novel
| ← Ch.058 | Ch.060 → |
In the East Coast of the United States, Massachusetts is experiencing a snowstorm.
The thickness of snow outside the house will reach past your calf, but three steps in front of the door will make you buried in the snow. The dog sled slid into the room. The neighbors have a cheerful smile, and from their open door came joyful Christmas tunes.
Yes, today is Christmas. December is coming to an end, and there are six days left before the New Year...
Johnson Brown is lying on the second floor window sill. The neighbor's boy is wearing a hat and a mask, joyfully playing with the dog in the field of snow. In the dark night, the light from the house is warm and beautiful.
He turned his head, pulling the curtains.
The room is very cold. Johnson wrapped himself in a thick blanket of wool, his face cold and pale.
The heating at home broke down last night, Rather, it can't work, so the room temperature is very low.
Johnson's former State does not have so much snow, and winter is much warmer than here. Johnson hasn't seen so much snow before, but right now, what's reflected in his eyes is not something novel, but a very quiet place.
The house is a mess, like it's been destroyed by a monster.
The closet has a big hole, and fragments of vases are piled in a corner. The wall lamp stand is tilted, one of its leg is missing, and can only be supported with books. When Johnson sits up, the bed makes a creaking noise. It seems like in the next second, it will collapse.
No one is at home.
The entire house is empty, cold like ice.
——Katie and Charlie went out to fight again.
This newly married couple is Johnson's new guardians. They said that the legal adoption documents has not yet passed, so Johnson is living here temporarily as the owner's relative.
The owner is Katie, a former public school teacher of Johnson. She is beautiful and kind.
Her husband is Charlie, a kind-hearted lawyer, who is always kind and welcoming to children.
This is the entirety of Johnson's knowledge about them. But when they arrived in Massachusetts, and after living together with the couple, Johnson found that they're not the same as he thought.
"Kindhearted" Mr. Lawyer, except for work, never go out, and do not participate in community activities. He also seldom greets neighbors, and there are times when he comes home late. He also kicked the dog from the neighbor's house.
Kind-hearted Katie is not volunteering and doesn't go to church to help distribute food.
They said that because the family's burden became bigger, they can only spend more time on their job. Their smile is still warm and welcoming, very concerned about Johnson, but their feelings——not really good.
One night, Johnson heard arguing voices downstairs during his sleep. He rubbed his eyes and got up, quietly walking to the door, and heard Katie in a violent quarrel with Charlie. It seems to be about the money, and he overheard the problem about the family accounts.
This argument, to Johnson who used to be in the slums, is something he'd heard every day.
He walks back to his bedroom, thinking about whether his decision is wrong or not. He should not have left the Southern State, and let teacher Katie's home to fall into bad luck.
The Pedrione City was seriously affected by the hurricane, and the urban area is almost in ruins. The people who did not evacuate in time are on the missing list, and some bodies have been found.
Johnson's Uncle Rick is still missing, and he listened to Mr. Lawyer say that the adoption papers cannot be processed at this time. At present, he can't go to school, so he can only stay at home.
There's plenty of food here. There's meticulous care. There are also TV programs and computer games, but Johnson is not interested at all.
The injured teenager is very sensitive.
Living together every day, eating each meal on the table, watching talk shows on the couch every night, every day saying Goodnight...... the more time they spend together, the more strange Johnson feels.
Katie's favorite program is Guest. It was humorous, but they always make fun of the poor, metaphorically saying that they're social garbage.
The positioning of this program is to please the middle class, and the people who aspire to be in this class. Johnson has not yet been drugged by the bustling city life, so these programs makes Katie happily laugh, will always make him uneasy.
He is in this home, like a guest, and no matter how much hospitality and care he receives, he can't fit in.
After finding out that a few midnight quarrels were witnessed by Johnson, Katie and Charlie didn't argue at home anymore. They will go to the community park, or the bar, telling Johnson that "There's always conflicts in life, but we think that it's wrong to argue in front of children, so we should avoid it."
Just now, they went out again.
With such a big blizzard at Christmass, they left him alone in the cold house.
Mr. Lawyer did not call for a handyman to fix the heating appliance. Katie said that they went out to see if there are stores that are still open. The smiles still remain on their faces, but it's very reluctant.
Johnson buried his head in the blanket.
Last night on Christmas Eve, they were eating turkey in the living room when the whole house suddenly shakes.
Then many black hairballs appeared. Johnson, across the windows, also saw long-armed monkeys showing its teeth and bouncing around, shaking off the snow among the pine trees.
***
On the neigborhood's streets, a woman wearing a down jacket angrily cried out, "I've had enough, Charlie! You saw it too, when the monsters came, Johnson only hid in the corner! Fortunately, there are only a dozen hairballs, if it's the long-armed monkeys and even the man-eating squid?"
A man with a black hat, patiently says, "What do you want? Tell him, baby, in fact we have mysterious powers in our bodies, manipulate it to protect yourself and defeat those monsters?"
The woman squinted her eyes, breathing deeply, "Why can't I?"
"He's a victim of school violence. Johnson Brown suffered in his childhood, and he himself is disgusted of violence! Katie, did you forget about the contents of the book?"
"When faced with a monster attack, he can only tremble and cry, this is our protagonist? I wish I'd never taken this mission!" Blonde Katie is angry, "I'd rather be with that unlucky Jack, flying to the other side of the ocean, and walking into the devil's field. It's somewhat better than this one."
She continued to chatter about Johnson's shortcomings.
"He wouldn't wash his socks. He would not use knives and forks, even breaking a set of porcelain dishes. He won't use the mowing machine to mow the lawn, and he won't even use the microwave oven! God!"
Katie has a "This is a disaster" exagerrated look on her face. She accused the man in front of her for leaving everything to her.
"Last night in the Abandoned World, we finally killed those hairballs, but he did nothing! The furniture in the room is completely destroyed, where will we get the money to repair it? We are already in deficit last month, and we still didn't receive this month's cheque!"
The lawyer's face became impatient, and he raised his hands in surrender, not wanting to argue with Katie, "I've already gone to hurry them!"
"You've been gone for three days." Katie is mad enough to cry.
She powerlessly squat by the roadside, thinking that there was no heating at home and that the house would be cold, she doesn't want to go back.
"Hey, Katie, don't do that!" Charlie had to advise, "Listen, we can't leave Johnson alone in the house. Need I tell you what the pyschiatrist said, an injured child can easily act extreme! If faced with abandonment and prejudice, he may develop an anti-social personality! We can't make Johnson like that, dear, we have worked hard for so long, God will bless us."
A pair of man and woman embraced in the snow.
They are indeed a couple, or they wouldn't get a job like this. Initially, the couple was the envy of a lot of people, being in close contact with the protagonist, and becoming an important "relative" in the protagonist's life. This is as good as a pie dropping from the sky!
Katie almost died from happiness.
"I knew it! If it's really such a good thing, why didn't the leader himself come?"
The lawyer is startled, hurrying to stop Katie, and giving her a warning stare, "Do you want to die, saying such words?"
Katie pushes her lover in frustration, annoyed and said, "Can't you just give me some love! After coming to this world, we discovered that our hosts are losers. You allegedly helped people transfer property, and I illegally sell soft drugs. We were almost sent to prison...... won't we be better without the leader?"
"You're not afraid that he's a murderer? If he dies, we will also die. How much will it damage the organization?"
Katie listened, not daring to speak again.
"All right, baby! Let's go home and bring your wallet. And to our Johnson, let's just say that no one can repair the heating, so we'll go to a hotel for a night." Charlie persuades.
The two finally reached a consensus, turning around and going back to the house.
Ten minutes later, they were frightened. There's a set of a child's footprints in the snow, extending all the way out——Johnson took advantage of when they're not at home, and left.
"Damn it! He ran away!"
"Johnson!"
Katie anxiously said, "He never set foot one step outside the house these days. He even rarely comes out of his bedroom, why did he suddenly go? There is so much snow outside!"
"Katie, did you say something?" Charlie looks at his girlfriend in doubt.
"Shit, I don't know!"
Both complained to each other while following the footprints on the road. They met the neighbor's boy who came back, and they saw the footprints disappear on the road where it was mixed with other footprints, and they can no longer distinguish which is his.
"No! We're going to die!" Katie collapsed while grasping her hair.
***
Johnson staggered on the road.
The cold wind is giving him a headache, but he didn't want to return to that house.
Katie seems to have a problem with finances lately, and dinner has only been potatoes and bread for the past three days. He seems to have brought doom to them.
In that unfamiliar house with messy decorations, Johnson can't settle down and continue living there.
He wants to return to the Southern State, to go back and find his Uncle Rick. Maybe his missing Uncle Rick is still playing in the casino. That cold, shabby ghetto is his home. No TV, and no ironic talk show Guest.
But the Southern State is too far away......
Johnson identifies the church's cross sign in the blizzard, and he was suddenly in front of a flowerbed. A tall man is wearing a leather jacket riding a modified heavy motorcycle, stopping in front of him. Its high tires, on such a cold day, let out steam with the engine is still running.
The huge sunglasses almost covered the man's entire face.
"Mister......" Johnson weakly uttered.
The man put the vehicle across the road where the snow has been cleared. If he doesn't make way, Johnson can only step on the piled up snow which is half his height. It doesn't feel good, and his clothes are wet. Once again, the cold wind blows......
"Little ghost, you want to freeze to death on the street?"
The man picked Johnson up, looking him up and down with a frown, and wrapping him directly in his leather jacket.
"S...... Sir?" Johnson is sluggish, then struggled.
"Don't move!" The man pulled up the motorcycle, and crazily drove it. The fine snow is crushed beneath the tires, creating a snow mist drifting in the sky.
| ← Ch. 058 | Ch. 060 → |