Myth Land (unedited)

V

It was loud enough for me to hear but too soft to think that there was a huge animal approaching. I opened my eyes widely as my stomach felt ill. As the sound got louder and louder, I woke up and crept from where I was half asleep, and then searched for the source of the noise. Moving my feet slower than a snail, I tried not to wake the others. The moonlight guided me to find the irritating sound. I looked around to find the source of the noise, but I couldn't find it. I couldn't until I saw some dandelions were moving as if someone was torturing them while hiding from something or someone. It wasn't far from where we were sleeping, so I walked slowly to the noise and tried to convince myself that I did not have to worry about anything.

Then I found her right there.

'What are you doing?' my tone was too flat to shock her.

Insulsus turned her head slowly until her right eye met mine. Then she turned around and we stood there face to face and head to head. The moon was too bright that I actually didn't want to see the cynical smile on her face. Weakening my knees. Yet I had to stand stiff.

'Pearl...' she tilted her head to the left. 'It's youuu!' her smile got even bigger. 'I couldn't sleep. That's all. Did I wake you up?'

'Oh, definitely. You woke me up, and I smell something suspicious here,' I surprised myself, for I never knew that I could get that serious.

She then widened her eyes and softly said, 'I'm sorry if I were too noisy. You should go back to sleep. I will... follow you...'

Her right hand tried to drag my shoulder to go back to where the others were sleeping, but she hid her left hand behind her back.

'What is that behind you?'

'Oh,' she lost her smile, 'nothing. I was just—I walked here and found this... unique glass.'

I waited for her to show, but she didn't.

'You lied. Don't you dare thinking that I'm a stupid small animal. What do you want, Insulsus? What is it that you're hiding?'

Her smile turned into smirk. In the count of seconds, she lifted the glass and tossed it on the ground. Then it shattered into small pieces, even dusts, scattered around my toes.

'Let me tell you, young lady,' she came near me. I took a few steps back. Not because I was scared, but her breath smelled awful.

'I don't like people. I hate them. You hear me? Hate them. They changed me. They took away my freedom of being able to decide who I wanted to be. They called me... queer.

So I changed for them, Ms. Pearl. I liked flesh and blood, but I was different. Other aye-ayes eat fruits and seeds. I liked my hair grows long, and I loved it tangled. But they trim their hair and brush it. I liked being quite. They called me strange. They called me names. Then they left me alone. And so I follow them. I become what they want me to be. I eat what they eat, speak what they speak, and walk the way they walk.

But I know something, Ms. Pearl; I know that the difference inside me cannot be changed. It is seen, here, on my face.

What should I do to change this face? To be someone more superior than those—ugly—devilish creature, Myth Land is the key. I need to win this. I crave this. And to go there? All I need is myself! Teamwork? I don't trust people, I really don't!'

She laughed with her eyes as big as a basketball and mouth opened wider than joker.

'Ms. Pearl, what can a honey bear, a cat, and a monkey do? And there's a white mouse with them? So—useless. So—hopeless. But me? I know what I'm capable of, and I know what I have in mind. I am smarter than you. Even at the day I chose to be loved. I knew what I was doing. And I was doing was right. And all of you? You don't know what you're doing. You don't even know what Myth Land really mean! And hell! I don't want any of you to get in my way.

Once I finish this invention, you cannot do anything, and you will accept what is already in front of you. And you know what will happen next?' she stopped for a while as her eyes got even bigger, competing with the moon above us, 'I will have extra credits for doing everything alone! It was MY invention. MY idea. MY work. MY creation. Myth Land is in front of my eyes. Then they will see. That I am the qualified one here.' she stopped.

'But not until you and your sensitive ears heard me seeking for a solitary victory.'

I stared at her without saying a word. She spoke so long that I could barely remember what she said.

'But you know what is best, Ms. Pearl?'

I looked at her eyes.

'No one would believe you if you tell them what I said. Because I am so nice to people. I am so friendly. I am everybody's friend.'

And just like that, she left me and went back to where we were sleeping. She hid behind Hani's back, avoiding my eyes. Then, I did not sleep for the rest of the night. I sat stiff.

My feet were ice cold. My breath was stertorous. Maybe because I never liked being surrounded by many people. Maybe because I enjoy myself more when I'm alone. It was actually fine for me to stay at home, in the Outer. But I needed to stay and survive for the sake of my mama. People confused me. They seemed to never mean what they said. They did not love what they did. Then why they did it anyway? I looked at the moon who was starting to sink and remembered mama's calming bedtime stories. She was the only reason why I stayed.

I had to stay. I had to make it to Myth Land.

The night passed fast enough for me, who did not get enough sleep. Risum stretched her body as she opened her eyes and looked at mine.

-tsl