Krystallos Chaos

Jefferson

The clock said it was around seven at night when we made our way to the first landmark in this weird journey. I saw a sign out of the corner of my eye that said: Tyler, Texas. There was a large rose in the middle, that almost weirdly reminded me of the tree of might, which was weird. You would think a random town in Texas would have a gun on their welcome sign instead of a rose. I thought it might be a good time to pull over and try to rest for the night, because Tea was still asleep, and 2 cans of Monster can only take me so far before I completely crash out. 

Tea had been asleep for so long, it was starting to actually worry me a little bit. He kept fading in and out of consciousness, mumbling random things in his sleep. I found a small motel that would take us this late, and then paid. Tea was still sleeping, and I couldn't wake him up, so I had to drag him through the lobby into the room. I got some weird looks from the hotel clerk, but she seemed more surprised at seeing Tea than she did seeing me drag his unconscious body through the lobby. She probably thought he was drunk or something. The way she was staring at him seemed almost like when people see a celebrity in public, which was weird.

She seemed like a younger person, maybe eighteen or nineteen years old. She had brown hair which was put down but pushed out of the way of her face. A few freckles dotted her cheeks, which stood out against her fair skin. She was standing behind the desk with a kind of half smile on her face, looking like she had no clue what to do besides awkwardly standing there watching. "Um, this might sound weird, but can I get a picture?" She asked sheepishly.

"Huh?" I replied instantly, extremely confused. 

"I'm sorry, is that weird? It's just, I might never get the chance to see him face to face again, so I wanted to get a picture with him. You know, to brag to my friends?" She said, starting to blush a bit from embarrassment.

"I guess you can?" I said back, not really knowing what was happening. Tea was never really that hot, I guess he was just her type.

"Really? Thanks so much! I really appreciate it! I can't believe I met the real Tyler!" She exclaimed, her face almost overflowing with joy. She ran over to him, and pulled out her cell phone. She leaned over to him, and pressed that small white circle on her screen probably 80 times. "Thanks so much! By the way, here's your money back. I'm so sorry for charging you." She said hurriedly. She went back to her desk, tapped on her keyboard a few times, and handed me back the cash I paid her a second ago. Everything felt really odd, but I was too tired to care, and figured Tea was just really her type. I got back to dragging Tea, and as I left I could hear her furiously mashing the buttons on her phone and muttering to herself manically.

I finally dragged Tea's comatose body into the motel room. I didn't feel like setting him on his bed, so I just left him on the floor. I collapsed on the bed, and finally got to rest.

I was woken rudely by the sound of the door being slammed shut. Tea had finally woken up, I guess. It was kinda weird that he woke up at 5 am and just left, but I guess if I was asleep for so long, I would want to stretch my legs a bit too. It was a bit weird that he would slam the door though, he's usually way more polite. I really didn't care though, so I just went back to sleep.

I woke up around thirty minutes later, and went to the bathroom. I slicked back my hair, and went to see if the breakfast bar was open. I left the room and it wasn't. The sign outside said breakfast was ready at 5, but I guess that was a lie. I can't complain though, since we got the room for free. I walked into the lobby to ask about breakfast, or any good restaurants nearby. The lobby was completely empty; not even the clerk from last night was there. 

I checked out back, where the old empty swimming pool and hot tub were. The pool had obviously been closed for quite a while judging by the crack lazily stretching its way along the base, and the collection of leaves, sticks, and old cigarette buds. Not a soul.

I decided to check our room one last time to see if Tea had come back yet. He still hadn't. I grabbed the keys and made my way down the liminal hallways back to the lobby. I walked outside the motel and found pretty much the same thing as everywhere else. There wasn't a soul in sight. Even the birds had stopped chirping.

I started the car, put on some Biggie Smalls, and drove around the town for a bit. I couldn't see anyone anywhere, even the shops around the street were empty, although some of them had their open signs lit up.

I finally found my way downtown. The first thing that stood out to me was a pair of skyscrapers. The first one was a pleasant beige color, with a mostly concrete exterior. The second skyscraper was a polar opposite to the first, being a depressing dark gray color. Not only that, but the architecture seemed like someone's first attempt at blender. Instead of one looming obelisk, there was one central structure with two other smaller towers connected to it. And the exterior seemed to be mostly windows.

I drove closer to the skyscrapers, and was suddenly hit with a huge surprise. Directly in front of both was what looked like the town square. And filling the town square was what looked like the entire population of the town. They all looked to be congregating around one person, who was hoisted above everyone on an impromptu throne. I drove a little closer to see who it was. IS THAT TEA!?