There were people all around. Shopping for groceries, shopping for presents for holidays, getting themselves something to put in their empty, hungry stomachs. There were group of boys acting like..well.. boys, and there were groups of girls screaming excitedly over the new clothes they've bought. All the crowds and the voices were becoming extremely overwhelming for Earlia, who just wanted to explore the place. She didn't understand why people were so excited over this holiday called "Christmas" because she never experienced it. Which was kind of sad.
She shook her head. She wasn't going to let some stupid holiday make her upset.
"I should go somewhere quieter.." she said, covering her ears because there was now loud music playing.
She walked down the concrete path, looking for a quiet place to go into.
And then she saw it. A book store. And she knew that those places were quiet. So she walked in, the music from outside fading away as she walked farther in the place.
"Hello! Welcome to Castle Of Books!" Said a man at a cash register. "Let me know if you need help finding anything!"
Feeling a bit startled, she slowly nodded and quietly said "ok"
Looking at the thousands of books on multiple shelfs, her heart started to speed up in excitement. She loved books, and she could stay her forever if she was allowed to.
First she went into the horror book section. A book caught her eye. It was titled "The Distance Of His Eyes" She flipped through the pages, and started to read a random page.
"There you are!!" yelled David. "Stop staring at me!! I can see you! I'm not stupid!"
A young boy named David kept seeing two eyes infront of him every time he woke up, and it drove him insane. To make it worse, each day the eyes got closer and whispered things to him. That's what was happening in the book.
Feeling a bit uncomfy, she put the book back on the shelf.
"That's enough of that.." she said, and went to the romance/fantasy section. Earlia is not into romance books, so she picked up one that looked like a fantasy one to her.
And it was titled "The Kingdom of Deathly."
It was a pretty thick book. And thick fantasy books were always amazing to her, so she decided she'll buy it out.
She went to a register and placed the book infront of the cashier.
"Is this all you're going to have today?" Said the person scanning the book.
"Yeah."
"That'll be 14.99."
She gave them a 20 dollar bill. And they gave her a bag with her book in it.
They gave her the change and she walked out of the place back onto the noisy streets.
She looked at the bag.
"..Am I even going to read this?" She asked herself. She told herself to come out and find a job, but she bought a book instead. But oh well. Shawn told her she didn't have to work if she didn't want to anyways.
Suddenly, the feeling that she was being watched rushed over her. At the top of the book store building, she saw something. And there it was again.
The same black figure with the glowing yellow eyes that Oliver saw in the Forest.
"What the.." she said. "What the heck is that?"
She looked at it for a few more seconds, then it vanished.
She looked away from the area it was and started to walk away.
"That was probably nothing." She said. "I don't need to worry about it."
But something inside her told her to start worrying about it. She really wanted to forget it, but the black figure kept appearing in her mind, forcing her to think about it.
She started to sweat. This couldn't be something dealing with him right?
No, it couldn't be. He was dead. He was long gone. But no matter how hard she thought that, she couldn't convince herself that he was actually dead. He was still alive. Somewhere, some place.
She was so into thinking, that she bumped into someone and also fell over, until they grabbed her.
"Oh, there you are!" they said. It was Shawn. Earlia was sort of glad it wasn't a stranger.
"What you got in that bag?" He asked.
"Nothing." Earlia said. "What are you doing out here? Going somewhere?"
Shawn shook his head.
"Nah, I just came to check on you." He said. "I'm glad I found you, haha."
Earlia sighed. "So you came out just to look for me? I was coming back home you know." She said.
Shawn looked at all the crowds of people.
"Yeah, but you never know. Something could happen." He said. "You don't know what type of people live on Earth.."
She rolled her eyes and walked past him. He ran behind her and caught up with her.
"So, uh, how are you liking Earth so far?" Shawn asked her.
"It's nothing different." She said. "You can't forget we've only been here a few days."
Shawn nodded his head in agreement. "You're right.." he said. "..What do you want for Christmas?"
"What?"
"I said what do you want for Christmas."
She sighed. She thought it was a stupid question. She never thought of what she wanted for Christmas. She never really thought of Christmas itself.
''.. I don't know.'' she said, looking down. she really didn't know because she wasn't really into anything. Well, she secretly liked to paint at times, but she definitely wasn't going to tell Shawn that.
''oh, well,'' he said, a smile spreading across his face. ''i'll get you what i think you'll like.''
Seeing that smile of his and hearing him say that made a strange feeling rush through her chest. Nobody has ever gotten her a Christmas gift before. Was she starting to actually feel..happy?
or was it something different? No, no way she was starting to like him. Not like she never liked him, but she couldn't. She couldn't like him. She told herself that was stupid and ignored the weird feeling.
''Anyways.. i'm going to try and look for a job later.'' Shawn said. ''Where do you think i should work?''
''Don't know, and i Don't really care where you work.'' She said.
Shawn scratched his head, trying to think.
''i've got it..'' he said, snapping his finger. ''a bakery.''
'A bakery?'' Earlia said. ''That doesn't sound like you.''
Shawn chuckled. ''i know, but baking sounds fun.'' he said. ''One of the things i've always wanted to be is a baker.''
''Oh..'' Earlia said. ''Well.. if you were to work in a bakery, i don't think you'll be able to make your own things..''
''Maybe not for strangers, but you.'' he said smiling. ''i have some experience in baking because when i was little i used to make stuff for my mom all the time. Ooh, maybe i'll go to that small bakery i saw down the street..''
Yes, Shawn did love to bake for his mom when he was little. He loved her a lot, and only her. Not his dad, Because he was terrible. He was aggressive, and yelled a lot at Shawn and her. Then things got worse when he got his Energy powers. His father made him train everyday, because he didn't want to raise a weak fragile boy. After some years, his mom passed away from a deadly illness, and he fell into a deep depression. The training kept going and going until he couldn't take it anymore. He struck his dad with his chains as hardly as he could, and he was gone. Dead. He ran from his home, and soon met Earlia.
Shawn sighed.
''Hey Earlia?'' he said.
''What?'' she responded.
''Let's go get some coffee together.''
''I guess.''