The old rusted bus lay on its side in the parking lot of the abandoned shopping mall. The landscape was desolate and grey, trees withered and wildlife coughing and smoking cigarette butts. The sun was setting, or more accurately, escaping over the horizon. Near the blackened bus, a shady character was attempting to tempt someone with his wares.
"This is the finest jewelry you'll ever see, especially around these parts," said the man, his small glittering eyes focussed greedily on the colourful person of Perky Buttercup. "Cheap, too. I get it wholesale from a cousin of mine."
Perky looked at the jewelry on the old stump next to the man. "And what kind is it, again?"
The man, dirty trenchcoat flapping in the ill wind, said,"For the third time, it's jewelry from the ass of a chicken. The chickens are special poultry from Lithuania, and they eat the jewels. Their unusual digestive systems, made that way by radiation from Chernobyl, polish it in remarkable ways to create a deep glitter..."
At the word "glitter", Perky's face went from slack to wide-mouthed. "I'll take it!"
"How much?" said the man.
"All of it!" said Perky.
"All of it?"
"Yes! I love love love anything glitter. It makes me so happy. So happy I could strangle myself and then revive myself magically! Magic is real, you know."
The dirty man looked at Perky. "Yes...of course....anyway, that'll be, uh, a hundred dollars."
Perky's eyes shined."This is your lucky day, Mister Jewel Man! I have something better than money! I have hugs and smiles to give you!" Perky smiled and hugged the man very hard, then skipped away to the mall. The man was startled and stared for a moment, then began to shout.
"Hey you! You owe me a hundred bucks!" He started running after Perky, but tripped on the stump and fell flat on his face. There was a piece of rebar sticking out of the cracked asphalt and it pierced his face all the way through. A bird, which had been flying overhead, stopped mid-air in the long, cold silence. Suddenly, blood came gushing out of the man's head, squirting so high it hit the bird. Covered in oddly gritty blood, it plummeted to the ground and burst into flames. The flames spread to the wrecked bus and set it on fire. In between the flames, more blood erupted. The fire and blood twisted around each other and glowed like rubies from Mars.
Inside the mall, Perky danced between the broken glass, mannequin chunks, and pieces of bone. All the stores looked good to Perky, but there was no time for window shopping.
"La la la. I smell something good! Is it me?" Perky sniffed. "No, but I see something shiny up ahead."
Ghostly sounds whispered through the corridors. Small rat-like creatures scurried, most with eyeballs in their jaws. Perky ignored all this and ran down corridor after corridor, until the promised land was ahead.
"An indoor swimming pool! Yay! That makes me so happy!" Perky clapped and danced around in the mist and the gloom and the petrified bodies of children.
The pool room was as decrepit as the rest of the mall, but the pool itself looked brand new. An eerie glow filled the basin. Perky noticed something.
"It isn't filled with water....it's filled with...magic!"
Not water, not magic, but a kind of liquid mist. Floating on the soft blue surface were scores of round things with eyes and little O mouths. They made a very soft squeaking sound. "Help us..." they seemed to say.
"Cannonball!" squealed Perky. Perky's colourful, thin body leaped into the pool and splashed among the little critters, who bobbed sadly, tears streaming from their eyes. It seems their tears were what was filling the pool.
Perky splashed and bobbed around. "If only I knew how to swim! Good thing I can float." Perky patted one of the little round creatures. "You're so cute!"
The creature said in a thin croak,"Please hel--"
"Hey!" exclaimed Perky. "What's that? More fun playmates?"
Two long dark shadows darted under the surface of the pool, circling Perky and the nearest little bobbing balls of sadness. Sharp fins broke the surface. The little creatures started bobbing madly and crying even harder. Perky's mouth stretched as wide as it could go. "Adventure!"
One of the sharkish animals moved swiftly and gobbled a ball. It raised its head and laughed. After a moment, it burped and then the little ball critter popped out its ass, covered in sticky green stuff. It started bobbing and crying.
"That," said Perky in an awed whisper,"was the most incredible thing I've ever seen, and I've seen eight people play hackysack at the same time! While juggling soup!"
The shark thing turned its head and looked at Perky. It frowned, just noticing Perky's presence. It pulled out a big knife and started whipping it around, slashing through many of the little bobbing balls. Their tears were mixed with blood as the knife cut them in two. The other shark thing did the same thing, and they closed in on Perky. The pool soon turned from blue to deep red, as everywhere the little ball things were turned into gory half-balls. Their tears and wails filled the air. It seemed almost impossible that these creatures had so much blood and tears in them, but that's the way things go sometimes, I guess.
The shark creatures were starting to get blinded by the blood, which sprayed a red mist, and the waves caused by their motions had flecks of spongy matter, probably brains and guts or something like that. They got closer and closer.
Perky looked so excited. "Pretty colours!"
Just as it looked like Perky might get slashed by the angry shark beasts, something caught Perky's eye. "What's this?" Perky pressed a large red button. A huge slurping sound echoed through the room and all the liquid in the pool was sucked down through a giant plug hole. The little crying balls, the shark things, and finally Perky too followed.
"Yay! A fun ride! I wonder where this goes to?"
...to be continued.
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