Second Life: A Second Chance

Fallen Star (II)

Drop, drip, drop, drip. The rain begins falling even quicker now, having developed further than it was at commencement, back when it was just mere sprinkles. The raindrops sting, marking the need to find shelter, quickly. Luckily, there is a shop several meters away with the perfect rounded awning to shield myself from the toughening rain. I speed walk to the shop containing the semi-circled awning and stay close to its windows, underneath it all the while, readying to brace myself for the pouring rain. As I stand outside the window, I notice how low the banners hang from their attachment to the yarn that sticks closely to the window's walled interior. The solid black and red triangle shaped banners that hang from the black colored yarn are meant as a way to honor the dead following yesterday's supposed honor raid. Yet not surprisingly, they are hung alongside yellow sticky X's that passively intertwine with the triangles, counter serving as a reminder for the immoral actions that I and many others had committed yesterday, particularly reminding me of the punishment I did not receive and am long deserving of.

I turn back and look to the shops all around. There are only three shops out of the busy twelve who are both honoring yet shaming the dead today: the one next to the shop I am in front of and two right next to each other only a few meters adjacent from the shop I am near. No other shop within eyesight is doing any sort of recognition to the dead. Not surprisingly, due to the late timing of yesterday's given celebration, none of the shops today are open for business yet. In addition, almost all the working-class males are resting at home as expected the day after a celebratory event, with the exception of the traveling Kovashyans and my Fathe's unit of course. One surprise out of all this, that surprises me even today, is that fact that even the Nehlots are resting. It's rare to see Nehlots rest, given their positions as break-never workers. Aside from Nehlot speak, my Fathe, one of several Kurakaine co-policing units in town, is always out "guarding" the boundaries of the town, looking for any unusual activities that are present within the town's perimeter. He runs the Mountain Guard (the Kurakaine policing population in town) which covers the entire town region, basically standing in as a "watchdog" for the town, where he merely watches over the law abiding non-human robotic cubes, the ones who really monitor everything.

Looking back at the other shop windows inside the inner square, I notice a few lights turn on inside the stores. Some of the senior Kovashyans who work in the shops must be opening today which is very unusual, given the post yesterday feeling going on today. Soon enough, an unusual odd smell overtakes my nostril and my mind. This unusual smell spreads like wildfire throughout the air, with the smell becoming more and more pungent in proximity, and in depth to the air around me. I take a huge whiff around myself and look above, trying to locate the source of this odd smell. The smell is awfully strong underneath this awning, yet it seems to go away the closer I get to the water pounded non-awning outer space. I, curious as to where the smell might have originated from, put my nose near my right armpit and sniff, immediately noticing where the source of this odd smell is coming from. I am behind the awfully strong smell permeating the air around me. I smell inside my clothes and am greeted with the horrible smell of disgust. I reek like burned fecal matter, with a faint dried metal odor, all coming from my dirty used-up clothes. My clothes are stained with blood, sweat, dirt, and soot from the raid I had just survived yesterday. It explains the lack of rain smell inside this awning. I slowly turn away from the shop I am in front of and walk over to the next one, walking to the next awning, luckily untouched by the water, keeping my distance from the other shop in case some male approaches me and smells me, realizing where I have been. Truth be told, smell is a far easier indicator than appearance for something considered to be with provocation to attack or snitch on.

I look ahead to the shop in front of me, where "general" items are sold and mandated by the government. The "general" items sold inside are not general at all but more or less specialty items consisting of pricey decorated cubes and other pricey holo-electronics that no one, not even my Fathe, can afford. Even so, the specialties shop manages to open daily behind a few food stand, with not a single male customer since its grand opening nearly three years ago. The actual general items or "specialties" shop can be seen facing this shop at the front of the opposite row, facing the general items shop from where I am standing. The banners in front of this shop are hung rather outside than inside, deviating from the other two shops' willing banner arrangements. Although hung outside and taped to the window, the shop remains closed. I look closely however, to the colored signs from the banner, appearing a bit aged, almost as if they were hung yesterday. Questioning this finding, I pace myself underneath this awning, debating on whether or not I should leave the spot in front of the so called general items shop, as my future will be dependent on whether or not the owner of the shop happens to head outside for opening. I cannot risk it but I cannot go home smelling like crap but at the same time, I can't not go home, that is ludicrous. I simply must not get caught.