keeper of lost things

lost | 01

{ his point of view }

This girl, who claims to be the keeper of lost things, circled me as she eyed me closely. Feeling the awkwardness and confusion as to what she really is and where I actually am, I found myself asking, "What's your name?"

She blinked a couple of times before her cheeks flushed red, and the tips of her hair turned to a similar shade. "I'd rather not tell you," she barely managed to whisper. There was a short silence before she asked, "What's yours?"

"I was going to tell you but," I shrugged, "I'd rather not."

I watched her puff her cheeks out and pout her lips. It's funny how she resembles someone I know. But this girl right here still looks elegant with her childish ways.

"Well, I don't know how you got here," she brought her hand up to her face and started biting on her nails as she thought to herself. She twirled her hair and kept looking at it before mumbling, "maybe I should ask my brother for help."

"Wait," I butted in, "brother?" You mean, there's more of you out there?

"Yes, we're in charge of keeping track of lost things," she explained and, just then, a noise was heard. She gestured for me to follow her as she followed the sound, "Come, I'll show you."

She proceeded to run towards what seems to be a sock with Hello Kitty printed on it. Judging by what I was briefed with just now, I'm assuming the other pair is with its owner somewhere while this one ended up lost.

"What are you waiting for?!" The keeper yelled and I then realized that she was already climbing up the sock.

"Are you serious?" I yelled back since she's already high up, "I'm not climbing a stinky sock!" Just by looking at how disheveled it looked, you could already tell that this sock mountain she's up on isn't fresh from the laundromat.

"Hurry!" She exclaimed, completely not paying attention to what I just said, "They're getting away!" My eyebrows furrowed at what she just said. I wanted to see what she's talking about. I tried to get around the sock but there were other lost things around which barely allowed any space between where I am and the other side.

"Fine," I groaned before climbing, anyway.

"Go away!" I heard her muffled voice just like how she was yelling at something a few moments before I came up to greet her.

When I reached the peak of the sock mountain, I managed to slide off and catch up with her who's using a toothpick to battle some creatures about our size. They looked like cotton balls which are yellow or maybe blonde-ish in color and they were busy dragging M&Ms into the pile of junk. There was a whole flock of them, too.

"W-What are they?" I managed to ask.

"Swipers," the keeper said, not sparing me a glance and just poking at the creatures until they scrambled away, "they steal these things." She gestured at everything around us.

So these aren't really lost things? They're . . . stolen?

"I'm in charge of tracking the owners of these stuff," she held up a long list before pursing her lips, "but I just stay here in our realm. My brother is the one who returns the lost things to your world," she snapped her fingers, "I'm sure he would know how you could go back there." She bit her bottom lip while she thought, casually running a hand through her hair, as if she's anticipating the next color it would change into.

"Really?" I asked, scratching my head, "You trust your brother that much? I don't feel so assured, though."

"Don't worry!" She chirped, the ends of her hair turning into a bright shade of yellow as she smiled, "Every time I mess up, he's always around to fix things. He's my hero!" She grabbed my wrist and dragged me on a path filled with over sized candy wrappers, "Let's go!"

We'll see.