The White Of The Eye

Chapter 3: The Lonely City

                    "Come on hurry up!!! You're too slow!" Pouted the girl. 

She's strange, maybe because of her bubbly attitude despite the fact we almost died. Either way I don't know the first thing about her.

 "Just hold on a moment. Before I even consider going anywhere with you, who the heck are you?!" 

"You're really worried about something like names right now? Even though I just saved your life?" she said with a smug like face.

 "Even more of a reason for me to at least get your name! I mean what the heck was that?! A giant flower??? I mean come on!"

 "Geez you're persistent, *sigh* my name is Alterum."

 "Nice to meet you Alterum, I'm Yume."

 She chuckled. "Yume? What a strange name."

 I couldn't even react to the statement. I just stared at her blankly. I'm beginning to think this girl will be the death of me.... 

"What? Whats wrong???" She asked slightly puzzled by my expression. 

"Nothing. just take me to your village, division or whatever you called it."

 Her face suddenly lit up. "Aaaaaalrighty! Let's get going!!!"

 As she tugged me along I couldn't even begin to imagine how crazy or long this adventure I had begun really was.

             As she led me through this white, colorless city, it gave me the strangest feeling. 

"This place is....lonely.." I mummer-ed. 

"Hm what was that Yume?"

 "It's nothing...it's just..this city reminds me of myself.." 

"How so?" She seemed slightly interested now.

 As I thought about it I realized what didn't this city remind me of myself. 

"Well..for starters I'm colorblind, so I can't see lots of colors, so everything is kind of dull to me. This city has no color so that's the most noticeable thing I can relate to."

 "Color?" She said the word clumsily. "Whats that???"

 At first I was about to laugh until I saw her face. It was the face that like of a child who doesn't know a thing. She was actually being serious. I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering the whole city is void of it.

 "Ok come here for a second Alterum. Look at your reflection in this window. Now look at your eyes and mine. See that bright thing in the middle of your eye? That's color."

 It feels weird explaining this to somebody considering I barely know what color looks like myself. 

"Ohhhhh! You mean Ignotus!!!!"

 Now it's my turn to be confused. 

"Ignotus?"

 "Yeah! It's what we call the things that don't look like everything else!"

 "Hmmmm I see, then what do you call the "Ignotus" of the cities?"

 "Black and white" she said as to suggest that's obvious. 

I nearly tripped over myself. I feel a headache coming on. At this point I don't know if she's just messing with me or not. 

"Come on! We're almost there!" she said excitedly as she tugged on my sleeve.

 I didn't realize how far we walked until I looked back at the wreckage of the used to be tower far off distance. 

"Right there right there! Do you see the gate??? That's my division!!!"

 "Yeah I see it..."

 How couldn't I see this "gate". It stood almost nearly as tall as the tower we were at. Made up of a pure shining white material.  It was beautiful, yet lonely somehow. 

"Come on! You need to come meet Grandpa."

" Alright alright I'm coming."

      As we entered her "division" which seemed more like a village, I noticed that everybody wore the same type of clothes. Pure white, granted that the clothing styles varied, but what really threw me through a loop is that everybody had jet black hair. Alterum and I were the only ones with white hair here. People I passed stared and for the most part gave me dirty looks. The first thing that came to my mind was racism. I leaned forward and whispered to Alterum, 

"Hey Alterum...why is everybody staring at me?...."

 "Just ignore it, it's normal here."

 Her words didn't reassure me, but I had no choice but to take her word for it.

               "Okay Here we are!" she said with a huge smile. 

We entered what can only be described as a mansion. Is this girl rich or something?.... Eventually we ended up at the top floor in front of double doors.

 "Grandpa it's Alterum! I'm coming in!"

 She burst through the door excitedly, only to be met by a young man. Surprisingly he had pure white hair, blue eyes, and short hair spiked in the front.

 "Uhm Alterum you sure you didn't go to the wrong room? I don't see you're Gra-" I was cut short. 

"Alterum how many times do I have to tell you to wait for an answer before entering?"

 "Sorry Grandpa! But look at him! He's totally the one we've been waiting for! I mean look at his clothes for goodness sake!"

 Right then and there my mind shattered. No way in hell this guy could be a grandpa. he looks no older than 20. 

"Ha...haha.....hahahahahaha.......I'm dreaming right? A dream..it's a dream....That's it!"

 At this point I had become delirious. I went to the nearest wall and began to smash my head as hard as possible against it, laughing hysterically all the while. 

" Alterum.... we need to have a serious talk about you judgment skills." Said the young man.

 After smashing my head into the wall for a good five minutes, I had come to the realization that none of this was a dream. I quickly regained my composure at this realization. This moment is what I consider the lowest point in my life. 

*cough cough* "Can we pretend that never happened?" I asked quietly.

 "Young man I don't think I could even forget what just happened if I wanted to." Said the "Grandpa". 

I hung my head in shame and embarrassment. 

"You should have a seat young man. I imagine I have many questions to answer for you." 

"You have no idea Gramps." I said sarcastically.