Envision - The Tale Of Aries

Chapter 3 - Zamahrud

The town of Zamahrud is located in the country of Bandares. The town was founded in 1910, as it first served as a place where a variety of companies would build their factories and warehouses.
Over the years, the population increased immensely, as the market in the area was growing mainly for people that worked at these factories and warehouses. The Bandares government built homes and other attractions throughout the town to meet the wishes of the companies and it’s workers, which were pretty much the citizens of the town. Zamahrud mainly started to thrive and expand in the year 1977, 67 years after it was founded.
This happened after an anonymous person donated a disclosed, but large amount of money to push the town forward, and that is exactly what happened. The media gave the mysterious figure a name “Zamahrud Prince”. Zamahrud turned into the place where everybody wanted to go. It was the hottest area in Bandares. Exotic food places, plazas, banks, everything started to open up in Zamahrud, and it became a tourist attraction for many people from the surrounding areas. A town that was erected after its surrounding areas, but already more advanced than the others, brought a lot of attention to it. All of this information was written on the absolute first page of the book that Aries had put in his bag, “Envision”. The first page was a “get to know the author” page. Although it had the brief history of Zamahrud, which was slightly weird to Aries, he overlooked it already knowing the history from what he learned in class. He flips the page to find the beginning of the book, a quote from the author.

“Pick an interesting notion that involves no good. Imagine making peace obsolete, rightfully, to answer notions that you don’t know about”

Aries reads this quote and is left confused. “Either this quote makes no sense, or I just don’t understand it fully..” he thinks to himself. The cab driver looks in his rear-view looking to make small talk to fill the quietness that filled the cab. “So what you reading back there?” Aries looks up towards the driver while flipping to the next page. “Oh it’s a random book that I found in my house that I decided to read, it seems very interesting.” Aries says. “Ah I see, Envision it’s called? Who’s the author?” Asks the driver. Inspecting the book from the front, back, spine and through some pages, Aries could not find it anywhere. “It’s weird I can’t find the name anywhere, it could be an error or even could’ve been on the spine and faded off” Aries says in confusion.
Now stopped at a red light the driver changes his focus in the conversation to the destination. “So we’re going to Victoria’s, correct? Is there a reason you’re going or?..” the driver asks curiously. Aries closes the book, to fully engage in the conversation so he does not seem rude. “I’m just meeting up with somebody there, we used to go there all the time when we were kids so we thought it would be a good place to meet.” The driver still looks confused after hid comment, and Aries did not know why. “I used to go there all the time whenever I met up with my pals, but ever since it closed down I’ve been missing it a lot” Aries surprised by the driver’s response, says “What?! It closed down, I used to love their two-dollar slice of pie, all the flavors: apple, blueberry, cherry, pumpkin. Oh boy I really wanted to get something from there today too.” Aries then looks down to the ground and ponders “Wait why would she want to meet me there?” While he thinks that he hears a voice, not the little voice in his head when he reads though, the driver asks the same question. Shocked by it, Aries tries to think of a quick answer that doesn’t sound suspicious also because he is wondering why he is meeting Linda there. “Uhh my parents.. they wanna buy the place!” the driver looks up quickly at the rear-view mirror, now with his eyes slightly more open. “What! That’s great news, I hope you guys bring back some of the stuff that they had.” The conversation has now turned into a reminiscence for Aries, so much so that he assures the driver that he will stay true to the original shop that was there. “I will bring back Victoria’s, I’ll make sure I do. All we can do is hold on to memories, but why can’t we bring it to life!’ Aries exclaims. The driver became joyful and said “Oh man I really look forward to it! Okay sorry for bothering I’ll let you get back to your book now, we shouldn’t be too long now maybe another five to ten minutes.”
For the remainder of the ride, Aries flips through the pages of the book, soaking in all of the information in the book. “Envision” covered a variety of topics such as “How to envision a better you” and “Understanding things from different perspectives." This was eye opening for Aries because one of the biggest problems he had was he never looked at situations from other perspectives as much as he should.
“A lot of times in life, things do not seem clear. Decisions will seem haste, a lot of fear or anxiety will build up within you. But those are the paths to take for the best outcome. The risky ones, the ones that you envision how you want to construct this path for your future. Using your mind to tap into other perspectives and looking at situations differently will take you a long way, and help you create these paths. You must find it within yourself.”
Aries reads this page and takes a brief pause. “So the milk at home? I would have to look at it from a different perspective? Well I am going to see nan- I mean Linda. So that is pretty much what this book says, awesome!” Aries thinks, as he closes the book with a sense of accomplishment. The car starts to slow down, as it pulls off to the right to reach the destination. Aries gets out the vehicle and thanks the driver for the ride. “Hey man I’ll be waiting for the news of the shop opening up, hope to see you again, have a great day!” Says the driver as Aries waves and walks off towards the closed down shop.
The calm wind blows through the trees that rustle down leaves below the feet of Aries. The parking lot was completely empty, and not a single person in sight. Aries looks around puzzled “When I was younger this place was always booming! And now this is what it’s become?” Aries thinks to himself. He looks around the building and Linda is nowhere to be found, so while he’s waiting decides to explore more. Aries walks up to the front doors of the closed down shop, where the windows would be. The cut-out is now filled with plywood, and the windows are so dirty that the inside is barely visible. He proceeds to the door and slightly nudges at the plywood, trying to see if he could budge it out to take a peak in. After a few tries he finally decided to just punch it down instead. Inside is the vacant space of the closed down shop Victoria’s. Parts of the ceiling were taken down, and electrical wires hung down from the gap. The flooring was all ripped off, and the bottom was just all stone. Paint was fading, and left open spots of where poster or menu items used to be. On top of everything, the place was just filled by darkness, just barely being able to see through without the open cut out. The darkness triggers a flashback for Aries. He envisions when he was younger coming to the shop with Linda, he looks over to where the counter used to be with the bar stools. He sees a younger him with a younger Linda, sitting there laughing at their own whimsical conversation, and trying new cake flavors that the head baker would make as specials. He comes back to reality and thinks “Why was everything so much better before? Things were happier and brighter, what happened now?” He looks down to try to reach the plank, but realizes it’s too far. So he leaves the door the way it is and proceeds to the wooden bench that was in front of the store, normally where they used to wait for their cab. He sits downs and reminiscences, “When I was younger, I used to spend more time with Linda! She would always take me places because she looked at me like her own son in a way. When mom and dad first hired her, I still remember she was shy, as she was newer to the city and was just trying to find any job. Oh man good times, they were so much brighter than now a days” Aries thinks to himself when striking his epiphany.
Linda’s absence in Aries life now is finally starting to affect him, since he doesn’t do anything anymore. He finally realizes that the reason he’s always home and doesn’t really do too much is he simply misses Linda, so he thought. He feels slightly accomplished by finally answering something that he questioned, which is one step closer to understanding himself better. His day dreaming is interrupted by the distant sound of an engine, a car was driving towards the shop. Aries never takes his eyes off of the car as he watches it pull into the open parking lot of the shop. Oddly enough, the all black vehicle parks in the middle of the empty lot. Aries stares down the car, as he feels whoever is behind the wheel is staring back at him. The tension rises, Aries feels slightly paranoid that this might be a group of bad people since it’s an area known for crimes since no body is around, which makes for heinous crimes that get committed like Kidnapping. Nervous by this, he still keeps a straight face, attention still turned towards the vehicle, there is no backing down in today’s agenda. After what feels like a lifetime, the engine shuts off, and the driver door opens. A man slowly gets out the vehicle, having to exit slowly for his height. The man now stands beside the car, and is visibly a bigger guy than Aries. He closes the door and beings to start walking towards Aries. “This guy is huge! I hope he doesn’t try to start a problem; this would definitely be a tough fight.” Aries thinks to himself. The broad shouldered, tall man is now closer and Aries notices that he is wearing a suit and tie. “Wait a minute… I’ve seen this guy before.. isn’t.. that?..” before Aries could finish his thought, he hears the deep voice of the man who is now standing in front of Aries. “Hello Aries, it’s been quite some time. I hope you still remember me. My name is Marco Montego, I’m with the FBI. Aries now remembers the man, Marco. The same FBI agent who broke the news to Aries that first day of school, that his parents were tragically killed. “Marco, what are you doing here sir?” Marco removes his sunglasses and looks down at Aries. “I need you to come with me back to the station, we have some questions about your ex-nanny, Linda.” Marco says slightly aggressively. Aries now confused, asks Marco “Linda? W-what happened to her” Marco turns his back to Aries and slowly walks back towards the vehicle. “Now is not the time for questions, everything will be answered just come with me, Linda will no longer be meeting you here.” Aries now visibly upset from being confused yells out “But how do I trust you? You just show up and tell me that I have to come with you, and that Linda isn’t coming here, what’s the deal!” Marco is agitated, he becomes so frustrated that he pulls out his gun out of his holster and shoots it in the air before Aries could get more words out. “I will tell you more information, about your parents, Aries.” Marco looks down and says. Aries still slightly petrified at the situation, is now curious what information would be relevant now about his parents, so long after they passed. “Okay, let’s go” Aries hastily says, as they both enter into the vehicle. The doors close, and the car begins to pull out of the lot, back onto the main road. This vehicle is now headed straight towards the truth that lays ahead.