As the silent man and Susie make their
way through the ruins of the island, Susie asks, “So, how many more heads do
you have?”
Two heads come out from underneath
the man’s cloak. One has no face at all and appears to be hollow while the
other head has an arm like the other one, but this one has a blade coming out
of its palm.
“Wow! You sure do have a lot of weird
heads. What does this empty one do?”
The hollow head spits out a piece
of chocolate that lands on Susie’s lap.
“Oh, so it can create small objects?”
The man shakes his head to confirm
it.
“That’s so weird. Can you use one
of your heads to tell me your name?”
Sounds come out of the head with mouths,
but the only sound it can make is screams at various volumes.
“Oh, I guess not. How about I call
you the Silencer?”
The man turns his head around to
look at her.
“Do you like that name? My dad used
to tell me about this man known as the Silencer who would silence his enemies
and protect his loved ones. Despite all the good he does, he must keep what he
does a secret so that everyone he loves and protects can stay safe.”
The man now called the Silencer
nods his head then looks forward.
“Speaking about my dad, I’m sure he’ll
give you lots of things for helping me out. He’s rich and always busy. He tries
to give me things to show that he still loves me, but I wish he’d just stay home
at least for a while. I know his job is important and all, but still ever since
my mom died, he hasn’t been the same. I don’t even think he’s smiled since
then.”
The Silencer lowers his head then
raises it and looks around.
“Huh? Do you hear something?”
Susie closes her eyes and listens
closely to the silence and hears the faint sounds of a circus. When she opens
her eyes, she sees the circus down the street. They get closer and closer to
the circus as if the circus itself is moving closer to them. As they go into
the circus, they find the usual kinds of actors that someone would find in a circus
such as animal tamers, clowns, entertainers, and the like along with exotic
animals dressed up in circus clothing. Everyone, including the animals, smiles
at Susie and the Silencer as they walk. Susie returns a kind look while the Silence
does his best to appear as friendly as possible with his head with mouths smiling
at them.
Further into the circus, Susie and
the Silencer find people and animals flying around without any wings or clear
source of their flight. Susie watches them in amazement while the Silencer watches
them and looks at Susie’s amazement. The entertainers and animals wave and say goodbye
as they near the exit and the two wave goodbye as well.
“Goodbye! Thank you for the amazing
show!” Susie says.
“You’re very welcome, little
princess! It’s always a pleasure entertaining family!” one of the clowns respond.
“What is he talking about?” Susie
says to herself in a low voice.
Once they get further from the circus,
it disappears into sparkles.
“Whew! I’m glad we made it through
that,” Susie says.
The Silencer nods in agreement.
“I wonder if anyone got caught in
that circus. I didn’t see anyone cleaning the floors or animals and I didn’t
see anyone getting kidnapped. Being rude to those people makes you their
servant until you pay them back for your rudeness or for judging them by their
appearance.”
Susie and the Silencer continue on
their way until they come across a large ravine separating one half of the
island from the other. Water from the ocean is blocked off by a makeshift dam
made of fallen buildings on both sides. The drop into the ravine is steep, but
not too far of a fall. Inside the ravine is wreckage from the city rearranged
as if a massive creature took the pieces of the buildings and made their own.
The Silencer uses his head with its extending eyes to look around. He turns
around and shakes his head at Susie as if to tell her that there isn’t a way to
get to the other side.
“There has to be a way across. I
think this may be another fairy tale. I remember something about a young boy
finding a large canyon on his way home that was created from an earthquake. He
could see his home in sight but had to patiently go around to get there.”
The Silencer looks at Susie and shakes
his head.
“We have to try. My dad is probably
on the other side. I need to get over there to see him.”
After he considers it, the Silencer
starts walking to one end of the ravine.
“Thank you, Silencer.”
The Silencer nods. While walking to
end of the ravine, the two come across a cloaked man with a stand full of food.
The man gets up and asks them, “Would
you like something to eat? The road to the next town is long and taxing.”
“No, thank you,” Susie responds.
“It’s your funeral, young lady. I’ll
be here if you decide to change your mind.”
Susie makes sure that the man is far
away before telling the Silencer, “We should watch out for strangers. They’re
going to be trouble.”
The Silencer nods his head twice to
completely agree with her. They travel a far distance until they come across an
ordinary-looking man driving a horse-drawn cart. The man stops the horse a fair
distance away from them and gives them a friendly smile.
“You two look like you’ve come a
long way. How about I take you somewhere you can rest?” the man says.
“No, thank you,” Susie says.
“What about you, big guy? You must’ve
been carrying your daughter for a while now and are aching from head to toe.”
The Silencer shakes his head to say
no.
“We’re not related,” Susie says.
“Hmm. Okay. It’s your call.”
Susie and the Silencer travel a
long distance with no way across to the other side in sight. The Silencer uses
his head with extending eyes to look for a way across and for more strangers.
They’ve come across many people who offer food, water, and transport to help
them get to their destination all of which they’ve denied.
“Are you tired?” Susie asks.
The Silencer shakes his head.
“Really? We can rest if you need to.”
The Silencer shakes his head again.
“Did whatever give you multiple
heads also give you strong legs? You can really walk.”
They continue traveling this long
road and come across a crowd of people sitting around a fire. The Silencer
takes out his head with a gun in its hand and his head with a blade in its hand
and aims straight for the campers.
“Wait, Silencer, we don’t know if
they’re part of the fairy tale yet.”
The Silencer holds Susie on his back
as he sprints past the campers who take knives out of from underneath their
clothing and chase them. With his head with a gun, the Silencer shoots several
of the campers, but they are only slowed down even when shot in the head. Despite
the almost inhuman speed that the Silencer can run at, the campers manage to
stay right behind him. They start lunging with their knives to cut at Susie,
but the Silencer manages to use his blade to keep them away from her and
catches one in his hand before the knife hits her in the face. They then start
throwing their knives. The Silencer dodges them then catches an
incoming knife with his head with a hole in it and tosses it back out at them.
“Look ahead!” Susie says.
A bridge materializes into view with
a group of guards wielding spears around it. The guards catch sight of Susie
and the Silencer and move to defend them.
“Go across the bridge to safety!”
one of the guards says as he moves past them, “We’ll hold these thieves off!”
“Thank you!” Susie says.
As they cross the bridge, they see
the thieves and guards disappear along with the bridge itself once they’re on
the other side.
“Whew! We finally made it here. It
took forever, didn’t it?”
The Silencer nods his head as he
continues walking.
“And you haven’t even stopped
walking. Haha. You’re amazing.”
The Silencer looks at Susie to see
her smile. He then turns his head forward.
“I wonder where my dad is. The last
time I saw him he entered one of the bigger buildings, but since everything is
torn down, I can’t tell one building from the other.”
It isn’t long before the Silencer takes
a sharp turn into a building.
“Do you think this is the building
my dad is in?”
The Silencer nods his head then
uses the head with an arm to point at a destroyed car in the streets.
“That’s my dad’s. You know that’s
my dad’s and you think that he’s in here?”
The Silencer stays silent and doesn’t
even move his head.
“Did you know my dad? Did you work
with him?”
Again, the Silencer does nothing.
“Say something or answer somehow.”
With his head with a blade, he
stabs the wall and releases a gas that knocks Susie out. He makes sure she’s
still alive before wandering the halls of the quiet building. Something is here
and he knows it. His head with an extending eye scans the rooms. The head with
a gun in its arm shots a shadow that disintegrates into dust. The Silencer
scans his surrounding area before looking at Susie again then leaving the
building and heads in the direction of the nearest end of the island.
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