“And we were just about across the hallway where the open window was, when, all of a sudden, this… I don’t know, this creature… It was so strange. It seemed like its stomach was a miniature black hole that was sucking out all the moonlight from the hall. Neither of us could tell what it looked like other than it was about the size of a tall human. As we crossed the hall it shouted out in this very strange, very raspy voice, ‘Surrender yourselves,’” the eyes that had just been locked with Lithuania’s flickered down, “‘There is no hope of escape.’ Of course we would have made a run for it anyways but it was strange – in case I haven’t said that enough, it was strange. Neither of us could move. Maybe it was the shock of it all but I suspect that the creature was doing something. I don’t know what and I don’t know how, and it sounds crazy I know but something prevented us from moving. But then all the security finally realized where we had gone and they burst into the room and that must have distracted the creature because our paralysis let up. We then shot at the creature which at least stunned it giving us time to jump through the window and the security must have been surprised by it all too because they gave us a tremendous head start and we were able to high-jack a car and head to nighline before anyone could stop us.”
After winfry and isa gave Lithuania grief for all her interruptions at the beginning of their story, Lithuania sat back silently for the rest of their story. Her lack of emotion, or maybe it was just their imagined lack of emotion, was intimidating. Did she believe them? Did she think they were crazy? Was she bored? For a minute after they finished telling their fabrication, Lithuania didn’t say anything which of course just amplified their uneasiness. Lying was neither winfry’s nor isa’s forte.
“I’m afraid your story leaves me with more questions than we will have time for. So let’s get started. Why on Coralende did you come to LusciousLocks? I mean, it’s the last place I’d flee to.”
“Well to be fair, we didn’t know it would be like this when left. And unless I’m mistaken neither did anyone else until they entered this inferno.”
“Besides, we clearly had to leave nilbmah and we clearly couldn’t take any government-run transportation. And since neither of us knows how to operate a boat, we had to run for it in a car. And since transportation is so centralized cars are a rarity and roads outside nilbmah citadel are a complete anomaly. The road to nighline is actually the longest road in nilbmah and nighline is right on the nilbmahian-LusciousLockian border. So we decided to take our chances with the unknown of LusciousLocks rather than known insanity of nilbmah.”
It didn’t happen all the time, but winfry and isa were starting to finish each other’s ideas better than maternal twins. And that was isa making the first insightfully jabbing remark followed by winfry’s overly wordy explanation and finished by my unnecessary explanation, in case you were wondering.
“I guess that’s reasonable enough,” replied Lithuania but Lithuania was a better liar winfry or isa. “Now, about this creature… hmm. You say it paralyzed you. Did it ever make you feel as if your whole body was on fire?”
“Umm not really, just paralyzed.”
“Yeah, me neither.”
“But you did say the hand was black, right?” Lithuania was forgetting herself.
“Ahh… actually, I don’t think we said that, but yes, the hand was black, like charcoal actually.”
“How did you know that without us telling you? Have you seen something like it here? Has it attacked you too?”
The question hit Lithuania a little off her guard. She must not have been expecting her guests to be so perceptive or prying, especially considering all they had been through, or at least all that they said they had been through.
“No... No. It was just a guess. But it certainly sounds like Assmachestan all over again in nilbmah.”
“Really? You think that Assmachestan, the long forgotten nation of maid’s tales Assmachestan, is responsible for all this?”
“Yes, but we can talk about that later. You said the creature had paralyzed you. How were you able to escape so easily then. Why didn’t it just paralyze you again. And why didn’t it chase you to nighline?”
“Well, I don’t really know why it didn’t give us more trouble but we were already very close to the window and we must have hit it with at least a few bullets; isa’s aim is actually quite good. And to be completely honest no one in nilbmah citadel thinks about nighline; it’s practically on another planet.
“And who knows, maybe it wanted us to get away.”
And Lithuania’s questions went on and on and on and I won’t bore you with more.
“Sergeant Sombrero.”
“Yes?”
“Take these two to the cell and lock them up.”
