Paun's Story

|PAUN|

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~" A blonde girl sighed "I love the smell of freshly baked bread at minute to three in the afternoon"

The girl was named Paun, often called Paun Paun. Whether or not it was a slight relation to the French word for bread she didn’t know. She didn’t doubt it. In fact, she could be of French decent. She lifted the pan from the oven bringing it up to her nose and inhaling the aroma of her creation. She loved bread, well any food really but especially bread. She turned placing it on the stone countertop. Her entire house was made of stone. And it was just as she liked it. She also loved baking even though due to some odd circumstances she was given the power to create food out of nowhere. However, such a thing was supposed to go against the rules of magic. She sometimes she just preferred good ole fashioned baking.

She smiled and turned to close her oven then looked back at the bread fondly. Because of this power she could feed the poor children of Project 21. Not just poor in the sense of having no money. Poor as in there was a war going on and all the food was being taken away. The children were fighting for survival in more than one way. Just as these thoughts passed her mind, the bracelet on her wrist started flashing.

"THE SCANNERS!" she cried and immediately ran about trying to fix thing. She had to act normal. Paun stowed the bread away and sat near a window. Through it she could see other faces. Paun squinted as the scanners passed by her house. Her fingers dug into the window sill in fear as she watched, waiting and hoping, that it would pass on. She held her breath, breathing in and out slowly. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Her bracelet shut off.

A sigh escaped her almost like a sob. She really hated the scanners. They had taken too many children. She noticed this when they stopped coming to her house to get food. She owned the bakery, and pretty much had all the food that wasn’t otherwise spoiled in project 21. She covered her mouth trying not the cry at the thought of what potentially happened. Those adorable smiles were to die for….die for…..She slumped near the window clutching her chest. She stayed like that for a few minutes, before taking a shaky breath.

"I have to be strong" she reminded herself "For them."

|PAUN|

A dizzy haze overcame her as she slumped to the floor. Something held her tight restricting her breathing, What was this that she felt, fear? Adrenaline? She didn't know did she want to know? Her blonde hair was in her eyes, frightened childlike eyes. Innocent but wide like they had seen far too much for a child. The air was thinning the light fading. Is this death?she thought vaguely, staring unseeing into the darkness, unable to breathe.

Paun Paun let go of her breath. A sharp gasp of pain as she realized she had been holding it the whole time. Was it a dream?She blinked rubbing her face and sat up. She was lying on the floor of her bakery, nothing had been disturbed. No... No Adults here. but she was still on guard. Paun was so paranoid always thinking the Adults were right there after all she had a close encounter when she was younger she had seen first-hand the torment experienced the pain. She had seen far too much for someone so young. The kind of thing NO ONE should ever have to see.

She lifted a shaking sweaty hand to wipe the hair from her face the strands were sticking there. After a moment she hoisted herself to her feet, still breathing as if it were dangerous to. Each breath was a fight. She gazed dizzily into the room. Cooking pots, vegetables, and a small kennel sitting in the short distance, "What was I Doing before this" She asked herself. She took a step toward the kitchen and with a wave of dizziness collapsed into a chair.

She blinked opening her eyes slowly and closing them again. Not too long after a small timer clock rang indicating it was time to make food runs. She opened her eyes and sat u. Paun knew that not many Children could get to her shop, and therefore not many would be able to get food. Despite it being the year 2149, Project 21 had no other food stores. Therefore it was up to her to make sure that everyone got an adequate amount of food each day.
Lucky for Paun, her power made it wonderfully easy to travel. Unlike most delivery services, she did not have to carry anything with her. Her hands blindly found a pad of paper and a pen scrawling a neat, but hurried note reading

"I Will be back in at least an hour or so"

In case anyone comes she thought, then lifted herself to her feet gathering her skirts and walked about doing a few last minute things. She left the bread on the counter with a cover over it, as well as the other food in the open but protected. If a child showed up she wanted to be sure they received what they were looking for, with or without her present. She and pulled herself to the door.

She wandered outside into the maze of Project 21. She had a path she would follow every day, and would go to visit each house. In this way, she was usually one of the first to know if anyone had disappeared and who. As she walked a figure stumbled towards her. He had a hand extended as if he had been looking for her and had just found his target. She frowned and caught the boy’s hand.

“There there, You made it just fine. I know what you need.” . The child looked at her helplessly before his face broke into a grin. He must have been travelling quite a distance to get there. Paun smiled and closed her eyes, in an instance a large amount of food appeared in a box. Paun handed the box to the child and pat his head. “I suggest you rest inside before taking a journey back”. She told the child before bowing her head and hurrying off to feed the rest of the kids.

About forty-five minutes later she was rounding onto another street that always amused her. She had just met up with a few Children who were teleporters. They would assist her in her getting food to all the Children, since she could not do it alone. The street was lined with metal and odd contraptions here are there. It was completely unlike the rest of the town. This particular one led up to The Shop , owned by a boy named Dex.

Paun always enjoyed visiting him, because he always had a story to tell or something to converse about. Her shoes clacked against the metal bridge that led across a lake up to the metal dome with many colourful and blinking lights as well as pipes attached to it. She was amused by the oddness of it, and wondered if Dex had made it himself. She approached the door and rapped a hand on it, causing the metal to clank loudly.

”Food Delivery!~" She called out as she could already hear noises in the building to show he knew someone was there.

| DEX|

A light ticking sound emitted from the shop as Dex worked endlessly on an experiment. His head was bent low over it, green eyes in full concentration. He could not afford a mistake when it came to the Children’s protection. He had to check every aspect of a tool or invention before he released it to the rest of Project 21. However, this particular invention was still in trial. No matter how hard he tried, how he used the metal he couldn’t seem to get it just right, there was always a tiny issue here, or a larger one there.

It was quite frustrating for a seventeen year old boy. Yes, Dex was 17 the big age, the terrifying number, the year before he would officially no longer be a child. Considering that no one knew what happened to a child at that time, the idea was probably the scariest event in a child’s life, in fact it could very well be the last. The only ones who knew were the Adults, which of course Dex wasn’t going to walk up to and ask. “Hey what happens when I turn 18 round here?” No, that would be insane and impossible, Adults steered clear from Project 21. They didn’t want to be associated with the children. Although, there were a select few who would venture down into the chaotic depths, and would regret it.

The only others who knew were, well the ones who had seen it happen. Very few of them there were, and even less of them could live long enough to tell the tale before going completely crazy. So therefore, there was no hope for a Child once they passed the big 1-7. They couldn’t hide it, it was embedded into their very being, and the scanners could detect it. You simply had, one last year, and you had to make it count. However, for Dex, that time was fast approaching.

Dex wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, before sighing. His eyes were tired, but he couldn’t stop, he had to get this done before…. Well before he…

Suddenly a loud clanking signaled a bell to go off. Dex’s eyes opened wide, and then narrowed. He slipped from the chair and went to the contraption set up in the corner of his shop. It looked like it had once been a cross between a vacuum cleaner and a few other household items such as a toaster. This was the “Springy 2.0”, coined by a silly and cute girl named Prelude who lived in the church not far from his shop. He smiled for a second thinking of her. She was one of the many cute girls who frequented his shop, or who he went to visit with new inventions. However, that wasn’t the concern at the moment. For “S20” was telling him he had a visitor or an intruder.

He raised a gloved hand and gently pulled down a lever causing the machine to go silent, before turning to face the door. His hand moved fast pressing down a buckle on the glove which released a set of tools for easy access, or in this case a weapon. He slid a foot towards the door, and waited.

“Food Delivery!~”

A familiar voice called out. Then there was an unmistakable knock and Dex relaxed his position to walk forward and open the door. As he pulled it open, his entire demeanor changed. The pretty blonde would see a charming and tall fellow who wore a stunning smile as he ran his fingers through his own blonde locks.

“Heya ther’ Miss Paun Paun. What an honor ta see ya again. Please come inside.”
He moved from the door and bowed in welcome, wearing the most charming smile as he never lost eye contact with her, giving her his full attention, quite the prince charming.

|PAUN|

She had to admire his work. Hs entire house was made by his own hand and was able to withstand all kinds of weather, even the harsh fumes that were in the air. She was just leaning forward to see the intricate detail that was around the door when it opened it front of her.

She stepped back, with a tiny flinch and looked up to the gorgeous eyes of Dex, the Mechanic. A light blush spread over her pale cheeks and she tried to avoid his eyes, however he was making it impossible as he stood there smiling down at her. She felt tiny, and twisted a strand of her long blonde hair as a distraction.

“Heya ther’ Miss Paun Paun. What an honor ta see ya again. Please come inside.” She nodded uttering a small squeak as he moved from the door and bowed his head to her, very gentleman-like. It was no wonder girls were always fawning over him. When she got the chance she finally wrenched her eyes away from his and walked over the threshold. Immediately tools, inventions and gadgets greeted her. She found all of them highly interesting and would love nothing more than to learn about each and every one of them.

Paun turned back to Dex after he would have shut the door and smiled holding out a basket full of bread, tiny cakes and a potato pie as was Dex’s favorite food. She had learned this long before and made sure to perfect it for him. “Uh, I brought you some treats!” She exclaimed offering the basket to him. She eyed his hands and jumped back in alarm seeing the makeshift “weapon” attached to one of them. She inwardly whacked herself for being stupid and placed the basket on table that had less clutter than the others.

Her eye caught the shine of an object on his work desk. She couldn’t help her curiosity but to go over and look. She had no idea what it was, but she was sure he had worked very hard on it. After a moment she jumped. “How rude of me, just wandering about in your shop. I apologize! I’ll go now!” . Feeling embarrassed she gathered her skirts and made for the door, but there was a strange sensation that caused her to look out the window.

It was darker than she thought, and she knew she hadn’t been there long. There were clouds of purple and gray looming over them like a monster, almost unbelievably close. Paun’s breath caught in her throat she didn’t take another step forward and forgot her embarrassment.

If it was a storm, it was nothing like she ever saw. There were flashes of lightning, and a lack of rain, yet a heavy fog lay all around them. It looked like it could have expanded all over Project 21, like there was no escape. Paun lay a hand on the window and pulled away, to see a spot form where her hand was, like the very air outside was melting.

It was terrifying. Did she have to go out in it?

| DEX|

Dex thought Paun was a rather interesting girl. She seemed to space out more often than others. The act was sort of cute. He chuckled lightly as she squeaked when he had invited her in. He looked about outside before lightly closing the heavy door so as not to make a sound. He then turned and watched as she walked about his shop looking at his inventions. She didn’t have eyes of greed as most of his customers did. Instead her eyes were bright and interested. He chuckled at this too. Girls were such strange creatures.

She turned to him and with a wide smile, held out a basket full of bread and bread-like products. Bread, was not particularly one of his favorite things to eat, but he was in no way going to refuse her offer. That would be rude! Dex, was not rude. “Uh, I brought you some treats!” She squeaked. He chuckled again and lifted a hand to take them. Suddenly she jumped. At first, Dex didn’t know why. What? Did he smell bad? Was there a bug? Was she just that jittery? Dex had never spent much time with this particular girl, he eyed her questionably. It was then a gleam of metal reflected off another invention and he realized, his glove weapon was still released.

“Oh, Sorry abou’ tha’” He moved a hand over the glove, pushing the metal back into place so it would appear as a regular glove again. “Didn’ realize it was still released.” He chuckled with a grin that was convincing enough of his humbleness as he watched her place the basket on a desk.

He wondered why she went to such trouble to bring him that basket, when he never ate anything bread-like. Dex leaned upon another wall just watching as something caught the girl’s attention again. She gets distracted easily he thought as he observed her heading over to his desk where his current invention was sitting.

He lifted himself from the wall keeping a close watch. If this girl was as clumsy as he thought she was, she could be risking losing all the hard work on that particular invention. He wasn’t going to let that happen. He stepped up behind her, and she jumped. Dex threw out his hands catching her before she could topple something over. “How rude of me, just wandering about in your shop. I apologize! I’ll go now!” . Dex raised an eyebrow and watched amused as Paun rushed to the door. In truth he didn’t mind her there. He just wanted to make sure his inventions stayed safe.

Her suddenly trying to leave alarmed him and he thought he must appear rude. Thas no way to treat a lady Dex he told himself and turned to tell her she didn’t have to leave. As he walked forwards she suddenly froze, causing him to bump into her. He looked at her face, wondering what had caused her to stop and then, he followed her gaze.

Dark looming clouds, flashes of strangely coloured light in the air, Dex blinked and lifted his goggles to pull them over his eyes. He looked again. A purple and green vapour floated around his home. He didn’t know what it was but guessed. It must be highly toxic.

Dex leaned over Paun getting a close look. ” Tha’ isen’ normal” He said in a slight whisper with his eyes wide. There was no way he was gonna let someone, especially a lady go out in weather like that. He slipped a hand under her arm and lightly pulled her from the window.

“I dunno wha’ tha’ is but I sugges’ we stay far away from it aye?” Dex let Paun go and automatically went to a table and started searching frantically through a box. His hands pushed countless of his past inventions and spare parts around until finally he uncovered what he was looking for.

A cracked mirror with an antenna and a calculator attached. He took it to another table and began to press the buttons on the calculator. It was similar to a video phone and was a source of communicating with the other Children in Project 21. He adjusted the antenna and tapped at the glass, wondering if he would be able to get through to anyone to prove his theory right or wrong.

If he was right, all of Project 21, was engulfed in the same strange and hauntingly deadly storm.