Work Text:
I’LL FIND YOU
“Hey, wake up. We’re on a stopover.”
I fluttered my eyes as a soft voice from a passenger entered my ears, accompanied by a hand gently shaking my shoulder. I didn’t realize I had fallen asleep while we were on the road until this moment.
I slowly looked around, and the very first thing I noticed was the view outside the bus window on my left side. The sky was gray and cloudy—it was painted like it was about to rain anytime soon. The establishments looked unfamiliar, but at the same time… eerily familiar.
I narrowed my eyebrows.
Where am I?
That’s what I asked myself a few times as I finally decided to stand up. I was the only one left here inside the bus, so I immediately got out.
A cold, harsh wind instantly greeted me as soon as I stepped out on my first foot, making me hug myself and hold onto my tote bag. I looked around again and saw most of the paint on the establishments was old and already peeling off.
Where the hell are we?
I kept walking while passing by other people, still looking for any traffic signs or familiar landmarks that I could use to figure out where I was, but to no avail.
Weird.
I continued walking anyway.
The town wasn’t completely abandoned. There were still people around—walking past me with their grocery bags, chatting with other people, and simply just minding their own business. There were also a few vehicles driving along the damp road, making me hear a slight hiss from their tires.
Everything looked normal, though.
And that was the strangest part… at least for me right now.
I kept looking around as I walked, until I saw something colorful across the street.
It was a small stationery store that stood between two old buildings. Its windows were filled with posters from the store’s advertisements. They weren’t new, but weren’t faded either. A few fairy lights also hung above the store’s paper sign.
A tiny bell rang above the door as I slowly opened it and stepped inside. I could faintly smell the old paper and dust. The atmosphere was somehow warm and cozy too, maybe because of the fairy lights that I just noticed extending around the store.
There were also shelves everywhere, packed so tightly that I needed to squeeze myself through some of the aisles just to pass through.
While I was absentmindedly wandering around, I spotted something purple.
A notebook.
As I picked it up, I noticed a pen inside of it.
And of course, it’s purple.
I laughed.
That kinda makes sense.
I grabbed both of them and stared at both of them for a while—thinking about if I should buy them. But after a few minutes, I slowly put them back on the shelf.
Maybe I’ll just buy them back home. I thought.
Home.
Why does that feel…
BEEP!
My soul almost ascended out of my body as I heard something beeped outside.
“THE BUS IS LEAVING!” I heard someone shout out loud.
I immediately walked outside the store. The bus engine sounded louder as I approached it.
I climbed inside the bus, but the moment I stepped through the door… that strange, weird feeling returned.
The same feeling I’d been trying to at least ignore since I arrived here.
Something is really wrong here.
I looked down the aisle. All passengers are sitting in their own seats now, though I narrowed my eyes as I realized this is the first time I see their faces. I couldn’t recognize or even remember seeing them before the bus stopped here in this town.
It also seemed like I didn’t even remember how I ended up here.
Hell, I don’t even know what exactly is going on right now.
And that made my stomach immediately twist.
The very first thing I thought was: I don’t wanna stay here any longer. And before I could even think about it, I stepped back outside—right before the bus door closed behind me.
For a moment, I felt relieved.
But as the bus started to move away, slowly vanishing from my sight and disappearing toward the horizon, I suddenly thought:
How the hell am I supposed to get out of here now?
Maybe I should wait for another one. That somehow sounds reasonable, right?
I started to walk again, but now… I didn’t know where I was going anymore.
I just really wanted to keep moving.
After a while, I noticed something that I’d completely ignored earlier. There was an arch that stood at the end of the road. It was old, made of concrete, and it had faded paint slowly peeling from its surface. There was also a low, rusty metal gate beneath it.
I remembered seeing it when our bus entered this town, so my initial thought was that it must be the way out of this place.
I walked toward it.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
I suddenly stopped, only a few steps left to get beyond that gate, as I heard a low, calming but eerie voice. I looked to my right, and saw a man, not too far away, wearing a black uniform with black polished shoes.
Definitely a guard here.
He approached me with his slow pace, making my heart suddenly beat faster for no reason. I looked over his entire appearance more closely and noticed something embroidered on the right side of his chest.
It was a yellow spherical grid, and beside it was a word written on it:
TELLEXX.
I stared at it for who knows how long. I don’t know why, but a sudden shiver went down my spine.
There was just something on him that felt… uncanny.
Not because he looked angry—well, he didn’t.
At all.
He just looked… calm.
Too calm.
“Sorry, but you can’t go through there.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, his pale blue eyes stared down at me as he walked closer. That was also when I realized he’s taller than me. Maybe 6’3” or something.
“That’s not the exit,” he finally answered.
But that just made me more confused.
“What do you mean—”
“There’s another exit on the other side of town,” he interrupted me, pointing somewhere behind me.
“But why can’t I leave through here?” I asked.
He didn’t immediately answer again. He just looked at me for a few seconds with his unreadable expression.
“Because no one goes back through that gate.”
Huh? No one?
I looked at the gate again. Then at him.
“Okay.”
I stepped backward.
“Thank you.”
I immediately turned around and walked away as far as I could. I also didn’t wait for him to speak, not just because I don’t know what to say or respond anymore, but also because there was something on him that made my whole body scream, ‘I need to get away from him.’
As I walked farther, my heart beat faster than before.
I told myself that maybe… I was just overreacting.
Or maybe he was just doing his job. That gate really wasn’t the exit, and the actual one was on the other side of this town.
Maybe that all makes sense in a way because this town was unfamiliar to me.
And obviously, this was the very first time I’d been here.
Or was it?
I dared to look back over at my shoulder. The guard was still standing where I had left him. He wasn’t following me, but his eyes were locked on me.
I turned forward again.
Just keep walking.
I kept saying that to myself, not until a hand suddenly grabbed my left arm, making me almost scream.
“Hey—!”
“Shhh!”
A man pulled me toward a narrow space between two buildings and covered my mouth with his free hand.
He wasn’t the guard, though.
“Please—keep your voice down!” he whisper-shouted while I tried to pull myself away, mumbling ‘who are you?’ against his hand.
He eventually let me go, but his eyes were sharp as he looked into mine—making me stop struggling as I tried to calm down.
“Who the hell are you?!” I whispered back.
He glanced behind us. Then looked back at me.
“He’s looking for you.”
My blood suddenly went cold.
“Who?!”
The man looked back toward the road. “Him.”
I also tried to look.
I saw no one.
Nothing.
“Come on! You need to hide!”
I didn’t have time to ask any questions before he pulled me farther away.
I just let him drag me somewhere—until we reached the back of an old concrete structure. A septic tank. It is also surrounded by tall grass.
I followed the man as he gestured for me to crouch behind it. We both lowered ourselves into the grass quietly.
For a few seconds, there was nothing. No footsteps. No voice. Only a cold breeze. I even almost started to doubt this man, wondering if he was just playing with me or something.
But… I suddenly saw a pair of polished black shoes beneath the edge of the concrete tank.
I stopped breathing.
I watched the shoes move slowly through the grass.
One step. Then another.
It was also calm, and unhurried.
—Eerily calm and unhurried.
I just stared at the shoes as they moved closer, while the man beside me went completely still.
Then…
The guard stopped.
And his shadow appears across the grass.
I slowly turned around.
No.
Before I could understand what was happening, the guard reached down and grabbed the man beside me. The man struggled while shouting at him, until his voice disappeared behind the concrete wall.
I tried to stand up and run away. But for some unknown reason, I suddenly couldn’t move. I couldn’t even scream. I suddenly just… froze.
Frozen from where I was crouching.
The guard stood in front of me for a moment. Then, he looked down. Straight to my eyes. While towering over me.
As our eyes met, every muscle in my body locked. He didn’t look angry or surprised—he just stared at me like he already knew where to find me this entire time, making me feel so small right now that my hands started shaking uncontrollably.
“Get up.”
The guard plainly commanded me, but I couldn’t move at all.
“Up.”
He said it again while waiting for me to stand up. I tried to move again, but nothing happened.
I wouldn’t move.
“I said, get up.”
His voice remained calm as he waited for me to stand up at last. Though my whole body truly wouldn’t cooperate.
My throat even tightened.
I just looked up at him and noticed my vision blurred. I couldn’t tell if it was because I was about to cry or because my mind was simply refusing to process what was exactly happening right now.
Then… the guard deeply sighed.
“You’re making this difficult.” All of the sudden, his voice went dark, and so did his eyes. He crouched down, leveling his eyes with mine. Then, without any warning, he slipped one arm beneath my legs and another around my back.
I gasped as he lifted me from the grass.
“N-no…” I let out a stuttering voice as I let my jelly-like arms hang beside my body. “P-put me d-down…”
The guard didn’t. He just adjusted his grip, then started walking slowly.
As I slowly caught my breath, I didn’t realize I was looking at his uniform again, specifically at its embroidery. I already saw the spherical grid and the Tellexx logo, but I just noticed another one embroidered underneath it:
DALLON WEEKES.
I looked up.
“D-Dallon…?” I absentmindedly called the guard by that name, making him look down at me.
For the very first time, his whole facial expression changed.
His eyes went slightly soft.
“That’s right, pretty.”
I weakly swallowed.
“H-how do you know me?”
He looked ahead again.
“You’ll understand us soon.”
Dallon walked until we reached the arch. The gate was still open too. I badly wanted to ask hundreds of questions right now, but even my voice isn’t cooperating now.
His footsteps continued against the asphalt.
Slow. Steady. Almost peaceful.
He continued walking past the gate and beyond the arch while I tried to look back at the town—maybe for the very last time. The old establishments. The gray sky. The people around who didn’t seem to care about what was happening.
…Like as if I had never been there at all.
Dallon carried me farther beyond the gate.
Then, quietly, he said something I couldn’t fully understand anymore. It sounded like he’s reassuring me, but I couldn’t fathom any of the words.
I looked up at him again.
His face was now calmer and gentler than before.
He looked back at me, then smiled softly.
Somehow, that even scared me more.
Before I slowly lost consciousness, I remembered his footsteps carrying me farther and farther away from the town, and the gate slowly disappearing behind us.
Then, everything went black.