Chap 8: The city (part 1)

After a good hour of cycling, Lug arrived in town.

He decided to leave the bike at the entrance of the city, for fear of having it stolen.

The idea of going into town was always stressful for him, but fortunately this one was usually quite empty.

Strangely, though, since he had approached the city, he had seen an unusually large number of people.

"I chose a weekday when there is no market on purpose..." he thought.

He finally entered the main avenue and was shocked: he had never seen so many people gathered in one place in his life.

He almost had a panic attack.

He ducked into an adjacent alley, pressed himself against a wall, and breathed.

"What's going on here?" was the only question that echoed in his head.

He began to think of strategies to avoid this avenue, but any other path would take him at least twice as long.

He gathered all his courage and decided to skirt the walls until he reached his destination.

He passed a crowded cinema, a lot of people were waiting in front of it, some of them were on the roof of the facade, screaming like animals.

It was chaotic.

Lug pressed on.

He then passed by a hotel.

There was nothing ordinary about it, it was most certainly a love hotel.

And there, everything was even more chaotic:

There were men hanging out of the windows, even from several floors up, spying on what was going on in the rooms.

At that moment Lug stopped, it was surreal, he felt the same impression as in the cemetery.

And then an idea crossed his mind:

"They are ghosts..."

The streets were crowded and most of the people were acting in a completely crazy way, the only rational explanation was paranormal.

These people had to be ghosts.

Lug checked by throwing tiny pebbles at the people in front of the hotel.

The small stones passed through everyone.

He didn't find a single living being among them.

When he saw that some of the ghosts started to look at him suspiciously, he decided to leave.

Lug paused on a bench in an adjacent, less populated street.

"I don't understand, I thought ghosts stayed with their bodies, so why are there so many ghosts here?"

His mind was foggy, the only thing that remained clear was his goal.

"Well, I don't have all day, I have to hurry to the store."

He returned to the avenue and kept away from the crowd.

After 10 minutes, he arrived in front of the store.

The facade was small and welcoming, the large windows were open to garnished shelves.

Lug had spotted this place by visiting the city before his appointment, the streets were almost empty at the time.

He opened the door of the shop and a small bell rang.

It was bigger than the facade suggested, there were several departments, and all kinds of articles.

A smell of junk and old chairs permeated the air.

"Weeeeeeelllllcccoooommmeeee dear customer!"

A greasy voice from behind the counter greeted him.

Lug turned around and saw a fat man, straight as an I, who couldn't stand still.

He looked like he was greeting a customer for the first time in his life.

it made Lug uncomfortable, he went to get what he needed right away: flowers and candles, he had already decided to go elsewhere for the coleslaw.

He hesitated in front of the seed aisle.

"If Eno likes coleslaw so much, maybe I could grow cabbage right by the house?"

This question kept his mind busy for a few minutes.

He came to the conclusion that he had enough to do as it was.

He walked over to the counter, stopped in front of the man he had seen on his way in, and began to drop off his items.

"Mmmh do you accept credit cards here?" asked Lug.

"Well suuuuuure, we are a moooodern store!"

Lug found this man very strange.

He had a full beard, a bald spot, and he wore suspenders that had a lot of trouble supporting his belly.

He had cat hair, or maybe dog hair on his top, laid there like flags on a conquered land.

"Don't you check the price of the items?" asked Lug, stunned to see this big guy not moving.

"No, I don't need to. That will be 10 silver coins."

"Ten silver coins? Uh, I'm not sure I understand..."

Another voice called out to him:

"Hello sir, who are you talking to, the cash register is here!"

Lug turned his head and saw a young woman waiting for him in front of a cash register.

He then turned his head again towards the man he was talking to.

Looking at him carefully he realized that his outfit seemed to be from another time, and that his strange way of speaking reminded him of some people in the cemetery.

He was a ghost!

Lug was embarrassed, he seemed to have been talking to himself for a while, and the young cashier had seen everything.

He picked up his items, didn't even look at the ghost and went to the other register.

Even without looking at him, Lug could sense a certain sadness on the part of this man full of good intentions and happy to have been able to talk to a customer.

He paid, and hurried out.

As he walked out he heard the man say, "Thank you for your purchases, I look forward to your next visit!"

Lug felt guilty for leaving without a word or even a look.