"Wha-" Was he that unwell not to know the word Earth? His head spun with so many questions and exclamations inside his head, not knowing how inappropriate it would be to tell any of it.
"Was Earth the village you were living in?" Teebu asked.
Lyor almost considered himself a victim of a prank camera event.
"E-Earth is the planet. I live in a city named Ranmuthugala."
"That's quite a mouthful now, isn't it?" He chuckled before continuing. "What I am about to tell you might confuse you, and you may have questions. You might even wonder if you can adapt here or not, but you don't have to worry. We are all here to help."
He nodded in response, not wanting to retort, possibly messing up the interview. Yes, this was an interview, and he only had to stay calm and only give good answers.
Teebu straightened his back. "You are in a world called Glowmere. In here, there is only one village. And that's Nemeteia. You, my child, have been chosen to have a new beginning here, and I am saying this for the first time in my life." He paused as if he were about to tell a secret that he shouldn't spill.
"You cannot go back to where you came from. You cannot go back home. "
The words did not register at first.
Lyor blinked.
Then the meaning struck.
Cannot go back home.
His breath stopped halfway in. The room tilted as the clay walls seemed to stretch farther away. The chair beneath him felt as if it might dissolve.
Cannot go back home.
He heard them again, slower, each syllable expanding the black hole inside him. No mother's grave. No proof that she had loved him. No way to make father happy. No way to escape here.
"You're lying," he whispered. Then louder, the calm cracking, the stoicism he had maintained through the interview finally failing.
"You're lying! This is not a good interview. I- I don't want this job. I have to... he needs me. If I don't go back, he'll..."
His chest tightened until each inhale scraped.
"I have to go back," he said, louder now. "Mr. Danie- My father— He—" The words broke apart.
"He'll come looking for me, okay!?"
But even as he said it, something inside him shrank.
He pictured the apartment. The peeling paint. The empty kitchen table. The bathroom door that never opened from the inside.
Would he look for him?
Who was he kidding? But all the money he saved was back in the apartment. So, maybe, if he used this chance to escape, take whatever money is left, and make a run for it. Deep down, he knew his father had already sold him to this place.
There was no use of him now.
But if he went back, maybe Father would consider having him back.
No, he knew he wouldn't.
So, maybe this time, he could escape for good like he promised Mom.
But why was he crying again?
Tears had blurred his vision before he realized he was crying. They slid silently at first, then faster, dripping from his jaw onto his trembling hands.
"He has to come," Lyor choked, the lie he needed more than air even after knowing what had happened. "G- Give me a phone. I'll call him. He'll come get me."
His voice cracked.
Lyor didn't know why he was telling this. He knew the truth. He had always known. But knowing and saying were different things, and saying made it real.
"Lyor. I am sorry, but your father cannot come here, just like you can't go back."
"You can't just decide that," he gasped, not at Teebu, not at anyone, at the shape of a future that had no door. "You can't just say I can't go back."
Because if he can't go back.
He would be stuck here.
And he did not know if 'here' was another hell, or the worst one he had been sold to last time.
He needed to escape.