ALEANA KNEW SHE WAS LOST. From people dressed like something out of a movie to the air which gave off a more smog-free energy were the dead giveaways. She got up from where she sat and continued to wander around, trying to not seem lost, but to most it'd still be obvious. She walked over to the houses and avoided the people milling around them.
A groan of frustration echoed through her pink lips as her hand weaved through her auburn hair. "Where the hell am I?" she exclaimed, her annoyance of confusion tied into her voice. Suddenly, a voice pushed her out of her thoughts.
"So it happened to you too, huh?" the voice pertained to a male, devoid of hope and filled with huskiness that made her stomach flip. Curiosity etched into her as her head spun around in confusion.
"W-where are you?!" she yelled with sparse amount of waiting for a response, and more of nervousness visible in her tone. Glancing behind her, a pair of cold and dead ice blue eyes met her big brown doe ones.
"Peekaboo," he said sarcastically. A smile formed on his face, but she could tell it was for ironic purposes solely.
After his first words he spoke sunk in, a silence was cast between the two, until her curiosity left it shattered. "What's your name? And how do you know what happened to me?"
A couple villagers meandered around the two, wondering the situation at hand, but knowing better than to stick their nose in the girl and boy's business. The boy looked at the ground and bit his bottom lip. She awaited a response, and placed her hand on her hip.
"Follow me," he told her, no hesitation clear in his voice. "I'll tell you everything you need to know." A feeling of hope emitted in the back of her mind, and she chased after him. Yet another question laid in the pit of her stomach, for once not threatening to spill out.
Could she trust him?
This, however, was a question she'd have to discover for herself.
The boy was clearly not a patient person. His black hair swept across his face as he paced with wide steps, as if he was in a rush. Aleana struggled to keep up with him, as she was much shorter and tired.
They made it to a steampunk styled house that was far secluded from the village. She turned to face where the village was; small specks that we the villagers dotted across the vast land. The villagers were practically ants, and she a giant. Turning back around, the boy was already waiting for her with the door open, a look of impatience sprawled across his tanned face.
"Can I get you anything?" he asked her as soon as she went in the house, sweeping his black hair above his icy blue eyes. She smiled, but shook her head, auburn hair swooping into her face. A soon as she finished her motion, a groan lurched out of her stomach and he gave her a knowing smile. Albeit, a feeling told her it meant nothing.
He walked off into another room, his footsteps creating an echo on the brass tile floor. Presuming for the room to be a kitchen, she followed him, only to be met with a locked door. The door had all sorts of metal that formed it. Her eyes wandered around the room, with the intent of noticing the pattern of metal around her surroundings.
Intrigue bubbled in her stomach and she continued to scourer the area, ignoring the knot forming in her mind that told her to stop. A sigh emitted past her lips as she made the decision to press on with her exploration. She finally came to a dead end that had one door covered in some sort of copper-y metal, and a wheel that must have been the way to open it. A large square of a silver-y metal that was bolted onto the door with the words 'STAY OUT' sprawled messily across them which were also made with another type of metal. She pushed herself away from the door, but the door seemed so incongruous that something in the back of her mind told her to keep going.
A loud noise stopped her from getting any further and she backed up, pushing something off of a nearby shelf in her wake. She turned around and saw a picture frame with a boy and girl, smiling. She stretched out her hands to pick up the picture when a voice cleared its throat and made her fingertips recoil from the picture. Looking up, the boy stood, holding some bread and what looked to be some kind of soup.
"There you are," he grunted and a look of disgust plastered onto his face. "What are you doing over here?" Aleana bit her lip and looked down at the picture. "You know, Aleana, curiousity killed the cat."
At a loss for words, a simple "I'm sorry," flew past her lips. Another silence washed over them and she picked it up and placed it on the shelf. "She seems really lovely."
He smiled, a dark shadow seemed to wipe past his usual gloomy expression. "Yeah, she really was."
Aleana carefully examined his words and began to speak up, "Was?" the moment that was uttered, another silence fell upon the two, this one much darker, and sadness was visible on the boy's face. Even if he kept a mask that hid his true self from everyone else, Aleana could tell it was visibly wearing off. She walked over to him and grabbed his hand. "Come on," she smiled. "Let's go somewhere else. I'm starving."
"Yeah, that sounds good." he replied, but the happiness in his tone was still clear to her.
* * * * * *
They sat down on a couch, that was probably the one thing that wasn't metal in this house, but it certainly felt like it was. Aleana took a bite of bread that she dipped in the soup. "Emerson." he sighed.
"What?" she asked him, not knowing what he meant by that.
"Emerson. That's my name," he clarified with his husky, melancholy tone that sent shivers down her spine. "What's yours?"
A smile made an appearance on her face as she took another bite of the bread. "My name is Aleana." she said after swallowing the piece.
"Nice to meet you, Aleana. Do you remember what happened for you to get in this time period?" she glanced over to him, shocked by the limit of hesitation Emerson had.
Shaking off the feeling that laid unsettled, she responded nonetheless, "No, actually," Aleana sighed. "But I have a question for you."
"She was like you too. Curious, happy, funny...beautiful," the last part was muttered under his breath, but Aleana still heard it, but chose not to let it sink in. "But, most important of all, she got stuck in this place too. I don't want you to have to go through what she went through."
Getting worried and curiosity lurching back into her, her eyes danced around the room so her mind wouldn't let her ask any irrational questions. It was at this moment, when she realised he had no windows in the house, besides a small portion of glass that filled a little bit above the middle of the door.
"Well, my question was, it's getting late, where is a good place to sleep around in the village?" she pondered to Emerson. He smirked at her and made a gesture as to follow him. She stood up from the couch, and followed Emerson.
As she wandered over to him, her mind raced with over one thousand thoughts a minute; one certain one never going too far away from her train of thought.
Did Emerson just give me a genuine smile?
A smile played across her face as Emerson stopped in front of a door she had seen earlier, due to her little 'exploration'. Her vision clouded by her mind, she bumped into his chest, retreating quickly, scratching the back of her head out of sheer embarrassment. She shook of the blush that threatened to pepper her cheeks, and walked into the room.
Like the rest of the house, this room was covered in metal and gears. It made her smile at all of the individuality that came with this house. "Here is where you can stay." he notified her. As her eyes made contact with the bed, she gave into her first instinct, to lay down. Immediately, a feeling of drowsiness overcame her as her eyes drearily fluttered open and shut slowly.
She began to slow her breath down into a more calm manner as Emerson piped up, "I'll just leave you be." his hand latched onto the door knob, the door creaking at the slightest movement of his hand.
Aleana rapidly shot up from her comfortable position, her body aching to lay back down, but her mind ignored its pleads. "Hey, Emerson?" she began. He opened the door slightly, as if to prove she had captured his attention. "Thank you for doing this."
He nodded his head and parted his lips as words began to spill out, "Don't thank me," he replied sternly, "I just don't want the same thing to happen again."
With that, Emerson shut the door. Aleana got the feeling the last part wasn't meant for her to hear, but, nonetheless, it was spoken.
And just as that door closed, a window opened.