Nigga Lamp

Arc 1 - Chapter 1: River Bank Reflection

He was a commonplace old man, fitted out with his curly hair with a rather rough-looking beard to boot. He had the average physique that one would achieve once they had lived fifty-seven years of their life, most likely because he was fifty-seven.

Even getting up was a pain in itself. Well, painful wasn't quite right. He was just really, really lazy. He was actually quite well-built for his age, not of anything you would be able to see poised in the middle of a busy gym, mind you, but doing manual labour everyday kept him able now.

Putting aside this fact, he dragged himself out of his bed and headed down the hall.

"Ah fuck, it's already half six! I better be there by seven, or this whole job will be for nothing."

He lived his life as a labourer. More specifically, that of a bricklayer. Sure, it wouldn't pay the same as a CEO in some high rise office chair, lazing away, but it kept him under a roof, and kept his belly full. 

He entered his bathroom at the end of the hall, wearing nothing but his lone boxers.

Staring into the mirror as he brushed his teeth, he stared at this reflection.

"Am I still really slaving away at this?"

Fifty-seven years is a lot of years to have lived. Even more so, when you have spent the majority of it doing the same job, over and over again. The same action of constructing with bricks, with the only factor having changed being that of the clients and their location.

"Ah... let's just hope I go back to sleep, and don't wake back up at all! Hahaha!"

This was truly the banality of the existence, of the man in front of him.

The man known, as Patrick Doherty.

He sat down on the bed as he equipped himself with the clothes he usually wore to work. As he was self-employed to a degree, he could wear whatever he so desired, as long as he got the job done. That was the freedom bestowed upon him.

No. It wasn't freedom.

"If I was truly free, I wouldn't have to go and do this. I could sit back and relax, on a beach- no, on my own private island! I would have loads of ladies beside me too! That would be true freedom!"

Entering the bathroom once again, he looked at himself.

"Looking snazzy, I do say."

It was quite a simple attire. His brown coat that people would often recognise him wearing on a daily basis. A plain white shirt that was simply put, a shirt. Covering the shirt in its entirety was a black jumper, also quite simple. His trousers and shoes were also not mentioning, as they were below the level of basic themselves. He could not tell what colour they originally were, as the amount of cement covering these from the years of labour were ingrained into the very essence of the clothing, like a prison inmate with a menacing tattoo.

...

"What the hell happened to my face? Must have been drinking hard again last night!"

His face, as if complimenting his choice in regards to his clothes, was also quite dirty. It looked as if he was going to have to chisel off the dirt with the nearest utensil he could find.

"Ah... yeah, he won't mind if I'm a bit late. Sure as long as it gets done in the end, that's all that matters. Don't want to show up any messier than I have to, that's for sure!"

He ran both taps simultaneously, filling up the sink completely. Lowering his face for a quick wash, he glanced in the mirror. Seeing himself made him let out a long breath in response.

Cupping the water with both of his hands, he closed his eyes as he splashed his face in its entirety with the cold water. He opted to just rub the dirt off with his hands, instead of anything fancy.

Opening his eyes, he went to cup another handful of water before getting up of his knees.

"Wait, what the fuck?"

Yes, he was now on his knees, as if his body had moved by itself. Only, it happened in a blink of a eye. 

This was the least of his troubles in this moment.

In front on the unsuspecting elder, was a beautiful river, the water being clear enough to see the various types of fish below the surface.

Surrounding it was a selection of many luxurious green fields, with flimsy wood or swiftly built stone walls separating them.

"What the hell just happened?!? That fucking water better have not been tainted with drugs or something. How am I going to get to work!?"

It was like he put straight into one of those stupid history books he had to read in school. 

There was nothing in sight. More importantly, no power lines...

"Fuck."

No town, city, or better put, house in sight.

"Fuck..."

Paddy had one thing for certain. 

He had absolutely no clue where he was.

"FUCK!!!"

Looking around him at the fields, the river he was located beside, and the accompanying dirt path that ran alongside this river, he was certain of one thing, with a strong one-hundred percent belief.

"THIS IS WHY I HATE FOREIGN COUNTRIES!!!!!

He truly believed that he had somehow just ended up in some select foreign country, in the span of just a few seconds. 

"If this is what I get for washing my face, never again!"

He crossed his arms boldly, and looked into the distance. What he could see was far off mountains to the distance. Sure, his home country of Ireland had one or two here and there, but they were just essentially giant hills, big earth mounds, whatever you would like to call them. These mountains could not be compared. The sheer scale of them made Paddy think that even if he got close to these, he would not reach the top for about two or three weeks, not filtering in his age and the requirement for food, drink and sleep.

"Well, let's just say, I'm definitely not making it to work now."

Looking down at his left wrist, the hands in his watch indicated that it was now three minutes past seven, meaning he was already late before he had begun washing his face.

"Well, it might be somewhere in the country, it might be some other country, let's just focus on finding someone that knows this."

Taking his unprecedented situation rather lightly, he turned away from the direction which had the colossal mountains, and started his journey.

"What did they say about following the stream? If it goes down...? I think that's they say. Ah, might as well."

He set off, with his stomach rumbling, and his eyes itchy, down the dirt road, that seemed to go on for eternity.