Hugh pulled himself up, looking around the room he was now in. Everything was unfamiliar and knowing he was yet again, on another planet, he felt a bit at a loss.
Having lost all his internal energy and knowing that this world was completely devoid of it, Hugh tried to think of what he would do. He had no idea how to get back at the moment, and he felt that there was a good chance he would never see his mother and father from this life again. Along with Gris, Sir Diosk, and even Hatia, Hugh could only sigh. They were literally worlds apart and Hugh could only hope he could one day find his way back once the energy returned to this world.
With those thoughts in mind, Hugh had begun walking around the room, eventually finding an exit. He had taken note of the strangeness of the objects strewn about, but they weren’t too important to him since he didn’t know what any of them were. Once outside the large room, Hugh found himself in a seemingly endless corridor that he followed for a bit. After walking a distance, he recognized that it must circle the incredibly large room he had appeared in.
Though Hugh found it strange that nobody was around, he had no idea of the situation here, so he left that thought process in the back of his mind for later. During his walk through the hallway, he had seen several big box-like objects taller than himself. The front was a clear class of sorts, and inside them were several small packages. He had even stopped at one, pressing multiple buttons, but they didn’t seem to do anything, so he slowly made his way out through another set of doors he found a bright light shining through.
Now outside, Hugh found himself ignoring the clear blue of the sky and just looking around. There were several buildings and the thought of where everybody was popped back into his mind. Not for long though, as Hugh picked a path that looked like the way out as his steps carried him further and further.
He had been walking for some time after having passed several buildings that had a drastically different feel than the one he had arrived in. It was then he heard a voice from his side.
“Hey, kid! Why aren’t you in a shelter?”
Hugh was surprised he could understand them and spoke normally in return.
“What shelter? I was trying to find others as I don’t know where I am.”
The person walked up to Hugh, looking him up and down before making a strange expression and asking, “Where are you from?”
Several things flashed through Hugh’s mind.
‘I’m from a small village in the unblessed lands. No, that won’t work. The Cowr kingdom doesn’t make sense either. Do they even know about the other world, Dierra?’
Hugh decided to just not say and answered with an uncertain tone, “I don’t know.”
The man gave Hugh a disbelieving look and before he could speak, another man arrived shouting, “Tibor, what’re you doing? Send that kid back to the shelter and let’s go.”
Hugh was curious but had no idea where the shelter was.
The man in front of Hugh said, “Go back to the shelter you came from and wait for the all-clear. We don’t know if the earthquakes are over yet.”
The man was about to turn back around to continue his duty but stopped when he noticed Hugh didn’t move, but just had a blank look.
“What? Did you hit your head or something? Return to the shelter before I record your information down for recklessness and stick you in a cell.”
Hugh hesitantly asked, “I… Don’t know where the shelter is.”
The man sighed, “We are in the middle of three, was it the Bellesk shelter, or the Trocain Shelter?”
Hugh didn’t know any of those names and he felt like there wasn’t a point to claiming one or the other.
“I never went into a shelter.”
The man sighed before reaching to a device on his neck, “Tibor here, we got a kid who never made it to a shelter. Location…”
Hugh just waited as the man gave a location and a general description of him before requesting an escort.
“Copy that Tibor. Escort the civilian to the Trocain Shelter. They’ll take it from there.”
After Tibor confirmed, he looked back at Hugh before speaking, “Follow me, I’ll take you to the nearest shelter. Was your family visiting the holy site?”
Hugh gave a short reply, “No.”
“Well, that’s why most people come here. What’s your name? I’m Tibor Fairweld.”
“Hugh”
“Well Hugh, got a last name? We can at least try to find your parents.”
Hugh shook his head as Tibor had turned to look at him while they were walking.
“Is that a no, you don’t have one, or a no, you don’t want to tell me?”
After Tibor said that, he wondered if the boy was an orphan and didn’t like using his last name. Thinking the poor kid was traumatized at some point, he asked, “Are you from an orphanage?”
Hugh knew what the man was asking and wondered if he should just say yes since he knew no matter how they looked, his parents were not going to be found. Hugh decided to just keep quiet.
Along the way, Tibor asked a few more questions without answers before they simply walked in silence until arriving at what was apparently the Trocain shelter.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Tibor gave a simple, see you later kid, before quickly leaving as Hugh was pulled into the shelter to find it packed with other people. He was only directed to go find somewhere to wait until everything is cleared.
Hugh wandered around, seeing families huddled together, whispering, and several others doing something with a small object that lit up. After walking around the shelter for a bit, Hugh found himself a small corner to sit and wait in until whatever was happening was over.
Several hours later while Hugh tried his best to meditate to no avail, a loud voice rang through the shelter, “Everybody is cleared to leave, please take your things and vacate the shelter after registering your presence at the exit.”
Hugh opened his eyes as those nearest to him all gathered most of the things around them and began to shuffle slowly in the direction of the entrance. After seeing how many people were inside, Hugh knew it would be a while, so he simply waited until it was almost empty before getting up and making his way out as well.
It was when Hugh reached the exit that he was stopped by one of the people blocking the way. It was a woman wearing a fitted shirt and jeans with her hair tied up behind her head and glasses. She had just finished placing a paper down on the table behind her and put another on the board in her hand before looking over at Hugh.
“Name please.”
“Hugh”
The woman frowned, “Full Name please.”
Hugh frowned and wondered if he should make one up. He didn’t wonder too long though as the woman had a very displeased look on her face.
“Hugh, is it? Where are your parents?”
Hugh decided to take the silent route and shook his head.
For some reason, the woman’s face softened a bit before saying, “Alright, please wait over there while we get everybody else situated and then we can help you out.”
The woman pointed to an area to the side where there were several other people waiting, while most were older than him, there were also some that were younger as well.
Hugh walked over and waited patiently, separately from the others, until only a couple of people were leaving every now and then. Hugh watched as a man stepped out of a door nearby and announced, “Alright, Sarah, Jen, Mike, stay here and finish registering those that are leaving. Karl, call in for the sweep to empty the shelter, then gather the information we have on the lost so we can match them up quickly and go home. It’s been a long day and we’re almost done.”
After the man said that, he walked over to the area where Hugh and several others were waiting and spoke again, loud enough for them all to hear.
“The shelter’s almost empty. A team of people will sweep the shelter and find all your lost loved ones, so it won’t be much longer now.”
As he said that, Hugh saw the woman he spoke with earlier approach the man, “Sir.”
The man turned to the woman and they spoke quietly to each other before he turned around and pointed at two other kids and Hugh, “You, you, and you. Follow me.”
Hugh didn’t have anything else to do and nowhere to go so he began to walk. While he did so, he couldn’t help but notice the other boy and girl who were pointed at shuffle along as well. He thought it was odd, but their shoulders were drooped and it was like they were unwillingly walking into battle.
As Hugh and the two other kids followed the man into the other room, he found the man sitting behind a large desk. Once they were all inside, the man gestured with an arm and said, “Have a seat”.
Hugh studied the man for a moment while the man seemed content to just study the three of them all the same. He had a clean face with no hair at all, and what was on top of his head was barely there, cut so short it was almost bald.
Not long after, the woman from earlier knocked on the door and stepped into the room, handing over three papers to the man at the desk, “Here are their documents.”
“Thank you, June. Please help match the rest in the lost section.”
The woman left and the man glanced over the papers before pointing and looking at the other two kids in the room.
“I’m Jerich. It is my understanding that you three, or, I guess two, refused to give out your names.”
Hugh looked over and saw that both the other two were nervous. The girl seemed to have a death grip on the hem of her dress. The boy, while his arms were crossed in his attempt to look closed and rather stoic, his right leg betrayed him as the light patter of his foot sounded as his knee bobbed quickly up and down.
The man looked over at Hugh, “You gave only a first name, refusing a last. I have a few simple questions. You don’t have to answer out loud, but you can if it helps. It is a simple yes or no. If the answer is yes to any of them, no matter which one, don’t move and simply stay as you are. If the answer is no, I want you to turn your chair around and you can look at the books next to the door. You can even choose one if it strikes your fancy.”
Hugh thought this was a very strange way to go about things, and he was curious about what the questions were. He didn’t have to wait long as the man began his questions with a slight pause between each one.
“Are you injured in some way… Has somebody hurt you… Do you no longer live with your parents… Are your parents deceased… Have your guardians done anything inappropriate… Have your guardians ever struck you…”
That seemed to be it as Jerich looked back down at the papers as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. Hugh saw the other two shift uncomfortably several times but never turned their chairs around. He wondered briefly which one of those questions was true for them before he saw the man look up from the papers and speak again in a soothing tone.
“Since that is the case, I have a few more questions. The same rules apply. Turn your chair around if the answer is no.”
Hugh locked eyes with the man for an instant before he switched his focus to the others and began again. Hugh couldn’t quite tell, but there seemed to be another tone hidden underneath the soothing calm exterior now.
“Are you currently in pain… Has an adult tried to help you out of the situation…”
This time, neither of the questions fit Hugh, so he stood up and turned the chair around as he looked at the numerous objects on the bookshelf in his view. Despite knowing neither of the other two had moved their chair still, he looked over to them and saw they were both looking at him with sadness.
Hugh wasn’t certain of what was going on exactly, but the man then spoke again.
“Last question. Is there a parent or guardian waiting for you nearby?”
The others didn’t move again and Hugh felt a little strange as he once again stood up and turned his chair back around. He caught a flash of surprise on Jerich’s face, but it didn’t last.
Jerich opened a drawer and pulled out three items, handing them to each of them. Hugh didn’t know what it was until he watched the other two peel the wrapper off. The girl began to lick it, and the boy just popped it in his mouth, leaving the stick out between his lips, both still quiet the entire time. Hugh copied them, finding the food to be extremely sweet, but he didn’t complain. It did taste pretty good.
The man touched something on his desk before writing on the papers. Soon, the woman, June, came back into the room and the man held up the papers as he spoke.
“How many are left?”
June replied, “Two, but the team said they found matching descriptions and they are on their way out.”
“Good.”
June took the papers and glanced down at them as Jerich spoke again.
“These three are to be taken to the longer waiting area, their information is on the sheets.”
June nodded and after having looked at the notes on the sheet, she seemed overly nice to them as she led them back to wait some more.
“Just hang out here for now. We’ll have the authorities here shortly to work everything out.”
June closed the door to the nice room and Hugh looked around. The girl and boy each separated and picked a random chair to sit in, and Hugh did the same. Looking around the empty room, Hugh decided to study the light in the ceiling, trying to figure out what it was. He had never seen something like that before and wondered if it was magic.
As Hugh waited, Somebody came into the room in a blue outfit with items all over them. They walked up to the youngest of them there, the girl, and spoke too quietly for him to hear before they both left. About thirty minutes later, the same thing happened with the other boy, and then sometime after that, a different person entered and walked up to Hugh.
