A Map For Tomorrow

Chapter 2, Update 4

       Skipping home, Colby was overjoyed with the fact that he had possibly met someone interesting from another dimension. "Sooooo, what's it like where you're from, Eskan?" Jack asked, testing Eskan's memory.

"Well, first as you could tell, people where I come from aren't what you would call 'normal'. To me, it is quite normal, but then again I know nothing about your world, so I couldn't be too sure." Eskan stated, making eye contact with Jack.

"Well, your assumption that it's not normal to have magic or powers here is definitely correct. However, we still don't know how you got here." Simon jumped in.
"All I remember previous to when I got here is being knocked out by some sort of force. Who it was is all just a blur right now, but..." Eskan rubbed his temples for a little bit before continuing to walk. He sighed, and looked down at the ground. "I can't seem to remember fully, sorry."
"It's fine, dude. If I just travelled to another place and didn't know how I got there, I'd probably have the same mindset as you do. So no need to be ashamed of not having a very good memory." Colby reassured. " we just need to focus on a way of getting you back to where you came from." Colby continued, putting his arm around Eskan, despite Eskan being almost a foot shorter than himself. "Hey Eskan?"

Eskan looked up at Colby and replied. "Yes?"
Colby looked back down at him in confusion. "I'm just wondering, but how old are you?"

"18." He replied bluntly, pausing. Colby then let a shocked expression form on his face. Eskan looked up at Colby's face and laughed. "What? Think I was 14 or something due to how short I am?" Colby nodded, eyes still widened with shock. Eskan then laughed a little more at the expression. Jack looked over and cracked a smile.
"Make a new friend there Colby?" Jack smirked, placing a hand on Colby's shoulder while continuing to walk along. Simon looked over and smiled.

"I wouldn't mind if you stayed at my place until you can get home, Eskan. I live alone." Simon offered. Eskan nodded gratefully. Simon smiled at him and kept walking.

"Your hospitality is much appreciated. Thank you so much." Eskan seemed to smile under the "mask" that he was wearing. Colby saw this attempt and it raised a question or two in his mind. 'Why does he have to wear that mask all the time?' Colby thought to himself, creating a bit of a stereotypical "thinking face" in the process.

Stumbling to the door of the house after a somewhat long walk back to Colby's house, they decide to go inside and take a bit of a rest. Colby takes out his key and unlocks the door, letting everyone inside the house, Jack following them in last. Eskan looks around the room, seemingly bewildered. "Not used to your surroundings yet?" Simon laughed, resting a hand reassuringly on his shoulder.

Eskan "smiled" and said "Yeah, but you have to remember I'm not from this universe, or timeline, or world- We don't really know yet." He sat on the floor for the time being and closed his eyes for a minute. Colby glanced at him as he unpacked his bag. He thought about his previous thoughts from while they had been walking. "How would he eat if he didn't have a mouth? Does he even need food? Let's just assume he has a mouth..." he thought to himself, not wanting to think the worst. Eskan noticed Colby starting to stare at him and shifted uncomfortably. "Something wrong Colby?" he asked, concern in his voice.

"Oh, uh, you want some food? I'm sure you might be famished after your... travels." Colby replied, unpacking the last of his things and setting them on the counter.

"No, I'm actually not hungry. I actually don't need much food as small as my body is." He seemed to sweat in a bit of embarrassment, blushing slightly in the process.

Jack pulled out his phone to check the time. "6:25 pm." Jack stated out of the blue.

"Why we need to know the time, clock man?" Simon joked, sitting on the couch and pulling out his own phone. "Most of us here have a sense of time thank you very much." He laughed as Jack pointed at Eskan.

"He doesn't." Jack retorted as he smirked. "Unless he's hiding one." He crossed his arms and sat on the couch with Simon. "Anyways, my point was that it's getting late, and if Simon's bringing his new boyfriend home with him then-"

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP?!" Simon shouted, blushing profusely and punching Jack's arm. Eskan laughed in disbelief and shrugged in a way that more or less said 'He's your friend. I can't stop him.' Simon sighed in annoyance and went back to walking around the living room. "A-anyways," Simon began, stuttering. "Eskan needs somewhere to stay anyways, and if anyone is gonna get killed, it should probably be me. Y'know, if this guy ends up being a murderer and we don't know." Jack rolled his eyes and patted Simon's shoulder in reassurance.

"You can tell he's been through some shit, so I don't think he'll pull anything on you. I mean, he only has one arm." Eskan nodded at Jack's observation, looking down shamefully at what was once his arm. "What even happened to you, Eskan? I mean, something would have had to have happened if your arm is, well, gone." Jack questioned.

Colby rubbed his temples before responding to Jack's question. " Don't you think it's rude to ask that, Jack? I mean if someone you barely knew asked why you were missing a limb, how would you feel?"

" Well, I was just asking because I was curious. I don't really think about what I say though, so sorry if you found that out of the blue or rude, dude." He looked at Eskan for a second with a sorry look on his face, putting a hand on his neck and the other in his pocket out of discomfort.

"No, Jack. It's fine. I don't really mind when people ask what happened to my arm. It's just I'm afraid you won't believe what I say. So, promise you guys will believe me?" Eskan said as he looked at all three of the other guys in the room as they each nodded, Simon leaning intently and ready to listen. Jack seemed skeptical, but decided he would go along with whatever he said. Colby nodded after thinking for a second, as Eskan IS from a place they don't know about. "Well, you see, I lost my arm by accident."

"Excuse me, how do you lose a limb on ACCIDENT?" Simon said out loud, covering his mouth after what he realized he had said. Jack facepalmed at Simon's action, but kept listening to Eskan's story. "I'm sorry, continue."

"Now hear me out." Eskan held his hands up in his own defense and continued. "I lost my arm when I was learning how to use my magic."

//word count: 1187//

Chapter 2, c o n c l u d e d.

"You can't trust anyone in this town, they're undeserving of anyone's trust, really."