A Gnorbu, the color of a robin's egg, strolls up to you. You're wary as this building is in a seedy part of town. The warehouse's rusty metal walls surround you and the only light you're getting is in the form of a few yellowish beams floating through windows that haven't been cleaned in decades. "Hey!" the Gnorbu says as he finally stops in front of you. He holds out a hand in greeting. "I think I know what you're looking for and it just so happens to be me who possesses it." He gestures to two crates off to the side and doesn't wait for you to sit before he takes one himself. "My name is Xanul and yes, I'm the cause for the demise of Andshire.

I feel like I've only a few brief memories of him. They exist like snapshots taken in a forgotten life. I'll share them with you on one condition. Don't make the same mistake we did and learn the power of forgiveness.

Life is a sweet thing, like nectar. Occasionally, that nectar is sapped from the tree but the tree remains strong and creates more. That's why I won't give up. That's why I'll keep living. I'll stand as tall as that tree and pierce my way into the heavens. The world has lost too many as it is to the disease of hatred and jealousy.

We started our bond innocent enough. Two children lost in the fantasy of their young world. He, abandoned by his biological parents and left to live with an aunt, was eager for a trustworthy friend. It just so happened to me who stumbled in upon him.

The park next to my old home was to myself what we would call a fantastical wonderland. I've walked past the spot since I've grown and can't help missing the imagination I had. It had to have been pretty powerful to transform a dusty, dirty hole into a dream land. The swings are in ruin with rust lacing up the chains and the sandbox isn't a sandbox, it is more along the lines of a rock box. A rock box with sharp and jagged stones but as memory serves I seemed to have enjoyed myself in the less than ideal landscape. A memory comes to mind from long ago…

I jump into the play box and begin to form small hills with my miniature hands. "And this will be the hospital and this, this will be the bank." After building my tiny city I grab my precious Hot Wheels cars and thrust them into the buildings. "Ha ha! Take that you villainous city! You dirty scum," I crow happily. "Who do you think will save you now?!" plink "Hmm?" plink plink

I stand, curiosity piqued, and follow my ears, which twitch and turn of their own accord in every direction. What could possibly be making that noise? plink I am, after all, the only kid who ever plays here. My childish nosiness can't seem to take it and my heart beats wildly in my chest. Soon enough I've narrowed down the options to the area of the slide. I creep up to it and scramble as silently as possible onto the slick metal to peer under it. There in the dust, a smaller boy sits while chucking pebbles at the steel sheet above him. Ho ho! Could this be a new comrade in arms or an enemy to dash away as I'd done to the citizens of a tiny stone city?

What are you doing?" I query, peeking over the edge of the slide. I'm sure my violet eyes are large in wonder at his bizarre and sudden appearance. It wasn't often that I got to meet strangers in such a small town.

The boy looks up, startled. He has such pretty orange eyes, I almost doubt my earlier unconscious decision of his gender. His white hair is strange and I want to touch it. It looks like white snakes trying to escape from his head. I reach out and he quickly scoots back in a tottery crabwalk away from my outstretched fingers.

I crawl down off the slide and come under it to sit where he had been sitting. We are facing each other awkward opposites he solemn lightness and I bright dusk. I then notice that I'm still carrying one of my toy cars and I hold it out to him. "You wanna come play with me? It's really fun!"

Warily he reaches out his hand and takes the car.

I grab his hand and drag him to my town of pebbles. He doesn't protest.

My name's Xanul," I say.

I'm Andshire," he replies.

I see him, splendidly dressed in a suit of ebony I might add, across the room. His eyes don't register me when he does a brief scan of the crowd and I feel a twinge of what? Remorse? No that couldn't be. Why should I have expected him to remember me after ten years. Not like being best friends was a good enough reason, oh no.

Still he looks bored and I can't help but feel giddy about meeting him. That is of course if he wants to meet up with me. What if my breath smells bad? Would that turn him off? Maybe he'd become a huge germaphobe since I'd last seen him. No these are silly thoughts. I'm sure things will go right…they have to.

Hmmm maybe I'd gone overboard with my own attire. I sweep a hand across my gelled locks. Disgusting, I'd really rather have left it loose but image has a high price to pay and from the way the rest of the party goers were dressed they paid dearly.

Oh he's stood. As inconspicuously as possible I worm my way to him, clutching the folded note in my hand.

I slip the paper into his hand and whisper, "Read it when you're alone."

His body stiffens when I touch him, still opposed to physical contact I see, but he accepts my letter so all is well. Well, except for the butterflies that are in my stomach. They seem to be having quite the party and I am unwillingly forced in on the fun.


STUFF GOES HERE

Dishes clink and the sound is slightly muffled by the time it passes through the warm water and a copious amount of bubbles.

I've told you before, that if you use too much soap, you might cut yourself on a knife in the water." He presses the top of his hand against my back and places his chin on my shoulder. "So...," his sinuous voice trails off.

I shrug disrupting his resting place. "So what? I'm not washing any knives and I like bubbles." However, I'm not being entirely truthful. There are knives in the water but he doesn't have to know that. He's always hounding me as if he's my mother. I mean geeze... "haphh," I breathe in a burst of air as the slick steal slices through my finger. Blood begins to stain the, once clear, water pinkish. Andshir looks at me and then walks off. A moment later, a box of Band-Aids whack me in the back of the head.

A quiet I told you so wafts in from the other room. I can only glare in disbelief.


MORE STUFF HAPPENS OMG

One morning, a smell crawled into my nose, anchored itself there, and refused to budge. For the rest of the day I could smell nothing but it.

I work the counter.

Coffee.

I clean the bathrooms.

Coffee.

I take out the trash.

Coffee.

I simply breathe.

Coffee.

Ray," he pauses in his wiping of the table. "I think I'm going nuts. All I can think about, all that I live, every fiber of my being is...!" He turns his head to stare at me with a scrutinizing look on his face as he starts wiping again.

Xan you've really got to cut down on the dramatics," swish goes the rag.

But the coffee!" I lift my hands to the heavens. "It lives in me!"

He chuckles quietly. "You're a strange one, you know that?"

I grab a tray after I've finished cleaning the rest of the tables and walk out to where some regulars are seated. "Evening guys. Can I get you the usual?" A chorus of sures answer my question and I head back into the kitchen area to order their drinks.

A chiming drifts in from the front door, signaling someone has entered. "I'll be there in a moment," I reassure without turning towards them. Ray is preparing the drinks behind the counter in front of me. He looks knowingly at me after he quickly glances at the newcomer. I return a quizzical glance before twisting and having a look myself.


BA BA BUM CHEHH