Angel Dust by Terry Kuder III (best non fiction books to read .txt) 📖

would be going. I couldn't even recall what planet I was on. How could I not know anything? What if there was something in the water? They didn't start asking questions until after I drank it. It was too suspicious for me to find any comfort in it. I decided to make a run for it. Even if I didn't know where I was going, I figured it to be better than staying here for them to do what they wanted, if that was the case.
I flipped the covers over. They looked at me stunned. I fell flat on my face as I got out of the bed. It had been too long since I had used my legs. I struggled to get up, but fell again. Both Azalia and the man continued to stare at me, astonished at what they were witnessing. I was like newborn fawn taking its first steps. I finally got the hang of it and was out the door making a right down a hallway before they could utter a word.
"Hey! Mr. Man?! Where are you going?!" I heard Azalia holler from behind me. She repeated the question to the young man, but before I heard his answer, I was out the front door, the sun breaking through with tremendous brightness.
When my vision cleared, I saw the town. The town was a small town. Nothing fancy. A couple of residents looked up at me from the tasks they were doing; a barber paused in the middle of shaving a customer, a woodsman swung an ax down chopping a piece of wood in half and stopped, and a woman, who only briefly stopped to look at me, was rushing her daughter along telling her not to look at "the strange man." Who could blame them? I was only wearing a pair of pants. I had come out of a house huffing. I must have looked crazy to them. It seemed that the house I was staying in was part of a row of houses that looked almost identical. Across the dirt road were a couple of buildings that appeared to be stores. A sign hung above the top of one reading "Doctor's Office." Another right next to it read "City Hall." Where the hell was I? A little ways off, at the end of the buildings, I saw some crops. If I headed that way, I could at least hide for a little bit. I sprinted towards them as Azalia and the man came out.
A couple of people jumped out of my way, not wanting to be involved with whatever ordeal was occurring. I was about fifty feet away when I heard footsteps from behind me. I looked back and saw the man also sprinting. Scared, I picked up speed. Forty feet. The footsteps increased in numbers, letting me know that he was also running faster. Thirty feet. I could smell the crops from where I was. They smelt faintly of honey. Twenty feet. I was running out of breath. I hadn't ran in at least two months and my legs began to feel wobbly. My chest felt constricted and my throat was dry. Ten feet. I noticed a couple of farmers in the crops with scythes. I suddenly started to regret my decision. Scythes? Really? I was five feet away when my fear and exhaustion got the best of me.
One leg caught onto other and I fell in the dirt. Shit. I slid a little ways, scrapping up my face and chest a bit. I looked forward, coughing up dirt. The smell of honey invaded my nostrils. It was a good smell. I heard someone approach me. I turned over and the sun blarred into my eyes. The person appeared over me, blocking the sun. Their silhouette was almost mysterious. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He said frustrated. "We take you in, treat you while you're unconscious, and this is how you repay us? You freak out and go sprinting off to God knows where?" He wasn't out of breath. Apparently, he was used to running. I laid there, breathing heavily, trying to catch my breath. For an instant, this scene had seemed vaguely familiar. Me, lying on my back with someone above me. It was only for an instant though. "Well?" He started again. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
What could I tell him? "Oh, hey, I'm sorry. I thought that you were secretely going to dice me up and put me in a stew. You and your little girl. I must have been gravely mistaken. I take complete fault." Pfft. How lame. He knelt down, looking at with me with the same puzzled look. "You are certainly a strange one, aren't you?" He whispered after a moment of analyzing me.
By this time, Azalia had caught up to us. She was huffing more than I was. "What is the matter with you, Mr. Man?" She asked, holding her arms out.
"Now, sweetie. Let's be easy on him. He seems terrified. I mean, we did start asking him who he was before we told him who we were. How is that fair to someone who doesn't know who they are?"
"But he didn't know that he didn't know who he was." She proclaimed.
"You're right. So, let's do this properly." He got up and held out his hand to help me up. Hi, I'm Dan." He smiled.

5

Zephyrus

As it turned out, Dan wasn't secretly trying to cook me. In fact, he was too generous for even his own good. Dan Alfrim was his full name. He was 26 years old and a fine athlete. His hair carried a bright blond hue to it that matched his blue eyes. Slightly taller than I was, his build was that of a blacksmith. I found out that the town I was brought to was called Zephyrus. Azalia, despite the image that she gave, was not his daughter. In fact, she had no real relation to him. It appeared that her mother had past away from some horrific accident. The details weren't given, but I could tell that it hurt her to talk about it. She was five years old when it happened and simply because Dan was their neighbor, the town voted him to be her caretaker. The whereabouts of her father were unknown considering that he disappeared before her birth. Dan was happy for the opportunity. He told me later that even though he never saw himself as having kids till later, he was honored. After two years, he practically loved her like she was his own.
Azalia looked up to Dan. She followed him wherever he went and she helped him around the house when she could. I was right about her age; she was seven years old, but it seemed she was beyond her years in maturity. When I asked her, she told me that she was seven and three quarters. She went to the local elementary school, but was very standoffish with the other kids. It seemed that the lost of her mother had some affect towards this. Outside of school, she was the most bubbly little girl one could imagine. It was almost as if she had two completely different personalities. For the first year that she lived with Dan, she didn't say a single word. Dan thought she hated him; somehow thought that she accused him for her mother's demise. As it turned out she was observing Dan, watching carefully and absorbing what she saw.
One afternoon, Dan had left the house to go across the street for some groceries. When he returned, she was on a step ladder, doing the dishes. It was then that he understood why she was silent for a full year. Since then, Azalia was known for her photographic memory. She couldn't learn from simply listening, she had to see what she was doing. It was assumed that this also contributed to her alienation of the other kids and as a result, Dan took her out of school to teach her at home. Since then, Dan had meant everything to her and her to him. If it wasn't for her pink hair, one couldn't tell that they weren't related. They were as close as two separate beings who were seemingly thrown into the situation could be. There wasn't an ounce of animosity between the two and they worked out their daily routine flawlessly. While Dan was out working, running errands, or cooking meals for her, she would do the dishes, vacuum the floor, and generally pick the house up. After dinner and dishes were finished, Dan would give her school lessons. Overall, they lived a comfortable and peaceful life.
Zephyrus, I came to find out, was a town on the north eastern border of Erwat. It was situated on Prod Lake. About fifty miles east, one would be in Ekaz. The population was about five-hundred at the very least. While the town was the center for marketing and public housing, there were residents who lived outside the perimeter of Zephyrus. Because there were so few of them out there, about a ten minute walk, they were considered part of Zephyrus as well. They had a bar located on the left side, but it wasn't your usual pub. They served a honey type drink that almost gave the same sensation as alcohol: warm and intoxicating. I was told that even though the side effects were the same, the symptoms weren't. It was their solution to alcohol. As a result, one could drink as much as they wanted without the physical implications that alcohol brought. Because of this even children were allowed to drink. They called it Quintral.
It didn't hit me when I first saw it, due to the fact that I was panicking, but the town was set up for convenience; houses were on one side and the stores were on the other. It was a very efficient way to build a small town like this one. Due to the proximity of the Prod lake, their export was fish. I inquired as to how it was possible to bring in so much fish from a lake and was told that the fish produced every week. It seemed that the malson fish would grow unusually fast. If the fishermen didn't catch them in enough time, evolution would take its course and they would become land malsons. As a result of their growth abnormality, their reproduction systems would be mature within a single week. It took about two days from the time of conception for a malson to give birth. I had never seen anything like it and yet the practicality of it was amazing.
The doctor's office was a "one man show." There was one doctor for the entire town. He learned his trade in Shimatai, the capital of Karai. It seemed that that was where most doctors came from.