Prologue

A Weak In Another World

“As you see here,” the professor shone the laser pointer at the screen, “in the past, they used horse drawn carriages to get around and…” My focus drifted off as I blanked out, letting my mind wander. I couldn’t even remember what brought me to take this class, it was so boring. I stayed out of focus for a long time, while the professor droned on and on about what villages looked like in the past. Pictures flashing as the presentation progressed.

“Amari,” a tap on my shoulder brought me back to the lesson, only to realise it was over, “you zoned out again.” I looked over to see my friend standing next to me and smiling. “Let’s head out before the prof realises you weren’t paying attention.” He laughed as he watched me pack my bag. Looking around I could see we were the last to leave.

“Thanks,” I smiled as I finished packing my bag, “you always seem to notice when I don’t.”I huffed, stretching my arms above my head.

“Well, if you noticed then I wouldn’t have to snap you back.” My friend teased as I finally got up and followed him to the door. Making our way out of the building, dodging other students as we passed, once through the front gate we headed off in the direction of our apartment building.

“So, what’s got you so distracted lately?” He asked me while hanging off my shoulder as we walked. “Don’t go getting a girlfriend without me!” He laughed as I smacked him in the chest with the back of my hand, hearing him let out a huff as he stopped clutching his chest pretending it hurt. 

“What makes you think I got a girlfriend? Jaemun, you know they don’t like me.” I poked fun at him and myself, while also feeling I was speaking some truth since I didn’t talk to many people. “Besides, who has time for that when you’re so busy with school.” We laughed it off and continued walking. We lived in the same building but on different floors, and became friends from going to and from school together. We also found out we were pretty much in all the same classes. He wasn’t the usual person I'd become friends with but he always talked to me. We lived, at most, a 20 minute walk from the school so the company was nice.

“You know, Amari, if you just took the time to talk to girls you’d see they weren’t all that bad.” He pulled me away from our usual route, nearly making me fall over as he did so, heading in the direction of a park that was nearby.  “We never go this way so I figured it’d be a fun change of pace.” He brought me to the gravel path that regardless of the weather always looked perfect, there were no big trees around, only bushes scattered around here and there. The grass was a deep green, almost looking like it was painted or plastic. 

 

Finally we went silent, just enjoying the warmth of the day and the sun that was shining overhead. As we made our way through the park, we stopped for a moment looking at a small clearing of only grass. The grass in this spot somehow looked softer than the rest.

“You know what would be perfect there!?” Jaemun’s voice made me jump as he suddenly spoke so excitedly and I was sure he was going to start yelling. Changing my attention to him I could see he was waiting for an answer. I shook my head, not feeling like I wanted to talk. “A picnic!” He smiled a huge goofy grin at me. I just looked at him confused.

“A picnic?” I repeated the words to him and he nodded enthusiastically. “Nobody does those anymore though.” I watched, his smile start to fade before it flashed back.

“Then let’s have a picnic! Since nobody’s done it for such a long time it’ll be new and different.” He grabbed my arm, now filled with a new energy, pulling me in the direction of our building.

 

The rest of the way home he just planned out this picnic that he was going to do, mentioning the people he was going to invite as well as the foods each person was going to bring, not even questioning if they could bring it. Not exactly paying attention, I smiled humming here and there so he thought I was listening. The idea of meeting with people to hang out didn’t sit well with me. And finally we reached our building, causing him to calm down. Heading to the elevator, we each pressed the button to our respective floors, spending the ride in silence. Reaching my floor first the door opened and I went to get out.

“Don’t forget the picnic, we are doing it next week!” Jaemun called as the doors to the elevator were closing. I smiled at his stupidity waving as the doors closed, then turned to walk to my apartment. 


Unlocking the door, I went inside. It was fairly small. No bedroom, just a kitchen, an open area that I used as my bedroom and a washroom. I had a small balcony and a window on one wall, though they took up most of it. Taking off my shoes and heading for my bed, which was against the wall close to the window, I sat thinking about this picnic Jaemun wanted to do so badly. ‘Man, I wish I could find a way to get out of this stupid picnic.’ I thought, lying down to just rest my eyes. “I can help.” A voice rang in my head but it wasn’t my own, deciding I had started to dream I closed my eyes again.

Like this story? Give it an Upvote!
Thank you!

Comments

You must be logged in to comment
Soneforever2
51 streak #1
Chapter 7: Good story author^^
I like the concept of it.