Correl made a mistake when he was recapping on yesterday's events today on his bed. He did do something special last night. He just couldn't remember it, at all. Last night, when only the Night Patrollers of the Community on duty were up, he awoke. Not necessarily woke up. He was…in a trance of a sort. His eyes were open, but with no pupil. It was only the white of the eye. Blank. When he got out of bed, he seemed a little rigid, almost mechanical. He went through the back door of his house and picked up his tree-chopping ax. He went to the center of the Community, where an old oak tree lay rooted. He lifted, or picked up, his ax. He began to chop, rather noisily, too.
"Hey! You! Stop right where you are!"
It was Joshua. A male. Another Eleven. It was Correl's best friend. If Correl was…awake, per say, he would have remembered that Joshua did Community Service Hours at night, as a Community Night Patroller. Even though it was an actual Assignment, it was also good for Community Service Hours.
"Correl? Is that you? What are you doing with that ax at this hour of the night?" Joshua questioned, as he lit Correl's face with his flashlight.
"HELLO JOSHUA. IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU. I WAS MERELY GETTING WOOD FOR MY FAMILY UNIT. PLEASE SHINE YOUR FLASHLIGHT AWAY FROM MY FACE." replied Correl.
This isn't Correl's voice, thought Joshua, Correl's voice is softer, more alive. This voice is lower, guttural, mechanical. If Joshua, or anyone in the Community, knew what it was, he would have used the adjective animal in his thoughts. But there are no animals in the Community.
Then Joshua noticed it, in Correl's eyes. The blankness…the emptiness…the loneliness.
"PLEASE SHINE YOUR FLASHLIGHT AWAY FROM MY FACE." Correl said again to a now horrified Joshua.
Joshua then turned, not only his flashlight but himself as well, and ran into the darkness, merely a speck in the horizon, with a light in his hand.
And Correl didn't remember a thing.