| THE CALM |
| That morning was different. As they opened their eyes, each was of a completely opposite state of mind from yesterday. Only little Harmony, who, through her innocence, knew no better than to always have a pleasant time. For the adults, it was as waking on a Saturday morning, fully rested, with the sun shining through the window. It was silent, the most tranquil in atmosphere that they had felt upon entering Vagrant's Hideaway. Where there was fear and anxiety before, there was now utter peace. Greg relaxed in bed while Harmony watched television. Elizabeth decided to brave the kitchen alone and make a royal breakfast for her family. She didn't feel the ominous tones that were present in the air just the night before. It truly was as if they were in another place. This place... It's not so bad today. Elizabeth smiled to herself as she walked back to the room, carrying a tray full of food. "Hey, can you get the door for me, hon?" She asked, shouting slightly, through the door of the room. There was no way she could get it herself. "Sure," replied Greg, as he hopped up off of the bed. He opened the door and smiled brightly as the aromas met his nose. "Mmm... that smells delicious." He took the tray from her and turned toward the bed. "Just eggs, toast, and coffee. Wouldn't call me a gourmet chef quite yet," Elizabeth said, slyly. "All the same to me when I'm hungry." He divided the plates and food amongst the three of them. He and Elizabeth ate on the bed while Harmony remained on the floor, fascinated by morning cartoons. "So, what did you find last night?" Elizabeth inquired, noticing his collection of those odd books had increased. Greg gave her the abridged version, sparing any morbid details that his family wouldn't need to hear. He was not convinced as not to have been slightly paranoid himself. But, the books were real enough. He showed her the last book with the most up-to-date message. She read it eagerly but was confused by it. "The One...," she recited. "...back from the Void, the way will be open. Doesn't make any sense." "Delusional as the rest of us, I guess," Greg replied. Then, he realized he could have bitten his tongue off for a response like that. Elizabeth glanced at him questioningly, wondering he meant by that. She didn't ask him, though. She still felt absurd about what had happened to her in the grocery store. She could not say it really transpired; she was scared at the time. Her own mind could have created anything. "I don't know what it means, but they've been laid out as if I should find them. Definite clues. The phones don't work. Cars don't work. Too far to walk out of here. These clues are the only thing to follow. We wait til someone else shows up. But til then..." "I know," Elizabeth sighed. "We'll just wait and see. But please take us with you next time. You know how scary it was here all alone?" Greg paused. Scary here, huh? He still wouldn't enlighten her of all that he had seen, but he had to promise her or else he'd never hear the end of it. "All right, I promise. Wherever I go, you'll go. It's much colder out there, though." He smiled. She smiled back. ~~~~~ They certainly didn't rush to go outside that day, though the snow had ceased by 11:00. However, it was still cold and the interior of Wanderer's Retreat was much more satisfying of a place to abide time. They spent it washing their clothes yet again and drawing up hot baths. One might as well take full advantage of the opportunity while it presented itself. They even ate a late lunch before breathing their first fresh air of the day. 1:00. Loungers, indeed. When the door was opened, a tall pile of snow caved in toward the floor. Last night's winds had made newer and bigger drifts. But, the wind was gone now. The sun was intense, which countered the temperature that was still in the low 20s. In around two hours, the sun would disappear for the evening. "Well, where to first?" Elizabeth asked. "No more clues at the moment. Guess we got to go and search for more on our own," replied Greg. He was excited to go adventuring, though his wife didn't quite share the same opinion. Harmony was as eager as her father, yet for different reasons. "That way looks as appealing as any other. Let's go that way." He was referring to the shop district, what there was of one. Wanderer's Retreat and Lapin's Antiques were on the very outskirts of downtown Vagrant's Hideaway. Proceeding was a miniscule of locally owned shops and eateries, all thriving on regulars of the town as well as neighboring Bigsby and Williamsborough. All three were so inter-connected when it came to employment that no business suffered too greatly. Vagrant's Hideaway was the smallest of the three towns and this was greatly reflected in its shop district. ~~~~~ The Urbanics strolled down Main Street, as well as they could; a foot of snow made sight-seeing a most labored effort. One of the first buildings they came across was a craft and toy store. Harmony could readily recognize some words, "toy" being one of her favorites. Needless to say, she grew quite excited to go inside. "Mommy! Daddy! Look! Toys! Can we go in, pleeease!?" She tugged at her mother's arm and pointed. She did not wait for approval, though, as she bounced through the snow and sought shelter under a canopy that hung above the shop's entrance. There the snow wasn't piled as high and she stomped her boots. "I guess so," Greg replied, chuckling. He was happy to see his daughter enjoying her stay. She was completely oblivious to any hardships such as he and his wife were facing. He figured he would let her have any moment she wanted. Harmony began to open the door while her parents were still crossing the street. "Wait for us, Harm," Elizabeth called out to her. They may be alone in this town, but she had to take her motherly precautions, all the same. The place was well lit inside, as if it were open for business, yet, like everywhere else, there was no sign of anyone manning it. Everything in sight was either wooden or of some material that was clearly hand-made. Dolls, houses, sculptures of pine trees, yo-yos, cars, train sets, and many other objects littered the shelves and floor of the shop. Someone was busy, Greg thought. The number of hours it would have taken to make them all was mind-boggling. This place was a labor of love for some dedicated soul. Greg walked by a shelf of dolls and picked up one ghastly specimen. It was very crudely made and its eyes were scarier than one would expect for a kid's toy. "Hey, look at this. Creepy, huh?" He shook it back and forth at Harmony. She grimaced. "What? You don't want one of these?" "Nope," she said, simply. He put the doll back on the shelf and leaned his sword against a table. Harmony was doing her own thing, going from one section to the next, passing by anything that did not interest her. Elizabeth walked her own path, as well, but commented aloud when she saw something she considered rather exquisite. "Hey, come take a look at this. It's amazing." Elizabeth loomed over a table. Greg approached, looking over her shoulder. "Wow. A little town." He studied it a moment. "This town by the look of it." Both of them were impressed at the amount of detail put into the town model. The craft put into making it was far superior to that of anything else found in the store. It appeared that every house and building in Vagrant's Hideaway could be found here. Greg pulled from his pocket the map he had taken from the hotel and compared it to that of the structure before him. "So?" Elizabeth inquired. "Yup. Dead on. This is something else! What do you think, Harm?" She had come up beside them, standing on her tip-toes, trying to get a view. She wasn't quite tall enough. "I can't see, Daddy." Greg bent down and hoisted his daughter up. "Here you go." There was a moment of silence. There weren't enough moving parts to capture her full interest. "So...?" Greg asked. "It's nice," Harmony replied. "Nice, huh?" Sensing her disinterest, he placed her back on the floor and let her resume her own course. "Well, I think it is." He wrapped his arm around Elizabeth, pulling her closer. "So, anything you want, Harm?" "Ummm...," Harmony paused, looking around to see what she fancied most. She walked over toward a shelf that had little wooden dinosaurs. Pondering for a moment, she decided carefully and chose a stegosaurus. "I like this one." She walked over to her parents, admiring the delicately carved plates that ran along the dinosaur's back. Greg patted her on the head. "Well, it's yours." Harmony fondled it with fascination. There was a pause and then Greg announced, "All right. Shall we go?" "Gregory!" Elizabeth started. "You're just gonna take it!?" "What...? It's not our fault there's no one here to take our money," he replied, with a playfully cocky tone. ~~~~~ He turned abruptly and went back the way they just came, heading to the craft and toy shop's door. "I forgot something." He disappeared without any further explanation. Elizabeth watched from the street, holding Harmony's hand. He returned a brief moment later, holding his sword, which he had forgotten. "Tch! That thing," Elizabeth exclaimed. "Y'know how silly you look carrying that thing around?" He smiled, holding it out into the air, as if beckoning an unseen foe. "Better silly than up the creek without it when need arises." He walked past them and took the lead. "Whatever..." Elizabeth followed, still holding her daughter's hand. "Good luck using it with the sheath always on it." As they trudged through the street, they passed more little shops. After seeing one in particular, Greg glanced down at his clothes, hesitated, then walked toward it. He turned his head and spoke to his family, "Let's go shopping!" Elizabeth sighed but followed nonetheless. And, they entered Alice's Apparel. Nearly thirty minutes passed before they emerged, then carrying bags full of clothing. "Least we won't have to do laundry so often," Greg commented. After finding a couple of outfits that she absolutely adored, her state of mind in regards to 'helping themselves' changed drastically. Clothing went straight to her heart. With no desire to drag their bags around any further than necessary, they returned to the hotel. ~~~~~ The sun was on the verge of heading into the West, leaving a bit of a gloomy overcast onto the lonely streets. A thick fog had rolled in and, combined with the blanket of snow over the land, all was white. Harmony was especially fond of fog and loved to frollock in it. She was disappointed, though, that no matter how much she tried to pursue the wisps, she could never seem to catch up to them. Only at a distance did they appear their most dense, but close around her, they seemed too sparse for her liking. Elizabeth wasn't fond of this fog, though. She began to feel creeped out again. The serenity of that morning and afternoon had dissipated as much as the clouds had accumulated. On the subject, Greg only thought it bizarre to see snow and fog at the same time; it was the first in his recollection. Near the end of Main Street, they came across the Vagrant's Hideaway Police and Fire Station. Attached to it was the town's community center. They let themselves in through the main entrance of the station. All was quiet as expected, but Elizabeth felt more secure just knowing she was in a police sanctuary. The notion was purely symbolic and held no tangible stability, yet, all the same, she was relieved to be there. Harmony was bored, though, as the place did not interest her in any fashion. She ran ahead and disappeared into a hallway off to the right. Elizabeth shouted out to her and it echoed off the marbled floor. "Harmony! Don't run off like that, please." She poked her tiny head back around the corner and whined, "Oh... but it's so boring here. Can't we go somewhere else?" "In a bit," her father answered. He wanted to check things out for clues. Much to Harmony's dismay, it was quite longer than a bit before they left. The hallway Harmony had run off to connected to the community center. There were no lights on in this section, but the light coming from the station was enough to illuminate the area in order to maneuver around in. Besides a few historical displays and archive information, there wasn't much of any interest to Greg. No clues. Returning to the station, he happened upon a stairwell that led to the basement. They followed the corridor down to a dimly lit hall where there were four jail cells. Elizabeth crept closer to Greg, walking directly behind him, with one hand on his shoulder. "Neat," Harmony commented, as she broke away from her mother and skipped along the cells, brustling the bars with her fingertips. The hallway came to a dead end. All the cells were empty and firmly locked. "Let's get out of here, Greg. This place gives me the creeps," Elizabeth pleaded. He heeded her begging and they went back upstairs and exited the station. The sun was nearly gone now, yet the fog remained. The temperature had dropped and a slight wind was blowing through. Serenity had faded. Ominous overtones, felt more than seen, were returning to Vagrant's Hideaway. Quickly, they made their way to the hotel, fearing the oncoming unseen presence. It would feel safer back inside their cozy haven. But, before they got in, the snow began to fall. "Not again...," Elizabeth sighed. ~~~~~ All three bustled about the hotel kitchen, preparing dinner for themselves. Greg cooked up the main course of steak and mashed potatoes, while Elizabeth diced some vegetables and fruit. Harmony was given the task of pouring drinks and setting the table, having more fun with the former than the latter. It was their third day since arriving and they were determined to make the most of it. Someone will have to come, eventually... Elizabeth reassured herself, looking out of a window, watching the snow whir about in the light of a lamppost. The rest of the evening was passed indoors, rather uneventfully, watching television and playing board games from a stash found in one of the utility rooms. No one had the desire to romp around in any more snow for the night, not even precious Harmony, who was usually more than eager to do so. No, she, just like her parents, was plenty sick of being wet. They turned in early that night, whether it was out of sheer boredom or because they were tired of trudging through all those drifts. It had been a pleasant day; those would not be so plentiful, anymore. |