Back In Home

Clay patted his bulging belly, almost instantly regretting it as he felt that he would barf even by just tapping it lightly.

Josh, however, was not in a better state than Clay, he too was suffering from the temporary discomfort of moving too much.

"I think we should just sit here for a while before we go our way" Josh panted, clearly showcasing how hard it was to breathe with a bloated stomach.

"Yeah, let's just rest for a while" Clay agreed, also struggling to breathe.

The two sat in silence for a while observing the atmosphere of the restaurant, some people were enjoying their meal chatting with some friends, some exited the store with reluctant eyes, and others paid for their meal with some heartache.

Feeling that he had digested enough food, Clay lightly stretched before leaning into his chair again.

Five minutes passed in the lively restaurant and Clay finally stood up, preparing to leave. Seeing that his friend stood up, Josh also followed suit shortly after.

"Where do we go now?" Josh asked as he looked down at his belly, still feeling some discomfort in moving around.

"Wherever the wind takes us" Clay tried saying in a wise and knowledgeable voice, only to bring himself to shame as he had a voice crack in the middle of talking.

"Pfft, ouch!" Josh laughed but grimaced in pain from his full tummy shortly after.

'Heh' Clay smirked silently in his mind at Josh being given retribution for trying to laugh at him.

They both exited the store after having that short conversation, going wherever the wind takes them, as Clay had said.

It was now the afternoon when Clay and Josh exited the establishment, the city was still as busy as before, really living up to its name as the main city.

They walked around the city for a while before they encountered a peculiar situation.

Clay looked at the buildings on the road before his eyes landed on a young woman who was wearing a red dress and a man who was short and wearing clothing that covered his facial features, who were both holding onto a pouch.

"Thief! Somebody help!" The woman screamed.

People walking by briefly glanced at the crime being committed in front of their eyes before continuing on their way.

Clay frowned seeing this, as it was the exact same experience that had happened to him, back then, he called for help when the thief attempted to steal his map but no one interfered.

Just when Clay was about to approach the scene, Josh snapped his fingers, it turns out, Josh was also paying attention to the whole situation.

Right after Josh snapped, the man suddenly knelt over, as if a person had kicked his knees causing them to bend. The woman, taking this opportunity, decisively snatched the pouch away from the man's grasp before running away.

Clay turned to Josh as he heard the snap, to which the latter only smiled at him.

The two continued on their way after the whole ordeal had resolved itself with Josh's help. They traveled around the city for some more but then decided to head home feeling satisfied with the experience of going to the city.

"Well, wanna go head home now?" Clay asked Josh.

"Yeah, sure, the food was really tasty, thanks again for treating me to the meal" Josh scratched the back of his head.

"It's no problem, after all, we're friends" Clay took out his map that was tucked in his pants and handed it to Josh.

Josh grabbed the map and nodded to Clay before disappearing into the light.

The map dropped down on the floor before being picked up by Clay shortly after.

He looked around engraving this experience into his memories.

He searched for the location of his village on the map before also disappearing into light moments later. Onlookers who were seeing this scene were baffled.

..

.

"Ah, the sweet smell of home" Clay took a deep breath in at his room feeling exhausted at everything that had happened today.

'Maybe I should just sleep in early' Clay thought as he looked outside his window, it was almost the end of the afternoon.

'Yeah, I feel tired'

He decided to sleep early that day as he felt that the past three weeks were just too burdensome on his still-growing body.

Clay did his light stretches as it was more of a habit at this point instead of a meaningful action before lying down on his bed.

Clay closed his eyes waiting for the dream world to come and take him away, time passed slowly, and later, he furrowed his brows as the sleep that he was waiting for hadn't come as he had expected. He shifted his position thinking that he would finally get his well-deserved sleep, but he couldn't drift away to sleep. He changed his position again thinking that this time would be the last time he would move, but in reality it wasn't the last time he move as he had just changed his position once again.

'Ok, I can change to a comfortable position one more time, after that, if I move again, I will die' Clay promised in his head.

Clay closed his eyes and relaxed but then he felt an itch coming up on his left thigh, an annoyed expression appeared on his face before he decided to scratch the itch.

'Alright, if I move one more time then I will die' Clay reminded himself.

Immediately after finishing the thought, his right hand that was under his pillow slowly felt numb, like needles were continuously pricking his skin.

Infuriated at his sleep always getting disturbed Clay finally snapped.

'NOPE! I AM NOT MOVING!' Clay had already made a vow in his heart to not move.

The numbness then began slowly spreading to his forearm, then to his arm, eventually stopping at his shoulders.

Clay was trembling, at this moment it felt like death itself was standing behind Clay.

'I won't move, I won't move, I won't move...' Clay recited this phrase in his head.

'So be it! If I die, I die!' Clay couldn't take it anymore, it was akin to torture attempting to sleep with a numb body part.

He had finally moved his arm. Feeling that the blood flow was returning to his arm Clay sighed in satisfaction.

'If I actually die, It's worth it' Clay had a single tear at the corner of his eye.

Seconds passed in silence and nothing happened.

'Phew, thank goodness I didn't specify when I'll die, hehe' Clay left a loophole for himself, as he always makes a backup for stupid promises such as these.

He looked down at his feet feeling that his blanket wasn't covering it, but then he realized. His blanket was actually upside down! He hurriedly flipped it so that the side that was pointing at his feet was pointing at his chest and vice versa.

Clay attempted to sleep again, this time, he was met with great success as he had delved into the embrace of deep sleep shortly after.