The bus ride was a little different than the other bus rides we had taken. No one else besides Bro, the bus driver, and I were on the bus. If me and Bro weren’t together and enjoying our conversation about our hopes for belonging to this upcoming city, the ride could have been described as creepy or eerie. With Bro’s company though, we were in Ira-Invidia before we knew it.
When we got out of the bus, the city was not foggy like I mentioned Acedia was. Instead Ira-Invidia was in the middle of a thunderstorm. Strangely enough, the storm was similar to the storms that feel somewhat comfy. Because it was night and quiet outside, it was strangely peaceful instead of scary. When Bro and I entered the city, the streets were empty. We quickly saw a hotel a block away and made our way to it because it was getting late and bus rides often wear one out.
Inside the hotel, the host seemed a bit cranky, but it was getting late so sometimes you can’t blame someone for being cranky having to work late hours. He still helped us get our rooms and I was sure glad to walk into the room knowing nothing strange like Luxuria-Fornicatio was inside. I took a shower and immediately went to bed.
Though the sleep was peaceful, I heard some sort of argument going on outside my window. Waking up felt similar to the times that one wakes up and isn’t sure they were awakened by the noise or just happened to wake up and couldn’t continue to sleep. Nonetheless, I was awake and this argument was keeping me in that state. It looked as though the host from the night before was yelling at an employee.
“You cannot come into work late! This is the first hotel new visitors see and you are a part of making their experience acceptable!”
“Sir, this is my first day of work. You told me to come in at 6:00 AM and here I am,” Said the girl who looked sixteen. I was not only amazed by the anger from the same host from last night, but also I thought I got a lot more sleep than I actually did. 6:00 AM was a bit too early.
“I did tell you 6:00 AM, but it is 6:05 on my watch!”
“Sir, it is 6:05 now, you have been yelling at me for at least five minutes.”
“Well you should have come early then!” yelled the host, “You’re fired!” The young lady fell on her knees out of despair and the host did the unthinkable (or at least unthinkable for a work relationship in association with a sixteen year old). He took her by the shoulders and threw her to her side so she was completely laid out. Then the man walked firmly around the corner towards the front of the hotel. The young lady remained there for a few moments and then she turned her head towards the front of the hotel. An older lady, probably in her forties came to meet her. She lifted the young lady up who was crying all out at this point.
“It’s ok, it’s ok,” she said as she held her in her arms; both still on their knees. “This man has had a lot going on the last couple days.” They started to talk quietly, and at this point I had decided that I wanted to meet these people. I didn’t think to get Bro up because it was still very early and I figured he could get his rest. Nonetheless, I went ahead and went outside. I purposely decided to wait to check out because the man was still at the counter with a distraught face. By this time the two ladies had got up from the ground and were having some small talk. When they saw me, they both flinched as if they were thinking about leaving or running from me, but they calmed down when I smiled and motioned that I was calm and not like the other guy.
“Hey, I overheard the conversation that went down this morning,” I said as I was still walking closer, “I am sorry to hear about you losing your job, but that didn’t seem like your fault.”
“I know,” the young lady replied, “I grew up with him and he is always like that. Not that I am saying he will change his mind, but what he did isn’t unusual I guess.”
“Are you serious?” I asked knowing that in my mind that is not normal at all, “This isn’t normal everywhere else I’ve been.” She kind of seemed surprised and then she began to speak.
“I’ve never…” she paused to think as if she was distressed, “I’ve never been anywhere else besides Ira-Invidia.”
“Besides coming in last night, this is my only experience of it. What about you?” I asked the lady who was older.
“I came in a couple of weeks ago. Seeing the struggles some of the younger people and visitors have to face makes me so angry. I want to be able to show that not everyone here is a difficult person. I have taken Peyti into my care as well because her parents kicked her out.” She pointed to the young girl so I assumed that was her name. Then it looked like this lady was thinking pretty deeply. “Say… are you traveling to the different cities? I’ve heard there are seven of which I have only been to two of them.”
“I will be traveling until I find myself at peace wherever I’m at.”
“I’m not sure you will ever find that, but at least I have found some sort of happiness here in this place and helping these people. Anyway, my reason for asking is that you should take her with you?” I initially didn’t want to take her because I perceived her as too young but I felt something in me that said she needs this for some reason.
“Well, how old are you?” I asked the younger lady.
“I just turned 19 a week ago,” she returned. I realized I had made a poor assessment but maybe she just hadn’t grown much yet.
“Ok, I will let you come with me, but you must also know I have another guy with me. We both have decided to call each other Bro, but you can call us what you want, we just decided to wait for a name to come to us instead of make one up ourselves. We kind of wish we would be notified of our real names.”
“I didn’t choose my name either,” she smiled, “I’ve always lived here. My parents said they came here when the cities were being built.” It was strange to think that this island had only been occupied as long as Peyti has lived. “It really wasn’t until ten years ago that we started getting a lot of visitors like yourself.”
“You mean that your parents where here before those who have had amnesia?!” I said pretty excitingly; hoping I would get to talk with her parents soon about the past.
“My parents have always said they have had amnesia as well,” Peyti explained, “It’s hard to understand when I haven’t gone through what everyone else has.”
“Hmmm, well is there a way I can talk to your parents anyway about what it was like when they first came here?”
“I’m sorry, Bro, but my parents became very angry with me right about the time that all the visitors came. They said that it was for my own good and that I should find out about everything myself, so although I’ve been living here my whole life, it sounds like you know more than I do. They are even worse to the visitors. They told me that they are trying to take our land. I quit believing that because most of you visitors are initially nice people.”
“What do you mean by initially?” I feared.
“It’s hard to explain. I guess that frustrations rub off the more you are around it.”
“It starts with complaining and then turns into annoyance, then arguing, then anger,” Interjected the older lady, “for only being here for a while, I have already had experience.”
“Let’s see the other cities, Bro,” Peyti said hoping to loosen up the discussion, “I haven’t seen any other ones before.”
“Well, I don’t want to wake Bro up yet because it is still on 7:30, but how about you show me around Ira-Invidia until about 10:30?”
“That sounds fine,” Peyti said as she motioned for me to follow her.
the next chapter will be posted May 8th... hopefully :)
