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mmfpeg · 2 years ago

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I take a good look at the girl in front of me... I say "girl", I'm just making an assumption here. I feel like she's about in her early 20s, at the very least? I've been very wrong very often before, though, with guessing women's ages. And also apparently it's rude? So it's a good default move to just call every woman a "girl". If you couldn't get away by just going, "Well, you look youthful~ What's the secret?" when you're wrong, well, it's just your unlucky day.

Speaking of unlucky, though. I hear a clinking of bells. I'm not saying she's ugly, but she's plain at best. The really awkward pair of glasses that she's got on probably doesn't help. I hear a clinking of bells. At a glance, the glasses look like they kind of rests haphazardly on the bridge of her nose, in danger of falling off at any given moment. It gives the impression that she's gonna be slow. I hear a clinking of bells. Even though I've seen that disproved in front of my very eyes. That's why I got in this predicament in the first place. I hear a clinking of bells. Cornered like a rat on a dead-end alley. The only way through is through her. I hear a clinking of bells. Why can't it be a very cute girl, at the very least? I hear a clinking of bells. Dammit! My anxiety is going through the roof. I can hear my own heartbeat very close on my ears.

I hear a clinking of bells.

I feel like my luck isn't gonna turn for the better.

* * *

I randomly rummage through a drawer. Then I opened another drawer and rummaged through that too. I've given up trying to be discreet anymore. The more time I spend in this room, the more uneasy I get. I curse fate in between every drawer opening, in between every nervous reach of my arms.

It was supposed to be easy. I've given up on having dreams. I just go where the flow takes me. The flow took me to a path of petty crime. So be it. I got a tip about some room where some woman lives that gets unattended sometimes, from some other petty criminal that's even more untrustworthy than I am. I didn't even question it. A woman with her own room? She's probably got valuables. She's definitely richer than I am; I can't afford a room. I'd thought that I probably won't be getting much, but the info came during a very desperate moment of me. Not that that means much; I probably spend at least 4 of my waking hours being very desperate, nowadays. But anyway.

I usually work as a part of a loose group of unsavory folks, under a mysterious order giver, doing obviously criminal things, but for an ultimate reason that's a bit esoteric. Robbing a bank and sparing everyone but the secretary of the manager for some reason, and then sending the money to somewhere else instead of taking it for ourselves. Kidnapping someone and then handing them over to some tinted window car, being taken who knows where. The pay isn't really great, but at least it was steady. Was. "Work" has been drying up as of late, and so this tip comes in an opportune time. Or so I thought. I went without a second thought; I was stoked, even! I get to work independently for once. Being given orders by someone, let alone someone that you don't even know, there's a part inside of you that screams out in disagreement.

My confidence mysteriously eroded a bit when I opened the door to the room. Everything had been smooth-sailing; it was actually very easy to find the exact room, despite it being a generic room in a generic apartment complex. The door wasn't locked, as promised. It's a studio room, so one can get a full view of the room from the doorway. No one inside, as promised. The bathroom door was open wide, no sign of anyone using the toilet at this time. Smooth-sailing. But, I just thought that the sound that the bell stuck to the door made was a bit loud, somehow.

Sure, I could just take the laptop on the desk. But I was thinking that there would be some stuff more valuable hidden somewhere. Why else would I be given a particular tip if there's just the usual things here? So I opened up a drawer. Papers.

Well, it's not gonna be that easy.

I opened up another drawer. Papers. I don't know what these are. Theses? Office stuff? I recognize the words on the papers, but I don't know what they mean in that order. I barely completed middle school. Anyway. I don't think the papers are gonna sell for much. And even, if my "mission" was to steal the papers, the command would've been explicit, at least. I wasn't supposed to be running errands this time around, in the first place! I tried another drawer on the other side of the room. Underwear. I shut the drawer quickly. And then opened it up again. The bells tied to the drawer made a very loud sound, corresponding to my violently pushing and pulling the drawer around. I rummaged. Just underwear, after all. I closed the drawer again. I heard the bells clinking again. I could feel puppet strings on my arms, on my shoulders, on my head. Turns out, even for those who have given up, the soul still clings desperately for independence. My anxiety rose. I took a step back, tried to inhale some breath and calm myself down, and almost choked on air. I took a look at the drawers on this room again. Every single one of them has bells hanging in front of it.

I tried swallowing my fear and continued opening drawers, in desperate search for something, anything.

Among the loud clinking of bells, I didn't realize that there's now another presence in the room. Only when it finally enters my peripheral vision, that I swivel my head towards the direction of that presence. A nondescript bespectacled girl with an ill-fitting oversized hoodie, phone in one hand, grocery bag in another.

"...What are you doing?"

* * *

No time for pleasantries.

I stand up and swipe the laptop off the desk, and start to make a beeline for the exit. Predictably, she reaches her arm out and tries to snatch the laptop back.

"Hey! Stop!!"

In trying to do that, she drops the grocery bag and her phone. I let go of the laptop, and then reach down to take the phone. Maybe it's worth less, but it's definitely easier to lug around, no. Anyway, the main objective now is to escape. And so, I move back towards the doorway, and I see her already standing in front of it.

"Ho–"

I cut myself off mid-sentence. It doesn't matter how she got there very fast. I just gotta get out of here ASAP. This uneasiness is unbearable.

I swing my left arm in an elaborate way. The air in the room collect slowly around me, and then very violently burst out, scattering every paper in the room, ringing every bell in the room.

"Aah!"

It's only very rudimentary wind manipulation, but it will have to do. As a momentary obfuscation, at least. I pocket the phone haphazardly. Using the papers as smokescreen, I brandish a knife and make a lunging motion through the wall of papers. On the other side, she brings up her laptop in an attempt to defend herself, using the laptop as a shield, but it's too late. I'm just trying to escape, it shouldn't be this messy. But so be it.

The ringing subsides. My knife stabs through the empty air. The doorway is empty. I see a presence behind me on my peripheral vision. I try to calm my feelings as much as I could, rationalize everything as far as my mind allows. Okay, she can use powers too. Still don't know what. But the escape route is clear now.

I sprint through the door and take a turn towards the road. As I hear another ringing of the bells, I see the girl now standing a few meters in front of me. Okay, whatever. She's unarmed now; she's not even holding a laptop anymore. I lunge towards her with the knife, thinking that it's gonna be a mirage again at the very least. In hindsight, it was a very silly move telegraphed from miles away. She avoids my lunge with ease, and then, with a crisp motion, executes an elbow strike towards my unprotected side. Sharp pain travels throughout my body. But my momentum still brings me forward. I use another little wind manipulation to help me get my footing back, and continue running through the pain. She probably doesn't expect me to keep running after that flush strike. I'm good at running away, at least.

Unfortunately, she catches up with me after a bit. I don't know if I'm slower because of the pain, or if she's just fast. She runs parallel with me on my right, and then winds up her right arm to strike. Her long sleeves obscure her hands, so I can't see what weapon she's holding, if any. In any case...

I drop down and roll at full speed, using wind manipulation to smooth over my tumble. As she barely misses me with her swing, I hear ringing of bells that's now getting really familiar, really close to my ears. I quickly look back to see what's in her hand. A needle the size of a knife, with bells hanging at the other end. Strange weapon. But then again she doesn't look like she's got a good sense of style. Whatever. I look back forwards, and I see her again, on the other side. I'm not taking my chances. Instead of trying to push forward or backward, I escape to an alleyway. Which I didn't know was a dead end, at the time. I look back, and I see a girl walking slowly towards me, sealing my path out of the alleyway.

* * *

"Just give me my phone back."

"..."

Being a petty criminal and taking orders from someone you've never even seen is humiliating, but being pushed around by an unfashionable girl like this really chips away at the last of your pride.

I take out my gun and point it towards her. Always packing heat. You never know. I have no shame anymore.

The girl looks shocked. And then, she sighs.

Out of her long sleeves, her right hand brandishes a needle with bells hanging off of it. The soft clinking echoes between the narrow alley walls. She walks towards me slowly.

"Don't come closer!"

My hands shake even more after hearing the clinking. If my aim is not unsteady, then I'm not aiming at all. My brain doesn't want to say it out loud, but my soul knows that it's getting totally overmatched.

And then, with another precise movement, she throws the needle towards my direction. I wince. And then, I realize that I'm not feeling any pain. There's no needle sticking into my body.

Did she miss?

My mind barely thinks that before it gets filled by the incessant ringing of bells, from the needle that "missed" me, stuck to the ground behind me.

I blink and take a sharp inhale, trying to at least get a decent aim in. I see five of her in front of me. I try not to chuckle and shake in despair.

All five of her lunge forward. I have five targets! I pull the trigger on my gun.

Moments after that, I feel a solid punch into my solar plexus. And then, a taste of iron in my mouth. I keel down. I'm pretty sure there's only one "real" one. I'm also pretty sure that I missed all of them anyway.

As I writhe in pain, she nonchalantly plucks the phone out of my pocket.

"I was a bit anxious at first," she suddenly muses. "You have wind control, so you could've used it to deflect the air so that the sound doesn't propagate to your ears..."

In utter defeat, I suddenly gain clarity. It's illusion, isn't it? And the bell ringing is how it's activated. So you can avoid it by finding a way to not listen to it. How was I supposed to figure that out?! I barely passed middle school! My heart was beating out of my chest!! It's all so funny.

"Hahah–"

I suddenly feel excruciating pain in my chest.

"AAAH!"

"A-are you okay?"

So it wasn't her. I did feel a presence of another person after my defeat. I can't lift my head up to see.

"...Who are you? What did you do to him?"

"Don't worry! I'm not gonna do anything to you. I want to chat with you, after all! It's just that, it needs to be in private..."

I wonder if that's the person that's been giving mysterious orders. I wonder if I was being put in this situation just so that person can see the girl fight and check out her powers. That would be silly.

"So he's..."

"Yeah!"

That's way too cheery. Ah. I think I got some moments before my ignoble death, though.

"...Miss glasses?"

"...Y-yeah?"

"...How old are you?"

I think she's indifferent enough to not be bothered by that.

"...21."

I drop on the ground fully, lifeless.

Finally, some luck.

#writeblr #the radio played 'the good the bad and the ugly' by the danish national symphony orchestra earlier this evening

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