No Longer Freedom

10. Red liquid.

Tom's POV

"Man, I'm so tired." I groaned and smashed my head against the table. "Jeez, Drama queen, take it easy." Paul took a sip from his creepy looking cup. "It was your fault, you wanted to use the bath for some reason when I tried to sleep. Who even bathes in the middle of the night?" I pointed out while raising my gaze at him. "You?" Paul chuckled while reminding me how I actually washed myself a few hours before Paul did. "ugh, whatever." I rolled my coal eyes as I tightened the fluffy belt around my waist. Patryk kindly had lent me his deep red coat and wool socks when I were on my way to move to the couch last night. He said that I could use them until the man in front of me would be ready with his project, whatever it meant.

"Are you hungry? We should have some dried pork with water. Tord said we should feed you regularly." Paul's throaty voice asked. "I will tell you when I'm hungry." I answered shortly. "Why so quiet?" He lift his other bushy eyebrow up as he placed down his now empty cup. "I'm bored." I tapped my black index finger nail against the wooden table. "You already explored our house so figure something out." "Well unfortunately I don't know what to do. That's the issue." Massaging the bridge of my nose I shut my eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. "Well then if you want something to do I can teach you how to read till Patryk comes back." He shrugged as he stood up. "Where's Patryk anyways? I haven't seen him since he lend his bathrobe to me and I went to sleep." "He left early in the morning. I guess he has a shift or something like that." Paul explained. "You don't work together?" I was quite surprised by that. I couldn't imagine Patryk working without Paul. Weren't they supposed to be working partners as well? "Sometimes we work separately so we can convince people that we can work on our own. It's part of our tactic." He clarified while he carried dirty dishes to the kitchen. "That's a smart move" I nodded and turned my head towards the cracked window.

The chilly foggy air hugged tightly those naked trees while the sun blessed us with its light but not its heat. The sunbeams strained through the warmly colored leafs as the weak wind danced some of them on the ground among the other fallen ones. Sleeping plants surrounded the quiet town that couldn't stay silent. Buildings around us were still as spooky and dreary as they were at nights. Moss covered rotten wet blanks and the dead stones screamed neglect. The soldiers marched past the cottages while their weapons clanked subjugating against their armor. People that were on their free time focused on their tasks like cleaning windows and yard maintenance. Everything seemed to be peaceful but for some unknown reason I still felt a pressure against my chest.

I placed my hand against the small and cold window and let out a long exhale full of languor. "What was your kingdom called?" I turned my head towards Paul who was washing the dishes in the back of the kitchen. He raised his deep brown eyes at me quickly, over his shoulder with his tired. With bags under his eyes he answered. "It's the Kingdom Of The Lost Ones aka KOTLO. The forest witch is surrounding us is actually called 'The forest of Erased ones', or so we call it and the ocean below the cliff is called 'The bath of the sirens.'"

"Those names suits well." I agreed. "I'm done with these dishes, so if you want to learn how to read I can teach you now." Paul turned towards me, pulled his black sleeves back down covering his hairy arms and turned around the corner. "If it's necessary." I commented. 

When he came back he had a brown piece of paper and a coal stick with him. "Let's start with these. I will write an alphabet for you and we are going to say it together." Paul clarified as he drew a circle on the paper. "That's an O." He explained as he moved his gaze to me. "Looks just like a circle." I noted and rolled my eyes. "I know, now say O." He sighed. "I know how to talk. I just can't read or write." I complained as Paul shut his eyelids tightly together. "No shit, But you can only read if you memorize all of the alphabets." Paul explained with an irritated tone. I felt like a total idiot. "Ooou" I mumbled to myself. "There, it wasn't that hard." Paul rubbed my shoulder and drew another sign. Without even noticing I managed to say the letter right. A huge feeling of success reached my heart and pushed me forward. It gave me motivation, joy and a feeling of that I were getting smarter little by little.