Riyad's body was frozen. A life-size ship was tumbling down from the sky with sluggish speed. It was only about a story above them as the dock slowly turned to face them. The vessel was devoid of people. The three huge black funnels glared at him from the black and white ship. He turned to the siblings around him. Both of them seemed to be equally shocked. Carter's jaw dropped and Yayli's chest heaved up and down in an effort to breathe.
"What is that, Carter!"
"Looks like a ship of some sort?!"
That's it...I'm dreaming, thought Riyad as the shadow completely engulfed them.
Yayli broke into a scream, "Well, what the hell are we doing?! Let's get into safety before this boat thing squashes us!"
She's finally making some sense. Riyad was about to step out of the backdoor and run as fast as he could to the other end of the field before the ship could crash into the house, but Carter grabbed a bunch of his shirt and pulled him back into the house instead.
"What are you doing?!" Riyad fumed.
Yayli dived underneath the thick wooden table and locked her fingers over her head and Carter followed suit while dragging Riyad by his shirt. Surprisingly, Riyad was no match for his strength and before he knew it, he was shoulder to shoulder with the siblings underneath the table.
"Why are we underneath this stupid table when we should be running away from the ship?" barked Riyad.
"C'mon Jasper!" whispered Carter. "Did you not go to school? Do you know nothing about safety protocols?! Me and Yayli went to school two times and even we know about this!"
"Two— ugh, never mind." Riyad put his hands over his head and almost punched himself for doing it. I am losing my damn mind! If a ship can appear out of thin air, then I won't be surprised if following what these two idiots are doing is going to save my life. They probably know something about this.
The group waited in silence for what felt like a solid minute to Riyad, but the silence was cut short by some sniffing. Riyad turned to Carter and saw some tears dripping from his shadowed eyes. He wanted to pity him, but he felt the same as him, except he was able to hold himself back. Riyad would've lost his mind at this point, but after each strange event since the night he fell asleep, he became numb to the unexpected. Somewhere deep down, he wanted to believe that it was all a dream. He had come to a point where that was the only sane explanation for what was going on.
Yayli's hand brushed past him to reach for Carter's. Yayli pursed her lips and gave him a quivering smile. Riyad had a feeling that she was suppressing her own fear to keep her brother calm. The thought of it made him stare at her longer than he had intended to.
Riyad heard a crunchy sound above him.
The ship is not going to come crashing down! Riyad could feel it deep within him, given the absurdity of the situation.
The woods groaned and creaked and popped like party poppers—except, instead of confetti, it rained wooden dust.
The ship is not going to crash! He repeated in silence over the whimper of Carter.
The sound elongated and brought forth other noises of woods snapping.
This is not real! He squeezed his eyes shut.
"Oh, no! Where's Pikeya!"
"I think she ran outside!"
Who the heck is that? Riyad rolled his eyes once he realized that she was talking about the chicken, but seeing her feeling so emotional about a chicken caused him to accidentally hold her gaze longer than he had intended to. He quickly jerked his head away and reminded himself that there was something more important going on: he was facing death.
There was another loud snapping noise and a piece of wood smacked down on the table and made the three winch.
The ship is not going to crash! Riyad desperately repeated as if he was expecting a divine being to hear his prayer.
"Jasper."
He turned to Yayli, who was staring at him with blurry eyes.
"Y- yeah?" He almost twisted his tongue.
"I'm sorry for bringing you here. It's our fault that you're going to become a pancake."
Riyad wasn't sure how to reply to her. "Don't you worry, girl! We are in this together!" "I'm glad that I was about to taste that fresh water you gave me before I die—"
Thud!
Riyad and Yayli jerked their heads to Carter, who was vigorously rubbing his own.
"Guys," he said. "I think it's over now. I don't hear anything anymore."
It was only now, Riyad realized that the heat of the moment made him not notice that the sound of wood snapping and crunching had stopped after the big piece of wood fell on the table. That doesn't make any sense! He looked down on the floor and saw stars of lights scattered on the floor. Is the house that tough that it was able to hold back a ship? Riyad wanted to get out and check, but the thought of opening the back door and seeing the ship made his skin crawl. Even though it was an ordinary ship, the fact that it fell from the sky was enough for him to stay at least a hundred feet away from it.
Yayli was the first one to crawl out. Riyad could see her legs tremble as she reached the door.
"Wait for me, Yayli!" Carter slid out and stood next to his sister with his hand on her shoulder. Yayli glanced at Riyad.
No, thanks. I think I'm good here.
Lights poured onto the siblings as they both slowly pushed the door open.
"Oh, my god, Carter!"
"The ship disappeared!"
"Are we going crazy?"
"The house is still damaged, though"
Of course, it would disappear, Riyad relaxed his shoulder. This is a dream, after all. Dream or not, he realized that it had to be the craziest day of his life. Not only he was rejected by Bibha and not only he "woke up" twice on a completely foreign land, he had just witnessed a ship falling from the sky and disappearing. If this isn't a dream, then the explanation of it all is going to blow my mind away.
The siblings continued to peek around without taking a single step out the door. Riyad's face burned hot at the thought of looking like a coward and hiding under the table while the two brave siblings were inspecting the field. He pushed himself out of the table and glanced at the back of Yayli's head.
If there's one thing I've learned from Bibha is that I'm not ready yet...No Bibha 2.0 or 3.0 He decided that he needed to douse his creepy feelings before it could cause any awkward issues. He had learned his lesson and he sure didn't want to fail the same test twice.
I'm such a low-lifer. Bibha didn't even KNOW me... Imagining Yayli and Carter's disgusted face once they find out about his strange feelings made him shiver. He put those thoughts aside and reached the siblings.
"Carter, remember the piece of steak Alyce gave us yesterday?" asked Yayli.
"I can still taste it," Carter licked his lips.
"No, you idiot. I think she done some black magic to it or something, because she found out that we tied an empty can to her cattle."
"You're a genius, Yayli!" He jolted. "That little pig really tried to kill us!"
Wow, so now magic is real in this world? What else is new? Riyad let out an annoyed laughter.
"But something doesn't seem right, Carter." Yayli turned to Riyad with a set of accusatory eyes.
"What?" said Riyad, dully.
"Jasper," her eyes pierced him, "who are you?"
"Uh," he hesitated.
He could tell them that he had gone to sleep and woke up in an alternate universe, but then considering Yayli and Carter discussing black magic as if it was an ordinary part of their life, he would rather prefer scenario 2 than getting his head chopped off and being fed to the cows.
Scenario 2: play dumb.
Riyad rigidly put his hands on his hips and smiled. "I'm Jasper, of course! I come from Vele— I mean, Woods. My mum didn't want to let me play with the chickens, so one night I uh, ventured out into the dark and stumbled upon Veleen and met you two!"
The siblings silently stared at him.
These two were messing with me the whole time! But why? Riyad put his arms down in defeat. "I'm lost, alright?"
They both simultaneously narrowed their eyes on him.
He continued, "Can you guys, please take me to someone who knows a lot about uh, this place and what is going on here?"
Carter side-eyed his sister. "Yayli, say when was the last time we fed the cows?"
"I think when we killed Casper and chopped him up for 'em?"
"Who's Casper, again?"
Yayli bumped his head with her fist. "C'mon, you just foiled our damn plan, Carter!"
"Gee, sorry!" He rubbed his head with a sullen look.
Riyad pushed past the two and jerked his head left and right. There was no sign of the ship anywhere. Everything was exactly how they were before. The crops continued to sway lazily with the breeze as if a ship did not just fall from the sky. He shielded his eyes from the sun as his vision narrowed in the distance.
To his far right, he noticed similar looking wooden houses, heavily concentrated. Houses seemed to be squeezed next to one another, choking the smudges of people that were going in and out of the narrow spaces in between. That explained why there was nobody in his vicinity. That place could hold the answers to all his burning questions. All the adults were probably there, working. They must've seen the ship as well. Growing up on fantasy books and movies, he had a sneaky feeling that he could be wrong, but he did not have many options left in his pockets.
"Say, what's over there?" Riyad pointed to his right.
"The heart of the village, of course," uttered Carter.
Yayli scrunched her nose as she came out of the shadow of the house and the bright sunlight fell onto her face. "Carter, you think Y.E. is working there right now?"
"Nuh, he's probably chasing cattles," said Carter, sarcastically. "Of course, he is!" He quickly took a step back when she balled her fist.
"Jasper, say you wanted answers?"
"Is Y.E. some sort of a robot?" Riyad stammered.
"Ro...but?" she mumbled. "Yeah, you definitely need some answers."
"Or a smack on the head?" suggested Carter. He waited for his sister to giggle before he relaxed his shoulders and let out a shaky laugh.
"Jasper," she said, "you smell funny."
"Huh?" Riyad frowned.
She went back in the house and came out with her pickaxe and gestured to her brother to pick up Pikeya, who seemed to have appeared by their feet out of nowhere. Carter's nod was so aggressive, Riyad thought he almost heard a bone snapping. Once they were all ready, Yayli began treading toward the heart of the village. Riyad didn't have to be told what to do as he briskly began following her, alongside Carter.
"You better not have any funny business in your pockets." Yayli peered at the sky.
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