The Despairing Tribulations of a Doomed Boy

Chapter 20

He stared at the ground as he walked, his foot steps echoing through the desolate streets. Tears blurred his vision and every few steps he wiped his face with his sleeve. Now, more than ever, the pains and aches of wandering helplessly pressed into him. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten and his body hurt all over. His clothes were dirty and smelly and not warm enough for the chilled breeze that blew between the buildings. He was thirsty and cold.

"Are you okay?" A voice near him spoke softly--almost a whisper. Otto looked up. In front of him was only a wall that he was very nearly about to run into, but to his left he caught sight of a grey hoody peeking out from behind the corner of a hardware store.

"Amelie?" Otto mouthed the name. His voice was lost under his self-pity.

The hoody nodded and came out from behind the store. "Are you okay?" She repeated.

Otto nodded. He wasn't. She could clearly see that. And then she did something most surprising--she stepped toward him."What's wrong?" She asked. She spoke quietly as if to save the air from breaking. Her words rounded with no sharp edge and with a gentle accent that Otto couldn't place. He shook his head. Even if he had words for what was wrong, his throat wouldn't release them. All he could do was hold his hands out to motion at the whole world around him. The hoody came closer until her green face, framed by the hood, was all he could see. She squinted into his face like she was reading fine print around his eyes. Then she said, "I can't find my family, either." She blinked hard and dropped her face to the ground. The two of them stood in silence, sniffling and wiping the despair from their eyes."What do we do now?" She said.

Otto's whole body shook. He had no answer for her, not even a start. She was looking at him now as if he could lead the way, but he never felt more like a helpless child. His plan to go to the park didn't even make sense. It was just something he had heard back when things seemed solvable.

Something changed. Otto saw it in the corner of his vision. Amelie looked up at him again. Her skin was back to its dark, coppery tone. Instinctively, he looked at his hand. Even though logic told him he was back to normal, too, it was still reassuring to examine both sides of his hand. And just to be safe, he checked the other hand too. "Looks like some things are getting fixed," he said with just a hint of hope.

Amelie nodded, but she didn't smile. On the list of things that needed to be fixed, skin color was last.

But to Otto, it was a promise of more to come. He looked at the situation with a new perspective. Somewhere somebody was pushing the right buttons to fix the mess. The military was working their way across the city to set everything straight. And meanwhile, he had finally found Amelie. Emboldened by this small glimmer of hope, Otto smiled on her behalf and held out his hand. "I don't know where I'm going, but if we stick together then at least we're not alone."

She took his hand with such little commitment that if Otto hadn't clasped his fingers around her hand, it would have slid right out and to her side.

But Otto was determined now not to let her go. He was on a mission—to save her and himself from... well, from everything, and to find her family. And his. Maybe even both his families.

But first things first. And at this moment, the only thing Otto knew to do was to continue on towards the park.

They kept walking in a straight line towards the park until the road dead ended into the broken wall of a building. After a little thought, Otto decided to lead them West until he could find another way North.

On that westward road, a woman sat in a wheelchair on the edge of a fissure. She was all alone and far off in thought. She neither looked young, nor old, but was a most peculiar woman. Her black hair was done up in braids that wrapped around her head with flowers pinned in on top. She wore a long, colorful dress and a loose wrap around her neck that draped across her left shoulder. And as Otto got closer, he saw that she had a prominent, unplucked brow that spanned the width of her eyes. It sat on her face like the strangest of tiaras.