#drift meme

It's so humid that he can practically taste it in the back of his throat, and the whole world feels heavy. It's an effort just to put one foot in front of the other, and he would probably give just about anything to find some water that wasn't warm. 

He spent a while managing to take his mind off it by looking at the huge trees around him and the strange planets that sprung up everywhere; leaves as big as he was tall, flowers that bloomed all colours and gave off sickly sweet smells, huge spiders that lazed on webs, looking as though they were just as exhausted by the heat as the passing humans were. It's more difficult now they've stopped, though, and they've been waiting here for hours. Kondraki doesn't think he'll ever have a day where he isn't sweaty again. It seems impossible that such a thing exists.

In the distance, a low rumble of thunder sounds. Kondraki looks up through the trees, seeing the sky is steel grey above them. He knows that shade means an imminent soaking, though he doesn't get his hopes up. The rain will be just as warm as the rest of this place. He forces himself to move, half walking, half crawling over to a low, leafy tree. He's long since learned that once the humidity comes back, rainwater becomes just as uncomfortable as everything else.

It's started to spit the first huge drops of rain when he notices movement beside him, and he turns, coming face-to-face with the most unusual looking creature he's ever seen in his life. It's large and fat, with equal parts scales and fur, and a third eye on a large stalk above its head. Kondraki's too startled to be afraid, and confusion follows quickly afterwards. He knows there's were some weird creatures in the rainforest, but he wasn't quite expecting something bordering on extra-terrestrial.

"Uh," he says, wondering if he should try and make a swift getaway. It's staring at him with all three eyes - four, actually, and he's confused because he's pretty sure that wasn't there when he first saw it - and he edges away a little. The creature cocks its head to the side and opens its mouth, revealing several rows of teeth and another eyeball attached to an even longer stalk. 

It's hovering right in front of Kondraki's face when he finally regains enough sense to swat instinctively at it, and the last thing he's expecting is for the stalk to disintegrate, briefly turning into several dozen black and white butterflies before reappearing again, the stalk vanishing back into the creature's mouth. 

It stares at him, and Kondraki stares back. Finally, he remembers how to speak.

"I'm not falling for it," he tells it. "It's pissing down out there, so for now we're just going to have to share."

It's dark under the blankets, even more so now they've switched the flashlight off and their eyes aren't used it. They're trying not to giggle, sitting in the corner beside the bed and the nightstand, their makeshift fort giving them the impression that if a parent should poke their head in now, they'll never see them.

They can hear footsteps outside the room, and they're pretty sure that if they just stay quiet, they can get away with it. The footsteps move back and forth to the bathroom, and finally they hear a click and the light seeping in through the gap under the door disappears. They hold their breath and stifle giggles, and they're almost about to turn the flashlight on again when the light returns and their door cracks open. The light illuminates the space under the blanket ever so slightly, enough for them to catch the half-guilty looks on one another's faces. 

"███. Alicja."

They break into giggles, looking at each other before they peek out from under the fort. 

"Yes, mama?" they chorus. 

Their mother flicks the bedroom light on and gives them a stern look.

"Do you know what time it is?" she asks them, and they look at one another and giggle in reply. "It's quarter-past eleven," she tells them. "And you two were meant to be sleeping three hours ago."

"We were reading, mama," he says, and his twin backs him up enthusiastically.

"Yeah, we were reading! That's what they always make us do at school."

"And what were you reading?" their mother asks, slightly doubtful until her son holds up a book. She can't help but give an amused smile, though she quickly stifles it to avoid encouraging them. "Well, I'm sure The World's Scariest Hauntings is a lovely bedtime story, but now really isn't the time."

"But mamaaaaa!" 

It's thundering enough that he's half-convinced the sky's going to fall down, and usually he'd like to enjoy the storm but he's got other things on his mind right now. He's no stranger to ending up in the rough areas of the towns and cities he passes through; if anything, that's where he usually ends up, because that's where no one's going to care too much if he has to sleep in a doorway, but sometimes it backfires and today is one of those nights.

He's not going to try and pretend to himself that he didn't deserve at least part of it. After all, there are two ways to deal with being verbally harassed on the street, and only one of them involves mouthing off in return instead of just walking away. Kondraki's never been one to keep his mouth shut, and that's probably why he's sprinting down a rain-soaked alley while lightning flickers above him and he wonders if he'll ever be warm and dry again.

He makes it out of they alleyway and onto another street, this one thankfully empty of people looking for him. He doesn't see another alleyway opposite him, so he sticks close to the wall on one side of the street, blending in to the shadows as much as he can, keeping an eye out for an alley on the other side of the street so he can keep moving. He's going to have to hitchhike out of town tonight, because there's no way he'll feel safe sleeping anywhere around here.

The rain's coming down so heavily that he can barely see across the street and the thunder is so loud that he can feel it in his chest. He almost wishes something a little more dramatic was going on, rather than just being chased by some street thugs, but he guesses he'll have to make do. He's about to try and cross the road to get a better view when, just barely over the rain, he hears a shout. Cursing, he turns and sees he's got company, and to make matters worse they've come out of an alley a few over from the one he came from, making them uncomfortably close.

He's thinking about risking the traffic and just running across the street when the hairs on his arms and the back of his neck stand up, and he remembers what that means at the same second as there's a huge flash and a few dozen feet away, a large tree glows white. Then there's the loudest crack he's ever heard in his life and fierce heat and, amusingly, screams.

The room is heavily quiet, especially now he's not walking around. Even when he was, the sound didn't travel far, echoing against the walls and then abruptly vanishing before it got back to him fully. He was as used to it as he could be, but there was a part of him that would never quite come to terms with how silent abandoned places were. It seemed that the bigger the building was, the less sound got through it. Privately, he thought maybe the building was making up for all the years spent never having peace.

He guessed this room had once been a recreation room or something: it was large and open, with huge windows at either end to let in the light. It was getting towards the end of the evening now, so the light that reached him was tinted orange and his shadow was long across the water-damaged wooden floors behind him. The windows had long since decayed in the elements, sending glass shattering pane by pane to the floor. There was a slight breeze, but he could only feel it.

He was figuring he should get some photographs before the light faded completely, but he was interrupted by the unmistakeable sound of three footsteps. The first two came quickly together, as though someone were walking at a normal pace; the last one was more hesitant, and Kondraki turned, half expecting it to be security. He was surprised when it wasn't, and even more surprised when he realised that he was still completely alone in the room.

"Hello?" he asked, but silence was his only reply. He frowned. He'd definitely heard footsteps, but he guessed nothing could be done for it if there was no one there. He turned back to the window, and the second he did, he heard a giggle. This sound travelled further than the others, reaching him clearly and echoing. 

He's pedalling furiously, but it's getting too steep even for his determination. He stands up instead, managing to get a few more feet with extra enthusiasm before gravity starts putting an end to his progress again. He can feel the bike starting to pull back under him, and he knows that he should probably climb off and walk the rest of the way up, but this is a matter of pride, really. 

The bike is almost at a standstill and he's starting to think that maybe it's impossible. He knows some of the kids in middle school have managed to get all the way to the top, but they're a lot bigger than him, and their bikes have proper grip. 

It's warm and the sun sends little flashes and spots of light down on the path from the leaves over his head, and on the bike it feels ten times warmer. He feels uncomfortably hot and his palms are sweaty against the handlebars, but he forces himself to keep going, bit by bit, the top of the hill creeping closer all the time.

He's feet away from the top when the back wheel slips out from under him and he yells, leaping from the bike as it crashes down, managing to land without falling and stumble the last foot to the top of the hill. His bike slides several meters down the hill and he's scraped his knee, but he's at the top.

"That counts!" he shouts.

"Nuh-uh!" his sister yells from the bottom.