Beach Vacey [On Hold]

Out of Place I45I

            July came quickly with its blazing heat. Summer was rolling through quickly, and it felt as if it had only begun. Last week, it had only rained in the beginning, but that was only a mirage of summer... The starting of summer appeared to be a rain cloud, but the rain had picked its belongings up, and totally left the premises of our surroundings. Not a single spot of rain was spotted; the dryness remained. The sun soon became a nuisance... especially for driving. The afternoon sun only glared down at the pitied earth, sending its striking rays down like some divine goddess. It was difficult maneuvering around with the sun reflecting off the windshield.

Dark sat in the passenger seat, staring at his pale, left palm, not moving a single eye from it for anything. The expression on his face was unique. It was a look of puzzle, yet he seemed curious... I questioned his expression every time I glanced through the rearview mirrors. I was guiding the vehicle through the streets... but, every time I noticed his expression, I was struck with a huge question... Could the cut have done something else than just... "sucked his blood and become some sorcerer's stone"? I couldn't have known... It was hard to believe, anyway, for me... It twisted my mind... I didn't believe in magic... so it couldn't possibly be magic... It couldn't exist. Though, it only made me worried—his expression.

Shortly, I drove up to Vio's cemented driveway to then find the opened garage door where I immediately noticed Ray sitting by a bicycle. Immediately parking the car, I sprung out from my seat and went over to Ray, who sat preoccupied with a bicycle in the cluttered garage.

"Hey?" I drew his attention rather quickly to my surprise as he nodded up to me. My eyes dropped to his gloved hands where I found a wrench clutched. "Is Vio here?"

"Um..." Ray set the wrench down and drew his gloved hand to a small, black earpiece in his ear. "Yeah, hold on a moment," Then, he proceeded to press a button down onto the earpiece that blended in with his black hair. He grasped his wrench and then continued to twist a small knob on the seemingly, broken bicycle. There was a short pause, but he began to speak. "Vio, Link is here..." The earpiece seemed to be a small earphone...

I waited a moment where my eyes followed up to an old sedan car that was parked behind Ray. It almost blended in with the garage, actually... It was cluttered and seemed practically unused... It appeared as if it had been sitting in the garage for a while—alongside with the other objects—unused. And, what was particularly different about the garage from all the other rooms was that it was... more of a mess... and unorganized. In the house, it was tidy and not a thing was out of place. The garage didn't fit in right with the rest of the house.

My attention was pulled back to Ray. "Vio will be out in a moment, okay?" He fixed his scarf that he wore even in his working position. "He'll come out through the front door..."

Then came an exclamation, "Is that your bike?!"

I looked over my shoulder to then find Dark's disdainful posture leaning against the wall, and Ray's voice soon hesitated into the air. "Y-Yeah..." he stuttered. Ray's hands quivered down, but then a slow exhale came to compose him. "Around two weeks ago, some guy hit the bike... Unlucky for me, I had recently made it around that time... But, I'm able to fix it... It's just taking its time..." He tried to put his focus back onto his handling.

I grew with interest, though. "You made this?" He made this bicycle?

His emerald eyes glanced up at me. "Well... yeah..." He bit his lip and swallowed, breaking his focus. "But, I only got to ride it once... which sucks... So, I've been walking everywhere for Vio... It's longer, but... it's okay." He sighed and put a bit more effort into twisting the knob to finish it. "I try to do everything Vio asks me to do... It's not really a problem," he mumbled.