500 · Words · A · Day

A brick fell in between them, shattering into pieces. Eternity looked up in the direction of the throw.

On the balcony, there was a man dressed in what seemed like a clown suit, but he had an oversized, multicolored mask on. The mask had a large jaw and several horns coming off of it.

“Shit,” Eternity said. “We’re in Vejigante turf.”

The Vejigante moved back, hiding himself in the shadows. Before Eternity and Julissa and the others could take another step, more Vejigantes emerged from the shadows around them. In just a few seconds, they were surrounded by the devilish masks.

The Vejigantes ran up on the Kera, swiftly overpowering them. Before long, Eternity was being held back by two of the mask-wearing members.

“Eternity!”

The voice came from in front of them. Eternity stopped struggling. Julissa watched Eternity’s face as she realized who the voice was.

A Vejigante wearing all black with white frills and a red mask stepped forward into the light.

“You got a lot of nerve coming into my turf, walking through like you own the place.” Julissa noticed a strong Hispanic accent coming from the Vejigante.

“An honest mistake, Viejo.” Julissa heard Eternity’s voice slightly trembling. This was the first time she heard her afraid. “We were just passing through on our way home. We didn’t mean to soldier through.”

“You don’t mean a lot of things that come out of your mouth, Eternity,” Viejo said. “I’ve never believed your lies before and I’m not going to begin now.”

“Seriously, Viejo,” Eternity said, lunging forward. “We don’t mean to do anything. The Kera know about the Vejigantes. We know our limits. We know your beyond our limits. We have no reason to soldier through.”

Viejo walked up to Eternity, who backed up into the Vejigante holding her. Viejo looked at her in her eyes.

“I know you better than you know yourself, Eternity,” he said. He grabbed her face, squeezing it. “Don’t fuck with me.”

Eternity was shaken. She whimpered out, “I’m not fucking with anyone, Viejo. We just want to pass through, get back home.”

Viejo slapped Eternity’s face, reddening it. His hand left an imprint on her cheek.

“The Kera want to play with the Vejigantes,” Veijo said to the rest of the group. “They come in here, soldier through, wanting a fight, wanting some action.”

Veijo walked to the edge of the shadows and turned around.

“Vejigantes, the Kera aren’t going home tonight. Let’s show them a good time.”

The masked men cheered loudly. Eternity, Julissa and the others were dragged towards the building the brick throwing Vejigante was on. They continued to cheer as they walked up the stairs. Eternity and Julissa were being pulled up by their hair up several flights of stairs. Julissa screamed and fought the group, but Eternity had seemingly given up, her body slack as it moved up the stairs. When Julissa saw Eternity, she let herself go the same way.

They finally reached the roof of the building and the masked men surrounded the perimeter of the roof. Viejo walked towards the other captured Kera and grabbed one of them by the neck. She fought him off, but his strength was too much and she finally gave up, her kicks to his body doing no good.

“Here, my Vejigantes. Our first of the night.”

Veijo walked towards the edge of the roof as the Kera member struggled. He hovered her over the edge and the rest of the Vejigantes cheered.

Then Veijo let her go.

“Come on,” Eternity said. “There’s someone you need to meet.”

Julissa, Eternity and a few more Kera jumped into one of the Cadillacs. They drove off, the night sky illuminating the streets.

“Where are we headed?” Julissa asked.

“We’re going to visit a very important man. We need to deal with your little problem, and he’s the only one that can help us solve it.”

Julissa leaned forward from the back seat. “So where is this guy?”

Shadow, sitting next to Julissa, pulled a small gun from her pocket and held it to Julissa’s head. She froze, slowly leaning back.

“It’s still too early for you to know,” Eternity said.

Julissa stayed silent as Shadow put a blindfold over her eyes. The gun remained pressed to her head.

“One day,” Eternity said. “One day, you’ll know. And you’ll know why.”

Julissa felt the car stop. The engine became idle.

“Stay here,” she heard Eternity said, presumably to the driver. The doors opened and she felt Shadow pull her towards the door. She got up awkwardly, the blindfold still covering Julissa’s eyes and disrupting her balance. Shadow held her arm, leading her towards a building.

She heard a knock on the door and, after a moment, the door opening. It sounded like a heavy metallic door, similar to a warehouse door. Shadow pulled Julissa’s arm and they moved forward. She heard the door close behind her.

“It’s okay now,” Eternity said.

Shadow pulled at the blindfold and removed it. Julissa saw a long corridor leading to a bright light at the end of it. She noticed a man standing next to Eternity. Julissa assumed he was the one who opened the door. The man and Eternity led the way and the rest followed.

When they reached the end of the corridor, the bright light was actually a small network of computers. One man sat behind them, typing at one of them intently.

“Hey, Six Degrees,” Eternity said.

The man looked up at the voice, adjusting his glasses.

“Eternity?” He smiled. “It’s been a long time.”

He got up and gave Eternity a hug. He looked around. “I guess you’ve grown since last time we met.”

“Much more. Which is why we’re here.”

Shadow pulled Julissa’s arm and led her to stand behind one of the monitors. Eternity sat next to Six Degrees.

“We have a small problem, but something you can help us with better.” Eternity told the man about Julissa’s problem.

“Well,” he said, adjusting his glasses after Eternity finished speaking. “That’s a hell of a problem. But it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

Six Degrees pulled up to a monitor and began typing quickly. Eternity got up, looking at Julissa. She seemed upset.

“There we are,” he said, finishing his typing. “All the info you need, right here.” He printed out the information, an old dox matrix printer coming to life in the corner.

“Thanks, Six,” Eternity said. She hugged him again and took the printout from him.

“Anytime you need me, you know where I am.” He smiled at her as they left.

Dexy looked back to see the last steamguard topple over and collapse. “Just in time, huh?” She smiled at Larry.

Larry was out of air, breathing in short spurts. “Don’t do that again.”

He passed out.

Dexy carried Larry to a small park and they lay there. Dexy looked around at the incredible view of this new world. Despite her curiosity, the only thing that kept crossing her mind was if she would ever get back home.

Dexy woke to a soft nuzzle on her chin. When she opened her eyes, she saw Larry wide awake.

“You feel better?”

“Like brand new.”

Dexy yawned. As she looked around and saw the park much emptier than before, she asked, “So what do we do now?”

Larry jumped down onto the ground and looked up at Dexy.

“We have to see Kimonay.”

Dexy and Larry entered Kimonay’s home.

“Why are we here again? She wasn’t exactly very welcoming the first time we came,” Dexy said.

“She will be this time. After what we just went through, we’re going to need her.”

Larry sat and made a strange whistling sound. As he continued to whistle, the dark patch from before gathered itself up again. As the bulge appeared, Larry stopped whistling. A large teardrop formed from the patch and fell to the ground. Once it shattered, Kimonay stood. She smiled at Dexy.

“Hello, Dexy Truman.”

“Hey,” she waved sheepishly.

“Forgive our previous encounter,” she said. Her voice sounded like it was both coming from her mouth as well as inside Dexy’s head, like a pair of headphones over her ears. “In my shock about Monami, I neglected to realize who you were.”

“I have to admit, I’ve noticed a lot of people seem to have it out for me. What exactly is going on?”

“I want to know too,” Larry added. “When I met her, I didn’t know she was…well, you know.”

Dexy looked down at Larry. “No, I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking. What is the big deal with me being here?”

Kimonay smiled. “There is much to learn and little time to inform you.”

“You got that right,” Larry muttered.

Dexy looked at Kimonay. “So what do you suggest?”

“We will take the biggest step we can.”

Kimonay clasped her hands together. As she opened them, a small globe of what looked like water floated in her hand.

“There are many things you do not know about Santa Andalusia, Dexy Truman. You will now learn very quickly.”

Dexy looked at the globe intently before feeling herself being pulled. She realized that the globe was pulling her in. At first she began to resist out of fear. But the pull was too strong to resist and Dexy let herself go.

When she opened her eyes, she was in a field surrounded by enormous flowers. She found Larry lying next to her, his paw over his mouth.

“Dexy Truman,” she heard Kimonay say, even though she hadn’t located her whereabouts yet. “You are now in the history of Santa Andalusia.”

“This is where we begin.”

Misty knocked on the large door. The entire thing was made out of gold. After a moment, the door slowly creaked open and a woman wearing only a large fur coat and high heels stood at the opening.

“I’m Misty, this is Corman. We’re here to see Emperor Jones.”

The woman nodded and widened the door enough for Misty and Corman to walk through. Inside was a vast hallway leading to another large door. They walked forward as the woman closed the door behind them. She then hurried ahead of them and began to open the other door.

“Thank you,” Corman said to the woman. She smiled and lowered her head.

Inside the room, they saw Emperor Jones sitting on a large throne. He had a large aquascreen turned to the news. On every newstream, the only thing being reported were last night’s events.

“Nice almost job you did there, Misty.” He got up from the throne and walked towards Misty.

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” She rolled her eyes.

“Hey, if you can’t do it right, don’t get mad at me.” He smiled, his teeth remade into all gold.

“Listen, E, you already know why we’re here. Can we just get it over with so I can get on with the rest of my day?”

Emperor held up his hands in mock defense. “Listen, pretty lady, I don’t know what’s gotten into you, or what hasn’t, but I ain’t the one you need to be mad at.”

“I’m not mad at you, I’m mad with myself, mostly.” Misty found a nearby chair and sat down. Corman walked over and stood behind the chair.

Emperor walked over to a large closet and opened it. Inside, he pulled out a strange cloth that looked transparent. “Now, you know this is only good for a day or so. And I hear you still have to report to-“

“I know what I have to do. Just give me the changling so I can get out of here.”

Misty snatched the cloth from Emperor’s hands.

“Damn, lady, you really are in a jam.”

Misty slid the cloth on over her head.

“Remember now, it’ll make you look like whoever you want.”

The cloth settled and Misty began transforming into the woman who had opened the door to Emperor’s home.

Emperor smiled. “Someone’s distracted.”

Misty, as the woman, stuck her middle finger out at Emperor.

Corman mumbled under his breath. “That’s hot.”

Misty began to transform again and she changed into a nondescript business woman. She wasn’t ugly, but hardly very attractive, either. A perfect disguise.

“How do I look?” Misty asked Emperor.

Emperor looked her up and down. He walked around her to check every part of her new look.

“Boring.”

Misty smiled. “Just what I wanted.” She began to walk out.

“Hey, now, aren’t we forgetting something?” Emperor said, sitting back down.

Misty looked at Emperor, then at Corman. “You know what to do.”

Corman nodded and stood next to Emperor. He bent over and kissed Emperor on the cheek. Emperor got up quickly, wiping his face.

“Hey!”

“Payment’s payment.” Misty laughed.

When I woke up, I couldn’t see anything. I looked around to see if someone had put a blindfold on me, but I could barely tell because of the intense darkness. I gave my eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness and only then did part of the room come into focus.

I got out of the bed and navigated around the room more on my memory than my sight and reached the desk. I felt around and found a drawer. Inside I kept a small lamp and some matches. Feeling the matchbook, I opened it and struck one. The light of the match hurt my eyes, but I shielded my arms from the light and managed to light the lamp. I turned the lamp up to see what had happened, but nothing looked out of the ordinary.

I went downstairs.

“Maria!” I called out. She wasn’t asleep next to me so I imagined she was downstairs when the lights went out. “Maria, are you okay?”

I searched the house, looking for her. I didn’t see her in any room. “Maria!” I continued to call. When I reached the front door, I noticed it was cracked open. Knowing Maria, I didn’t find her foolish enough to leave the house in this darkness, but I had no other option.

I stepped outside and the entire street was covered in darkness. I imagined the entire town was in the same state, as I couldn’t see any other lights in the horizon. I went down the front steps. “Maria!”

I walked onto the street. There was no sign of anything moving. I couldn’t hear a thing. The utter silence was worrying. “Maria!”

I heard a faint moan to my left. I ran.

I reached the intersection and moved the lamp around, hoping to see something. Nothing was there. “Maria!”

I heard another moan, but much louder. This one was to my right. I ran towards it.

“Maria, where are you?”

I heard a sudden loud clanking sound from the house to the left. It continued in a rhythmic pattern. Someone must’ve had power now, I thought. I walked towards the house.

I knocked on the door as the clanking continued. It felt like it was getting louder. I knocked again, harder. “Anyone? I’m looking for my wife, Maria! Have you seen her?”

The door cracked open. The clanking sound suddenly stopped. The silence returned. I pressed my hand on the door and pushed it forward, opening it.

Inside the house was nothing out of the ordinary. It looked like anyone’s home. Upon closer inspection, it felt like my old home, when I was a child. I moved into the living room and looked at the photographs over the fireplace.

I saw my mother and father and my older sister in the photograph. It was taken before I was born.

“Hello?” I called out. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The house was filled with the same things my mother owned when I was a child. “Who lives here?”

The door slammed shut. The clanking sound returned, this time much louder. It felt like it was coming from the kitchen. I ran into the room, not knowing what to find.

Inside the kitchen was Maria. All the lights were on and she was cooking.

“Hello, dear.”