This chapter is dedicated to Shelby_Painter for always voting whenever I publish a new chapter! Thank you so much! (Also wow she's a huge star now!! Go follow her!)
Mariola found herself underneath glowing stars.
Sitting up quickly like the fold of a lawn chair, Mariola scrutinized her surroundings in the dark.
She found that the glowing stars were actually stuck on a ceiling of a beige-painted room with wooden furniture lining the walls.
The unfamiliar place didn't look like another medical ward or a prison underground...but Mariola wasn't going to take any chances.
Swiftly, she ran quietly to an open window, her bare feet cold against the wooden floor, and stuck her head out like a giraffe.
The soft sunlight tickled her skin, and Mariola allowed herself a second or two to feel peace as she stared at the rising morning sun—then she stuck one foot out of the window and then slowly the other foot.
"There's nowhere to run, Mariola."
Her left foot halfway to freedom, the girl turned around to discover a shadowy figure in the corner of the room.
"You do know that there is no exit, other than to go up," the figure continued, stepping into a shaft of watery light and revealing a slightly wrinkled and very worried face of a woman.
"Oh my goodness! Loma, don't scare me like that!" Mariola slowly put her cramping legs off the high window and tried to think how she could possibly have missed this stout woman in the corner of the room.
"Well, excuse me! You don't scare me like when you just disappeared off into the woods!"
The woman raised her right eyebrow and flung her hands on the handles of her hips. "Where did you go? What were you doing?"
"Last night..." Flashes—trees, lockers, people—burst then faded away. "I don't remember." Mariola scratched her scalp as if trying to activate her hippocampus.
"Try to think harder. Where were you?" Loma quickly switched from demanding to a worried mother.
"I-I don't know," Mariola reiterated, climbing back onto the bed and putting her face between her hands. "I can't...remember."
Loma cursed.
"What was that?"
"What was what?" Loma asked, furrowing her eyebrows, sighing through her nose.
"That word," Mariola said. "Is it a curse word?"
"Oh. Yeah it was a popular curse word back when I was in the Outside. But what does that matter now?"
Mariola slouched her shoulders and looked haggardly at her only friend. "The Outside? What's that?"
Loma sat down by the hapless girl, bouncing the mattress as she leaned close and whispered, "You didn't have any memories before you came here, right?"
Mariola nodded mutely and slowly, unsure if the question led to a good or bad conclusion.
Loma tsked and cursed that word again; then she muttered, "I know I'm not supposed to do this but..."
Mariola stared at her, more unsure where this conversation was heading to. She didn't know where or who the hell she was anyways, so it didn't surprise her when Loma stood up and dragged her out of the room.
"What's happening?" Mariola asked as the older woman whisked her to the living room then to a balcony.
She wasn't particularly waiting for a clear response when Loma answered, "We are going to the Trunk Council to try to find your memories."
A thrill shimmied down Mariola's spine. "Can you do that?" She asked, her voice hoarse and hopeful.
"Let's go find out," Loma said, gesturing to a strange worn out rope hooked on the meat of a thick branch that snaked to a destination Mariola couldn't see.
Squinting, she could only see the line trailing north far, far, far away. Her finger tapped the strange string, and it bounced and buzzed like a jelly snake. "So, what is this?"
"It's a rope. It's the fastest way to get to the Trunk Council."
Loma bent down to a chest nearby and heaved a wooden object from it amongst other wooden junk. "And this is how you'll be getting there."
Dumping the wood into Mariola's arms, Loma continued, "It's basically a chair. You sit right here," she patted the rectangular wood affectionately, "and you just enjoy the view as you glide on by as fast as the breeze."
"Huh?" Mariola turned her transportation device around and still couldn't wrap her mind around it.
Loma sighed, as if to show how desperately Mariola needed to be reminded of her memories and of common sense. She took the anomaly, hooked it around the rope, and motioned for Mariola to sit.
Gulping, the girl first looked down the balcony to gage how high up she was—and she quickly backtracked away from her doom. "No, no, no, I hate heights!"
"Oh, come now, don't be such a wimp," Loma snapped, her voice tinged with anger and fear. "Hurry before the whole village awakens!"
"B-but," Mariola stuttered, "I'm scared."
The woman stood a hairbreadth away from Mariola. She had to bend her chin slightly to meet Loma's eyes, but she could hear the words loud and clear. "You are in Level 1 of Eden's pyramid. Like it or not, you are stuck here until you get your way to the top." She flicked a finger to the sky. "And trust me, darling, not a lot of people make it up there. In fact, none of us knows who is up there and who have failed and died in the process."
Mariola's eyes widened. Loma continued staring and said, "You know what fear is, child? Have you ever faced the Beast on the day of Grey? Have you ever been snatched by a Bot by the tip of your shoulders to a fate you can't change?"
The woman didn't wait for a reply. "No, you have never faced what I have;and you never will." Mariola sighed inwardly; but relief swept in too soon as Loma continued, "But you will face harder challenges. A tide of dark is coming. I can feel it." The woman shifted her eyes left and right and left as if a camera was recording her every word.
She took a breath and said, "We are all brought here for a purpose. There is a reason why you are here." She clutched Mariola's arms tightly and affectionately. "Maybe you'll be the new inventor to fix up our village. Maybe you'll discover that you have a knack of art. Maybe you'll be our new hero to save us all from Eden." Loma whispered her last sentence that no camera nearby could detect, but she said it fiercely.
"So, it's either you step up and face your fears; or you stay here forever," Loma stated simply, a taut grin on her face, as she gestured to the wooden seat high above the ground dangling on a tiny rope.
Mariola straightened her back. "And become an old woman like you here? No, thank you."
A bright glow flashed above Mariola's brow, but she didn't notice as she climbed onto the chair, wobbling and trying to swallow her vomit of fear back inside her throat.
"Alright, so, you hold on the two ropes with your hands on either side. You know, like a swing," Loma said plainly.
"...swing?" Mariola asked, tilting her head in confusion at the new term, probably from the mysterious "Outside."
"Anyways. Just hold on and...go!"
Strong calloused hands pushed Mariola's back, and the girl went flying through the trees."
"Ahhhh!"
Mariola turned around to see the diminishing balcony of Loma's house and of Loma's waving figure.
"I'll meet you there," the figure called out, the words nearly snatched by the whooshing wind and the crackling leaves as Mariola zigzagged through the forest.
No protection whatsoever, Mariola could only grip onto the rough rope with both hands and try not to smack her legs into branches.
She was about to knock her head against a fat branch. She ducked, and she looked to the ground.
The criss-cross pattern of leaves scattered the dark ground as sunlight beamed through. The whoosh of Mariola zipping by caused black and blue birds to caw and fly away and made small chickens below run. The heads of early risers bobbed as they stretched in their balcony and prepared for a new day to try to break out of this prison.
"Ouch!"
Blades at the edge of the branches seared through Mariola's thighs, arms, and feet. She ducked and lifted her legs to avoid another attack from a tree.
She was too preoccupied with defending herself from nature that she didn't notice the approaching balcony. She didn't realize she reached her destination until a pair of strong arms enveloped around her to stop her from crashing against the tree trunk.
"Are you alright, miss?" A tenor voice asked, tickling the girl's ear.
"Y-yes I think so," Mariola muttered, dazed from the height, the near-death-experience, and the boy holding her.
The boy stared closer into her eyes with his stunning blue ones—whether to suck her heart and soul or to check if her pupils were dilating correctly, she wasn't sure. But the boy nodded his fair head and gently plopped her down into the Trunk Council room.
"Thank you," Mariola said, trying to cover the blush creeping onto her cheeks.
He nodded curtly then peered down at her. "If you don't have a concussion or any injury demanding of my attention, then I suggest that you leave right now."
"Wh-what?"
"You used the secret rope-swing!" He whispered-shouted to her. "That's only for our leader, Tomy!" He huffed out impatiently and ruffled his hair nervously.
"Well, Loma told me—"
"Loma? You know Loma?" The boy widened his eyes further as if she was an alien.
"Yes?" She answered hesitantly, the end of the word dipping to a trailing high-pitch sound.
"Wow, who are you?" He asked, stepping closer to her, trying to perhaps understand what was so special about her underneath her plain looks. Understanding dawned on him. "You're the new girl, aren't you?"
She bit the bottom of her lip. "Yes?"
"What's your name?"
"M-Mari-ola," she stammered out.
"Well, Mamari Ola. May I ask why you were using the Council's swing-rope?"
Mariola looked at the dangling wooden seat in front of her. "A swing-rope?"
The boy nodded.
The girl stifled a giggle between her teeth.
"Is that funny to you?"
"Hah, yes it is," Mariola replied, turning around to the voice, only to find herself an arm-breath away from the tanned man who greeted her when she first came to the Trunk Council. She shut her mouth, as did the boy who straightened his shoulders and did a salute with his calloused hands.
"Morning, Tomy!" The boy greeted, respect and awe clear in his tone.
The man, Tomy, nodded and fixed his eyes on the newcomer. "What are you doing here, Mariola?"
"W-well..."
Her words were layered over by the sound of friction and whooping. The three figures turned around to find Loma dangling on the edge of the "rope-swing" and having the time of her life. As she neared the balcony, the woman jumped neatly and gracefully, her breath even as if she took a simple walk through the forest.
"Loma, what are you doing here?" Tomy stepped towards the woman.
"Hello, Tomy," she replied icily, the exhilaration melted from her face, the air instantly becoming frosty and awkward. "Hope you don't mind me using the rope-wire. I need to ask for a favor."
"You don't just get to come, bat your eyes, and get a favor from our leader like you used to," a voice reprimanded. A silver-haired woman appeared and glared at Loma with the same snotty look and tone as when she addressed Mariola or perhaps everyone.
"Shut it, Poline," Loma replied, her eyes still stuck on Tomy. "Look, I know we haven't talked in a while; and you know full well that I wouldn't be here except for an emergency, which is now." She pulled on Mariola's arm. "This girl here has no memory."
Tomy tilted his head. "No memories? At all?"
Everyone looked at the girl. Mariola shook her head dumbly.
Scratching his naked chin, Tomy said, "There is something we can do...but it could be dangerous if Eden discovers us attempting to hijack his system."
"His system? What system?" Loma cried out, flinging her hands in the air. "This is why we always disagree. There is no system! It's all chaos." She walked closer to the man and tiptoed to meet his stare till the tip of their noses were nearly touching. Mariola backed away. "If we don't do something now, then we will never break free from this place!"
Tomy simply tilted his chin downwards to reply, "But if he finds out that we have been plotting something against him, people will die. My people!"
The silver woman grinned, probably enjoying watching other people be mean to each other.
Mariola watched the scene unfold and felt weak in the pit of her stomach. Her knees buckled, and her eyes started growing drowsy. She struggled to stand up as if she were on ice—then a growl resonated through her.
Clutching her stomach, Mariola suddenly conjured images of fried chicken, steaming rice, bread—
"You're hungry, aren't you?" The boy prodded her in the stomach. "Have you not eaten at all?"
A loud, long growl answered.
"Come," he said, nodding his head to the inside of the tree trunk. "There is always food at the Trunk Council."
"What about..." She gestured to the shouting scene between the two, who seemed to be in their only little spotlight with the silver-haired woman as the audience.
"They'll figure things out. They've been fighting for nearly two months now. That's the longest they've fought, but the couples that mend after fights are always the best, right?"
Mariola blinked. "Oh, they're a couple?"
The boy pushed the girl by her shoulders into the room. "You really need some food."
It took every ounce of energy from Mariola to keep pace with the boy pushing behind her like a high-speed engine. They twisted and turned left then down right then down then left. Mariola could almost smell the oil of fried chicken as she drifted near reality and unconsciousness.
"I could swear that the kitchen was here..." The boy muttered, veering another left turn. "Hmmm...okay. I think I'm lost."
"Great," she muttered faintly, involuntary slumping against the strong hands that still held her shoulders.
"Hmm... Maybe it's in this room?" The boy pointed to a crooked door a few steps away. Carrying some of Mariola's weight, the boy huddled and waddled.
Mariola resisted trying to lean too much on the masculine boy. She tried not to notice how lean his shoulder was against hers and how warm his hand was around her waist.
Steaming with embarrassment, she couldn't speak when the boy opened the door and gently pushed her inside and shut the door behind him in a loud creak. She didn't have time to shout whatever that boy's name was or hurl herself at the door when a voice she had been trying to erase from her memories purred, "Hello, Mariola. You're late for our appointment."
*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'*ﾟ▽ﾟ*･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*
Phew finally an update! Sometimes I just can't believe that there are people who are waiting for updates for this book, so thank you so much for waiting! 😁😅
What do you think about the length? Too long? Too confusing? Any suggestions at all? Has there been too much action and not enough peace? Feel free to drop any comments and votes or tell me your experience with swings or zip lines 😬🤗