ELT212 (Chapter 9: Pieces lost in memories X The end)

                The blond standing in front of a black hole, tears dropped from his chin. The hole closed and the boy was no longer there. In the other world, the boy was born with a same name given, Elliot. Looking at those pictures that was once his, Elliot begun to remember his own identity.

“That’s the whole story, kid.”

“I’m …Elliot…”

“… yeah, and you are back to repent your sin.”

“That’s why you asked me to never forget my sin. Are you the one that sent me to the other world?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I go back to my world?”

“Neither ELT nor the second world.”

“Was you the one that created the virus?”

“No, it belongs to the underworld, from the enmity of the deaths that were killed during 212. They searched for their murderers.”

“Is the virus gone now?”

“The bottle that I gave you took the virus away. It went back to the underworld.”

“It has been ten years… The time reached.”

“I will tell them about that.”

“Last question, who are you?”

“I was you, a sinless part of your soul which formed after the death of your parent which you are trying to run from”, said the old and disappear in space.

                        Elliot sat alone in the black void space, looking at the blackness and started to recall back the pictures that was once showed to him. I’m Elliot…My parent left… I killed…people… I can’t go back to my world… What am I talking about, that isn’t my world, that is just an false illusion… And now I’m all alone in here…

                          After calming himself down, Elliot began to recall some pieces of his memories. It was a dream that he made while sleeping in the camp…

“Elliot, wake up, you will be late for school if you don’t”, said Elliot’s mum and she gave a kiss on his forehead.

“Mum, I’m awake now, quit doing such thing like I’m still a child, I’m already ten years old now…”

“Okay.”

               Elliot walked on the pathway as usual to go to school. On the way, he encountered an old man with silky silver hair. The old man walked passing by Elliot without realizing that he dropped his handkerchief on the floor. Elliot returned it to the owner and the old man gave an empty bottle to Elliot and said, “This is a gift for your helping, it’s a Pandora box, don’t open it if you are not being told to.”

                  The ringing of school bell was heard. It reminded Elliot that he was late. “Thanks for your gift, I’ll be late, bye!”, said Elliot as he put the bottle inside his pant’s pocket. That day, Elliot was awake early in the morning and started doing his helping service before the sun rises. He forgot about the dream… and the bottle that was the key of his time-travelling.

“That’s the time he gave me the bottle…”, said Elliot while laying idling on the ground.

Living in the black void space, time didn’t seem to pass. The watch on his wrist didn’t move since the moment he was here. There was nothing but blackness… no insect, no animal, no human, no furniture, no books… Is this what they called hell? This is where I’m going to live starting from now.. It’s just like “The Nameless Journey”… I left my world and went on a journey that doesn’t belong to me since I was born. I met many people, those who were trespasser and those I loved. In the end I came back again to my own world. The only  different between the boy in the story and I was the things that awaits the boy in the story are the good one… ”Don’t forget your sin, Elliot”, the old man’s voice rang in his mind. I’m the one to be blamed for creating a killing world…and caused my parent to be killed… If I hadn’t created 212… If I had told them about 212…then this wouldn’t happen.

“Don’t forget your sin, Elliot”, said the boy to himself with a grieve sneer.

ELT212 (Chapter 8: The life of a shepherd)

The flashback continue with a baby was born in the family of shepherd. He grew into a cheerful child and was loved by his parent. His father told him bed time story every night before his sleep. The boy followed his father on the journey of shepherd since he was six. When the boy reached eight, he went on his own journey as a shepherd. On that day, his father gave him a flock of twelve sheep and his mother bid him farewell with pool of tears. He bought sheep from trader, raised them, fasten them with tree at night, sold his sheep to the trader when they were fairly grown to earn some bucks. On the journey, the boy acquainted with many people, the trade, other shepherd, the baker and  the farmer. After two years of journey, he reached a kingdom of chaos. The kingdom can be divided into two region, the south and the north. The people in the kingdom fight for food and the city was always in war. He gave his sheep to the people. The good deed that he made was heard by the chief of the kingdom. The chief invited him into the castle. The honestly of the chief impressed the shepherd. They became friends. They swear to solve the crisis that happened in the kingdom together. Through many tries in increasing their harvest, they failed. Being inspired by the screen of a dog hunting his prey, the blond shepherd came with an idea of cut down the population of people in the kingdom. At first, they started with sentence the prisoner to death. But the population is increasingly too rapidly. To solve the problem completely, the boy invented a time of killing. He used his mathematical knowledge that he learnt on the journey as a shepherd and word together with the chief to calculate the period of time. Considering the time of cropping, they decided to set the time at night. Thus，212 was created. Natural disaster that happened in the world at that time causes many people in the world live in hunger. Their livestock were washed by the flood, their houses were damaged by the flood, and their crops wilt because of the inconsistent change of weather. The boy received the news that his village was being harmed by the flood. Thus, the boy sent a letter to invite his parent to live with him. His parent came to the kingdom and was given a grand reception. One night, the boy’s parent who was uninformed about 212 went out. They were killed. The blond who was informed about the death of his parent by the chief remained silent in the whole meeting. After the meeting ended, he left the kingdom and headed to the murky forest near the castle. The boy stopped in front of a wilted pine tree. There was a shadow appeared the front of the boy.

“In returning of your help to the kingdom, I’ll grant you a wish with one prohibition, bringing the death alive is forbidden. But, you have to be responsible for the sinless death you caused. Wish and penalty, you can’t run from it, which one do you prefer first?”

“I want to leave this world without remembering a thing.”

“You have a big wish here, kid, I’ll grant your wish but it has an expiration time.”

“How long is the expiration?”

“Ten years. And I’ll call you back to repent for the sin you plant.”

“...”

              

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)