Fool

Chapter III: A Fruitful Battle

I didn't know what time it was when I woke up. I had no curtains to act as a shield, so the light shone through the clear glass windows. I squinted as the gold rays fell onto my eyes. It was either 6AM or 2PM, I'd guess.

It's already been around a week, and I've gotten used to this new home. I got up and strolled over to my empty kitchen. In the past days, I bought myself a nice collection of plastic water bottles. I found very quickly that water actually tasted good- unlike the water at the prison. It was so suspiciously bad that I wouldn't be surprised if they fed us the dirty bath water of a dog.

I took a generous sip of the fresh water. Life was great. There was no all out war for water, a basic necessity. Everything was so much better out here in the real world. Then, I went outside for a quick run.

During my short stay here, I'd already found one friend, Kacey. I walked into Cafe 5001 and waved when I saw her at the front desk. She was the employee working when I came back here for the first time and we got along shockingly well.

"Kacey! How are you?"

"Doing good so far, but as customers start reeling in that might change very quickly."

We smiled at each other, hers being sarcastic and mine being sympathetic. She had brown eyes and her dirty blond hair tied back into a ponytail. Her barista uniform was a white collar shirt with a red apron.

"Well, I'll add to your struggles. Can I have a (snack) for breakfast?" She nodded and reluctantly got to work.

I'd asked her about my friend from two years ago called Biddy Squire. Kacey didn't know anything. Biddy worked in the cafe as a student and I'd talk to her often as a regular but I haven't seen her since. I wondered what happened.

"Here's your food, have a good day (name)!"

"Thanks, see you later!" With that, I waved and ran back out of the cafe.

My next stop was the grocery store, to pick up some food for the week. I already knew what I was going to get, as I skipped into the store and easily found a familiar aisle. Of course, the aisle with the instant noodles.

When I arrived at the best spot in the entire shop, my mouth dropped. My favourite kind's price had risen three times! It used to be 1 dalc for bulk packages, but it increased to almost 3. This is absolute blasphemy.

Did everything cost much more nowadays? I felt my eyes almost tear up, as I tore my eyes away from the three star michelin restaurant level noodles. Instead, I reluctantly bought the cheapest kind which I'm sure tasted like mould. At least it was 1 dalc.

"Thank you for your purchase!" The cash register said, giving me my groceries.

I smiled, but it wasn't genuine. I could never forgive this store for its mistakes.

After visiting other places, I heaved myself into my apartment from my run all sweaty. I walked over to the fridge and took out my precious stash of water bottles. The simple drink alone replenished all my lost energy.

I went and took a quick shower and changed. As I was wandering around my apartment mindlessly holding my water bottle, I heard a ring from the doorbell.

"Coming!" I called, slightly confused about who would be visiting.

I opened the door, smiling brightly. The man standing there, was also smiling innocently while holding a basket of fresh fruits.

"I heard that you just moved in here, so I brought a basket of fruits-" My water bottle fell out of my hands.

It spilled all over my floor but I didn't care. My eyes widened and my mouth agape as we made eye contact. Oh no.

Yuri Briar. Again.

Just as I was about to slam the door in his face again, he did the unexpected. He launched his fruit basket at me! The fruits flew across my apartment and I barely dodged all of them in time.

"What the-?!" I screamed, as my walls got splattered with its juices.

I couldn't watch for long, because Yuri soon made his move and tackled me to the ground. My back hit the floor aggressively, with a loud crash. It's probably not broken... hopefully. I get that he's a police officer, but he really needed to get OFF me as soon as possible.

Then, the man started to strangle me. Did he have enormous amounts of hate for me or what? I was starting to hate him too. Calm down, Achilles. No- wait, (name). Calm down. Somehow taking a deep breath, I kicked the literal gorilla off me and swung myself on top of him. I had successfully reversed the positions.

"You little brat." He sneered, punching at my arms that pinned him down.

"Excuse me?" I had an immense urge to give him a concussion. Except, I knew better than to assault a police officer the first week out of prison.

"This is a misunderstanding, Yuri. I got released from prison."

He scoffed, clearly not convinced. "You? A wanted criminal who has committed over ten felonies?"

Yuri was glaring from under me, but I wasn't scared- slightly annoyed, but not scared. He seriously just needed to stop punching me and calm down for one second. At this point, I was keeping him down with the strength of my legs alone.

"Fine. I give up." He raised his arms in a surrender-like way, and I let out a sigh of relief.

I really should've known better because the second I loosened my grip on him, he flipped himself over me again. This time, I would not let it go smoothly. I resisted, trying to get him off me but it didn't really work. Instead, our momentum caused us to roll around my floor.

"Just- ow- STOP!" He was still flinging his arms at me like a toddler, but it hurt so much more than it should've.

Not only are my arms bruised, but I was also so dizzy from the back and forth rolling. The world was spinning. Luckily, my apartment was empty except for the occasional times we ran over the already crushed up fruits.

"You are under arrest for- agh- stupid idiot." He grimaced.

"Honey, you mean treason?" I retorted, slapping him to shut him.

He shoved me down into the ground again and this time, I seriously heard a crack. We've been wrestling, or rolling, for what's felt like hours.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the wall approaching closer and closer. We were gonna crash. Before I could brace myself from the impact, we already aggressively slammed into the wall and I heard Yuri cry out in pain. Or it might've been me. Either way, we were both half dead. I was completely sore, and I'm pretty sure it was the same for Yuri. He was definitely exhausted because I fought back with all my strength.

I may have gotten rusty these past two years, but an old war machine is still a war machine. I collapsed on the ground next to Yuri, my arms limp and my legs numb. We were both struggling for air after strangling each other for the past ten minutes.

His arm twitched next to mine. Shoot, is he still alive? Then, I watched helplessly as he slowly got up again. The officer looked at me with what would be a triumphant smirk, except he was practically dying of exhaustion and it showed.

With the last of his strength, he pulled himself towards me and raised his right fist.

I'd already given up on fighting back. "Not my face, please."

Next thing I knew, I was knocked out cold.