Village of the Sandy Dunes (6)

"Boo!"

"Putanginang yawa!" Lynch got up like a spooked cat, his hair standing on end.

"Ahaha!" Lynch glared at the perpetrator, who had the gall to disturb his somewhat-deserved rest. "You got scared!"

"Never do that again. Please." Lynch sighed while he rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the bits and pieces of tree bark falling off his slightly sticky skin.

"No." Hasana giggled like the childish lunatic that she is. "It's fun scaring scaredy-cats like you!"

Beside her, Wadha was giving her the most deadest of all deadpans in the universe. Lynch surmised that before him, she was the main victim of Hasana's sudden scares.

'I feel your pain.' Giving a solemn nod to the other quiet but still monstrous child, Lynch was rewarded with a sympathizing nod.

"So this is where you were." Lynch, as well as the other two girls, turned their attention to the newcomer. "I was worried for a moment, but when I learned it was little Hasana that dragged you all across the village. Well, you can guess what I felt."

All it took was one glance at the hyperactive monstrosity of a girl that was Hasana to guess what Hissa was feeling.

"She dragged me here." Lynch pointed at Hisana, to which the girl's response was a raspberry.

"Yes, I can see that." Hisana gave a wry smile before approaching the three youngsters. "Anyway, come on home, dear. It's time for lunch."

She then looked at the other two girls, who were busy doing… Lynch didn't know what they were doing, but whatever it was, he wanted no part of it.

"The same goes for you two." Hisana's reply was an excited cry of glee, while Wadha just nodded with a tiny verbal "Hm."

And just as fast as the two girls inserted themselves into Lynch's life, they were gone just as quickly, though he knew that it wouldn't be the last time he saw them.

Then again, it would be fun to see them break all sorts of limits imposed on the human race while he napped on the side.

"So, had fun with those two girls?" Hissa motherly patted Lynch's head with a warm smile.

"Somewhat." A small smile crept up Lynch's face. "It'd be fun if I could play with them again."

At his words, Hissa felt her smile vanish, but she plastered it quickly without Lynch noticing.

"Don't worry, dear." Hissa reassured the young boy with a gentle pat on the head. "I'm sure there'll be plenty of time for you to play with those two."

"I hope so."

[][][]

The whole day was spent with Lynch staying at home after lunch; the two girls never visited him for the entire day. To be honest, Lynch was fine with it. His loner tendencies once again carrying his anti-social behavior.

He was lonely, sure, but it was nothing new. He thrived in loneliness in his past life, but that was because he had his books, his phone filled with books of all kinds, comics and mangas of all genres (yes, that includes the 'mature' rated ones), and games.

Here though? He was bored. He was so bored, in fact, that he was reduced to imagining a stick he found lying around earlier as a sword and swinging it like a loon to alleviate his boredom.

'Thank god for my hyperactive imagination.' Lynch dryly thought to himself as he swung the stick at an imaginary opponent who had imaginary fire powers. 'Been a long time since I did something like this.'

"Boo!"

"Kurwa!" Lynch jumped like a startled cat when he suddenly felt something grab his sides, the stick swinging at the individual who had startled him.

"Woah!" Much to his chagrin, he realized that the person he swung the stick at was none other than Hisana, who had no qualms about dodging the stick with a smile on her face. "Ha! You missed!"

"Hisana!" Lynch let go of the stick and hand-chopped her head. "I told you to never do that again!"

"But I want to, scaredy-cat!" Hisana grinned, having no problem with the hand chopping the top of her head.

"… Motherfucker." Lynch swore under his breath and sighed deeply. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Mama said not to play with you anymore because she said you are a bad ghost!" Hisana pouted. "But you're not a bad ghost. You're a good ghost! My friend ghost!"

At her words, Lynch felt a smile creep up his face.

'Even inside a racist village, not everyone is a racist.' Lynch couldn't help but pat her head, to which the young girl all but purred like a cat.

"Mmmm… You have soft hands." Hisana opened her eyes and stared into Lynch's hands. "All other boy hands are hard."

And then Lynch was reminded that his current body was one that grew up without much difficulty, unlike the others who lived in this village who worked day and night to make ends meet.

Feeling something well up in him from the blow against his pride, Lynch stopped patting her head and pinched her cheeks.

"Ow! Ouch! Lynch! Stop!" Lynch didn't let up and instead continued pinching, relishing in the cute cries of the hyperactive girl. "It hurts! Staahppp!!"

After a few more seconds, Lynch stopped, fully satisfied with teasing/bullying the young girl, her red cheeks a testament to the torture she had been through.

'Suffer as I suffered.' Lynch recalled the many times his cheeks were pinched when he was young just because he looked cute.

"You meanie!" Hisana pouted while her eyes were teary. And then a malicious grin appeared on her face. "My turn!"

Realizing his mistake in starting something against a superhuman little girl, Lynch felt he may have bitten off more than he could chew.

"Blyat."

[][][]

A few kilometers away from the village of Al Bahok, Asad frowned as he inspected the sand dunes within the area.

"Shit, Kareem was right." Asad scowled even harder. "That's one more this month. What the hell is happening for them to gather in this area?"

As far as he knew, the monsters that lay deep within the sand were dangerous, both to his village and the ecosystem. It'll have to be exterminated; otherwise, Al Bahok will most likely perish in the coming weeks.