"Alright, Tic's gotta better head on his shoulders," Cosmo begins as they hoist up Songbird to carry her to bed, "he should 'splain what's goin' on here better than I could. But, if he gets off-topic 'cuz he does that a lot, just gently steer 'im in the right direction and he'll do the rest." Margot nods absently, chewing on her lip as she's locked in her head.
"Got it," Isla answers instead with a firm nod.
"Don't worry, you'll like him; he's a bit scatterbrained but he means well." And with that, Cosmo exits the... er, kitchen room? and leaves Margot and Isla to themselves.
"God, I hate not having a plan," Margot huffs in a hushed tone. "It just breeds disaster. We don't even know what our objective is."
"Calm down, worrywart." Margot frowns. "We just have this Tic guy answer what's going on here, and then figure out what to do from there."
"I-I-" Ugh, why was it so difficult to get out what she wanted to say. "Isla, we don't know what to do. We're far from home because I made a really dumb deal with a random and very convenient voice appearing out of nowhere. And the only reason we're not at home is because I couldn't make a decision on the spot of helping those kids or-or saving our skin to get help for a situation no one really knew how to deal with."
"It was a weird situation, and you considered the alternatives. You did the best you could." However, Isla's comforting words weren't reaching the surface. Deep down, Margot wanted to blame herself for not making any correct on-the-spot decisions, and a part of her did. The other part of her genuinely believed she did what she could, but could've done more. Way more. Could've even saved those kids. Could've helped Isla from-
A loud crash beside the stove cuts off Margot's overthinking, and both girls whip their heads to the source. The pot that was now empty of its contents had tipped over, causing it to collide on the ground, and all fingers pointed to the small blonde kid who was on the ground as well.
Isla and Margot stare. This poor little kid looked confused and lost. Was he also new, or-
"Gah!" He sprung up abruptly, standing up with a small wobble. "Aw, man, again?" Wait, this kid looked familiar. He crouches down to pick up the pot, settling it on the left stovetop. "Jeez, why am I one of the only one who's old enough to cook...?" he mutters to himself, clearly not noticing the girls in the corner trying to make sense of the scene unravelling in front of them.
"Oh!" He finally turns to face them. Waaaait, this was the guy brooding next to the soup pot. That's where Margot recognized him. "You two must be the new ones Cosmo mentioned earlier. I'm Tic, nice to meet you." Did he not notice the two when they were sitting at the table...?
This must've been the scatterbrain thing Cosmo talked about, Margot figures. "Uh, nice to meet you too. I'm Margot and this is Isla." She points to herself then to at Isla, who offers a small smile at the male.
"We were hoping you'd explain what's going on in this world, and..." Isla pauses when she notices Tic is staring really intently at her. "Uh, Tic?"
"What race are you?" he blurts out, and Margot nearly chokes on her saliva in surprise.
"Oh, I'm Mexican," Isla replies casually, "My parents are from Tijuana." Margot's lips press into a firm line.
"I thought your accent was familiar! I have - or rather, had, I guess - an uncle in Oaxaca, and my cousin was deaf so I learned sign language to talk to her." To demonstrate, his hands performed a complicated series of gestures and forms Margot had problems keeping up with. Isla seemed to understand it, and she laughs softly as she signs back.
"That's really cool! Never really meet a lot of people who have Hispanic history like me," she nods approvingly. Margot begins to bite the inside of her cheek, cursing herself for not knowing any Spanish sign language.
"Anyways, we were hoping you could answer some questions we have about this place, if you could." Isla's still smiling, and it looks really great on her.
"Oh, of course! Follow me." Tic whips around, nearly bumping into the stove again as he gestures for the girls to follow. The three wander through various rooms, some that were empty and some that had a lone blanket or a piece of rusty furniture.
"So, uh, what'd you sign?" Margot whispers to Isla.
"Hm? Oh, we just signed our names." Margot made a note to learn some sign language somehow when she could.
"We kind of just, ended up here," Tic begins, gesturing towards the rooms they were passing by. "Starting off with a ceremony of sorts, then some really bright flash of lights. I mean, reeeally bright. It was kinda hard to see afterwards, and then suddenly- whammo! We're here, in this sunken ship underwater and given whatever we want."
"Cosmo mentioned a, um, singer, I think?" Margot brings up, not sure how to phrase it. She wanted to be selective, just in case.
"Oh, her! Well, everyone calls her mom, but she kinda brought us here. Promised us whatever we wanted if we came home with her, and here we are!" Tic announces with a joyful hum, and finally he stops the aimless wandering, settling in a room with just a frayed journal and a table. He sits crisscrossed in the center of the room.
"But why? Why take you away from your home to give you another one?" Margot questions as she takes a seat across Tic.
"Well, put it to ya this way- We're all born on Earth, right?" Margot and Isla nod apprehensively, unsure where this is going. "It's natural; there's no other way. However, it's not necessarily the right way. It's the only option. She's just fixing what's wrong with the world, and taking us back into her arms like we're meant to be, is all."
That made no sense to Margot, but she nods as if it did. "Uh-huh."
"We enjoy it here; it's nice. We got food, water," he chuckles as he gestures to the outside, "lots of comfort, and each other."
"Do yo- we stay here forever?" Margot asks, but Tic's lips press into a firm line.
"Eventually, we leave," he replies firmly, but doesn't elaborate. Fear of pressing on, the young Solomon only nods again. There's some tinge of foreboding in the air that intertwines with the apprehension in her stomach.
Something was up with this place. Whatever this was was wrong, and Margot was going to find out what was up with this place.
YOU ARE READING
solomon's lament | completed | final product under editing
Paranormal"I'll let you go in exchange for a deal." "Wh-What deal...?" "All I ask is you find something for me. I'll take you to that place where it is, which is safe and you cannot be harmed. But if you don't find it, I fear you won't live very long, and you...
