Midday Flame

Chapter Four

Harold was the first to wake up. As soon as he gets out of the bed, Bruno also wakes up.

"We should hurry. The sun's up already." Harold said.

"Oh no! What time is it?" Bruno asked as he began to put on his clothes.

"Close to six." Harold answered as he put on his own clothes.

"Only six? I thought we were late."

"It's probably because it's summer here. The sun comes early and sets late, but I have never seen it this early before. Let's go before the siblings leave."

"Alright! Hopefully, they don't start their day too early."

Bruno leads Harold to the home of Chang and Ming. It is easy to remember since it's the only home with an orange door.

"There it is." Bruno pointed to the home with an orange door.

"Alright, I'll go check if anyone's still there." Harold said. "You can stay here and watch my back if anything happens."

He crosses the street to the house of Chang and Ming. Instead of going to the front door, he goes to the side window and places his ear against the wall. After several seconds, he hears a male voice. It belongs to Chang. With this knowledge, he goes back to meet up with Bruno.

"Well?" Bruno asked. "Is anyone in there?"

"Yeah, it's Chang," Harold answered. "I wasn't able to see him, but I recognized his voice from yesterday. And his voice was the only one that I heard."

"I guess we wait until someone comes then."

"Yeah. Hopefully, they will come out soon."

"I'll get us something to eat while you wait here." Bruno suggested.

"Sounds good." Harold said.

Bruno proceeds to go buy breakfast for the both of them.

Looking around, Bruno can only see one food vendor that is active. The vendor is a man in his early thirties grilling a white sea creature.

"What is that?" Bruno asked the food vendor.

"Oh, you must not be around here." said the vendor.

"I keep hearing that."

The vendor laughs softly. "Haha! You look too white to be around here."

"The food?" Bruno said while trying not to sound irritated. Bruno doesn't like it when people prevent him from doing something. It doesn't matter whether it was done intentionally or not.

"Oh yes! This is squid grilled with chili."

"I'll have two." Bruno said as he put up two fingers.

The vendor sprinkles some extra herbs onto two freshly grilled squids, places them on a paper tray, and hands them to Bruno. "Enjoy!"

Bruno grabs both grilled squids with both hands and walks away. He walks for a few minutes, and feels that someone is watching him. This is a gut feeling. He turns around and sees a short dude wearing a white tank top, brown shorts, and sandals. The locals around here all look the same. It could just be his imagination, but Bruno feels like he had seen this dude before. Seeing someone one time is nothing, two times means suspicion, but three times means something is up.

Bruno intends to make a circle to detect if he's being followed by this short tanned dude. A few feet, or meters, north of the food vendor is a house, Bruno walks towards the house, then makes a right, walks several more feet, or meters, makes another right for several minutes and finally another right turn. After walking for several minutes, Bruno is back at the food vendor again. He spots the short tanned dude hiding behind a palm tree. There is no doubt Bruno is being followed. Time to confront the guy. Bruno casually walks to the palm tree. The tanned dude pretends to look elsewhere, but Bruno isn't fooled by this.

"You following me?" Bruno asked while still holding the two grilled squid.

The tanned dude is surprised. "What? I don't know what you mean!"

Bruno smirks because he has his answer. Whenever someone responds like that, it means they are guilty, but there's no proof of their guilt.

"Hmmm I thought you were scared of foreigners attacking your friend." Bruno said with a smile intending to provoke the tanned dude. The intention was to see how he would react.

The tanned dude's eyes light up.

Bruno knew this guy knew something. The tanned dude looks angry right now. Bruno continues to observe the guy for his next action, but is too hungry to save himself from what happened next.

A brown Earth Spellbomb blows up in front of Bruno. Brown sand particles disperse from the Spellbomb and Bruno is knocked back and drops the two grilled squid.

The tanned dude jumps at Bruno and starts punching him in the face. It took a second for Bruno to realize what had just happened. Bruno has the height and weight advantage. The tanned dude has to jump to punch Bruno due to the difference in height.

Bruno notices a fist coming to his face, quickly uses his right hand to grab the tanned dude's wrist, pivots to his left, and throws the tanned dude over his shoulder. The tanned dude lands on his back and spits out a breath of air. Bruno kicks the tanned dude in the stomach, and the tanned dude rolls over on the sand.

While trying to catch his breath, the tanned dude begins to transform into a Goat.

"As if that matters!" Bruno said irritated. Nobody stops Bruno from eating and gets away with it.

The Goat begins to run into Bruno.

The bright morning sun has caused Stella and Lyla to wake up earlier than usual.

"What time is it?" Lyla asked.

"I don't know. Probably eight or nine. It's so bright outside." Stella answered. "Let's get something to eat."

"You're not dressed yet."

Stella stops and laughs. "Oh oops! Hihi! I forgot we aren't at my house."

The girls change into their usual outfit and leave their room.

In the lobby, the receptionist watches as the girls exit through the front door. Outside, the first thing that Stella and Lyla see was a Goat running towards Bruno.

"What did we just walk into?" Stella asked out loud.