1.1
09/11/2009
"It's nine o'clock, Yumi!"
"Ok!" the young girl replied cheerfully as she carried her last tray through the dining room.
After Yumi stepped through the doors that separated the dining area from the back of house and set down her tray, the older woman smiled warmly at her and said, "Thank you so much, Yumi. As always, we're really grateful to have you."
"I'm grateful to you, Mrs. Bennett," Yumi replied with a bright grin and a quick bow of her head.
After briefly disappearing into the back of the restaurant, Yumi reemerged completely changed, apron off and street clothes on.
"Are you going out tonight?" Mrs. Bennett asked.
"Mmm… maybe for a bit," Yumi said, pressing a finger against her lips as she contemplated her answer.
Mrs. Bennett, still smiling gratefully at her, replied, "Well if you do, take care."
"I will! Bye!" Yumi bid her goodbye with an energetic wave before turning and practically skipping her way out of the restaurant.
"And come back before morning!" Mrs. Bennett called out after her.
With a final smile and wave, Yumi leapt out the door and into the night.
There, in the center of a square grid of houses, she stood. In terms of population, it was the largest of the three "Mini-Cities," and its name was Greenfield.
This miniature city was indeed a perfect square, and the perfectly straight roads that ran through it, which were all unreasonably wide, divided it into a three-by-three grid, with one last road tracing a square outline around the entire city.
The city's area was hardly over a square mile, so every inch of efficiency was critical. Perhaps that was why every house looked exactly the same and was oriented in the same direction, in perfect alignment with the dimensions of the square. Clearly, whoever was in charge of construction had a clear objective in mind.
Although some cities relied on sturdier forms of protection, a simple aluminum fence provided the barrier between the city and the outside world. The citizens of Greenfield didn't need to worry, though, because rogues didn't make a very often appearance in the region. After all, the city sat just on the outskirts of Mount Olympus's southern foothills, so there was hardly a reason for rogues to be present.
A relatively large lake lay just a mile or two north of Greenfield, and there, at the water's edge, was where Mini City #2, Ichor, was planted. Having an unnatural number of buildings devoted to entertainment, it relied heavily on the other two cities for food and raw materials.
The three cities had positive relationships with one another, and they traded regularly, each benefiting greatly from the others. In fact, it would become somewhat of a disaster if there was conflict between any of the three as they were all somewhat isolated from the rest of the world.
Heading straight for the nearest road, Yumi walked the line between two dark rows of buildings. At the end of that long aisle, there stood a street lamp that shined a blindingly bright white, even from the distance at which Yumi approached.
The street was so brightly lit that it looked like the interior of a department store, and at night, it created quite a contrast with the shops as they all shut down for the day.
People were hardly interested in going out at night, unless they were heading for Ichor, so there was no need for anything to stay open.
Having reached the white beacon of light, Yumi turned and walked straight down the middle of the street, her gradient of purple to silver-blue hair, tied in a pair of high ponytails, flowing gently behind her.
Yumi walked confidently with her eyes forward.
Every step was both graceful and purposeful, and so brightly did her solitary figure glow that she looked like an angel of light, sent from the heavens.
Upon reaching her destination, she turned off the road and, between the two strangers that were already seated, she quietly planted herself on a long sidewalk bench.
The people on either side of her were both young men. One of them was reading a book, while the other was staring at Yumi.
"Hey, what're your plans tonight?" the staring one probed with an imposing smile.
Yumi vaguely heard his voice, but her thoughts were occupied, so she felt no urge to respond.
"Hello?" the man repeated.
His smile disappeared.
"Hello? Hey, look at me!"
Yumi didn't look at him, but she heard his voice a little more clearly this time.
She held her middle finger up in front of his face.
"The hell?" the stranger muttered with a confused laugh.
Still, Yumi's hand remained where it was, and his jaw clenched.
"Jacob!"
The man jerked his head around to see a group of three guys coming down the sidewalk.
His face relaxed a little, and he nodded in their direction. "Hey, guys."
"Sup, dude," the one in front greeted, doing some sort of practiced handshake with Jacob as he reached him. "You wanna slide down?" he added, motioning to the bench.
"Oh, uhh… Nah, I'll just stand with you guys," Jacob replied, getting to his feet.
"Nah, I think there's room," his friend countered. "I had a long day, so I'm tryin' to sit down for a bit."
He looked at Yumi, only pausing with his eyes on her for a moment before saying, "'Scuse me, could you slide down a bit?"
Slowly, Yumi shifted down the bench, gazing off into the distance all the while.
The four guys sat down (with Jacob on the far end), and as time passed, more and more people gathered, talking amongst themselves as they waited.
At 9:29 PM, a pair of headlights appeared in the distance. The glowing circles approached, and when the bus finally pulled up in front of the bench and eager passengers, the doors opened and everyone crowded in front of them, stepping up one by one.
But Jacob remained still, frozen as if in a trance. His eyes were drawn to the one person who hadn't moved.
"Are you alright?" someone asked. But they didn't wait for a response; after all, they wouldn't want to be left without a seat.
Jacob snapped back to reality in the nick of time, but Yumi still stared through the bus, sitting quietly as the last voice disappeared and the vehicle departed with a whirring of its engine.
Minutes passed, but the lone girl remained.
I'm fed up with this shit.
Yumi stood and turned back to face the way she came.
Retracing her steps, she walked down the sidewalk, turned away from the street, and again traversed the dark alley before finally clasping her hand around the cool handle of the restaurant's door.
Fingering around in her pocket, she found the keychain that she always carried with her and fit the larger of the two keys into the lock. It popped open with a click, and, with one arm outstretched for safety, she felt her way into the building's dark interior.
After relocking the door, she crept into the back of the restaurant, navigated through the lightless maze of equipment, and finally found a small doorknob in the very back corner, into which she fit the second key.
The little storage room behind that door was where she lived. Apart from a dresser and small bed, its interior was bare.
She drew the curtains on the small window that Mr. Bennett had installed for her before lowering herself onto her mattress.
She took off her shoes, socks, and shorts, and stood back up to place them in the bottom drawer of her dresser. As she laid them down inside, she didn't even care to recover the bags of white powder that sat on the drawer's hard, wooden base.
It squeaked as she pushed it shut, and she climbed back into bed, gently pulling the covers over her exposed body.
Was it finally time?