Chapter Two

“Alright, this is where we split up. I’m sure you don’t want me around to stick around here any longer right?”

We had only just reached a beach. After an entire day and a half had passed we washed up ashore on some beach during the evening hours. Immediately after getting off and walking onto the beach, Heart, tipping her hat towards me said her words of parting and began strolling off.

Just like that, without a care or concern for the person she had just dragged into the situation. Part of me wanted to catch up with her because she was the only thing I could grasp right now. The other part of me wanted to forget about her and try to find something else to do to pass the time.

“Hang on…I’m coming too!”

I quickly ran after her and tried to catch up to her; luckily she stopped and turned back towards me giving me a sincerely questioning look.

“Why?”

Can you believe it? She asked such a question.

“What do you mean “why?” take responsibility at the very least, I’ve got nowhere else to go.”

“Just go back home. They’re probably not there anymore.”

“Are you insane? I’d be turned into swish cheese if I go back there.”

“Then you had better start using that strength on your right arm don’t you think?”

“I don’t want to live fighting for the rest of my life.”

“No? Then hand over your Gateway and after that you can hide in whatever farm you can find.”

“To say that with such a cute face…”

“Did you say something? Well? Are you going to hand it over to me?”

She held out her hand and stared at me with those innocent eyes of hers. She seemed to be seriously expecting something me to hand it over to her. Taking a look at the object on my arm, I suddenly began feeling a tremendous pressure on my soul.

 So long as I have this, I’m cursed to be chased around for nonsense I know nothing about, trapped in some gigantic government conspiracy that’s way over the head of some wannabe fisherman like myself.

However, if I give it, if they find me without this thing then I won’t be let off so easily and I probably will be killed or tortured. I could tell them that this girl has it, but then they’d probably kill me anyway for knowing too much or something like that. There’s truth in television after all.

Taking a deep breath, I let it all out in one massive sigh. I raise my head and straighten my hat as I stare into the sky. Looking down I can still see that Heart is still standing there with a serious look on her face.

Taking a step forward, I approach her with heavy steps and stop directly in front of her. I’ve got her beat by a few inches and I’ve demonstrated that I do have the strength to overpower. However, I can’t really attack her so…I’d definitely lose against her.

Well I’d never see myself seriously trying to hit her anyway. I’m either too strong not to or too weak to go through with it, even if she was trying to kill me. If Heart pointed at a gun at me right now and I also had one in my hand, I wouldn’t even be able to raise it towards her. I’m just that kind of person.

“I’ll explain it for you then, why I am coming with you that is.”

Reaching out, I grabbed her shirt and pulled her in so I can stare directly into her eyes. I could her body tense, but she only glared back. Good, I caught her attention. This fierce look of mine comes in handy sometimes.

“Because of you, I was run out of my own place in this world. Do you understand? It’s not because I just happened to have this thing on my arm, but because you suddenly showed up and decided to get involved. You could have waited for them to take it and then ambushed them to steal it from them, I can see that you had little problem taking them out on your own.”

As I expressed myself, my feelings also began to grow. It’s a pain in the chest that makes me feel the sudden urge to cry. I tried to remain calm, but it was getting the better of me. Ignoring it while simultaneously knowing what the problem is, is incredibly painful.

Reaching out I grabbed her with my other hand as well and pulled her in closer to my face. I wanted to at least be able to get my feelings across to this person. Her body tensed up further and I could see her balling her fists up.

“I blame you, Heart. You showed up and ruined my life for the worst. I’m not going to forgive you for that. If only you hadn’t done what you did, then maybe, just maybe, I could have handed over this stupid thing and could be eating dinner right now with my family.”

“Stings don’t it…?”

And you’re still saying such things. Gritting my teeth I pulled her and she was lifted into the air. She grabbed onto my forearms and a moment later sent a sharp knee into my chin. It hurt, but compared to how I feel right now, it’s nothing. It just makes me angrier.

“Black Heart…that’s the only thing you are, you know that?”

“You’re one move away from dyeing you know that?”

Shutting my eyes I felt the frustration reach a boiling point and without meaning to I threw her back onto the ground a bit harder than I wanted to.

“Shut your mouth already! I don’t believe someone like you exists. Apologize! Apologize right now!”

“Damn, I’ve had enough of you! Stop whining about the past already! Argh just forget it! I am done talking with you, you’re dead now!”

Standing her foot, she opened her right palm and the black orb she had on her Gateway began glowing brightly. As it did, a sharp white objected pierced through her open palm. It resembled a bone but with an incredibly sharp point as a tip. It was about the same size as a sword and she held it like on as well once it fully escaped her skin.

So that’s how she does it huh? It’s freaky and having that come from her body like must be pretty painful. I could only imagine that a bullet would be stopped and expulsed from the body with something like that.

“So that’s the power of your Gate is it?”

I took a look at my own gate and saw that it was shining a bit as well, not as brightly as hers, but it was definitely shinning a dark blue. I wonder when that began.

I didn’t get much time to think about it as she suddenly charged straight towards me. She slashed that sharp bone at me, but somehow I managed to avoid it by jumping back.

“Do you get it now? I am going to kill you right now and end your suffering. If I do that then I won’t have to listen to your complaints anymore.”

She’s just trying to avoid the guilt is she? I’ve never met such a difficult person in all of my life.

“I don’t care how miserable your past is that you would want to simply stop remembering it, but I am not going to become like you! Not now, not ever!”

“That’s fine really. I don’t expect some country boy to know what the real world is like. Since you can’t accept it, then stay still and allow me to pierce your heart.”

She charged at me once again raising that bone like a thrust. That’s just too bad isn’t it? This is your fault, Heart!

The gem on my Gate began glowing just as bright as hers was a few moments ago. All that power was entirely composed of my frustration towards this girl, and before I could stop myself I held out my hand directed that frustration towards her.

A sporadic surge of electricity shot forward and hit her, electrocuting her. It only lasted for but a moment, but the damage was pretty much done by then. Heart had collapsed on the ground and was twitching slightly.

Her hat had fallen off and lay a bit away from her and she had collapsed onto her right side. I took a step towards her, but when a blue static discharge occurred over her body, I hesitated as she cringed.

Luck of the draw, I guess. That’s all it came down to really. There was nothing special happening there. It was my first time doing something like that. Electricity huh I guess it’ll have to do. Kneeling down beside her I sighed and rolled her over onto her back. It seems she had lost consciousness.

“I guess you’ll be fine from here on out though. Staying with you doesn’t appear to be in my best interests anyway.”

I picked up her hat and placed it over her face before I stood up and gazed at the fading sunlight. Sighing was the only thing I could do to express my feelings which were pretty hard to understand at the moment.

She’ll be fine won’t she? She’s a strong person after all. Much stronger than I am right now anyway, but she has a long way to go before she can be considered a better person than I am. Shrugging it off, I began walking off down the beach with my hands in my pockets.

                           ***

I’m not sure how far I walked, but I walked until I literally just couldn’t anymore. I was hungry and without any food or water around, I was spent rather quickly. Plus, I was exhausted in every way possible by that time and it was all I could do to just keep my eyes open.

Along the way, I slipped off that bothersome Gateway thing and shoved it into my pocket. I didn’t want to look at it anymore. I walked as far as the beach stretched on and then some. Eventually the landscape became prairie fields that stretched on for as far as the eye could follow. That said I think I am just going to stay here, right here, and sleep it off for the time being.

I had a very nice and long sleep. It was very comforting as well. I woke up though, not to wide sky, but instead to a wooden ceiling and I was lying on a very uncomfortable bed. The pain from my stomach was forgotten as a feeling of anxiety overcame me.

Sitting up I glanced around the room and even though I once lived in a place of obfuscating abstractness, in a town that was, for the most part, not a part of the main customs of the main land, this place was double so. I could tell that as I looked around.

There was a simple waist high dresser and a bed. That’s it. Standing up, I searched around for my hat and found that it was lying with my jacket on the dresser. I pressed my hand against it and felt that the Gateway was still there at the very least.

It sure was pretty ironic that the thing I considered as “lucky” up to this point would run me out of house and home in one day. I was a bit worried about it to be honest. More importantly,

“Where am I right now?”

Cautiously, I made my way from the bedroom I was staying in and slowly walked through the wooden house. I could be mistaken, but it almost seems as though this place was built by hand. Well, I suppose most are though…

It’s just that this place was made of wood not brick and there was not a lot going on inside either. It seemed the place was empty at the moment. I decided to take this moment to leave but the moment I opened the door I was stopped dead in my tracks by the sky. It was the widest expanse of the sky I’d ever seen and there were little clouds in the air. There were no buildings around, in fact it seemed as though the prairie lands just continued to roll on for days.

“It’s a nice view ain’t it?”

The voice came from the side of me. Sitting on the porch in an old looking chair, was a girl with blonde hair. She had her ponytail draped over her shoulder and had on a large hat as sunhat made of straw.

“’fore you go runnin’ off now, you may as well eat. I could hear your stomach all the way from here last night.”

“Is that right? So a little girl like you dragged me here then?”

“My, my, just who you callin’ little? I’m old enough.”

“Then how…how old are ya?”

“I said I am old enough didn’t I?”

No, I get that, but what are you old enough for exactly? This conversation was going nowhere so I decided to drop it and change the subject to something more…easier to understand.

“So where is this place exactly? I kind of washed up here not too long ago so I have no idea where I am.”

“This here is Frontier Territory. It’s wilderness as it ought to be. No large cities, no towns, at least not yet, just natural land all over.”

“Frontier territory…”

The frontier was a group of islands that were discovered a few years ago. These “new lands” were being discovered off the main land. These lands were, of course, owned by the government since they were unoccupied, but they in large their influence over here was not as strong presence. In short, the people here lived to their own devices so I’ve been told.

“So that’s where I am then. So it’s like this out here is it?”

“Imagine my surprise to see some stranger laying half dead on the ground. You better hurry and eat come on.”

Standing up, the girl walked to the door. She was short, just above my waist. I stepped aside and allowed her to enter.

“I don’t really want to intrude on your life or anything…If you need to work or anything, I’ll do it. It just wouldn’t feel right if I was given something but didn’t give anything back.”

“That’s fine really. But,” she turns around to face me with a gentle smile, “the first is free. Anything else is coming out of your sweat around here.”

“Yeah…thanks.”

Shrugging her shoulders, she headed further back into the cramped and small house.

“There’s not much to eat here though, if meat was what you wanted. I grow a lot of vegetables here and I buy extra in case I don’t do so well when the harvest comes around.”

I sit down at the table and watch her go about her business of preparing whatever she was making. I wonder if this place was tailor made to suit her since everything seemed smaller around here.

“So where did you come from stranger?”

“Ah…well the main land I guess.”

Considering my situation it would be trouble for her if she found out about the kind of problems I was having right now. I don’t want unrelated people to be dragged into this.

“Anyplace special on the main land…?”

“No, not really…just some place in the sticks really…”

“Why did you come here?”

“Well…” I desperately tried to come up with an excuse besides the real problem at hand. I could say that I simply took a boat ride and ended up here completely by mistake, that wouldn’t be a lie. It would be a half truth.

Glancing up from the table our eyes met. Her eyes were large and shining brilliantly. I quickly averted my eyes from her.

“I’m sorry…I cannot tell a lie.”

“Hmm I guess that means I am out of luck then doesn’t it?”

She gave a lackadaisical reply and through the corner of my eye I could tell that she was still looking my way. Turning my eyes back to her, I saw that she was smiling at me. I felt a bit bothered by it.

“What…?”

“It’s just that your eyes are quite interesting is all. Never seen eyes like them before is all.”

“I see…well they’re really not that special. I guarantee that I can’t see spooks or anything.”

“My name’s Paraiso Janeiro. At least, that’s my name I took when I started living here. Do you have one or do you prefer being called stranger, stranger?”

“Well…I guess you can just call me Soul. I don’t have a surname or anything not yet at the very least.”

“If you’re going to register here then you need a surname.”

Turning around, Paraiso continued to cut the vegetables and move around the small spaced kitchen. I was tempted to help out, but as I didn’t know where anything was, I figured that, for now, I would be a quiet and simple guest of hers.

“I don’t know about registering or anything like that…besides I don’t really know what I am supposed to be doing right now anyway.”

“If that’s how you feel then you should return home.”

“I wish…” I said quietly laying my head on the table.

“If you can’t go home,” she said, “and if you don’t where to go from here, you’re more than welcome to stay here really. You can sleep in that extra bed I put you in last night.”

Opening my eyes, I lifted my head and faced her. I was pretty hungry by then so I was still pretty dizzy and smelling the food being prepared was like torcher to me.

“I appreciate the offer but…I don’t want to run you out of house and home.”

“Like I said, you can work here and help me out. Two hands are better than especially since, if you haven’t noticed, I’m a little…”elevationally compromised.”

“Ele-what? That’s interesting.”

I couldn’t but to chuckle when she put it that way.

“I’m glad; ever since you came down I was worried that you’d never smile.”

 Oh yeah, not that she mentions it, I haven’t been feeling like my usual self lately. These past few days have been especially rough since that happened and I was starting to feel as if my life was pretty much beyond salvageable. Hmm, go figure.

“You know, if you continued to walk through life all serious and everything, then you’re never going to be happy and you’re never really going to have any money either. That’s not what living out here in the Frontier is like you know?”

She was trying to cheer me up. She sure has a strange way of doing it though. It’s quite interesting.

“If you can’t go back then the only thing you can do is take that step forward right? It don’t matter where or which direction you go if you don’t know where to go, just so long as you don’t get caught up in the mix again.”

“I guess…” I couldn’t help but to give her a rather curious look by raising my eyebrow.

“Don’t go giving a complete stranger the eye like that.”

“Huh?”

“I’m not some hussie, floosie or some harlot, I’ll have you know!”

“I would never think of you in such a way Ms. Paraiso, It’s a misunderstanding.”

“That’s right,” she says suddenly tossing a carrot at me. I instinctively grabbed it. “Eat that for now. It won’t satisfy you, but it’s pull you away from death’s gate you hear?”

And so began my interesting days of working at Ms. Paraiso’s place. It was strange at first, adapting to a place like this, but her hospitality and kindness really helped. She was much different, fundamentally from one such person who forced herself into my life and was eventually, by my own choice, forced out.

The image of that girl who gave me this name and forced such a fate on me failed to leave my imagination for a few days after waking up in Ms. Paraiso’s house on the Frontier. I was a little worried that since she was on the same island as me, she would eventually chance by this place and start attacking. I was also worried about those Conspiracy guys finding me out here so I opted against wearing that Gateway thing and simply kept it in the pocket of my jacket which, due to the temperatures, I never wore.

“So, have you gotten used to this place quite fine? You seem to be starting to smile more I see.”

Paraiso came out to me one night while I was staring out into the sky. Out in abundance, the lights in the sky shone wonderfully like millions of fireflies which never moved.

“Is that so? Well I guess I have been getting used to the slow paced life around here. The nights are peaceful, the days are hot but easy going…this Frontier life is going rather smooth right now.”

I gave my honest person as I stared up at the night sky. Recently, my eyes had turned back to their normal light brown color so for all intents and purposes I was back to being human once again, freed from that curse.

“So you’re the type who wants to play all day huh?”

“Playing is nice and all, but I do like fishing.”

“Fishing huh? We don’t have much meat around here. Are you any good at it?”

“I don’t know if I’m good or anything, but I’m not bad either. I’ve been known to catch a fish or five.”

“Then it’s settled.”

“What is?”

“You fish for food and bring it back home and I’ll cook it for us.”

“…home?”

“Yeah, this is your home so long as you stay here. Soul…Janeiro has a nice name to it right? There, you have a surname and a place of residence as well. If anyone asks I’ll just say, “He’s my cousin from the main land.”

“Hmm…we do sound similar at least. I guess it’ll fly won’t it?”

“All that’s left is to get your official registration and you can officially live here and not be hassled for living here in peace. How about it, Soul does it sound like fresh lemonade to you?”

“How can it sound like something like that?” I gently tapped her large straw hat and sighed with a smile. “It sounds nice though, yeah.”