Epics of Noche 1, Anchor

EON CH 73

TAK'S VISITOR.

1774, OCTOBER 01st SATURDAY 7:20 pm.

Tak De Leon watched the sun set from window in theattic. Silver eyes with white pupils sparkled in the golden light as the redorb went below the waves. The room was growing dark, but he'd get the chance towatch the sun rise in twelve hours. Tak sighed, picked up the kitchen chair, andwent down two flights of stairs.

He carefully placed the chair legs within its rings of dust on the floor. Then walked to the library across the hall. He spent twenty minutes finding the perfect children's book, grabbed it, and walked up the stairs. Entering a bedroom he walked up to a fat, plushie penguin surrounded by children's blocks on the floor.

"S-Sorry Mr. Chonkie, its time for bed."

The plushie didn't move.

"S-Sorry. Look, I uhh... Well," Tak held up a book. "Look, I brought a book. We've read it two hundred and fifty seven times. So it's the book we've read the least... Sorry. Please don't get mad."

The fluffy penguin slowly plopped on its side.

"Mr. Chonkie!"

Tak rushed over to the large plushie and picked him up.

"Sorry, we'll get new books one day, sorry."

He walked over to a small kid's bed, gently placed the stuff animal on the pillow, and carefully covered it with a blanket. Tak opened the book, turned the pictures to the penguin, and began reading. He didn't need to see the book, he had it memorized the first time he saw it. Every book was like that, after one glance the pages were perfectly stored in his memory with photographic clarity. It made re-reading books dull fast.

After fifteen minutes Tak closed the book. "S-Sorry, what was that? You're still awake. Sorry, I wasn't good enough. H-Here, I'll get another book. Sorry."

Tak walked down the flight of stairs, spent thirty minutes finding another tome, came back up, and repeated the entire process. When that story was finished he closed the book, gave the penguin a tight hug which lasted three minutes, then kissed it on the forehead.

"S-Sorry... Goodnight Mr. Chonkie, I love you," Tak said. "R-Right. Sorry. I'll get you a glass of water before I go."

Tak walked to the kitchen, grabbed one of the few glasses that remained, and placed it under the faucet. Water and electricity had been cut from the house long ago, so when Tak turned the faucet on, only dust came out.

"Glug, glug, glug," Tak whispered.

He pretended the glass was filled with water, turned the faucet off, and walked back upstairs. Tak placed the empty glass on the stuff animal's bed stand and then flipped the light switch off; there was no change in lighting. Walking back down to the first floor, he went to the room opposite of the library, and sat down at the upright piano. He began to play.

Not to loudly at first, didn't want to wake up Mr. Chonkie, but as time passed the songs became more intricate. Dozen of piano books laid atop the piano, their lessons ranging from beginner to expert. When he began learning it only took a few hours for Tak to master the most difficult song. With a sigh he finished playing La Campanella, flight of the bumblebee, and Hungarian Rhapsody six without a single mistake on any of them.

Tak stood up, walked to the laundry room, and stared at the little caterpillar's cocoon between the two broken machines.

"S-Sorry to bother you, Mr Sleepy," Tak whispered. "You doing ok? Can I get you anything?"