Oliver Taggart's Story

Noon.
Around this time the shopping mall would be teeming with people, those who could find time to leisurely stroll the shops and spend what they wanted were usually in abundance, peppered with those few individuals who were in a rush to get that specific thing, late birthday present perhaps? None of this really mattered, but Oliver Taggart, a young janitor, would see none today, as the mall was closed on short notice due to concerns about the cleanliness of the building, the cleaning firm Oliver worked for was brought in to do the literal dirty work. Oliver was ready, he had abruptly risen from the sweet embrace of sleep only a few hours ago for the shift he had forgotten about, and was understandably still fairly drowsy. Despite his shortcomings however, Oliver began cleaning, with headphones on and rock and blues music blasting from his music player, he was finished faster than any of the other janitors.

He triumphantly slammed his broom against the floor just as the last song finished, safe in the assumption that he was truly a janitorial master. "Yes!" He boomed, basking in the praise of the nonexistent crowd watching him do the only thing he'd ever committed to mastering. Oliver smiled, despite having no one to see him and let out a final sigh of completion. However, he did not feel like it was time to sleep, like the end of most shifts.

In fact he did not feel good at all.

Oliver clutched the broom hard now, like it was the only thing that he could hold on to, because it felt as if the very ground was no longer stable. Oliver let out an unintelligible grumble and looked around confused, but before he could say anything he was gone. To a bystander it would seem as if he had blinked out of existence, no trace. Where he was next was most certainly not where he had been, not the freshly cleaned grey concrete of the mall floor, nor the artificial light of the mall's lamps. These details appeared to be replaced with bare earth beneath Oliver's shoes and a pleasant sunset in the sky, hovering just above the open fields in front of him.

He put his hand in front of his face to block the steadily dimming sunlight from his vision and squinted both because of the light, and due to his sheer confusion as to what had just occurred. "This..." he mumbled, "This isn't New York". Which was the last thing he said before he felt the sudden build up of vomit in his mouth.

Wiping his mouth and slowly getting to his feet, Oliver looked up to acknowledge an older man asking him questions. Hunched over with his hands on his knees he turned and nonchalantly waved his hand, as if to ask for a second to catch his breath. When the grogginess passed, Oliver pushed himself up and groaned as faced the sky, and slowly turned to face this old man. The man's clothes were the first things he noticed, as they were most certainly not in style, not for a century at least, even the way he carried and presented himself was just off from the norm.

Realising he still had his headphones on, clumsily grabbed the plastic linking the two speakers and tore them from his head, accidentally catching some hair along with the motion, an action that seemed to perplex and also somewhat embarrass the man still waiting for an answer to his question. After a brief interval of Oliver wearing a blank look on his face, the cogs turning inside his brain, he finally came to grips with the situation.

Suddenly everything hit him like a freight train, the world coming crashing into his senses and the realisation of what had occurred finally came to him. "Earth?" he asked hesitantly like it was some sort of trick question, "We're on earth right?", he decided that he must have misheard and moved to his next question. "What just happened, the last thing I remember was cleaning floors" he asked, "This isn't like I'm high again or anything is it?"

Oliver moaned and clutched his head, like it was holding away valuable secrets that he needed to know. After a sigh he stood up straight and noticed a town a fair distance away, "Aw I don't care, just tell me how to get home" he said defeated, "Would someone in that town know?" gesturing towards it.

"Oh, crap, I have no idea," Olivia answered sheepishly. "Uh...maybe we should go look for an open establishment, like a restaurant or something, and hope they help us. And give us something to eat, because I dont know about you but despite whats going on right now, im pretty hungry." She began walking in a random direction. Lets hurry before it gets all dark and creepy." Olivia didnt know how this place worked, what government it functioned under, and whether or not it kept people from killing eachother over stuff. But...then again, that wouldnt make sense. The streets were fairly empty and calm, save for a few people minding their own business in their cars and carriages. They could always just call out to those people, but...Olivia felt it was probably safer to find an establishment with lights, food and people, and not someone in a cart. Even though she did consider it extreme that someone could kidnap them by shoving them into a horse drawn cart or even the actual cars they currently had- could they even shove a person back there, let alone 2 full grown ladies? She shook her head. "...Do you feel like youre thinking too much due to circumstances, Naomi? Because I do."

~~~~~

"Youre in Cariman, but the planet is called 'Masssas'. I dont know what happened, but no one knows how you folks end up lost around here." He scratched the back of his head. "By the time we make it to town, it'll be late enough for my wife to worry. You'd have to wait until tomorrow, to be able to get to your answer. You try going now you be rushing to your death. Night isnt a good time to be out there. And I already saw you here, I dont plan to leave you here, itll bother my gut all night. You can stay at my place the night, then ill take you to town early tomorrow." He wasnt sure if this stranger would accept his offer the first time- after all, this poor man was stuck somewhere unfamiliar and an old man was offering him a place to stay the night. But he had already made up his mind to make sure the stranger didnt end up getting attacked by a prairie cat or something because he didnt insist in letting him stay somewhere safe.

A place to stay for the night? To Oliver that sounded like a nice offer, a very nice offer actually. Maybe too nice. He scrunched up his face as he stared at the old man, once again falling into the dark pit of confusion he so recently climbed his way out of. Oliver had never encountered such pure charity before in his life, so it was only natural for him to be sceptical of this man's seemingly nice offer.

A million possibilities could occur if Oliver were to take this offer, to trust the first person you meet after blacking out and waking up in a mysterious and unfamiliar land only vaguely resembling ours. What could this man want? Could he have some sort of nefarious agenda in leading away confused travellers? Who would even know that Oliver was here, he barely knew anyone back home and as far as he was aware he'd never set foot in this Cariman land. Before he knew it Oliver could be dead and buried by a stranger he just met and no one would ever know. Surely some of this should be taken into consideration when making a decision, surely some degree of caution should be thought about.

Unfortunately none of this went through Oliver's mind. "A place to stay?" his face lit up as he smiled, "that would be great, thanks!" he said with surprise at this unfamiliar kindness. "Lead the way old guy!" he instructed, a smile still plastered over his face and a single thought occupying his mind. Man, I hope they have some leftovers they can share, I would love to see what the food is like around here!

"Just hop into the back of the cart, its just a little ways from here," he said, walking towards the aforementioned cart, getting back onto it himself. "Try not to kick at the bags, some of them have fragile goods and stuff that spoils." He waited until Oliver got on, and as comfortable as he could get back there, before getting the horse to move again.
~
About half an hour later, a small, lit up cottage came into view, surrounded by a short and neat stone wall fencing off the perimiter, with a large enough space in it to allow the cart through. "Ill introduce you to Rebecca, my wife, so she knows we have a guest, before I put everything in the back," he said, pushing open the door to his home, which lead straight to the fairly large living room. The floor was neatly tiled with smooth, soft green, marble like stone, and despite the fact that the house was obviously constructed with wood and stone, it was obvious he used different woods for aesthetics- the walls were white, and the ceiling and siding were a light, caramel color. All the furniture in the room consisted of these wooden color schemes, even the ceiling and other lamps, in their best metal and ceramic counterparts, the flame appearing to float atop clear liquid in a bowl supplied with the necessary fuel and air through the pipes that seemingly served only to hold the bulbs of light up. There were different colored doors that lead to the different rooms of the house- To the kitchen, the dining room, and to the basement, as well as the door leading to the attic, which served as his bedroom. It was quite clear that he was the man who possessed decent wealth.

He opened the door leading to the kitchen. "Reby, Im home!" He said, putting some of the bags he had brought in on the white marble counter. A woman tending deliciously scented pots on a large stove with racks at different heights turned, smiling. "Well, welcome you, Gale." The now named old man turned to Oliver. "Found another one of them on my way back, right after he got here, it seems."

"Is he alright? He seems ill!"

"What? Oh, it seems that the trip didnt settle with his stomach."

"Ohsies, well, good thing we still have lovington liquor," She said, going over to a cupboard, taking out a shot glass and filling it with a clear blue colored liquid. "This helps with upset stomachs, dear. The food wont be ready for a few more minutes, so itll give you a moment to settle." The liquid was fairly tastless, except for the faint taste of the alcohol and the fainter taste of sweetened peppermint.