Trench Fic [✅]

4- Clancy

When the sharp sound of ringing bells pierced his ears, he realised how heavy he felt. He knew these sounds probably meant something and that it would be reasonable to get up, but just opening his eyes was so difficult, he wanted to go right back to sleep. He gave himself a minute to think before attempting to sit up on the bed, but it took him a couple times to finally achieve that. As soon as he stood up, he regretted his decision. The bed was so soft and it was always kind of chilly here, so he would prefer to spend his time under the big thick blanket he was provided with. He felt his stomach rumble and realised it would be logical if the bell sounds were a call for a meal of some sort. It took him three heavy steps to get to the door and press the knob, not really expecting it to move. To his surprise, this time the doors were unlocked. What he saw behind them made his spine tingle with chills of anxiety and discomfort. The dimly lit hall was full of tired-looking people, most of them silently standing with their backs against the walls and doors; hardly anyone was making eye contact with eachother. They were all dressed in plain gray clothes, even though they weren't identical, none of them really stood out. Standing in even distance from eachother, they all looked like they were anticipating something. Josh was feeling as if he was late to an event and he didn't know what everyone was up to, but no one was going to explain him what he was supposed to do. Situations like these always made him very stressed, which lead to his hands being shakey and his mind suddenly prioritising the speed of things being done rather than the quality, which only made him more anxious. He stepped out of his room trying to attract the least ammount of attention possible and leaned against the door. Looking around he noticed that no one was looking at him, which relieved him a little. The silence of the moment was being decorated by uneven breaths, impatient sighs, sniffles and very quiet and short conversations. It all stopped when a faint sound of footsteps appeared at the pitch black end of the hall. It sounded as if the person was wearing shoes with soles made out of some hard material like metal, maybe wood. The pace was fast, but not fast enough for it to seem alarming, just enough for the person to feel intimidating and important. Josh realised that everyone's eyes, including his, were directed towards the dark end of the hallway, but the person right in front of him was looking directly at him. Josh flinched and looked down on himself to see if he was standing out in any way. Perhaps he was not supposed to be there? He looked up at the young man once again and froze completely. The footsteps were getting louder and closer, but Josh couldn't take his eyes off the penetrating gaze of the stranger. The boy was different from the rest as his hands and neck were painted black and his posture and facial expression wasn't indicating tiredness and pain, but calmness mixed with fascination if that was even possible. The second Josh felt like he could no longer ignore the approaching footsteps, the stranger broke eye contact looking over at the mysterious red-robed figure, whose face was covered almost entirely with a large hood. As soon as the person passed Josh everyone started walking towards the big gates, following the leader's steps. Their pace was much slower than his, but no one seemed to care. They all looked like some kind of mindless, brainwashed people except for the black-handed boy, who was casually strolling right beside him. Josh noticed he had scruffy hair and circles under his eyes, but his button-up shirt was not wrinkled at all and the paint on his body did not stain any of his clothes. The stranger must have felt him staring and they made eye contact once again. The man did not seem to think this was awkward at all. "Hi" he suddenly reached out for a handshake and Josh's immediate reaction was to accept it, but as soon as he did, he felt it might have been a little too enthusiastic. "I'm Josh" He forced a smile and let go of the boy's hand automatically trying to shove it in his pocket, but there were none in his trousers, so he just looked like he was touching his butt. "Cool" The stranger didn't seem to be affected by that. "Are you new here?" The question was asked casually but it seemed like the man was genuinely interested "Uh, yeah I suppose so...dang it, why aren't there any pockets?" Josh felt a need to address the reason of his odd behaviour "I don't know. It pissed me off the first time too." Josh nodded. First time? What did he mean? If he kept silent for one more minute, the man might think Josh was uninterested, maybe even annoyed. "what's up with the black?" Now he felt like this might have been too nosy and it was none of his business. "I wish I knew." How can an answer be so simple yet so mysterious. "It just sort of appears." That left Josh with even more questions, this time probably not about the stranger, but life in general. The crowd with the hooded man at the front walked through the gates, entering a darker, longer hallway. The stranger looked over at Josh and his relaxed face turned to a faint smile "cool eyeshadow" now Josh was more confused than ever "what?" he should have at least said 'excuse me' but it was too late. "the red", the boy made a circling gesture around his eyes "looks sick. Can't believe they let you keep that, though." Now Josh was absolutely bewildered. "what do you mean...?" he rubbed his eyes and looked at his hands "... What red?" the stranger raised his eyebrows "Oh snap. Oh geez. Now this is weird" Josh did not even ask anything, he just looked at the boy, his eyes begging him to elaborate. "Mine don't rub off too. And they appear just like that." He ran one of his hands across his chest to show, that there was no residue. "What a coincidence"- said under his breath. Josh's was feeling dumb for asking so many questions, so he nodded once again. The boy looked as if he was thinking very intensively, his eyes locked on the ground. They were getting closer to even bigger, metal doors and the people at the front of the crowd were starting to slow down. The boy made a gesture for Josh to get closer and lowered his voice "Dude, we're almost there, but I think we might need to meet up." Josh was surprised how confident he was about that. "What? How?" "Don't worry about that." He didn't know if he could trust anyone here, but he was in Dema after all, so there was literally nothing to lose. "What's your name anyway?" "I don't like my name. It's so common. Uuhh... You can call me..." He looked at the ceiling silently as if gray cement was enough to inspire anyone. "Clancy." "Uh, okay I guess." the crowd started splitting up at the front so Josh looked over at Clancy as if he was going to give him instructions. He just gave him a warm and genuine smile and took a step closer leaning towards Josh. "One more thing."- he was almost whispering- "Sleep on the ground."-he said before completely disappearing into the crowd. Josh thought to himself, that this could have aswell been a dream, because everything that just happened was so surreal and confusing. He submitted to his reality and for now it looked like he was supposed to sit in the front row of some kind of Chapel or auditorium. Whatever was about to happen will not surprise him.