This is weird
“Hey wait a minute, I don’t think this is okay?” you asked your friend, “This is a bit off. Why fish? What’s even going on here?” Decatur looked at you with a cross yet angry face.
“Wait. you think this is weird?” He reiterated from you. “This is like… my culture.” he said to you with a crescendoing voice. You could tell that he was rather upset. Yet the chorus of singing people continued on in the background.
Tiny droplets of water splashed from their ritual onto the two of you as they continued hoisting baskets full of the wriggling fish; their iridescent scales sparkled dully in the light shining through the sunhole. You spent a moment taking in the sight before you felt a prodding finger in your side.
“Hey are you listening to me? This is our culture you’re talking about!” the young man started growing more aggressive towards your aloof nature. At this point, the other people began to take notice of Decatur’s anger as he confronted you near a towering fish pillar.
“Little prince, wha’s the matter?” A local came by, interrupting the ritual, which caught the attention of several other members of the congregation.
“She had the nerve to disrespect our practices right in the house of fish!” he said, slightly quivering in anger. “She said it’s weird!” the villager looked nervous, and with wide eyes shifted between you and the angry young… prince? Wait you didn’t seem to fully catch that. Did he say prince? That shocked you to the core once you fully processed that. If he was a prince then that means that you two actually had some kind of similarities, despite his… modest upbringing.
“Prince?!” you said, shocked. This ignorance clearly caused the villagers discomfort, yet none of them had it in them to speak up to the livid young son of their leader. There was an eerie silence cutting through the congregation for a moment, as your voice continued to echo through the hard wooden walls.
Slowly, silent muttering began to fill the room, and when you looked at your friend’s face, something told you that he was quickly becoming your enemy. With curled fists, his face began to turn flushed red and sweaty with anxiety. You too began to feel anxiety from this situation.
“Look, I know I just met you, but I think you need to leave.” he barely looked you in the eyes, though something about his calm demeanor seemed to throw you off. Despite your disrespect, he seemed to be holding back a lot more than he wanted to. Clearly your time here had quickly come to a head, and it was about time you booked out of there.
Regardless, your hasty exit, when you looked back, there seemed to be a tiny sliver of sadness in the eyes of the young prince. In your own heart, there was also sadness, though your feet seemed to take you on to the next location. Though you were unaware of where you were to go, it seemed as if anywhere that wasn’t here was a better option for you.
The rest of your time here was spent aimlessly wandering through the woods. To your surprise, there was nothing else it seemed like you could have done. Time passed on and on until you ultimately became too old to even move. Though you didn’t fail your mission, you seemed to have not succeeded either, and despite being slightly proud over being able to live your life, there was something a bit off putting about not being more than what you already were as well.
Written by Driftingdragon on 07 September 2020
The end (for now)