The air inside this house was thick, suffocating me in my sleep. The walls were aged and I swore I could hear something whispering outside my bedroom door. I could hear the backyard swing rocking back and forth, even though it was so far away.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNxklYgcMa
I was certain that there was no wind, nor any rain, but I could hear something rasping on the window, and the sound of the swing seemed to be getting louder. A dull image of a forest seeped into view, something panicked, running at full speed through the trees. It was myself, running from somebody else.
A loud crash pulled me awake. I gasped for air before realizing a jar fell from the bedroom shelf. I didn't know what was contained in it, but it seemed to be some kind of slimy, black substance. My stomach was turned by its foul odor, and I quickly looked for a way to clean it up.
I left the house shortly after. The walk towards the park was quiet, for all the houses in this area were empty. A lone figure stood in the distance, he was an elderly man, throwing a tiny rubber ball against the ground. He didn't lose his focus as I approached him.
"Do you happen to live around here?"
He caught the ball one last time, before taking a good look at me. "What are you doing in these parts, young one? This is such a lonely place."
"I live around here."
"So this street has found another soul. Selonika has a name for this area, it's called Memory Lane. Yes, they named it after the idiom. This place is filled with abandoned houses that once held people like you; people who had to face the evil or walk away from it."
"That's what I've been told several times, it's starting to get old."
"Selonika is a quiet place filled with beauty and innocence, so when possible problems arise, we need to make sure they don't affect our community. That's why you're being reminded so often, for we don't know who you are or what choice you will make."
"Doesn't this city choose the people? That's what I heard from a friend. The city picks out those who are pure and kind, and they are sent here to live out their lives as spirits."
"It's true, but it's possible for the city to be wrong. Imagine someone shows up here, just like you, and makes the choice. They choose to face their past, and in their efforts, they get consumed by it. They house crumbles, but they will still be here with us, and god only knows what frame of mind they'll be in."
"They could lose their mind and hurt somebody."
"Exactly. Nobody wants to know what happens when we die a second time. That's why we pray that only good things are sent here." The man goes back to bouncing his ball. "You should hurry back to that friend of yours, young one. You wouldn't want them to worry about you."
I entered the park, following the sound of the violin. I wandered down the same path I did yesterday, finding Violet sitting under the tree, ending her piece. "You're too early. That's my mistake, I should of specified the time."23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWlIUFvcOHD
"I can see that the streets are dead."23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXMg7UayaNX
"It's not dead, it's just asleep. In exactly ten minutes, Selonika will wake up, ten minutes until morning."
"What? Does everyone have the same bedtime schedule? That's kind of crazy."
"Not exactly. Once you become one with this city, you will understand its purpose. Have you played an instrument before?"
"I played a piano, but I probably forgot how to, its been so long."
"Pianos and violins go perfectly together, if you're creating a tragic melody. I listen to their duet in the late hours of the night. It helps me dream of beautiful things."
She went back to playing the strings, and it felt a bit.. off, as if she wasn't the only one playing, like it was being accompanied... but it could just be my imagination.
I thought back to those days of playing the piano, and how beautiful it worked by itself. Honestly, I wasn't that good. My fingers struggled to press the keys at the right time, I sometimes played in the wrong scale; the list goes on endlessly.
My music teacher seemed to agree with me, telling me I didn't have any musical talent, and I should pursue other things. It was harsh, but I felt like it was what I needed to hear. It's better to pursue something you're good at, then to live a lie, to copy and paste the same formula, getting lost in the clones of successful artists.
"I've been meaning to ask, Echo. What do you think of Mia?"
"What do I think of her? Uh... she's very energetic."
"She is only like that in public places, at her job, and while the group is together. You were alone with her yesterday, right?"23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8DV7UDjW2K
"Yeah, she seemed a lot more reasonable after she left the cafe, or was it when I told her I needed help?"
"Her personality shifts from time to time, depending on her environment. When our friends left the park one day, she seemed a lot more... disconnected. I brought up the reason I chose the violin and she listened without saying a word. I expected her to crack a few jokes or something, and when she didn't, it was quite chilling."
"Why did you ask about her? Did you see a side of her in me somewhere?"
"No, nothing like that."
Time passed slowly, as I rested on the other side of the tree, listening to her play. I almost drifted back into a deep slumber, until I heard footsteps closing in on us. "Oh my, I didn't expect to see you again, Echo." Mia joked. "I wasn't sure if you would show up."
"It seems you brought Jintei along as well."
"You two know each other?"
"Does she follow you home, Jintei?"
"Yeah, to the very house I live at, knocking at my window like the boogeyman." Mia smacked him in the back of the head. "Don't tell people that, they'll burn me like a witch!"
Using her bag as a chair, Mia sat near the rocks. "I didn't know who the new member was, so I just brought a lot of different cupcakes. I hope you like cupcakes, Echo!"
"I don't mind."
"Anyways," Jintei began, "How did you find the ghost? It seemed like you found her pretty fast."
"Mia told me to come here to meet the urban legend."
"I'm not an urban legend."
"Of course you are." Jintei stated. "You even have certain conditions that need to be met before you accept them in our cult. Rule number one, enter the park at night; rule number two, make sure you are alone..."
"Shut up, Jintei!" Mia shouted. "If she was an urban legend, she wouldn't be real, all urban legends are fake, so don't compare her to one."
Two others came walking down the stairs shortly after. The first was a girl who was silent as a flower, her hair was a simple bobcut, white as snow. She wore a light blue dress, and mary jane shoes. A living doll would be a perfect description of her.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQogbaBTX4Z
The other was a boy with the same hair color, except his was messy, but not in a bad way, it was short and simple enough to take care of, unlike mine, which I need to comb in order to avoid a bad hair day.
He seemed wary, watching everything that moved around him, with an inhuman amount of focus. He noticed me immediately, stopping abruptly at the bottom of the stairs. "Another friend of yours, Violet?"23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkp0JiQFTL9
"Yeah, he's a friend, Riku."
"Just making sure. My work has me a little stressed lately. Are you going to say anything, Lily?" she remained silent, turning away shyly as I looked at her. "Sorry about my sister, she doesn't do much. Give her a few days and she might say hello."23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeyNWkydEvh
"I understand, she's quiet like Violet over there."
"Yeah, except Violet will at least say hello to strangers. I never seen you in this city before, you must be the new guy who moved here, Echo."
"How did you-"
"I work for the police. I know what you're thinking, I look a little too young, don't I?" I didn't say a word, but he knew my answer and kept talking. "Our father runs this district, alongside Violet's parents."
"Why does this city need police, isn't everything supposed to be perfect here?"
"We just do small things like getting stuff out of trees and preparing events, nothing too dangerous. You can join if you like. It would give a good first impression in this city."
"No thanks."
─━━━━━━⊱✿⊰━━━━━━─
The day wasn't over yet, the sky was only half asleep. The group split up for tonight, and while I could've spent a bit more time with Violet, I wanted to explore more of the city, so I visited the nearby library, looking for any books about the nooks and crannies of Selonika.
I quietly sat by the window, reading a book that was, to my surprise, an atlas for every piece of Selonika. It had five different regions, and the one I lived in was called Central, beside that was the Scrap Yard, which seemed to be the region Jintei lived in.
The three others were Media Palace, Secluded Plains, and the last one... it had a scrap of paper attached to it. 'Citadel of the Dreaming Ghosts: An Ancient Kingdom Buried Under The World'; was this an article snippet?
'Selonika has always been a mysterious city, so much so that it has been completely forgotten about. In the other world, Selonika was a place spoken of in mythology, kingdom to the royal family, Aeli Selonia. The kingdom vanished entirely, consumed by the planet itself.
The world at the time was dying, and the kingdom rested on a fragile mountain of dirt. The citadel sunk first into the planet's maw, and soon followed its people. In exchange, the dirt became something more beautiful, than any soul can imagine. Yes, just like any dead vessel buried underneath the dirt, all is consumed to bring new life.
In Arionne Aeli Selonia's own words, the queen of Selonika Kingdom, 'Brothers and sisters, our death does not mean failure, for our kingdom is the source of life for the new Selonika. You may leave if you desire, but just remember, when one of us dies, a flower blossoms; when we die together, we create a vast meadow.'
The map showed what the kingdom looked like before its collapse. The ground beneath them was nothing but dirt and fragile stone, but in their sacrifice, a meadow was in fact created, and a city was believed to be built on top of it, but now that city is somehow existing in a different plane of reality, a home to the pure and kind that perished.
I pulled off the article and looked at the last region, The Citadel Ruins. "I wonder if you can even enter that place."
"Of course not." I raised my head up at the figure. It was a feminine looking boy, his hair covered his left eye, and his attire felt completely bland. I didn't even hear his footsteps approaching me.
"Sorry, did I startle you?"
"A little."
"I'm Lyem Kobota. I saw you leaving the cafe the other day. You're Echo, right?"23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLiCzWP8Y2g
"Yeah. It seems like everyone in this city recognizes a new face."23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1DKtcyWMqp
"You stick out like a sore thumb. Anyways, I see you're interested in learning about our beautiful city. It feels quite small at first, but once you know that there is more than one region, you began to realize why it never gets old."23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHijO67rdWG
He held out a small lollipop. "Have you tried yeko pops yet? I have a lot of them if you want more." I took it from his hands. "What do I have to lose?" I popped it in my mouth, only to realize how ridiculously sour it was.
"You'll get used to it, Echo. They're quite addicting. You can buy them at the school vending machine."
He slipped a handful of them in my hoodie, before skipping off. As he reached the entrance, he stopped. "Oh yeah, you must be very lucky. I am a random encounter with a 1/10,000 chance."
"What kind of video game do you think we're living in?"23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡybY99DeBWy
"I'll leave that to your imagination." With those final words, he disappeared like a lone phantom. I looked back down at the atlas. There was a flyer for a concert, for a singer known as Monika Amare.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2tPqm7ASTw
I turned the flyer around noticing a concert ticket taped to it. "S-Seriously?" Lyem left a message as well, and it read, 'A Gift To My New Friend'. I don't remember agreeing to that, but I'll keep the ticket anyways. I couldn't imagine how hard these were to get.
It seemed the concert was taking place in the Scrap Yard. I left the library and headed towards the new region. I remembered what Jintei said about this place, and just as I stepped across the threshold, everyone looked at me with gentle smiles.
I was nervous, throwing my hood up over my head. "You're one of Jintei's friends, aren't you?" an old man asked politely. "Sorry, it's just that we don't get many visitors around here, so it's nice to see a new face."
"Isn't there going to be lots of people coming here for Monika's performance?"23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHc0KYGGBMO
"Of course, but she hasn't performed in this region before, and even when she does, I don't imagine people will talk to us. They see what looks like a neighborhood full of thieves and black markets, they'll run away like we'll mug them."23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbohw155JRJ
"Sorry to hear that."23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡscvwXqa1nq
"Don't be! We have a good laugh about it! Normally, we don't say hello, but... if you're a friend to one of us, you're a friend to all of us. Did you come here to check up on Jintei?"
"Not this time, I actually have a ticket for the concert, and I was wondering where it was taking place."
"It's not until tomorrow, kiddo."
"Yeah, I know. I just don't want to get lost and end up missing it."
"Well, no worries. Jintei is a big fan of hers, and he wouldn't miss it for the world. When I see him walking by later, I'll tell him you stopped by."
"Great, thanks uh..."
"You can just call me, Gramps. That's what everyone calls me around here. I own that shop over there." he says, pointing at a nearby video store with a vibrant neon sign. "I am also the one who runs this region. I know it's quite surprising that someone my age hasn't dedicated their life to the ol' sofa, but I need to hold out until my daughter can take over."
"Your daughter?"
"Oh how I miss being young, the long journey I spent looking for love."
"I-I wasn't asking for that reason, I swear!"
"I'm just messing with you. My daughter is the one managing the shop at the moment. You can go ahead and pick out a movie if you like as a welcoming present."
I sighed and entered the shop. The doorbell alerted someone in the back. "Hold on, I'll be there in a second!" As I looked around the several shelves of movies, I heard a loud bang in the back, walking over to see if they got injured. "A-Are you alright in here?"23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXF1MS0P7Bi
"Y-Yeah, I'm sorry! Gramps told me a hundred times about rushing things and-"
The girl had shoulder-length brown hair and hazel eyes. Just like Violet, she was dressed in winter clothing, a blue coat and pink checkered scarf. I didn't know if it was some fashion trend, or if I missed one of the regions being a winter wonderland.
"Y-You're new around here! Finally a new customer!"
"I don't know about being a customer, everything is free here, right?"
"Yeah, it's weird, but you'll get used to it. Do you drink coffee? We should have some in the vending machine."
"Sorry, I don't drink that stuff, I'll take a green tea if you have any."
"Of course!"
As I looked around the room, she introduced herself as Crystal, and she's somewhat of a coffee addict. She told me that she bought a can of coffee as a kid when Gramps told her to buy a soda; I could only imagine the chaos.
"Still haven't found a movie you like?"
"Do you have any documentaries about the city?"
"You're into that stuff?"
"Not really. I promised myself I would learn a little more about this place."
"You still don't get it, do you? You don't learn about Selonika, you become one with it. You're dead, there's no reason to put in effort to learn something. It isn't like we will get any older, just relax into it."23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2tnaBlEyXL
She picks up a movie from the shelf. "Here, this is one of my favorites, I think you'll like it." It seemed to be some sort of horror movie. "I wouldn't watch it this late though."23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuxvVuuOKL2
"Thanks."
"Are you single, Echo?" she asked out of nowhere, and I quickly replied back. "No, I'm already taken."
"You're such a liar... have a good night, Echo. I'll see you around!"23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjLhqQQZlQl
