16 COMPULSION (1/2)
Lirzod just came out of the room, 10-K43.
”Please, ma'am! Listen to me, your child needs this kowa[1]!” a man's voice reached his ears. When he looked to the side, a clean-shaved, gray-haired man dressed in full white, carrying a hymnal in one of his hands was chasing after a woman who was running down the corridor, holding her newborn child in her arms.
”Forgive me, Brother!” the 32-year-old lady in blue was hastening in an aberrant manner — the after-effects of giving birth — but worry visibly showed on her visage. ”God never told me to take kowa. Only people in white coats did. I'm sorry.”
In great haste, the two eventually evanesced.
”What was that about..?” He scratched his chin and looked around before his eyes set on the neighboring rooms, which seemed to be locked from the inside. ”Those two are still inside? That devil must be mugging the words out of that pocketbook.” He locked his room, and then walked away, in one of the routes of the corridors. After making sure his pockets were filled with nuts and something else, he began to whistle and shape melodies with his mouth, his shoulders dancing to his own tunes in unison.
Soon after Lirzod left the room, two thumping men reached the spot, bouncing eggs into each other's palms. Looking exactly similar in physique and attire, their white jackets had expressive egg tattoos painted on their backs divulging their identities.
”This is 10-K43. Mm? And it's locked,” said the guy with a stony expression, and he had a tag of 251 at his bicep region.
”Maybe he went to the Test Hall,” said the other guy gently biting the lip, and he had the tag of 252 on his bicep.
”Even if we go there, we don't know how he looks,” the guy heaved a sigh.
”Hmm...” He rubbed his belly, making it grumble. ”First, let's go find a Bread Booth[2].”
The took of them took a walk in the corridors.
Meanwhile, Lirzod was at the Bread Booth — a green tent without frills and resembled a trekking camp — with a Hollow — an orange-haired youth who wasn't much older than Lirzod — supplying bread for whoever asked for it. On the backside of the booth, there was but a single table and a bench for people to ensconce oneself. Natheless, they were rarely used as most people just took a packet of bread and made themselves scarce.
”What? There's nothing but bread?” Lirzod frowned, staring at the vendor who stood on the other side of the counter, arms limply hanging at his sides. ”There's at least jam, right?”
”Bread with jam is given from 15th deck,” The slender and simple looking Hollow said, speaking only when spoken to, and he glanced at the tattoo on Lirzod's outer palm, which was the symbol 'ten.' In a flat tone — the way he would speak to most new customers — he continued, ”Sweet buns or sandwiches, or for any sweet stuff, you must reach that deck. All you get here is plain bread. One packet a day for free.”
Lirzod let out a bark of laughter. ”What?” But after discerning the blank stares of the Hollow, his laughter vanished like a whirlwind. His eyebrows lifted, ”Are you serious?”
”I always am,” the Hollow raised his voice a bit. ”I have a party to cope with. So, I don't wanna waste my energy chewing over random rubbish. Either take the bread or walk away.”
Lirzod turned away touching his throat. (Can't eat proper food until I reach the 15th deck? These shoddy rules are giving me slapsticks one after another, but these are anything but funny.) He turned back and cleared his throat, before stretching his hand forward.
The Hollow handed him a packet containing twenty slices of brown bread.
Looking down at the food, he bit his cheeks. ”What about spicy stuff?” he couldn't help but ask.
”I don't sell it.”
Shrugging his shoulders, Lirzod walked past the tent and occupied the spacious bench. Though it appeared ancient, it didn't creak or shake to his weight. He unfastened one end of the packet and got his hands on a piece, before placing the remaining packet on the varnished wooden table in front of him. The table contrasted the bench in its appearance.
His focus was not on his surroundings but on the brown bread, which didn't feel soft upon touch. It didn't have any discoloration which may occur because of the accumulation of fungi. Wondering for how long that packet had been stored in the booth, he dared to sniff it once. Only after his nose confirmed the smell to be up to snuff, did his tongue roll out for a touch and teeth dug in to rip a slice out of it. A couple of bites later, his expressions gradually worsened, and he put the piece aside with all the speed his hands could move. ”Ugh, this is trash. I shouldn't have tried the top slice.” He picked up another slice which wasn't as rough and roasted as the last one. After tasting it in a tentative manner, he nodded many a time. ”Hmm, not bad for a free good. This thing's tastier than Johr.”
At the moment, two bulky men were advancing towards the booth. After catching sight of them, the Hollow's heart raced and stomach rock-hardened. (T-They are... The Darling Twins! Why the hell are they coming in this direction?) His arms began to shake uncontrollably, forcing him to hide them in his pockets.
Elder Darling, the one with the 251 tag on his arm, said, ”We've faced 499 rejections till now. Is it worth trying for beautiful women? They are casting aside our love without consideration.”
”These beautiful women are merciless — they tear the love letters and souls of their makers alike,” Younger Darling uttered a rushed speech, adding an impatient snort in between. ”Hmph, that's why I have been telling you, we should go for the uglier women if we want to get married and have many children.”
”Why are you bringing up children now when we can't even get married?” Elder Darling softly shook his head, pursing his lips.
”Because women who care more about their appearance don't want to have more children,” Younger Darling's hands made jerky movements as he replied in a sharp tone.
”... Yeah, you might be right this time. Our aunt was like that,” Elder Darling said and sighed. ”Guess we'll have to change our priorities then. No more compulsion to propose to beautiful ladies.”
”Ha-ha, yes, finally!” They both chest bumped each other — the sound of which reached all the way to the tent. ”At the end of the day, every egg's worth the same, won't you agree?”
”Of course, I do.”
Laughing nonchalantly, they reached the booth who's owner leaked out a forced smile, tried his best to constrain his shaking limbs. ”What do you two want, Sir Diggers?”
”What's the best thing you got?” Acting hyper, Younger Darling darted a serious glance at the owner and spoke in a rough voice, lot hoarser than when he just chatted with his brother.
”I happened to import a case full of eggs,” The owner hurriedly said, his heart far from beating at a normal rate. ”I can make bread omelet... w-with added jam and cheese of course.”
”Hmm, turn them into sandwiches and bring them quickly,” The brothers were about to move.
”H-How many, sirs?” The owner didn't want to ask, but his tongue slipped. ”I'm extremely sorry. I will keep making them until you order me to stop.”
”Hmph, they better be tasting good, or else you know what will happen.” Saying that the two of them sauntered to the side.
The owner breathed a sigh of relief but then had to control the anger building up in his stomach. (How can bread omelets be turned into sandwiches? These pigs will even eat shit if it's coated in cream.) While continuing to swear more and more in silence, he began to prepare the ordered goods. (At this rate, if I get stuck here, what about the party?) He shook his head. (I gotta hurry.) Though his hands visibly sped up in their motion, after he placed the bread slices on the heating twenty-inch black rock, all he could do was wait for them to roast. AHH! He tightly grabbed his hair and almost pulled his scalp out in aggravation.
In that time, the two brothers reached to the spot where the only bench there was.
Lirzod at the time was daydreaming about the days when Primera stuffed his stomach with Johr as a punishment for things he did. Whenever Primera didn't spend enough time with him in a week, he purposely angered her so that she would punish him and at least be with him for some more time. Though he liked her punishments, he never liked Johr. After tasting a bread which was comparable in looks yet a cut above in taste, he couldn't help but remember some things of the past.(If Johr tasted like this, Primera would have always been with me.) His chin poked forward and face reddened a bit.
A sudden jerk shoved him to the side and brought him back to his senses. When he turned his head in puzzlement, he saw a boulder bulldozing its way to plant itself next to him. Only a second later, did he realize that it wasn't a boulder but in sooth a human. His eyes never beheld someone so round not in just body but face as well. A slight activity of his buttocks made the bench creak and crack like a decrepit dog's spine would if it tried to swim a centimeter in the summer.
Before Lirzod's mouth even opened for utterance, another hefty nudge ran against him from the opposite direction. ”Ngh! What the —” Upon turning around with marked effort, his eyes descried another kindred figure who looked almost the same as the other abnormity. It was hard to distinguish one from the other.
Their sheer size alone could frighten the wolves and tip off the bears. Lirzod's heart was thrown into a panic at the possibility of suffocating to death in between two mammoth physiques. Yet, he took a deep breath and brought his heart rate down. He acted like he didn't mind them and put his hand forward but it didn't touch anything. When he looked at the tabletop, it was without contents, except for the few flies that chumbled on bits and pieces. At that time, chewing sounds came from either side, making him freeze. As the flies exerted more and more energy, he caught glimpses of each of the brothers stuffing five slices of bread at a time into their capacious mouths as if they were snacking on them to satisfy their pit-like stomachs, even if by a little.
Lirzod narrowed his eyes and stared at them, one by one, but they totally were into stuffing their mouths and paid no attention to him whatsoever. Lirzod blew a breath of air, shrinking his shoulders in.
PUYYKK~!
A revolting pulsation akin to a calamitous thrumming rang in Lirzod's ears, working over his eardrums from the right, whose source was the butt of the miscreation seated next to him. Pressing his lips against each other, Lirzod turned his head to the right with a heavy heart, when Younger Darling grinned unbecomingly while his mouth still ran like an autonomous machine.