scriptures on this sheet seemed a little different. The sheet itself as well. It felt rougher to the touch while the yellow of its pages seemed deeper. Some parts even displayed a brownish hue.
It was quite obvious that this one wasn't from the book. This caught the faceless' interest. They decided to at least try to decipher it.
Where did their confidence in their linguistic skill come from? Even they couldn't tell.
After several seconds of strenuous brain activity, the faceless heaved a long and tired sigh.
[Like I tough… This isn't really my thing. I could only recognize the words trumpets, shooting star, well, smoke… Ah, there were grasshoppers and harvest too…]
They scratched their head.
[What the hell does that mean? Was the one who wrote it a peasant? A farmer? A gardener? Something happened during their harvest? A grasshopper plague? And what of the other words? Was they having a BBQ party under the moonlight?...Argh, It's too hard…]
The faceless ultimately sighed defeated. Their wit wasn't enough to find a satisfying answer.
Clic
The faceless stiffened.
Hearing the sound, they abruptly swept their gaze around them. Their blood turned cold.
They didn't recognize the place.
The thick darkness and the whispering clicking only increased their unease. With the eerie vibe that gave off the candle's dim light, an unearthly occurrence would be the icing on the cake.
[Where am I? How did I came here? What are those clicking sounds that I have been hearing? Is it me or are they becoming clearer? Something is coming?]
As they progressively lost themselves in their thoughts, the faceless began to feel shivers run through their body.
Thump thump thump
Their heartbeat was rising.
Suddenly, as if to signal the end of its mission, the candle's flame flickered one last time as a good-bye and then vanished.
Darkness immediately swallowed them, chasing away any remnants of the warmth provided by the candle. The faceless began to subconsciously chatter their teeth. Was it from fear or cold? They couldn't say it either.
Cling
A heavy sound of metal striking on a hard surface echoed in the dark.
Cling
Clang
The sound's pace became more rhythmic emulating footsteps.
Cling
Clang
Cling
What in the world could be the being who was closing in? Or was it someone? No. The sound seemed to emanate from an extremely heavy object. Heavier than any human. Could it even be talked to?
Creak.
A screeching sound close to a door opening froze the figure's thoughts' stream as well as their body.
The faceless held their breath.
The screeching sound suddenly became louder and a powerful golden beam hit their face. The faceless fell to the ground screaming.
A few seconds later, the place recovered its quietness. The faceless was crouching motionlessly with their hands on their face.
They didn't feel any pain.
[… It's just sunlight?] They thought while rising warily their head.
A dozen of steps ahead, a door was opened from bottom to top and maintained by two metal sticks.
The surrounding light enabled a small part of the walls near the door to be seen. Embedded in them, were numerous gears and cogs. Their clicking symphony reminded the figure of an insect swarm. Vines entangled themselves to the whole, morphing the walls into some kind of mechanical flesh.
The faceless just in the middle of calming themselves began to feel uneased once again.
When their eyes became accustomed to the blinding light, they cast their gaze toward the door. Beyond it was a crimson dusky sky. What caught their eyes, however, was the item standing between them and the door.
[A telescope?]
The figure stared blankly at the golden object, not knowing what to do.
HOW MUCH LONGER ARE YOU GOING TO SIT?
A thunderous voice shook the room.
It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. The one who spoke sounded eager to see the figure's next move.
Still shaken by the sudden interference, they finally got up on quaky legs. The one to who the voice belongs could likely be the place's owner. Who knew what they could do if angered?
When the faceless finally reached the telescope, they instinctively grabbed the cogs at its side and glued their eye to the lens.
On the other side, a yellowish dead fish-like eye returned their stare.
"Ah!"
The faceless lost their balance and found themselves quivering on the floor.
[What the hell was that?]
FOOL! WHO TOLD YOU TO LOOK?
"Huh? Th- Then, why d-did you tell me to stand?"
The featureless individual was confused. They could not find any sense in either what the voice said nor what just happened with the telescope.
WAIT FOR MY SIGNAL, FOOL!
The voice sounded annoyed and didn't pay any mind to the faceless. A weighty silence settled down in the room once again, increasing the creepiness of the clicking symphony.
BANG!!
[!!]
A heavy sound shook the room anew. This time, the faceless was able to tell where it came from. They turned their gaze toward the telescope, no, beyond it. If their face could be seen, their bulging eyes would have been quite a sight.
EVERYTHING IS SETTLED. NOW, YOU CAN LOOK.
"Wh-what was that noise?"
NOT YOUR BUSINESS… NOT FOR NOW AT LEAST…NOW HURRY!
"What does that mean? Do I really have to look?"
STOP WITH THE QUIZZY THINGY ALREADY. TOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL THAT I AGREED TO YOUR REQUEST.
"My request? I was the one who asked to be brought to this strange place?"
WHAT IS TAKING YOU SO LONG?! DO IT ALREADY!
Faced with the voice's persistence, the faceless got up and stuck their eye on the telescope's lens.
There was no sign of the strange yellowish-eyed monster. Did the voice deal with the thing? They hoped so. But just in case, they turned slowly the cogs to change the lenses' aim. They looked somewhat used to this kind of manipulation.
A few turns after, the faceless figure stopped to move. The scenery outside was literally breathtaking!
Large chunks of clouds were packed together and spread toward the horizon like the sea. A soft-looking sea highlighted by a golden sun. Above it the sky looked ablaze and an indigo gradient began to paint slowly as if announcing the night's arrival. Out of the blue, a bright colorful object split the crimson sky with a long glistening streak.
[Wow! I'm in the sky?! There's even a comet! Not just one either!!]
Just behind the first one, were a pack of similar celestial bodies chasing after themselves.
[Jackpot!! I'm so lucky today! Nothing bad is gonna happen after, right?]
They were so mesmerized by the gorgeous show that they seemed to forget about everything else. Their frights, their questions, even the voice. All of them were buried deep in their consciousness like a needle in a haystack.
[I can't help but wonder where they would fall. Will they even reach the ground before being vaporized?]
While their gaze kept wandering along the sea of clouds, a strange idea popped in their mind.
[Now that I think about it… I'm in the sky! Does that mean that I can take a peek at what's happening below?]
A malicious spark caught fire inside the faceless' heart. Without wasting any seconds, they pointed the lenses toward the clouds and rotated crazily the cogs managing the zoom.
After several seconds of atmospheric dive, their sight became clear of all fogs and they caught sight of the ground.
It was surprisingly gray, rocky, and void of any hint of life. Not really what they expected. It didn't seem like any beings were living in the area.
Except for a young man with tanned skin, blue overalls and straw hat. He was hopping excitedly with a hoe in one hand while the other one was pointing the sky.
"Oye! Alice! Look at the sky! There are shooting stars! Hurry, make a wish with me! Who know? We may be able to harvest something this year!"
[Eh?]
The faceless' mind went blank for a moment.
[What's that now? How the hell am I able to hear his voice?! … And who is Alice? There's only a hoe with him… Don't tell me…]
Unable to find any satisfying answer, the figure choosed to rely this time on the sole being who gave off the feeling of knowing more.
"Mister Voice? ... Do you, by any chance, know how I am able to hear this guy?"
"…"
But, they got no answer.
"Ah…hum… Was it ma'am perhaps? Or miss? ... Sister Voice…? Are you still here?"
[No answer? It's true that they said no more questions, but still… They could at least say something.]
[Anyway, them being quiet should mean that there's no issue and that it's perfectly normal…Which kind of technology could allow a telescope to do that?]
[Never mind… As long as I can still lo-]
The faceless thoughts came to stop. There was something wrong.
The young man had stopped moving and was now staring quietly toward the sky. Suddenly, a large grin parted his lips.
"Woah! These are some things that we have been seeing today. What could this thingumajig be? Is someone spying on us? That's not a good thing to do you know? By the way, do you happen to ha-"
The faceless, caught off-guard, briskly backed away while the telescope's cog was greatly spun in the heat of the moment.
[…]
[He can see me? ...]