Chess

The buildings are tall. I'm sitting on a stone railing in a stone courtyard. The buildings surround me, so I'm not sure how I got here. Everything is grey. Even the clouds are grey. A kind of pre-rain wind is brushing by. Until it does rain, I'll remain sitting here. I don't think I have anywhere to go, so there isn't any point in exploring.

A girl walks by. Her skin is a very tan. Her hair is a sharp copper brown. I might've expected a more alluring outfit, but jeans and a small grey hoodie won't get me thinking any less of her. She looks at me with beautiful black eyes and smiles with a very cute smile. She doesn't stop to say anything to me. She keeps walking.

I follow her. I'm not sure what's compelling me to do this. It's kind of creepy for a man to follow a woman; I don't want to give her the wrong impression since I sure wouldn't mind courting her. As I follow her, remaining a solid few meters behind her, part of me is thinking she wants me to be following her. Maybe that's just what I want it to be. But she hasn't said anything to even let me know that she knows I'm right behind her, so I'm not sure what she's thinking.

Only when she sits down do I realize that she probably did want me to follow her. There is a chess match in front her, already set up. She's sitting in front of the black pieces, waiting for someone to sit down and be her opponent. It might as be me.

The chess match takes time. This is the first time I've played in years, so I barely remember the moves and rules, let alone tactics. She is good, and she is beating me. We are not talking, not so much as a word is said. But she is smiling at me, gazing with her big black eyes.

I don't remember who won or lost, but I'm assuming she beat me. She smiles at me, stands up, says thank you, and walked away. I don't follow. Not this time. I just sit there, staring at the chess pieces while she walks away into the distance.

When she is gone from sight, I get up and walk away. I don't really know why I waited until I couldn't see her before I get up to go. But it can't be changed now. There's nowhere to go now, so I figure why not look inside one of these buildings.

There is only one word to describe the interior of the building I ended up going inside: red. The carpeting on the floor is red. The wallpaper is red. The light beaming from the chandelier looks red. There are some kinds of drapes from the ceiling, also red. Like outside, there isn't a soul walking around. Not even another beautiful girl to challenge me at a chess match.

I wander into the elevator. The doors shut, trapping me inside. I say I'm trapped because there are no buttons. I can't tell the elevator to take me somewhere, nor can I even have it open the doors and let me out. But on its own, it starts to move. There's a little screen indicating which floor the elevator is on. It doesn't even read numbers, more like a combination of letters and numbers. CX, RF, A7, 59, HP, and so on.

The doors open; there is nothing there. Nothing. But I get off anyway. I think I'm somewhere where the universe doesn't exist. There isn't anything here. I'm not even sure what I'm standing on. Or, since the laws of the universe may not technically exist, if I'm standing.

A bearded head appears, scratchy as if he were on an old television set. He knows I'm in front of him, or does he? I'm not sure. He's talking, but I can't understand a word he's saying. It sounds important. I wish I knew what it was. But, like the name of the girl I played chess against moments ago, I'll never know.