ELT212 (chapter 7: Flashback)

                     Waking from a refreshing rest, Elliot started to do his daily work. The herbs in the inventory were insufficient so he was asked to collect some herbs from the wild. This was his third time of walking in the wild. Elliot was amazed by the beautiful vista of the wild. Without realizing the roots of tree that grown above the ground, Elliot stumbled. A tiny transparent-looking bottle dropped from Elliot’s pocket. The cork came out from the mouth of the bottle when the bottle bounced after dropped onto the ground. Wind was swirling around the mouth of the bottle. He was dazed by the familiar smell of the wind. This is the same smell as last time. A cloud of black smoke was appeared in the sky above the camp place. It smelled like death body… The irksome cloud of smoke was getting spiraled into the tornado. The twisting of the wind grew stronger. The force of the wind was getting stronger. Elliot felt that the force of gravity that held him on the ground was getting weaker. Elliot was slowly getting sucked into the wind. The force of the wind causes the boy hardly able to gasp his breath. After a moment of struggle to get free from the force, he fainted.

                       The boy woke up and find himself was neither in his world nor the world ELT. It is a different place.  

“Welcome to the black void of space”, said an old man after burst out in front of Elliot.

 “Aren’t you the one that is always appearing in my dream?” Elliot interrupted the old man abruptly.      

“Yeah, I have something to show you”, said the old man as he walked a few step away from Elliot. He stepped on a red button on the floor. Giddy images floated in the space, murmur came from the pictures. “These were your memories… including those you remember and forgotten, take a tour and see your life”, uttered the old man. Those were the reversing pictures of his life, Elliot met the old man in the black void of space not long ago, Elliot was being sucked into the black hole, Elliot sat around the firewood with the kids at the helping centre, Elliot helped Nomy In her prairie, Elliot stayed in the room during 212, Elliot met with the chief, Elliot met with Acken, Elliot during the school trip, Elliot studied in his class, the first day Elliot entered his primary school, Elliot went to Niagara Falls with his parent when he was four years old, Elliot held by his grandfather which deceased when he was five, Elliot’s first crawl and Elliot being born… But the flask back didn’t stop at the time Elliot was born. “This is the beginning… of your true life”, said the old man with a smirk.  

(Written by Otter Cancerdog, Edited by Kiarie)

来不及的告白

一个害羞的孙女给慈祥的外公的信件

十二年以来，孙女除了打招呼以外，不曾主动与外公谈过半句话。
那一年，他走了。
在心里的话，她再也说不出口了。 

（一）模糊的记忆

十五年前，她在保姆的照顾下，因为进食过多高热量的食品而发高烧，进了医院。
六十四岁高龄的他大老远地骑着摩多车，越过那漆黑且渺无人烟的山路，气喘喘地赶到医院来探望她。
那时年龄尚幼的她，对当时的他并没有什么特别的印象，对他的记忆也是非常的模糊。

（二）假期

 就这样，小女孩长大了，变成了害羞文静且内向的小学生。
而他也长成了个六十多岁的退休人士。
假期期间，女孩的妈妈总会抽些时间，带着平时尚少出门的女孩到娘家去度假。
每次去位于乡下的他家时，他总会开着那辆已脱色的猪肝红且坏了冷气的老爷车，亲自到她家接她。
路途中，她总会开着后座的窗让早晨的凉风跑进热烘烘的老爷车里，而他总会不时透过后视镜观察着她。

在那里，他会带着她和她的母亲去逛早市和超级市场。
好几次，他会骑着摩多车，像夹三文治似的，她坐在他和他女儿的中间，三人外出。

有时，他会带着难得回来一次的女儿和孙女到朋友的咖啡店；有时， 他却会化身成女孩的外婆一样，为了孙女炮制出一桌子的美味佳肴。

当她和她妈妈留下过夜时，他总会把自己的房间让出来，让母女俩有个舒适的休息环境，自己却睡在客厅的沙发上。

在那里，她感受到他对她的宠爱。
这也成了她特别期待假期到来的原因之一。

（三）新年

每年新年期间，她都会和母亲乘计程车到他家去拜年。
他总会坐在客厅的粉色沙发上等着，看见她们打开篱笆的锁走进来时，他的第一句总是，来了啊。
他只懂得说潮州话，她却不懂听。 
他和她妈妈总会在那里聊上些时间，听不懂的她则只会静悄悄的坐在一旁。
他偶尔会问到关于她的事情，但回答的总是她的妈妈，她也只会下意识的点头摇头和回上几句短短得像敷衍般的话。
面对这样的回应，他只是一笑置之。
那时，她看见了他的眼神里闪过一丝忧愁。

（四）疏远

她的课业随着年龄的增长而变得繁重，她不再到他家做客。
他经常到她家来探望女儿和孙女。 
她依然没跟他聊上半句话。
女孩心里想着，”下一次吧！下一次一定要说到！“

（五）他离开了

那年女孩十二岁，他七十二岁。
他见不到她。
她在学校接到他的死讯。
她到达时，他不再坐在沙发上问她，来了啊。

他的家客厅里多了个大木箱子。
她走到木箱旁，往里边看去，他闭着双眼冷冰冰的躺着。
她心里说着，”谢谢你一直那么关心和宠我。虽然我没跟你说过话，但其实我并不讨厌你，我没说出来真的很对不起。我也想像妈妈一样用潮州话跟你聊聊，可没机会了，对不起。“
泪珠从他的右边眼角滑下。

ELT212 (Chapter 6: Journey Started)

                   Elliot started his day in the farm, helping Nomy to plant the crops and watering it. In the afternoon, Elliot went to visit the castle of The North Pack. He helped the physicians to take care of the patients. Through this, Elliot understood more about the disease. On the first day after infected by the virus, symptoms such as nausea, stomachache, headache and arthritis appeared. On the second day, black spot will begin to appear on the skin of the sick and his skin will start to rot. The infected died within four days after infected. Besides, he also learn about the functions of different kinds of herbs. Capsaicin and eucommia can be used to relieve pain. Feverfew can be used to relieve stomachache. Turmeric can be used to reduce inflammation while ginger can be used to relieve nausea and arthritis. At the helping center, Elliot learnt that the disease was not contagious, it doesn’t spread neither through blood or saliva. He reported what he had found out to the South Chief. The chief sent a group of people to help The North Pack and ordered Elliot to stay in his position, continuing his service at the helping center. At the helping center, there was no killing during 212. Camps were used as shelter, physicians which practice medicine, volunteers like Elliot, medical tools, herbs including those for pain-relieving such as feverfew, eucommia, ginger and capsaicin, a few bags of grains, patients attacked by the virus, kids that followed their sick parent to live in the helping center and woods that used to burn the body of death were all that built up the helping center. Elliot was the helper of a physician named Ivy. The life in the helping center was quite constant. In the day, what he did was helping the patients to relieve their pain using herbs as Ivy told. At night, Elliot participated in the gathering that held every day by the committee of the helping center. At the gathering, kids spent their happy hours around the firewood. The gathering started with dinner, followed by some games and ended with story-telling session.

                          There was a story that somehow fascinated Elliot. It was given a name called “The Nameless Journey” .The story begun when a boy left his home in a small village. He didn’t have a destination but he kept on walking and walking away from his home. He went through countless mountains and made many friends. One day, he met a rabbit. The rabbit asked the boy, “Why did you come here? Is this where you want to be?” The boy dazed. He finally recalled that the mustard that he planted one month ago was ready to be harvest. Thus, he ended his aimless journey and followed the route that he once walked by in order to go back home. The unexplainable development of story compelled Elliot to ponder about the uncertain at the end of the story. Does the boy go back home safely? Does he go back on time? While thinking about those questions, Elliot begun to worry about his future. Can I go back to my own world? If I can, then when will it be? Who is the old man? And what is the item that he said he had given to me? What if I lost it unconsciously? I miss my home… Worry about future begun to make Elliot felt tired. After smothered a yawn, he fell in sleep in his camp.

(Written by Otter Cancerdog, edited by Kiarie)

ELT212 (Chapter 5: Twisting Life)

                         It was 9.30 pm. But the street at south was empty. As time elapse, the guard and people from tribe ELT became impatient. It passed 12 midnight. A man appeared at the south street and ran towards the castle. The man was invited into the castle. Not long afterward, Elliot and Acken were summoned by the chief. In the lounge, the man was no longer there. The chief sat on the armchair next to the stained glass window and asked Elliot to sit at the opposite armchair.

“We are going to have a long talk.”

“…” , Elliot sat quietly after hesitate for a while. Why did he need me?  Is he going to tell me my mission for being sent by ‘him’ now? Had something bad happened to The North Pack?

“… Elliot, like what he said, the catastrophe is coming. The North Pack’s people are attacked by the disease; this is not a normal disease.”

“Sir, do you have any clue?”

“The last word left by the victims before their demise was the same… they said, it was from the death.”

“Did they mean the virus was from the death?”

“Maybe, but one thing you must know, the body of the death was burned into ashes after 12 midnight. There shouldn’t be any bacteria left behind. The only explanation was… their soul. Elliot, you have to solve this no matter what method you choose.”

“…” Ghost!

“In return, I will answer your questions.” The chief said with a big grin like Cheshire cat.

“Who is he, the one that form 212 and send me here? How can I go back?”

“He has the same name as yours, Elliot, both of you look alike, especially your endless questioning and blonde hair… He was a friend of mine at those day, but he left not long after his family died in 212. No one knew where he had gone. Sorry Elliot, I don’t know how to send you back, but as long as you finish the task given by him, I’m sure you can meet him.”

“Why did he invent such a cruel rule like 212?”

“Elliot, don’t get wrong impression of him… He didn’t do it for his own pleasure, he did it for all of us… Our world is too crowded… The population of people grew rapidly and our food sources were getting lesser because of natural disaster. In those years, many died of hunger. Since we cannot balance up the food chain, then we had to cut down the population. This was what we thought at first… In the beginning, we killed the criminal in prison but it is not enough. The growing of population was much more and faster than those we had killed. Hunger makes people gone wild. At last, the resident was in chaos. They fought over food. Small quarrel grew bigger and bigger… and then it became war. They fought days and nights with no time. The explosion of the residents in enduring anxiety and fear caused confusion in their mental state. They started to lose memory of their own self and lose the ability to recognize their own family. We chiefs from north and south tribes can’t do anything to stop the war. That was the time when 212 was invented by ‘Elliot’. He was a shepherd during that time, travel from one kingdom to another, a homeless wanderer, probably because of the experiences he learned during travel, he came up with the idea of 212, we calculated the numbers of people that we have to kill in order to overcome the hunger crisis and set up the time of killing. According to the calculation, we need 10 years.” Years! I thought I’ll never hear of this again. “After that, we started the rule, the crisis was died off as time passed, but we, the murderer was getting weaker at memorizing date and year…What we cared for is 212, we kept paying attention at the clock, waiting for the time of killing comes. Day by day, we forgot about date and year. We became a murderer that drenched with blood, we don’t find the cruelness in killing. One day, the family of ‘Elliot’ came to our tribe to find a safer shelter… One night, his family was all being killed during 212. He left without a word. And people guess that he might be feeling guilty for inventing 212 which caused the death of his family, so he left. After he left, the crisis in other kingdom became more serious day by day. People was suffered from hunger. At last, the rule was followed by the other kingdom. When time elapses, our kingdom grew bigger and bigger, the world ELT was formed at that time.”  

                  There was a moment of silence after the talk finished. Elliot went to the room to rest. That night, he dreamed about the old man again.

“Elliot, I believe you had heard about the catastrophe, use the item that I gave you last time to finish the disaster…”

“Wait, you didn’t gave me any item…”, Elliot cried and awake from his dream.