AHRU Town

Chapter 3 : Edouarda Sylys

The next morning, after taking his breakfast, Jonathan walks around the town with his usual pullover hood on his head to see if he can find some internet connection with his phone. But then, there is a 25-years-old woman with brown long curly hairs attached like a ponytail, and marine blue eyes who comes to him, a green messenger bag.

- "You're not from Ahru village, aren't you?" she asks.

- "No, I'm not" Jonathan answers a bit surprised by the woman. "Why are you asking me that?"

- "It's just that I've never seen you in the town, and so, I want to talk to you", she answers. "Do you have some time?"

- "Well... I'm not that busy, so no problem."

Jonathan and the woman are walking together to a park, which surprised him because he didn't see it yesterday when he walked inside the town. Then, they sit together on a bench.

- "Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Edouarda Sylys from Eskola city" she says. "I'm a junior journalist for the local city. What about you?"

- "I'm Jonathan Vermier, from Bescala city" he answers.

- "You have a job?" she asks.

- "I'm currently jobles-." He answers, then stays silent for some seconds. "Wait, you're not from this town?"

- "You guessed it" Edouarda answers. "And I'm sure you're wondering what I am doing in this village, right?"

- "Are you a mind reader or something?" he asks being a bit uneased.

- "No, it's just that you're easy to read on your face" she answers with a smile. "But anyway. I'm here because I'm looking for my dad who's in this village."

- "So, you too you're looking for someone?" he asks.

- "Yeah", she answers while taking out of her bag a letter and showing it to him. "Did you receive something a letter like that at your place?"

- "Yeah, but the content is completely different from yours" he says while reading the letter. "Mine is just coming to the village, that's all. There were no mentions about having a father living there or whatsoever."

- "Do you have the letter on it?" she asks.

- "No, I don't" he answers. "It's Gustav, the bakery owner, who have it since he seems to know who wrote and sent the letter to me."

- "I see. Well, I can ask him when I'll passing by" she says. "How long have you been here?"

- "Only two days" he answers. "What about you?"

- "It's been like one week already" she says.

- "But what about your job?" he asks.

- "Are you worried about me?" she says while teasing him. "Just kidding. I agreed with my boss that I'll work outside of Eskola city. So, you don't have to worry about me."

- "I see" he answers.

- "Geez man, are you struggling with life or something?" she asks while putting her hand behind her head?

- "What?" he asks confused and surprised.

- "This is too obvious Jonathan" Edouarda says. "With a low sound voice, keeping your hood on your head while we're talking and not smiling ever once since I talked to you, how can you tell me you're having a happy life right now?"

Jonathan stays silent, not knowing what to respond to her and impressed but scared and intimidated by her deduction style.

- "Did I get too far?" she asks Jonathan a little bit worried "My bad"

- "No no, it's okay" he says while using his hood to hide more of his face.

Jonathan stands up and walk away without knowing where he's walking to. Edouarda seems a little bit worried, thinking to herself that she has pushed him too far. At some point, he doesn't know where he is. But instead of asking someone else like he did yesterday, he continues to walk around like a lost kid who doesn't know where he's going, in hope to find Gustav and Alys' house.

But later, when the night is about to come, Jonathan meets again Edouarda, who's sweating and panting a lot with her hand on her knees, while saying she's sorry at least 4 times. Jonathan doesn't know how to react in this kind of situation.

After a long moment of silence, and seen that the night is coming, Edouarda asks him if he can get him back to his living place. Jonathan nods, then they go toward Gustav's house. In this walk, there were no discussion between those two except Edouarda giving directions. Arrived in front of the house, Edouarda goes away, while Jonathan enters home. At the dinner, Gustav still didn't find the one who've sent him the letter.

The next day, when Jonathan is sleeping, he heard his phone vibrating only once. He wakes up then looks at his phone. It's a message from an unknown number. But when he reads the message, he notices that it was just Edouarda who asks him if he's alright. Jonathan answering that he's alright and apologizes for his behave from yesterday. Edouarda responds that she's the one who messed up.

Then, she sent him another message saying that she read his letter and that his and her letter have been written by 2 completely different peoples. Jonathan asks her how she can be sure about this. She responds that her letter and his have completely different handwriting. Then he asks her why she cares about this. She responds that she thought that the one they're looking for is the same for both, but it turns out that isn't the case at all, adding with a disappointed smiley.

Jonathan sighs then ask her why she cares about finding the one who receive the letter, then she answers that she's just curious about this. Then, she adds that he must be curious too to find the one who sent the letter to him. But Jonathan responds that he wants to find him because he wants to stay at his place, nothing more. Edouarda respond to him with a "Oh, okay".

But then, his phone runs out of battery, sighs then look around this bedroom to see if there a place to charge his phone. But after some long minutes, he doesn't find any place for this. So, he goes to the main room where he sees Alys reading a book. Alys notices him and says "Hi" to him. Which Jonathan answers back, then asks her if there is a place to charge his phone. She responds that there is no such thing in their home, but then mentioned that there is a home where he can find a place. So, with Alys, they're going together to the place.

After 5 minutes of walk, they arrive in front of a house who looks like the others. But, in the roof, there is solar panels and wooden wheel with large wood wings suspended on large sticks. Alys knocks at the door, there is a woman in her early 20's who opens it and recognize immediately Alys by hugging her like if it has been years since they saw each other for the last time. Alys asks her by calling her Sylvie if Jonathan can use her place to charge his phone. Sylvie is confused about why he needs to charge his phone. Jonathan says that he needs to look for a job, and he uses his phone to look for one. Sylvie refuses while trying to be polite, then close the door. Alys feels a bit disappointed but expected a bit that reaction from Sylvie.

Back at Alys' home, Alys shows to Jonathan a paper and a pen then explains that, if he wants to communicate with someone without talking, he needs to write a letter then posts it to the mail deliver. But Jonathan isn't motivated, then goes back to his bedroom. But when he's about to lay down on his bed, he sees a small paper on his bed. And when he read it, he's completely confused, surprised, lost and pinches himself to be sure if he's not dreaming, because the message written on the paper is "Do you remember us, Jonathan?"

End Chapter 3