A Day in the Clouds (Chapter 8) - The Hours Between 1200 and 1300

_{This is a continuation of the Steemit-exclusive, original novel A Day in the Clouds. Be sure to check out the previous chapters to catch up with the story. Enjoy!}

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Back to where I was. After years of travel and countless adventures, I have circled back to where I was before. An overwhelming feeling of melancholy enveloped me upon the realization of the predicament I found myself in.

Upon being welcomed back by the entire prison compound, I was suddenly whisked back to the fortress that I was previously imprisoned in. Years have not changed its structural integrity; the wooden ramparts still haven’t decayed, the tiles still haven’t cracked and the reflectorized mirrors still haven’t lost its shimmer. It looked the same as it did when I escaped.

Teten sat at the dining table mewling softly. Mamie looked at her with disdain and still couldn’t contain her own sobbing. Dadier looked somber as he fed Eddie, all the while Eddie … Well, Eddie looked about as clueless as when I had left — it didn’t seem that he grew taller, if anything he just became chubbier, so that’s good, I guess.

There was not much of a gathering in the mess hall; the other giants were nowhere to be found. The air was silent; there was no chattering that echoed throughout the fortress, only quiet sobbing.

From time to time, Mamie berated Teten for something that I wasn’t quite sure of. Lowla emerged from out of nowhere and comforted the weeping prisoner. Perhaps in the time that I was away, Teten had fallen from the giants’ good graces, with Lowla the only one left vouching for her membership. Serves you right, traitor.

Indignant, Mamie stood up from the table and strode up to the upper floor of the fortress, tears still falling heavily from her eyes. In her absence, she had requested Lowla to continue force feeding me. Dadier averted his gaze as she went up the staircase.

What could have been ailing Mamie? How did it relate to Teten’s own crying? Could it have anything to do with my escape? Was Mamie punished for her oversight, and in turn she punished Teten? This hypothesis couldn’t be too far off from reality.

Lowla stopped feeding me and unstrapped me from the seat. I wasn’t even full, yet I didn’t notice that I had already finished an entire plate. Years of travelling had resulted to a ravenous hunger that had yet to be sated.

    "Come on now," Lowla urged me, extending a hand.

I refused to grab hold but agreed to walk close behind. By the time we left the table, everyone had already gone. I hadn’t noticed when Teten’s sniveling became silenced or when Dadier took Eddie away.

The temperature inside the fortress felt cooler than I remembered, or maybe my body was still adjusting from being exposed to the sun for weeks on end. Winds that slid through the cracks of the supposedly impregnable fortress began to hurt when it grazed my skin.

I stretched my legs and began to make my way up the stairs. Suddenly, just as I was beginning my ascent, my knees buckled and I slipped down.

Lowla charged down furiously and lifted me from the ground. She caressed my head and set me down on a large, crimson cushion.

    "O what happened?" she asked dotingly, placing her hand on my forehead. “Is everything alright?”

    "I-I’m alright," I replied hoarsely. I wasn’t quite sure if I had vocalized my reply or I just thought about it. Feeling a bit woozy, I grunted as I tried to push her hand away so that I could regain movement.

    "You’re burning up," she followed worriedly. “Poor thing.”

I didn’t feel that I was burning; in fact, I felt the opposite. It felt like I was back high above the mountaintops — the crisp, chill air, the smell of pine and the sound of distant waterfalls.

Lowla stood up and scavenged around a nearby cabinet for something.

I grabbed my knee and coughed on the cushion. All of a sudden, a strange feeling came over me, incapacitating me where I lay. Sticky liquid began to fill my nose, obstructing my breathing. I gasped for air even as I continued to cough. Grasping on the cushion, I felt a huge weight holding me down.

Lowla eventually came to my aid and lifted my head up. Breathing became easier but it remained taxing to do so. She wiped me with a warm white towel and lightly patted my back.

My throat began to fill with the same sticky substance that clogged my nose. I tried to cough it out, but it filled twice as faster. Sweat perspired out of my body at an alarming rate. My head felt heavy and strange lights started to appear.

The giant hoisted me up as she continually patted my back. Lowla took a towel and attached it beneath my clothing. She stroked my hair and whispered a garbled, hissing tune.

I felt detached from my body, like I was floating just outside. My vision started to blur and a strange noise began to ring in my ear.

What was happening to me? Did this wretched giant poison me as punishment for my foiled escape? Maybe that was the reason the meal was so short — it wasn’t for sustenance at all! Rather, it could’ve been poison that was forced on me.

Although, this could be my body failing me after years without eating or drinking while I was outside. The harsh landscape might have only now taken its toll on me.

However, a combination of both was the most likely reason.

As I headed on to Mamie arms, I expected serious repercussions for my actions but I never expected poison as the mode of punishment. The giants became smarter right after I enacted my escape.

Soon enough, it became pretty hard to open my eyes. It seemed as if the strange liquid began to ooze out of my eyes, plastering the lids shut. I tried to scratch them loose, but Lowla swatted my arms away.

    "Ssh," she continued to whisper, as if silencing me until the poison had taken full effect.

Had my senses become so dull that I didn’t even realize the deception behind the seemingly innocuous gestures? This was her plan all along, executed with stone-cold precision, and my exhaustion prevented me from spotting it. If I wasn’t feeling terrible I would’ve commended her on a job well done.

My absence has allowed these giants to formulate protocols to deal with miscreants. I never thought my actions would lead to this.

Lowla carried me up the steps and slowly placed me on my former bunk. She exchanged my soiled clothes for a fresh pair, and covered me with a warm blanket.

The added layer of cloth didn’t at all help with the chill. I tried to calm myself as I shivered involuntarily. The ringing in my ear became louder.

From a distance, I saw Mamie walking towards us. She had stopped crying but her armor was still moist from all her tears. The bottom of her eyes swelled and the creases on her face became more noticeable. She rubbed my forehead right before she placed her lips against it.

The giant’s lips were strangely soothing. It was soft and warm to the touch, providing me with comfort that neither the clothes nor the blanket was able to.

I closed my eyes, still trying to calm myself down. My mind drifted away, untethered from my body. These were the last of my thoughts.

I had wished that if I were to fall, I would do so as a free man, but that may have been too much to ask for. My mouth dried up and it became strenuous to swallow.

I imagined myself laying on the scalding pavement I once traveled on. Thinking back, I couldn’t remember why I was complaining so much. Being cold was a far harsher state, regardless of popular belief. It has been said that the cold was better because you only needed to add layers of clothing for warmth, but the heat would allow you only limited clothing to remove. That saying was useless especially when you couldn’t even move by yourself.

With my eyes shut, a giant forced a strange-tasting liquid on my mouth — I wasn’t sure if it was Mamie or Lowla. It could have been a second dose of poison or a short-term remedy to prolong the pain, I didn’t know. I was at their mercy.

Strange as it was, I felt at peace with everything. My escape turned out to be a failure but I have learned a lot during the entire process. If I were to escape from this affliction mostly intact, I knew now where I went wrong and I wasn’t the type to make the same mistake twice.

I coughed and wheezed, now almost bereft of air. It was a strange, yet effective, punishment device I was subjected to. I should’ve been more careful — I knew that now. There was no time to let my guard down around these giants, that much I was certain about. Too bad all these realizations came at the end.

I opened my eyes and saw Mamie and Lowla having a discussion. There were lots of hand gestures being thrown around that it almost seemed like they were having an argument. My ears were still ringing and I could hear nothing about what they were talking about. All I knew was that their lips were moving and they were pacing around.

I-I couldn’t maintain my consciousness … couldn’t maintain my thoughts. Lost for words I tried to motioned to them, requesting if I could get a glass of water to drink, but they were too busy to notice me.

The door opened. The glare of the sun made it hard to make out who was making their way inside. I wasn’t quite sure but I thought I saw Doma carrying Eddie in her arms. Mamie conversed with her and seemed as if she was shooing them away. Lowla went outside and closed the door behind her, leaving Mamie alone to relish her triumph.

The giant let out deep sighs, and switched between stroking my hair and placing her lips against my head. It was very unnerving; like a villainous speech without anyone speaking.

The door flung open once again, and in came Lowla with a clear glass of water in her hand. She passed the glass to Mamie, who then administered the beverage to me. Mamie lifted my head and eased the liquid to my mouth. My cough interrupted the transfer, but was resumed once it subsided.

It became painful to swallow, like there was a thorn pinching my throat. My lips were dry as a desert and my joints ached from the inside. Exhaustion was hitting me with full force; it was allowing the poison to course through me faster than it normally would.

Mamie lay beside me and wrapped me in her arms. I felt her body vibrate, following an almost rhythmic tune. Her cuddle provided a level of warmth that the layer of fabric didn’t. Why was she trying to warm me up now? It was all very confusing.

Perhaps the food fed to me was supposedly for Eddie? I mean, we were the only ones that remained. Or, was it, in fact, for Teten? That hypothesis was supported by Mamie’s haranguing of her earlier. If the accidentally switched poison hypothesis was correct, then that could explain why Mamie and Lowla seemed like they were arguing not that long ago.

I can’t think about all those now. Must … concentrate on getting warm. I need to—

Focusing my viento would be useless. In fact, it might even be detrimental, as it might be powerful enough to push Mamie away. At that point, Mamie was the only thing that was keeping me warm. The thought of owing the giant was almost unbearable.

But wait … I would owe her nothing. They were the ones who put me in this mess. If anything, it would be a service to them if I kept myself alive. If they were indeed preparing me for something, then my demise would be a major wrench to their plans.

It became very conflicting. On one hand, my death would spell the fall of the giants and somehow right the wrongs my actions have resulted to, while on another, well … let’s just say I wanted to live more than I wanted to become triumphant against my adversaries.

Thinking became a bit taxing. I stopped fidgeting and concentrated on getting myself warm. This was not how I imagined my triumphant return would have looked like. I would have to beat my enemies some other time, in some other way.

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