I Am Ehab Ayyad ❤ A Palestinian Youngman From Gaza🍉🇵🇸, Seeking To Find Safety And Peace ☝️for

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A World Without Him

Chapter 2

Tang stopped mid-step, shoulders tense, looking around himself for any source of that voice.

He waited a couple of moments, then sighed "Of course..." as he continued his walk to his apartment. He's had moments like this before, where he would think he heard some random voice speak in his ear, then hear nothing afterwards.

Tang just thought it was because of his recent bouts of sleep deprivation or maybe it was just his normal amount of exhaustion from the whole LBD situation.

So, he usually just ignored those little hallucinations for his own sanity.

Yet, no one would notice if he started to walk a bit faster down the sidewalk.

After a couple of seconds, Tang started to pass the familiar yellow streetlights of his road, including all the lights from the different storefront signs in the area.

He finally started to relax as his shoulders lowered. The familiar sights helped calm his mind. Yeah, this happens all the time, don't freak out, I don't know what I was-

'I don't even know where to begin with... all of that'

He stopped again; it was a different voice,a bit lower. And two in a row? Seemingly in, well, a conversation? Heh, that's... weird. Weirder than usual.

Just keep going, it's fine. Maybe some sleep will fix whatever's going on with me.

Tang starts to walk again; a bit faster in pace

'Why are we even bothering with keeping him alive again?'

He's now speed walking, and starting to breath a bit heavier.

'You know we shouldn't say that about him. Even if he would be better to us dead'

Just a bit more, and he'll be back at his apartment. Just ignore them like always.

'I know that, we can't even touch him anyways, I just-'

'OH SH-'

Tang startles from the sudden volume of the voice, jumping back a bit.

Just a second after, a car swerves right where he was just standing, whipping Tang' small braid, messanger bag, and clothes from its speed.

Tang' ears were ringing as he takes a few deep breathes, one hand on his chest and the other gripping his bag strap, just standing on the crosswalk, with the sudden realization that he was jailwalking while stuck in his thoughts.

With one final breath and a grimace, he starts to walk again.

Silence followed his final steps to his apartment. With just a small breeze flowing through the alleys, and the occasional flicker and crackle of the streelights.

There weren't any more voices after that.

After a few more minutes, Tang finally reaches the steps towards his door, too tired for any more "excitement" this night.

He pulls his ring up, fumbling through the different keys, looking behind him a few times, as he finally let's his shoulders fall, and unlocks the door.

He closes the door as soon as he's inside and sets down his messenger bag next to a small table close to the door.

Tang' place is a small studio apartment, with only a couch and coffee table in the main space, a small kitchen in the corner, and a twin bed with a lamp and bedside table.

There's not much furniture, and everything seems a bit bare even with almost every inch of his apartment being covered in books.

But this doesn't really matter to Tang right now.

He just goes through the motions after that, put the keys on the tray, hang up the coat, take shoes off, throw them next to the small table, walk to bed, put phone and glasses on bedside table, take out hair, and then he blacks out as soon as his head hits the pillow.

Tang dreams of nothing that night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Why did he jump?'

'Stop thinking about it.'

'He couldn't have heard us right? I mean if he were to find out-'

'Hey. Let's just... forget it. Don't say anything.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tang awakes groggy and restless, feeling tired as though he hadn't slept all night.

He never was a morning person anyway, but while he did sleep through his alarm, he still has plans for today: ones that he couldn't really cancel at the last minute.

So with a groan, Tang sat up out of bed, put his glasses on, and started to get ready for the day.

"Of course I have to have some manic episode before sleeping through an alarm today. I really don't know what I did to deserve this." He grumbled as he kept messing up his hair, uncoordinated hands still wrapped in sleep pulling on the knots, so he just did a short, messy low bun.

Good enough for me.

Tang then does his teeth, clothes, and heats up a small thing of Eggos he found laying next the the toaster.

When he finally checks his phone, he finds out it's 10:32 AM. Which is better than expected, but still a bit too late to make it to Sandy's on time.

Tang curses as he sends Sandy a text that he's going to be a bit late. He then grabs the freshly heated Eggos, his coat, keys, and bag as he walks through his apartment door, shutting and locking it behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tang walked as fast as he could towards the docks where Sandy and his boat were hanging out for the day.

It was decently far from his apartment, and since he didn't have any mode of transportation, he had to trek it himself.

He often took shortcuts through alleys and between market stalls. He's gotten attuned on how to smoothly move between crowds, which is basically just trying not to bump into things. Better than before, at least.

Today he went through the Market Street on his way to Sandy's, passing by many stalls selling different types of food, clothing, and trinkets.

There was one that piqued Tang' interest, a stall centered around Journey to the West, but all it had was knock-off plushes and poorly made hoodies for tourists.

After that, he tried not to lose too much of his focus through all the noise and people.

He swerved behind and in front of stalls, trying to find the alley behind a certain ceramics stall that leads close to the docks.

Tang continued to walk through the stalls for a good while, which wasn't that pleasant considering yesterday nights events.

But someone must have given him a break as he finally spotted the alley behind the ceramics stall, with an orange mark on the visible side of the dumpster helping him to remember.

"Oh thank goodness." Tang huffed as he slowly moved through the alleyway.

"Take a left, then right, then straight forward, then down the black steps..." he mumbles as he navigates the alleys of Metrapolis, having walked through them several times before.

When he finally emerges at the docks, he sees the blue of Sandy's boat right away. Tang takes a small breather before pacing up to Sandy's boat, hopping over the small space between the boat and dock, and lightly knocking on the door.

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A World Without Him

Chapter 3

Tang waits a moment in front of the boat door, hearing a faint commotion coming from the other side.

Then the door swings open, with a cheery blue giant standing inside. "Tang! It's good to see you, my friend! Come inside, I'll be with you in a moment." He walks away from the door to make space.

"Ok, thank you, Sandy." Tang replies as he enters, closing the door behind him.

Sandy's boat always had a calming feeling to it. Maybe it was the color scheme, with shades of blue for the walls and soft browns, yellows, and oranges used for decor and furniture

Or maybe it was the atmosphere, with the copious amounts of friendly therapy cats, the lingering smell of tea, and maybe even the occasional rock of the boat from the waves.

Whatever it was, Tang was glad as it gradually calmed his nerves.

He had sat down on a plush couch with a coffee table in front with sandy in the side kitchen, most likely brewing tea.

Almost as soon as he relaxed into the cushions, a calico cat with bright amber eyes pounced onto his lap.

"Oof- heh. Hey there, Stella." Tang greeted the rambunctious cat. Stella had been bothering Tang ever since the gang came back to Metrapolis with things like small pounces or bites on his fingers.

He thought it was a bit annoying, but he did still keep extra cat treats in his messenger bag whenever he's planning on visiting Sandy.

Speaking of, Sandy had seemingly finished whatever tea he had been making as he came back to the sitting area, tray in hand.

He put the tray down on the coffee table and carefully handed Tang a steaming cup of tea. Sandy took one for himself as he sat to Tang's left, and Tang noticed the cat paw pattern that adorned the cup. He smiled to himself.

"So Tang, how was that book you mentioned? I remember you saying how the images were grainy and underdeveloped. Mytho... eh..."

"Mythos. The Mythos Sites: Professional Study. I finished reading it last night. I don't know why I did, though, because it felt like reading a last-minute book report done by a five year old!" He exlaimed loudly, waving his free hand in the air before taking a sip of his tea. Ooo, lavender.

"Haha! I can see why you didn't like it that much. I thought it might've been good since it's about Journey to the West and had a good summary." Sandy says, swirling his tea before taking another drink.

"It's not your fault, Sandy. It did look promising on the cover and in the intro," Tang comforted before grumbling into his cup. "...but it just devolved into ramblings about how these Mythos Sites "prove that the world was controlled by aliens" and "how the earth is hollow with otherworldly beings living inside" blah blah blah." Tang mocked as he moved his hands sporadically, almost spilling his tea on Stella, who just jumped and ran away.

"I still feel a bit bad, though. Hmmm... oh! Tang!" He suddenly says, leaning over to look at Tang. "Did you bring your sketch book?"

He reaches into his messanger bag and pulls out a small leather-bound notebook. "Yeah? I take it with me everywhere."

Sandy just smiles as he offers Tang a hand. "Then let's go and find some inspiration!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the end, Sandy had taken an entire canvas with him, paint pallette and all, while him and Tang wandered around Metrapolis looking for things to draw and paint.

They went to Pigsy's first, Tang with the excuse of getting "everyday life" sketches. They ended up talking with Pigsy most of the time, barely doing anything, but Tang did get some quick sketches of Pisgy's cooking process.

When they left, they had found a flower shop with sunflowers on the logo. Tang sat down next to Sandy as he started to sketch, sometimes looking at the painting next to him.

The next spot was the main square, full of advertisements and skyscrapers. This is where the weather station is, broadcasting new weather updates and changes.

The final stop was the library, in the back with the lamp and city records. The atmosphere was nice. Sandy had pulled out a third canvas from... somewhere, and is now skimming through random books off the shelves.

Tang was just reading a new edition of Monkey Cop: Back in the Streets, as he had also finished his sketches, when he suddenly heard rounds of footsteps entering the library.

This is when he suddenly remembered what he set that alarm for yesterday, and why he had set it up in the first place.

It was the day where the new book of "The Monkie Kings Bride" had been set to be shelved (one adaptation he personally doesn't like, too many cliches and it has a weird artstyle to him)

And he knew exactly what fans were coming... the chaos that would ensue. He needed to get Sandy and him out of there before they were suffocated by the crowd.

"Hey, uh, Sandy? We need to leave. Like, now." He stated as he quickly stuffed his sketch book, pencils, and erasers back into the messanger bag.

"What's wrong Tang? Why do we have to leave now?" Sandy asked as he started to follow Tang through the bookcases. "Why are we- oh. Oh, now I understand."

"Aw, CRAP." Why do I always get stuck with the annoying side plots?

The entrance is no longer visible, as hordes of people come in and group around the doors, waiting for that stupid book.

"Ughh..." Tang groaned as he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

Great. Just great. Now he had to either a) push through the GIANT crowd to get through the overflowing entrance, b) wait for an opening to get through, or c) find out some other way out-

"Hey Tang?" Sandy speaks, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, uh, yeah, Sandy?" He says nervously. He has never liked crowds, and he doesn't want to stay here more than he has to.

"Can we go out through there?" Sandy points to a... fire escape door. Wow, how convenient!

*phew* "Thanks, Sandy." Tang says as he dodges a few stragglers on his way to the door, waving Sandy to come with.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They both walk out of the side alley that the library was connected to, swerving through the smaller outside crowd.

"Oh dang, I totally forgot about that! *huff* Sorry, Sandy." Tang says as he leans against a store wall.

"It's alright Tang. In any case, I really enjoyed today! I really liked getting out of the boat for a bit, and I'm very excited to hang up our paintings!" Sandy reassures.

"Heh, thanks, Sandy. I hope we can do something like this again!" He smiles. He then starts to wave Sandy goodbye.

Tang gets home without any issues. No annoying voices, loud music, or big fights. Just pure white noise in the bustling city, and the breeze.

He's glad for that. Everything is ok, and will be ok. He wants everything to stay like this.

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A World Without Him

Chapter 6

Tang is back in that void. Yet, it's not a void anymore. Something is different. It's more like pure, unfiltered LIGHT.

It surrounds everything, almost making him (even more) blind just by opening his eyes.

It feels no different compared to the times before, though. As if the light is just how the place was always supposed to be.

It's unnerving if he's being completely honest.

At least this is a change from the hands that used to drag him...

Tang can actually move, too! Just barely, but still! He can actually control his body in this place for once.

And now he uses that fact to his full advantage. He swims through the blinding light, now hoping his subconscious doesn't materialize something in front of him to smack into.

He swims for a while. And a while, and a while. His body never wavers, though, as he continues through the blinding shine.

After what seems like hours, Tang starts to hear something. It's nothing like the regular overlapping voices but heavy, grating metal.

The sound moves slow in his ears, like something being slowly dragged along a concrete floor.

Tang stops in his tracks, uneasiness showering him as the noise started to get louder. And louder, and louder, And louder, and Louder, And Louder, ANd LOUder, AND LOUDER-

It stops.

He doesn't know if he should even open his eyes at this point. So he stays still, not wanting to provoke whatever was stuck to those chains.

But yet, that apparently had the opposite effect he was going for, as he heard the chains suddenly grow taunt as a huge gust of wind throws him back, forcing his eyes open in surprise.

Orange.

The color burns into his vision. The blinding colors swirled in shapes he couldn't comprehend.

Tang shoved his hands in front of his face, trying to make everything stop.

Ringing filled his ears, or something like it. He could only focus on the color. The buzzing pushed to the back of his mind.

Too bright. Everything was just. Too. Bright

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*BEEP*

An alarm sounded next to Tang's head. He shoots his eyes open, laying still as a rock while looking up at the ceiling.

He hears the early rush outside his slightly open bedroom window. When did I open that.....

He uses his elbows to push himself up on the bed, now in a sitting position. He blinks slowly, remembering the dream in weirdly full detail.

Why was that time different again? He's not exactly sure himself. He wonders if this will keep escalating-

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

Oh, right, he didn't turn it off yet. What was that for again? Something important enough for an alarm he supposes.

Tang reaches over to his vibrating phone, checking the title of the alarm as he turns the loud thing off. The title reads: "REMEMBER JOB TODAY. NO SKIPPING OR SLEEPING THROUGH 🪪 📖*

Well, now that apparently got him motivated. Oh yeah, the library job I got yesterday... how did this process go so fast anyway?

He shouldn't think too hard about it. A job is a job, and so what if it helps develop the plot as a nice bonus?

Wait what- The phone vibrates again, snapping Tang out of his thoughts. It was a second alarm he had set the night before, so he would actually get his lazy butt up if he snoozed the first one.

Groaning, he pulled himself up from the bed to actually start being productive for the day. He does his hair and puts on one of his more decent pairs of clothes to match the lanyard. A pair of stainless brown pants and a tan shirt. Today was his first day, after all. He might as well look the least bit civilized.

The sun starts to shine through his living room window as he packs a lunch and some craft supplies in his messanger bag. You never know if he might need it when doing paperwork or when bored.

He looked out the window out of habit. It was a nice bright shade of orange. Tang looked away quickly, picking up his packed bag and heading out the door.

He already knew the library route by heart, but he still recited it as he walked down the stairwell to the street anyway. It gives his mind something to focus on.

When he reaches the bottom, he relishes in the warmth of the sun before booking it towards the direction of the library.

He lets his feet and muscle memory do most of the work. His mind occupied with the colorful scenery and his own thoughts, trying not to look up at the sky.

Go left past the bent cactus sign, oooo, a new restaurant opened next to the craft store!

The store looks like a make-your-own bakery, with all the vibrant dispensers lining the walls, adding plain looking pastries, and ice cream lining the shelves.

'We never had those things when we were alive. I feel cheated.'

'Oh, stop whining so much Em.'

Tang looks back in front of him just in time to dodge another passerby. He should really pay more attention to the sidewalk.

The closer he gets to the library, the more modern everything around him seems to be. There are still trees and greenery, obviously, just now in futuristic boxes and pots littered around the streets to make them look lively.

All the neon shops and apartments lined on the street were already making it pretty lively, though. The crowds also started to increase as he went along, having passed stranger after stranger on his walk to work through the city.

When he finally reached the library, all the bright neon and metal accents softened and only covered the bottom half of the more classical looking library.

Tang was relieved at the sight of it, hurrying through the doors with his card and almost immeadietly collapsing behind the check-out desk.

He feels the cold oak wood on his forehead, hearing the printer running and the occasional whisper or rolling of a cart.

When he finally got used to his surroundings, he took a deep breath and sat up straight, ready to start his job. He turned his head to the side and was suddenly inches away from a mop of blonde hair.

"AHHH-" Tang jolted back in his chair, falling backward onto his back.

The blonde's face immeadietly dropped as he started to string out apologies. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! I thought you were sleeping when I came to give you your clipboard and I went to check to see if you were okay then you got up and then I was just there and I am still so sorry-"

"It's okay, it's okay. I only got a bit spooked." Tang said, slowly standing up using the desk as support. "I've recovered from worse, trust me."

The blonde was giving the clipboard in hand a death grip but said nothing in return.

Tang sighed before deciding that he should probably try to make things a bit less awkward. "I'm Tang, the new librarian, but I bet you knew that already. Are you my set assistant? Erm..."

The blonde perked up at his mention. "Allan. I'm Allan. And, uh, I'm supposed to give you this."

Tang grabbed the clipboard and offered quick thanks, skimming through the contents while occasionally looking back at Allan.

Allan seemed like he was fresh out of high school, with some baby fat still on his face and messy short hair. He had casual clothes on, just some standard sneakers, jeans, and a gray hoodie.

He doesn't seem to be harboring any ill intent, so Tang focused back onto his clipboard, actually reading the text carefully.

Shelve all books on cart B by genre.... doesn't matter... set up for opening... lunch by 1:00... set up for charity event... huh?

He looks back down at the clipboard. He thought all he would have to do was meander around all day, doing paperwork and sorting books. It was his first day, after all.

But no, just throw more work at him. Tang sighed to himself before looking back at Allan. "Apparently, we have a charity event today. It's after lunch, though, and all the plans have already been set up for us, which is a relief. Don't know why they threw this at us for a first day, but let's just roll with the punches."

He gestures for Allan to follow him back into the library. He texted the group chat about the event if they wanted to come before talking about the scheduale. He then lazily explained the outline of the work they were doing today as he tried to find the carts he passed yesterday.

Allan followed behind at a steady pace as they passed bookshelf after bookshelf. Tang suddenly paused as he passed the same bookshelf twice, internally groaning before turning to Allan.

"Do you know where they keep the carts?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tang had told him to relax a bit, but Allan said he wanted to get it done as quickly as possible. Tang just grumbled as he continued his own way until the last book was put into place.

They finished up the shelving around 9:30, splitting up half and half between the two of them. Tang mostly skimmed through his interesting books before randomly putting them onto the appropriate shelves.

Allan put them all away in record time, though, pitching in to deal with some of Tang's pile as well after he spent 5 minutes watching when finishing his own half.

They opened the library doors at 10:00, and the day was slow after that. Tang took out some of his craft supplies, doodling on extra paper he got from the copier room. Of course, that was after he finished all his very important paperwork. Obviously. He also checked out the occasional book.

Allan wandered most of the time, coming back to Tang's desk to occasionally check up on any work he might need to do. Tang always gave him an option to draw with him, but he always refused awkwardly.

Lunch came far too late in Tang's opinion. He was already famished from everything he totally did today and really needed a break .

He almost sagged in relief when the clock behind him hit 1:00. He then quickly took out his lunch from his messanger bag and headed towards the break room after putting up a sign on the desk for people to come back after 1:30 if they needed him. There were self checkouts.

Allan was already there, sitting at the plastic table with a cup of what Tang assumed was coffee in hand. He was taking small quick sips as he seemed invested in reading... The Monkey Kings Bride?

He remembered the huge crowd fighting over the few newest editions and suddenly felt immense respect for the kid. That was rough, even when he didn't even try to get close to the books.

Tang didn't say anything as he sat down across from Allan and pulled up his own book, eating a haphazard sandwich with some random fruits thrown beside it.

Then he noticed how Allan only had the coffee, and suddenly he felt a bit bad. Some people actually need jobs and work hard to keep them.

And this is the reason Tang is now offering half his sandwich to the kid in front of him in silent question. Allan just looked at his hand for a good second.

But finally, he bowed his head and took the sandwich out of his hands. Allan seemed to stop reading after that, maybe savoring the sandwich. Even so, nobody would notice the few fruits that rolled across the table with Tang "unaware" after the fact.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Temporarily closing off some sections of the library took a bit more hassle than Tang thought it would. With random kids making out like in a drama, to some areas being over run with people Tang swore he never saw enter the building.

But that was neither here nor there, as he was already on a mission to set this up as fast as possible. It's probably because he forgot about it and started setting everything up 30 minutes late, but he digresses.

This charity thing was a scavenger hunt across the library, encouraging people to open different books and to solve riddles for an amazing prize of 1 free book from the pile made specifically for the event and some candy.

Allan was in charge of placing all the riddles and clues around the library and picking the best books to throw in the pile. Tang meanwhile had to decorate EVERYTHING himself, as well as set up the donation box at the front desk. This was the charity part for people to donate to the library and a reading program for special ed kids.

He also had to be the one to explain the rules and give hints in the game as he ran the front desk. Yay, public speaking.

But Tang still thought it was nice places like the library did things like this. Events for charity had decreased along the ages as everything got more and more advanced that some people started to think everything could be solved with tech and science.

'Ooooo! Riddles! Oh, I love this already! These were the things I was known for!'

'Yeah, yeah. Just keep on telling everyone the ONE TIME you got a riddle correct before a self-proclaimed master.'

'Oh come on, have some faith. You can at least respect that I proved he was a hack and helped-'

The library door opened with a small crowd rushing inside. Tang had just finished putting up the box before people were already at his side, asking him about the scavenger hunt.

He quickly told them about the clues hidden in books you have to figure out through riddles, word scrambles, and trivia about the books themselves. After the explanation, he quickly gave the first clue and made a small wave to the donation box, saying how it would help the library do more events like this.

Tang watched as the groups dispersed, sitting back into his chair waiting for newcomers or people who had finished the scavenger hunt.

People came and went, some thanking him, some wandering the shelves in confusion, some putting small donations in the box on their way out, and some who were curt and went as fast as possible.

It was interesting to Tang, seeing all these personalities with the same goal, not competitive, but reaching towards the same thing nonetheless.

A small kid with freckles, a red-head with a guide dog, a tall man with pitch black hair, and some teens who looked straight out of high school musical.

He had seen Allan, too, but only briefly as he was the one to deal with broken or missing riddles.

At the end of the day, almost all the books were gone from the pile, leaving only 3 extra to reshelf for another time. The donation box had reached halfway, which was a pretty good number for Tang, considering the box's size.

Allan had come a bit later, offering to help take down all the decoration from the shelves. Tang gratefully accepted.

They ended up walking their separate ways at the end, after dropping off the money at the manager room with a note and Tang locking the doors behind them.

Allan said one thing before he left, tapping Tang on the shoulder before he could go. "Thank you." He had said, right before turning to walk his own way home. A small smile was on his face as he faded into the background.

Tang thought about it for a moment, then smiled to himself before walking his own way home. The sunset is well off in the distance, with Tang keeping his eyes to the ground.

Today was pretty nice. He might like this job more than he thought.

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