Chapter 5

When morning came it took me a while to get out of bed. It felt so nice. The older man had left so I took my plastic bag and money and walked back outside. I definitely looked out of place. The majority of people had on skimpy looking outfits or really fancy outfits. No one dressed for comfort. It’s always interesting to me that when you have nothing specific to do, your mind races more. That is what happened to me. I didn’t know what to do next. Maybe I could go to the next city but I didn’t know where that was.

          I decided just to start walking down one of the main streets again. I walked by another corner speaker, who appeared to be saying the same things as the other speaker was the day before. Maybe there were several people who had that as a job. I thought it wouldn’t be a fun one if it was, but I guess not all work is enjoyable. I continued walking noticing the people as I walked by. Many couples were around, and most of them were in some physical act. The thought of public didn’t seem to bother any couple from making out or anything else.

          Anyway, before I left the town I wanted to learn a little more about this place. I made it to what appeared to be the center of the city. There was a circular glass building that was the tallest in the entire city. When I walked up to the entrance, someone yelled from behind me.

          “Well it’s obvious you’re new here,” he said. I stopped walking and turned to find a bigger man. “Not only are you in weird clothes, you are trying to go in there.”

          “What is so wrong with going in?” I said in a very confused tone.

          “Wow, you really are new. Well, only those who are invited can go in.”

          “How do you know I wasn’t invited?”

          “Simple, the way you were dressed. You are invited when you become known in the city. If you were invited then you would have been acting differently than you are now or you would have been dressed nicer. But you’re obviously not. You’ll get used to this place; just give it some time. Why don’t you get yourself some new clothes and hit up a club or something?”

          “Well thanks for the offer, sir,” I said, “But I’m not too interested in this city. Do you know anything about transitioning to another city? Or which one is closest?”

          “Well, just go to any side of the city: north, east, south, and west. There is a bus that will take you to the city in that direction. Of course, each city on the outside will have one side with no bus because there is no reason to go to the coast. Each city is the same distance from the ones next to it. If you want to walk, you’re on your own, but it’s a free service to go via bus.”

          “Alright, well thanks man,” I said politely. I knew this wasn’t the place where I wanted to be, so I was definitely going to head a direction. I just decided to head back to the gate I came through. When I got to the gate there was no bus system. So I knew that I was at the very edge on the south side. I don’t think I was ready to head out on my own so I went the east gate where I was met by a woman.

          “Are you wanting to head to Gula?” She asked as she pointed at the bus. I nodded yes and she gave me a ticket. When I got on the bus, I sat near the back. After about ten minutes the bus started its journey.  I started to listen to a couple older ladies sitting in front of me.

          “Why are you going to Gula?” one lady asked another.

          “Well, I eat lunch there every day with my husband. The food there is to die for. Not literally, of course though,” she laughed.

          “Oh that is great. I am going to stay for a couple weeks. I always like to have a party week before I go on my diet.” I started to feel weird for listening in so I just sat back and closed my eyes. Only an hour passed and we were at Gula.

Lets go with my next post being two weeks from now: March 5th

Chapter 4

There was a large building across from the speaker. The building looked like a hotel and I guess that by the name “Relaxation Station.” I always laughed at the names of these places. Everyone seemed really blunt in their speech and of course the titles of businesses. I walked in the building and immediately saw a sign reading “5 Coin a night.” I didn’t really want to look around for a place to stay; especially since I had no idea where I was. So I went to the front desk and asked for a five Coin night.

          “Enjoy your night of fun,” He said as he gave me my room key. I wonder what he meant by fun. I was just planning to sleep unless there was a bunch of free games to play in my room. My room number was “333” which I was glad because it was easy to remember. I decided to take the elevator since it was closer to the front desk. Only men were inside. Each one had a sort of guilty look on his face. I shrugged it off not knowing the characters each one had. I didn’t feel like I had the right to judge them. I got off the elevator on the third floor and went to my room. Once I entered a robotical voice came from a panel on my door.

          “Thank you for choosing relaxation station, please enjoy your night!” I had no understanding why everything here seemed to be about enjoyment. I had a funny feeling from it though; being in a new place in general could have been the cause of it though. Before I decided to sleep I went into the bathroom to shower. The water was nice and warm and as I stood there I began to think. What lies ahead of me? How am I supposed to go about life here? I didn’t know anything about myself. Then I thought on a smaller scale. I didn’t even have anything clean to wear. That’s always a bad feeling. I got out of the shower and after drying myself off I wrapped up in a towel instead of putting back on my dirty clothes. I walked outside of the bathroom and was immediately shocked. A woman was lying on my bed almost completely undressed.

          “Hey, big boy, you ready to have some fun tonight?” she said in a seductive tone.

          “Who are you? And why are you in my room?” I announced as I kind of backed up towards the main door. “How did you get in here?”

          “Didn’t you know what this place is?” she said, “I’m your prostitute. When you check into ‘Relaxation Station’ it’s assumed.”

          “U-u-um, well I didn’t know that.”

          “That’s fine,” she said, “is that going to stop us from having some fun tonight?” She was looking at me with such a seductive face. I was beginning to be tempted in going through with it, but something deep inside me kept telling me that’s not who I was.

          “Yes, I’m afraid it does. Will you please leave?” I said in a weak but intentional tone.

          “But it’s my job to be here all night. If I leave I will get fired. You don’t want that do you? Come on, just a little fun?” she mentioned yet again seductively. Then she started walking over to me and tried to place her body against mine.

          “Quit that,” I said as she started to do it more. She then started rubbing her fingers on my shoulders. I twitched backwards then she spoke again.

          “Quit struggling, it will be more pleasurable.”

          “I don’t want it to be,” I pleaded. Then she grabbed the edge of my towel, “I can’t take this.”

          “Oh yes,” she squealed as she ripped my towel off and started to bring her body closer.

          “No for the last time!” I yelled completely sternly. I pushed her back slightly and I ran into the hall and down the steps. I got out of the building and let out a sigh of relief. Then I noticed I had no clothes on. Two or three women walked by and whistled. I covered myself all I could with my hands and ran into an empty alley. Or I thought it was empty. I was pulled inside a doorway by someone within seconds.

          “What are you doing like that?” an older man asked. I was pretty much speechless. When all of that happened, it was so fast my brain could have exploded. I just stared at him with a confusing look hoping that he would talk again. I didn’t want to speak until my thoughts were together. “Well let’s get some clothes on ya at least,” he said as he started walking out of the room. He left for just a couple seconds and then walked back in with a plain white T-shirt and some overalls. He also had a plastic bag he handed me full of underwear. “Now put these on son, and we will have a little chit chat afterwards.” He said as he handed me everything. I could still only say thank you as I took the clothes and tried them on. They were a little big but at least I wasn’t naked anymore. “I’m guessing you’re new here?”

          “Yeah, I got here this morning.” Words were finally starting to come back to me.

          “Ah, that explains it,” the old man laughed. “I’ve been here for thirty years. My name is Arthur, what is yours?”

          “I don’t know,” I said, “I didn’t really feel like making one up.”

          “Ah, so you didn’t even get yourself a job? Well maybe this city isn’t for you.”

          “There are other cities?”

          “Oh yeah, there are seven total: Luxuria-Fornicatio, Gula, Acedia, Ira-Invidia, Socordia, Avaritia, and Superbia. All of them form a circle on this Island, with Superbia being in the middle of the island.” I didn’t even know this was an island; yet alone more cities. I remember not having much of a choice. But then I remembered, I had followed the large group into the city right after the bigger man mentioned going.

          “What’s outside of the cities? I asked.

          “Not sure, a lot of rumors say it’s dangerous. It’s like living on your own. There are no jobs or houses.”

          “Can we ever leave the island?”

          “Boy, you ask so many questions. Sit down, we’ve been standing here for quite some time,” he said as he showed me into the living area. We both sat in our own recliner. “Now what was your question? Oh yeah, leaving the island. Well, as you can see, I’m old and still here. But I just haven’t chosen to leave. I like it here. Don’t see what could be better.” He said as he leaned back in his recliner and smiled.

          “So you can choose to leave?”

          “Yeah in a way, right where you came outside, you can go back in. But they make you do a lot of tests.

          “What kind of tests?”

          “Boy, I don’t know, I haven’t tried to leave. If ya fail the test they send ya back out with amnesia again.”

          “Oh so everyone had amnesia? And who are these people anyway?”

          “Correct son. And no one knows anything about them. They are so forceful it makes me wonder if the rest of their world has just as much rules.”

          “There are only two rules though.” I laughed.

          “One too many if ya ask me boy. Well it’s time for me to get some sleep. I’ll show you to the guest room.” He said as he stood up. Then he led me down a small hall into his guest room. The place was huge for just a guest room. I have work in the morning, what are your plans?”

          “Well I was thinking about visiting the other cities.”

          “Oh you don’t want to do that just yet. There are so many things you haven’t got to do yet. Go to a club and meet some ladies. If you are a rule keeper and all you can go multiply or something.” He chuckled, “It’s pretty easy here. Everyone is open for fun.”

          “Well I’m not sure if that’s what I want to do. I feel like I was married or loyal to something before I had amnesia. I don’t want to be disloyal if so.”

          “Ah, the past is past kid. Just live up life!”

          “Well thank you for everything sir but I think I will leave tomorrow.” I insisted.

          “Ok, sure sure, well here is some money for your travels.” He said as he handed me another bag of Coin.

          “Thank you. Goodnight.” I said taking the bag.

          “Good luck kid.” He said. He left the room and went on down the hall. It had already been a long night so I got in the bed which was the most comfortable bed I’ve ever felt. Then I fell asleep not long after. 

Next post will be a couple weeks from this date. prob 2/19 or something