I woke up to the sound of the mockingbirds outside my bedroom window on the fourth floor of the Clocktower. They sang gently and peacefully, slowly bringing me up out of my dreamish slumber. With a yawn, I stretched and brushed my hair away from my eyes.
Beth: "What a nice dream..."
Sadly, I no longer remember what I dreamt about, for the events of that day have overshadowed my memories.
I arose from my bed and went to my bathroom. I brushed my hair and braided it the same as I always did, brushed my teeth, and got dressed. I crossed my bedroom and climbed down the staircase. As I thought about what I wanted to eat for breakfast, I tried to remember just what I had to do today, but to no avail.
Beth: "There's something I'm forgetting. Maybe I need to go to the city for something?"
That was probably it. I tried as hard as I could to never think about the city ever. I only ever went there to see Mr. and Mrs. Lovely. They were the ones who gave me food whenever I needed it, and were ever so friendly. Since I was on my own out in the middle of nowhere, food was scarce. I could probably have grown my own food by the stream, but that meant I had to work, and I was NOT working.
Beth: "I'm running low on food anyway. I should probably go to the city and see them."
I entered my kitchen and turned the stove on to boil some water. Mrs. Lovely gave me some new tea packets last week. It would've been quite boorish to not have tried any at all before I saw her again. I put some bread in the toaster oven, and went to the living room to read. Most of my books I already had read, but that day I found a book with a purple cover sticking out under the shelf. I didn't recognize it, so I pulled it out to investigate. The book's title was 'Image Any Hills'.
Beth: "What a strange title. I wonder what it's about."
I took the book and sat down on the couch. I opened it and was immediately piqued with curiosity. The story was about a girl named Mahale, who lived in a kingdom as the princess. She had a maid named Orchid, and an older brother named Kano. Her older brother was meant to inherit the throne, but he had locked himself in his room and refused to come out, still trying to get over their parents' death. The story was a nice commentary on the issues of having a Monarchical Governmental System, which had a major plot twist at the end, revealing that Mahale wasn't actually from ??????????, but a different ????????? instead.
I never ended up getting to finish the story, because I was interrupted, but more on that later.
I heard the toaster's click noise, and left the living room to eat breakfast, and drink tea. The toast was done perfectly, and the tea tasted absolutely divine. It was the best breakfast I've had in a long, long time, if not my whole life. After I finished eating, I got ready to leave for the city. I took the basket of herbs I promised Mr. Lovely I would deliver to him, and headed out the door.
The journey was a long one, but the weather was perfect. Not too hot, not too cold, and a soothing, gentle breeze was blowing.
After an hour or so of walking, I approached the cluster of buildings and roads. What was the most peculiar thing though, was that nobody was walking around, or anything. The city was dead silent.
Beth: "That's strange... I wonder where everyone went..."
I found the Lovely family's house, but nobody was there as well. I knocked multiple times, but no response.
Beth: "Hello? Mrs. Lovely? It's me, Beth."
No response. I checked to see if the door was locked, and it wasn't. Mrs. Lovely never leaves her door unlocked.
