Blink

Chapter 1: Pulled Down The Dark

Solus. The city of the humans. Having a rising population of 32,000,000. Located east of Hardon and south of Starian. Known for the high buildings they call skyscrapers. Upgrading in technology but downgrading in brain. Have no care for the outside world but wants to conquer it. Seriously though?

March 18, 2081

"Christina. Report to my division. Now!" The workers heard through the intercom. Christina is the unluckiest employee in all of Solus. Not only did her family abandon her and her job as a garbage collector didn't suit her, rumor grew on the streets that she snuck into people's homes to sleep.

Eyes followed the brown skinned midget. Her black hair covering most of her eyes and her big brown eyes barely visible. Her yellow work suit dirty from all the garbage she handled. Her black boots became brown from all the mud she stepped into. Streaks of dirt here and there can be found in her rather flawless face. Christina Ferguson. Daughter of a common carpenter and a street vendor. Oldest amongst nine children. Sometimes her coworkers wondered how she landed in such job when she used to be a professional photographer.

"Maybe its when a cranky singer didn't appreciate his photos she took," she heard the wide mouths gossip. Christina's used to them. By the way, what they usually gossip about is true.

"Oh. And did you hear that the singer tried hitting her but she hit him first?" She heard another whisper. Its self defense, everybody knew that. The singer snatched her DSLR camera from her weak hands and slapped her across the face with it. Luckily no scar was left to mark what he did.

"What's the name of the singer again?" A new question popped out of a wide mouth's lips. Wide mouth is what the people of Solus call the women who does nothing in their lives but gossip about other people. They can be helpful sometimes, but at most times, irritating.

"I don't know," another answered. "But I heard its Justin. Don't know the last name though." The whispers continued as Christina dragged herself to her boss's office. Wide mouths, wide mouths everywhere. Ugh, can the aliens just abduct them?

The metal door creaked as Christina opened it. She peeked inside to see her boss. The only dwarf in the whole planet of Terraria, Marco. Marco is a real dwarf. Rumor says that his spaceship crashed in Solus years ago when he's trying to fly home to Zed. At least that's what they say. Nobody knows the whole story.

"Sir. You called me?" Christina asked. She mentally punched herself for asking something obvious.

"Yes. Please. Take a seat," Marco offered. Christina gave him a half smile and proceeded to sit on a uncomfortable plastic chair. She kept her head down trying to avoid Marco's pale gray eyes.

Silence enveloped the room as neither of them spoke. Finally, Marco broke the silence when he cleared his throat.

"Rumors are spreading. Christina. When will you try to defend yourself?" Marco asked. Christina's eyes darted up. She met Marco's sympathetic gaze. She choked on her words as she tried to speak. Instead, tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Stop trying to help me," she thought.

"Its okay. Don't cry. Don't," Marco whispered. For a dwarf, his clean face is a shame. No beard at all and his supposedly large feet covered in shiny leather shoes.

"Its just... The last time I tried to defend myself... I lost my family... My child... They took her away from me... Called me a monster," Christina sobbed. She felt embarrassed for crying in her boss's office but she can't control the tears from streaming down her face.

She felt Marco's rough hands rub her back. "That's why," he let out a long sigh. Christina looked at her.

"That's why what?" She asked, slowly calming down.