This Is My Exodus

Chapter 11

All the other creatures nodded enthusiastically and laughed distortedly.

The laughter was off-putting, but that was easily ignored. Nothing about Freta was normal. Not only that, Chalala became distracted.

Fienna was so cute. She was supposed to be my friend...I hope she's okay, wherever she is.

That reminds me. As much as I hate it, the globules are needed for me to get out of here. According to whatever inordinate logic this place has, there should have been one around Reurig. Why didn't we see one?

She replayed the encounter in her head. She recounted her heart speeding, her fury, and...there was something else.

Xalei had complimented the thing on Reurig's head.

"Hey." She changed the subject. "There was something weird about Clock-for-balls's head. You noticed it too, didn't you?"

Xalei paused, his smirk loosened and let out a "tsk", making a snapping gesture. "You're onto something, Kiddie."

"Don't call me Kiddie," she corrected with lips slightly puckered.

He pondered briefly until the realization dawned on his features.

"He couldn't touch the thing. His fingers went right through. A globule!"

"How the heck did he get a globule stuck in his head?"

"I dunno! The logic of this place makes no sense. C'mon." He beckoned her to follow. "We're going back."

She sighed with a deep, rumbling sound, but her feet followed him regardless. "You better not expect me to act all lovey-dovey with him again."

"We're past that point," he responded. "We'll have to do things differently this time. That's only if we find him again." 

...

Looking for Reurig's domain had proven to be a challenge. Chalala and Xalei traveled through several different locations.

One had a blue and black lake that seemed to stretch on forever. Trees grew from the water, their roots reaching up toward the sky. The most peculiar about it was the lake floated above them.

No globule there.

The next place had the same problem. Just another detour from finding Reurig.

A land filled with jumping hamburgers. Small creatures scurried around with bodies of meat and cheese.

Again, no globule. No Reurig.

Eventually, they came across an area that looked like the end of the world. A cliff. The changes in Freta left no alternative but to jump with the next plot of land being a considerable distance away.

Chalala kicked a rock. It flew over the side of the cliff and plummeted down. She never did hear it hit the bottom.

"This is ridiculous. A bottomless pit. Really?" She turned her head away from the cliff to look at Xalei. "Remember the people writing the story we talked about? Yeah, they're on crack."

"They must be running out of ideas." He put his paws on his hips, leaning forward to get a good look.

It started to rain miniature rubber ducks down into the bottomless pit.

They both went silent. The only sound was the obnoxious quaking of rubber ducks falling into infinite nothingness.

"How? What? Why?" She put a hand against her temples. "I don't understand the appeal of an endless pit that we can't get around. My legs aren't The Big Banana at Coffs Harbour."