Part 2
John stared at his phone. He pushed a button and the word “Where is, over” load on the screen. His brain unscrambled the broken English into ‘Where are you.’ The ‘over’ was probably a signal for the end of a message when you communicate through radios. Damn you machine translators, John cursed in his heart.
During his week with Arashi, John asked for his help to translate a lot of things and help him get about this foreign nation. He kept telling himself he will learn Japanese so he could enjoy all the Japanese entertainment and maybe even hitch up with a Japanese girl, but he kept procrastinating and making excuses. Now that Arashi was gone, he truly appreciated what Arashi did for him. Arashi owed him nothing and was selfless enough to be his translator. John felt like an asshole for taking him for granted and getting angry at Arashi if his translations was slow or delayed.
After exiting the highway, John drove down the residential area to offload his cargo. That was a long drive and he was glad the worst part of it was over. Just get the client to sign the delivery order, unload the goods, and he will be home free.
A sudden sensation of fatigue hit him. His vision blurred and his eyelids became heavy. He felt dizzy, just like that time when some maniac ran into him with a sushi in her mouth. What kind of sick people eat sushi in the morning? Eat bread like normal people, you crazy bitch! He reacted on reflex and threw a forearm strike, knocking the girl out. Since no one was around, he fled the scene before the authorities came.
Wait, I was driving a truck, why am I thinking about that…
Feeling a chill down his spine, John snapped out of this dream and willed himself to wake up. He knew that he was sleeping now, but couldn’t regain control of his body. The onset of sleep paralysis made him panic because the last thing he remembered doing was driving a truck. He was a danger to himself and to others if he don’t wake up right now.
Struggling to regain consciousness, John tensed up and held his breathe, the only thing he had some control over. After a few seconds, it felt really uncomfortable, but John persevere. Finally, his body react on instinct and jerked him away with a sharp inhale of air.
The first thing he did was jam the brakes.
John knew that dozing off on the wheel was dangerous, and the best way to minimize damage was to stop his vehicle. With his foot on the brake, John tried to assess what the best course of action was. High on adrenaline, time seemed to move a bit slower for him.
There was a boy in school uniform in front of him, if John jammed the brake any later, the boy would had been hit.
Reacting to the sound of the screech, the boy started stumbling backwards.
At the same time, a circle with strange patterns appeared under the feet of the boy.
Next, he saw a similar circle of light form in front of his truck.
However, because the boy was stumbling backwards, he fell outside the circle.
The truck continued advancing, and there was a burst of light when the two circle of light collided. As the truck moved forward, John got closer to the light. Finally, he was finally engulfed by it, turning his entire world white.
♦ ♦ ♦
Thump.
The sudden sound made John jumped. He could feel himself lurching forward from a sudden impact, but his eyes were still dazed by the bright lights. With an effort, John opened his eyes. Some distance In front of him was a man in a pool of blood, lying motionlessly.
Like a puppet with its string cut. Like a puppet with its string cut. Puppet. String cut.
John kept repeating that phrase like a Japanese author that couldn’t come up with a more creative description. His mind didn’t want to proceed with the next step in logical thinking. To come into terms with the fact that he killed a man.
Trying to escape reality, John looked around him, grasping for something else to take his mind off the truth. And he realized he was not in Japan anymore. He saw a lady screaming to his left, a scream of horror and despair. She then fell onto her knees.
Like a puppet with its string cut.
Part 3
<Insert Princess POV here. Remember to use the phrase ‘Like a puppet with its string cut. At least twice.>
