Jour De Ma Vie

Alain spent the rest of the day alone rethinking his whole life. His fiancée had left him at the Altar. An uncomfortable truth of the small town, and its neighbors. He was a celebrity in unwanted circumstances. He was virtually exiled in his own popularity. People’s empathy would be nothing more than pure pity towards him, temporary hands held out until they thought enough time had passed for him to get over it.

He walked throughout his house for the first time in a while to take a look at things he has long since studied. A researcher like himself could sometimes only work so much on a subject. After that, research became guess-work. To Alain, that was no better than being an educated story-teller. As he reached his library he took the time to read off the titles of books in is head. None were his own writing. His work never resulted in much worth being published into a whole text, anything worthwhile ended up an accumulative journal with his participation a small fraction of the whole thing.

But he stopped to pull out a small pamphlet. Twenty pages or so titled The Pillars of Symmetry. It was a re-written account of the Hullabaloo’s first encounter of the strange artifacts. The nomadic tribe had eventually stumbled across the towering structures with curiosity. Nothing else was around the structures for kilometers, the exiled Peacekeepers of the Hullabaloo wouldn’t settle District for another century. But when they eventually had been exiled, they remembered their existence and settled District within eyesight of the towers. Hardly eyesight. As much of a landmark they are, the Hullabaloo and Peacekeeper’s preferred to keep their distance from the ancient Pillars.

Despite his work as a scientist, he never found the interest to examine the Pillars. He’s seen the photos, and read the journals, but so little was known about them, it simply just became more story-telling. There was nothing to look forward for him to go out and explore the landscape.

Then again, what was there for him to look forward to here? Pity from some, the cold shoulder from others, avoiding to associate with such an unwanted individual as someone to be left the day of marriage. I need a new start, or at least a way to finish the old one. Perhaps the time could do me well. Like a pilgrimage. Soul-searching.

Alain went and pick out a map of District and the area around it. He measured out the distance to the Pillars. It would take several days just to travel there and back, let alone how long he decided to stay out there. Perfect, he thought. Plenty of time to clear my head.

The rest of the night was spent packing with excitement. Enough food, good clothing, and his baton. While most travelers nowadays tend to use a ranger to protect themselves, Alain found them to be too unreliable and inaccurate. Meanwhile, his baton was of the finest quality; perfectly balanced, and made out of the strongest of alloys available, he could cave the skull in of even the fiercest of predators. The scavengers out in the field would hardly be a match against him.

Dawn struck just as Alain had readied himself to leave. Before anyone else of District began to stir from their beds, Alain had set himself out to the Pillars of Symmetry.

————-

So I’ve tried putting in some depth to Alain. Now I’m not certain how well it’s worked out. I know I’m still missing things such as family and friends, and even physical appearance, but I think I’ve given enough to have made a skeleton of character for him.

Again, feel free to post any opinion you have so long as it’s either A) Supportive or 2) Constructively critical.