[APH Mega Bu Ying Lu Zhong] Fools' Carnival

"Alfred! Matthew!"

Arthur outside the door saw the two people sinking into the ruins, and almost rushed back in a hurry. At this critical moment, Francis and Ludwig grabbed him together, and Alfred and Matthew just disappeared behind them. in front of you.In front of the ruins, Francis was gasping for breath with lingering fear, Arthur was stunned before he could react, and Feliciano woke them up with a cry: "Oh--Al and Matthew were buried, are they all right? !"

Ludwig covered Feliciano's mouth: "Don't cry, of course they're fine." Feliciano wiped away his tears and said inarticulately, "Help them quickly."Francis squeezed his sweat: "It shouldn't be a serious problem, after all, little Al is here, lucky is invincible." Arthur gouged out Francis.

To be honest, among them, Matthew was the one with the deepest psychological shadow of the earthquake. In the year of "Judgment Day", he hyperventilated several times due to fear, and even became completely transparent.Their teacher told them before that there is a limit to Yiren's ability. If it exceeds that limit, Yiren's body will suffer backlash. For example, if Matthew's transparency is out of control, he may not be able to recover. He has to To be a transparent person all his life is what Arthur is most anxious about.

At this time, Honda Ju put on the shoes that he had hurriedly carried in his hands, and immediately turned to the others after tidying up: "Everyone, it happened suddenly, and our top priority is to rescue Mr. Alfred and the others. I would like to ask, is there someone here?" Can my ability be used for rescue? My divination should be of no use..."

Feliciano shook his head and said tearfully: "No, you know, mine is hypnosis, and it only has half the success rate." Ludwig and Francis also shook their heads.The rest of Arthur was stunned, frowned and shook his head, and said, "My ability is not a good thing, I don't know how to use it."

"Then we can only dig with bare hands?" Ivan, who had been silent all this time, said suddenly. He patted his big hand, looking eager to try.Ludwig agreed, these inferior walls would not be very heavy, but Alfred didn't know where they were.And just when they were at a loss, Alfred yelled, so there was that wonderful photo.

"Great!" Feliciano excitedly hugged Matthew who had just crawled out of the ruins. Arthur and Francis saw that Alfred was actively trying to snatch the camera from Ivan's hand, so they ignored him. It was to come to Matthew.Honda Ju found the gauze from the trunk and said, "You're bleeding, you should bandage it quickly."

The center of vision was black, and the blackness gradually engulfed the surroundings. Matthew was dizzy, his wound was treated unknowingly, he was moved to the car unknowingly, and fell asleep unknowingly.

The world of sleep is a magical world, where people do not need the five senses, and people will no longer be a person, but a naked soul wandering in the ocean formed by memories and tiny feelings.Humans are animals of memory. Because of their past selves, they have their present selves, so they will also have their future selves. People say that the future is unpredictable. In fact, the future is the continuation of the past, and history is constantly reincarnated. This poor little man Things are struggling in the sea of ​​time, and they still can't see that this endless river is actually connected head to tail like ouroboros.Yes, it is this idea of ​​being present that gives life meaning.

Matthew has sailed alone in this sea since he was a child.He can vaguely see his own destiny, which is very obvious, like getting up at six o'clock, working until twelve o'clock, and entertaining himself until eighteen o'clock, everything is in order, the pair of monsters The big hand made the hands of the clock go round and round meekly.Matthew is like a hardworking dwarf, making thousands of small light bulbs and jewelry on the bare workbench.

"Do you think this looks good? Well, it's beautiful." Matthew's little hands hung a finished necklace on the nail.Sitting on the chair next to him was a white bear doll named Xiong Lang, which was a Christmas gift from the Welfare Association, and what Alfred received was a plastic gun.

He jumped out of the chair and accidentally stepped on the poor-quality light bulb on the ground with his bare feet, and the glass shards plunged into the soles of his feet.Matthew sniffed, sat on the ground and squeezed the pieces out with his fingers, his fingers turned red like ketchup-stained French fries, and he put on his striped socks and Arthur's old cloth shoes nonchalantly, I walked out of the house with a bag on my shoulders. It was very cold outside. When the wind blows, the leaves will fall. Autumn is here, and even the trees are crying.He said to himself: "Let's go, how much money can I make today?"

The monster is very hungry, and its only food is money. If Matthew can't feed it, they will all be thrown into the abyss and be threatened by ghosts.Once Matthew accidentally burned the kettle, the monster stuffed him into a storage cabinet under the floor, where it was dark and stuffy, although Matthew was almost suffocated, but out of a kind of pride of the same origin as Alfred , he never called out.Later, Alfred let him out, and he lay down to play, and the monster never knew which of them was which.

But this kind of thing is too dangerous after all, so Matthew had to obey the order and go out to sell some homemade sugar syrup gingerbread and dried fruit. He walked down from the top floor of the apartment, and most of the doors were noisy, and knocking on the door was difficult. No one paid any attention, a few people opened the door and wearily picked at him before closing the door. Only toothless grandma would patronize him.The best house is the Bonofois's upstairs, Arthur's friend Francis's. They buy Matthew's desserts every time, treat him to mint tea, and give him picture books that Francis doesn't want.After turning around the entire apartment, Matthew will try his luck in the community. He dare not go too far. The dense forest outside is full of dangers. Every animal is a trap. At most, he will go to a nursing home on the edge.

The name of the nursing home has been hidden in the subconscious mind. Matthew only remembers that it is surrounded by green bushes, like a large garden, and some patients in hospital gowns live in it. The whole building is incredibly quiet, as if it is about to be used. This layer of substantive tranquility protects vulnerable people in a transparent eggshell, and the security that Matthew had expected was sleep.

In the nursing home, there was a regular customer who ordered biscuits for half a year. Matthew always delivered the things to the front desk and left, but today the big sister at the front desk seemed to be absent, so he carefully walked through the white corridor according to the room number on the address , standing in front of that door, saw someone inside through the crack of the door, a tall and plump girl with short hair, wearing a white shirt and a long floral skirt, was sitting on a chair beside the hospital bed, and beside the bed was a very The large drawing board is covered from head to toe by a dust cloth, and the cloth feet are covered with colorful paints, like surprised eyes, and a row of miscellaneous painting tools are drying on the window sill.The girl is talking to the boy sitting on the bed:

"Кактысебячувствуешьвпоследнеевремя, Ваня? (How are you feeling lately, Vanya?)"

"уженебылобыхуже. (It can't get any worse.)" The pale boy replied peacefully.The girl immediately showed a heartbroken expression, and said in English: "If it is possible, I really hope that you are just an ordinary child and don't have to suffer this kind of crime..." The boy pulled out a tolerant smile and shook his head uncontrollably: "No, it's not Well, you don't understand."

"I'm sorry," the girl reached out to stroke his cheek, "Sister can't help you, Vanya, you were born different." Vanya remained silent.Matthew felt that he couldn't stand anymore, so he had no choice but to knock on the door. The girl turned around, looking surprised and friendly: "Hi, little brother, are you lost?"

Matthew blushed and said, "Hello, I'm here to deliver cookies."

The girl giggled: "I didn't expect our delivery man to be so young, thank you, your biscuits are always delicious. Come on, come and sit down, we have freshly brewed tea here." Matthew was not shy, greatly Fang Fangdi sat on the chair and thanked him, he felt that he could become friends with these people.As soon as he sat down, the girl said, "I'm Sophia, and this is my brother Ivan, young gentleman, how about you?"

"My name is Matthew Williams."

"Thank you for always bringing biscuits here." Sophia narrowed her eyes with a smile, her clear eyes were exactly the same as her brother's, "Let me tell you, my brother is sick and can only live here, here There are no children, so he can't find friends, promise me, will you accompany him when I'm not around?" Matthew nodded, this is not a difficult task.

At this time, the boy looked at Matthew, and Matthew couldn't remember his face, only had a vague impression that his eyes were lonely, even though there were two people chatting and laughing with him, Matthew felt that he didn't belong Here, it seems that it will fly away at any time.Matthew was very familiar with this feeling. His heart was pounding, and he suddenly had the idea of ​​whether this person might be the same as him.

"Thank you, my angel. See you next time," the girl said.

Sophia's smile turned yellow in the memory, gradually blurred, and the follow-up matter was directly interrupted. Matthew was dizzy in the memory, and couldn't find the tail at that time.Next time, there will be no next time, when Matthew went there for the second time, the boy had already been discharged from the hospital and could not be contacted again-but there is no next time in life, there is only last time and this time in life, just like life only Yesterday and today, but never tomorrow.The future is something that can be counted on, but it is by no means something that can be relied on. The promises that have been made and the things that have been admired may disappear at any time. If you cannot grasp the present moment in the torrent of time, you can only be moved forward The crowd huddled behind, turning into living dead dwelling on the past.

Matthew walked up to the attic and heard an intermittent clarinet sound coming from the room. He was surprised to think that there should be no one else in the house at this time, so who is in the attic?He gently pushed open the door, but found that the clarinet sound was gone, and there was no one in the attic. He walked to the center of the attic in a daze, looked up at the patched ceiling full of cobwebs, and suddenly felt It's hard to breathe, something must be wrong with his brain.

There is a clarinet on the ground, and there is another him standing in the full-length mirror beside him. Matthew turned to look at him, and he turned to look at Matthew. They are exactly the same, just like Matthew and Alfred.Matthew reached out to touch the mirror, and he also reached out to join Matthew's. Matthew asked, "Are you playing the flute?"

"He" nodded.Matthew smiled: "Although you are flat and can't run, let's get along well."

Matthew was indeed crazy. He nodded again when he saw "he" in the mirror, but he was very excited, as if he really had an extra playmate.It's just that the soles of his feet suddenly tingled. He took off his socks and saw blood streaks flowing down his feet like paint, and stained the socks and insoles, but it had dried up, while his toes were transparent.An unexplainable loneliness seized Matthew all of a sudden. He sat on the spot with his knees hugged and cried for a while, but the person in the mirror couldn't comfort him, so he could only tap the mirror lightly and stare at him silently.

Soon, the sun was setting, and Alfred, who was dirty and dusty and looked like a wild rabbit, kicked open the door excitedly, and Matthew sat in front of the workbench making leaf specimens.Alfred ran to Matthew and dumped the treasures he had in his clothes on the table, shouting: "Look, Matthew, I won so many gashapons by playing steel balls!"

Matthew looked at the pile of gashapons, which contained cheap chocolates and miniature figures, a total of eleven, and asked, "Where did you get the money to play steel balls?"

"I picked it up on the road." Alfred opened the gashapon happily, and ate chocolate with Matthew, his mouth was full of brown juice, leaving two pieces for Arthur.Matthew thought that Arthur was really slow to come back today, so he asked, "Is Arthur busy today?"

"Yeah, he made an appointment with someone." Alfred said proudly.Matthew was taken aback: "Is this really okay?"

"Of course no problem, Arthur is amazing! And Francis is there." "Really..." Matthew thought about it and was still worried, lying on the floor and thinking slowly, Alfred also lay down, Rolling around restlessly.Chicago in the evening is more beautiful than late at night. A long breath splits from the golden afterglow. Several cars like horses returning home run by on the road, lying down and looking up at the sky, with dead branches floating in a caramel syrup color In the beautiful sunset, everything is cut squarely by the small black windows.Matthew had nothing to say for a while, and said, "Your pants seem to be broken, let me sew them up for you."

"Well, thank you." Alfred didn't get up, and Matthew didn't know what to do.He turned his head and saw the mirror and the person in the mirror again, and asked in a strange way: "Alf, will we always be like this?" He blinked and found that the face of the person in the mirror was translucent, he didn't understand Whether you say it out of anticipation or fear.Stability also means stagnation.Alfred was stunned: "What is this? Of course we will always eat chocolate together, I'm not a cheapskate."

Matthew couldn't laugh or cry: "Then we pull the hook?"

"If you hang yourself on the hook, you can't change it for 100 years. If you change it, you have to..." The words of the agreement have been engraved in Matthew's mind ever since.Matthew hugged Alfred from behind, causing Alfred to giggle: "What are you doing, Matthew, it's so itchy..." Matthew buried his face on Alfred's back, smelling The soft and sweet taste similar to his was very reassuring. At this moment, his new sense of security was born, that was Alfred, his younger brother.Matthew would be there for Alfred when Alfred needed him, and hoped that Alfred would treat him the same way.

When supper time came, Arthur came upstairs to call them down to dinner, but found the two children asleep on the floor.He put blankets on them, drew the curtains, turned off the lights, and let the cradle of night guard them.That night, Matthew slept extremely long.

Matthew had a dream that seemed familiar. In the dream, he was wearing a bride-like veil, walking through a white passage that seemed to lead to heaven, and there was a soft light all around. There was a door at the end of the corridor, and he pushed it open. He opened the door and saw a black coffin surrounded by lilies lying horizontally inside. The young man in the coffin had exactly the same face as him.At that time, he realized that that person was himself, and he had become Alfred. His body uncontrollably put his hand on that person's forehead, that person's eyes suddenly opened, and Matthew was shocked. , also woke up suddenly.

"Matthew woke up." Almost at the same moment, Alfred said.Matthew leaned his head on Alfred's lap, moved his body, and found that his body was so soft, he looked around. They were in the back row of the car, Arthur was in the driver's seat, and Ivan was in the co-pilot Dozed off in the seat, clutching his sketchbook in his arms—Ivan sped his little car faster than a sports car, but no one wanted to ride in his car.They're on the road again, and Matthew asks, "...Where's Francis?"

"He's gone over there." Arthur's thumb clicked on the car window, and the demons were dancing in the red sports car opposite. "Are you feeling better?" Matthew sat up and rubbed his head, which was wrapped several times Gauze, and swelling, pain and fever, he said: "I'm fine."

"You have to say it when you feel uncomfortable." Arthur rubbed his lips with his fingers. He is a bit addicted to smoking and developed this habit when he quit smoking. "It is also a kind of trouble for us if you don't say anything. Get better." Matthew showed a smile between helplessness and emotion: "I know."

"So, in order to heal your injury and let us rest, we are going to those guys' hometown of Los Angeles from now on!" Alfred hugged Matthew's shoulders carelessly.Matthew raised his eyebrows in surprise, and looked back out of the window. The scenery outside was indeed different: "Los Angeles? They returned the same way? Shouldn't we continue to go north?"

"What's the rush? They also said that they haven't been back for a long time and want to go home to rest. Their families are all in Los Angeles, so we can go to boarding. Los Angeles is a famous place where abnormal people live together!"

"Really..." Matthew put one hand on the window and pressed his forehead against it, "That's fine." The sun was just right outside, the sky was clear, and beyond the expressway was a savage grassland, with tenacious weeds piercing through the asphalt road. From time to time, one or two red earth hills popped up from the cracks in the ground that stretched for thousands of miles, and perhaps they were half knocked down by the earthquake, presenting a wild and wild beauty everywhere - this road leads to Los Angeles, "The Road of Angels" city".Seeing Matthew in a daze, Alfred asked, "What did you think of?"

Matthew shook his head: "No, I was just wondering what a school in a place where ordinary people live in is like." Alfred curled his lips: "I heard that the school for foreign people is set up separately, and there are no compulsory courses for ordinary people, except Basic survival skills. It's really unfair, just because we are born with abilities that most people don't have, we have to accept so many controls, don't we have to carry heartbeat monitoring devices at all times during school?"

"It's also to protect us. The teacher said that we are individually superior to ordinary people, but collectively we are completely disadvantaged. Even for everyone, our survival is higher than freedom." Alfred After hearing this, he still looked unhappy. Matthew knew that he could not stand the fetters. If he hadn't voluntarily, no one would be able to trap the goshawk. What is more powerful than chains is soft love.Matthew naturally leaned on Alfred, chewing orange-flavored gum, and wrote the following line in his notepad:

One day I will leave Alfred. ——M·W

Just thinking about it made Matthew feel empty.He opened "A Tale of Two Cities", and unconsciously, the night covered the sky, and the two cars rushed to the distant place with the wishes and troubles of the eight young people quietly and at high speed.It seems like a long time has passed, and it seems like a moment. There are sporadic buildings in front of the road. Matthew's heart beats endlessly, as if opening a long-awaited treasure chest. Alfred opens the window, and Night Breeze frantically When poured in, he yelled through the glass: "Los Angeles, I'm coming—"

At a glance, the land is shining with stars and lights. Compared with the old Los Angeles, it is much dimmer, but it is the most precious brilliance in this apocalyptic world. "Fool's Carnival" followed "Rocket Parade. Go", and drove into a side road, where there was a farm run by Ludwig's brother. When the headlights shone, a line of graffiti-style "Beshmik Farm" was printed on the simple house number. ", the red sports car honked twice, and stopped directly in the grass on the side of the road. Feliciano was the first to get out of the car and rushed into the yard, shouting: "Brother Gilbert, it's us, Feliciano is back Yo!……"

Matthew got out of the car, a gust of cold wind gave him a headache, Alfred took off his coat and put it on his head, Arthur rubbed his stiff wrists, and patted Alfred on the back: "Rest for a night, tomorrow Take him to the doctor early in the morning." Alfred rarely agreed with Arthur and nodded.

Alfred held Matthew's hand and smiled brightly at him: "Let's go!"