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[deckerroosevelt]

Chapter 6, part 4

   I was hurt by what Treacher had said to me. But he has a lot of stress right now I guess. But it won’t stop me. I want to prove that my human brain can actually understand this. And I have come to the conclusion that it is quite useful that nobody remembers me outside. Assuming the ones I’m looking for don’t remember me either. But that’s a risk I’m willing to pay. 

   I am going to go to the locations Harding has been spending his time. It would be no use to take anyone else with me as I couldn’t communicate with them and they couldn’t really help me. Good thing is that I won’t need any money for the trip. Makes life easier. I just need some food, water, my note taking stuff and a camera. 

   I had everything ready for the next morning. I would leave early so I went to sleep early. But first I had to plan a bit. 

   “My upcoming notes will be from a trip, I will plan here. Harding has been to Dorking, London and Birmingham. I am going to be asking around if people have seen Harding there. It will be challenging and I might have to repeat myself many times, but I’m hoping for any clues possible. I’m first going to go to Birmingham as I can come down from there then. London I will search lastly because he has been in a more vast area there. This trip will probably take three to four days but I’m not sure yet. I haven’t informed anyone about this, but if I’m in trouble, I’ll get a prepaid phone from a market.

     I have my camera, and I will try to take a picture of Harding because for now we have no pictures of him and it will make searching way easier for others if I’d get one. 

   The main reason I’m doing this is that Neda went missing looking for Harding. I don’t think his grapes affect Neda as she has shown me how she oils her joints. She won’t die from it. But I will try to find something about Avery especially when I get to Dorking and Whimbleton. There was definitely something off about her the last time I saw her.

   Wish me luck ”.

Seven

I hopped on a train leaving at 4:37 from Paddington. I would be in Birmingham at around twenty past seven if there are no delays. I had to change my seat several times as I didn’t have a ticket. I didn’t take anyone’s seat so I didn’t want to think I was a criminal. And if I had a ticket, they wouldn’t have checked it.

   I got off the train and the misty air surrounded me. It had been a cold night and I had felt it when I left. It’s still a bit chilly and it looks like rain. Winter is coming. 

   There were people everywhere and they filled my vision. Nobody noticed me and rushed on with a fast pace. People are always in a hurry, even this early. Is it so hard to just stay put for a while and enjoy the moment? But who am I to judge? I have never been in a hurry really. Nobody has expectations for me. I wouldn’t know.

   A drop of water landed on my nose. I took out my umbrella and started walking away from the train station. My legs felt heavy after the long train journey and a poorly slept night. I stopped by a corner shop to get a coffee. Nobody noticed me until the alarms went off. The high pitched sound sounded utterly familiar to me. No one came after me.

   I sat down at a bus stop and took out my notebook. It was a bit damp but not wet. I took out the map and started inspecting it. If I was here now, I would have to go that way and then turn on that street and hop on a bus there and get off here. I put the notebook back in my backpack and tried to shield it with my lunchbox from the water. I got up again and tried to memorise my way. There should be a hotel in that area where I could stay. Not a fancy one but there is everything I need for one night.

   I felt proud after I made it to the right area and the right road. Aston Hall road. The place wasn’t in the best condition, but I had seen worse. I wanted to locate the hotel first so I wouldn’t have to be outside too late. It wasn’t really safe here in my opinion. It was a tavern and looked quite cosy actually.

   I had marked the spot with a red marker on the map. It was in Aston park right in front of the Aston Hall. I had noted that the remains of the victim were setted up perfectly in the middle of a round spot of grass. The limbs were arranged to form something that looked like a human, but some pieces were in the wrong places. I wondered if it was intended to be found or why had he done it that way. This was the oldest case from him that I could find.

   I stood there thinking what would Harding do after murdering a human being. This happened about at the same time he went missing, so I’d assume it was his first victim. But in what state of mind was he? Had he gone totally mad at the time or did he have emotions still left. He had been on a holiday with Avery here before he went missing. They might have had a house here since Avery said that they visited Aston once to twice a year in the missing report. Or they were regulars in some hotel. I wonder if Avery is still coming here.

[deckerroosevelt]

Chapter 6, part 3

   I was hurt by what Treacher had said to me. But he has a lot of stress right now I guess. But it won’t stop me. I want to prove that my human brain can actually understand this. And I have come to the conclusion that it is quite useful that nobody remembers me outside. Assuming the ones I’m looking for don’t remember me either. But that’s a risk I’m willing to pay. 

   I am going to go to the locations Harding has been spending his time. It would be no use to take anyone else with me as I couldn’t communicate with them and they couldn’t really help me. Good thing is that I won’t need any money for the trip. Makes life easier. I just need some food, water, my note taking stuff and a camera. 

   I had everything ready for the next morning. I would leave early so I went to sleep early. But first I had to plan a bit. 

   “My upcoming notes will be from a trip, I will plan here. Harding has been to Dorking, London and Birmingham. I am going to be asking around if people have seen Harding there. It will be challenging and I might have to repeat myself many times, but I’m hoping for any clues possible. I’m first going to go to Birmingham as I can come down from there then. London I will search lastly because he has been in a more vast area there. This trip will probably take three to four days but I’m not sure yet. I haven’t informed anyone about this, but if I’m in trouble, I’ll get a prepaid phone from a market.

     I have my camera, and I will try to take a picture of Harding because for now we have no pictures of him and it will make searching way easier for others if I’d get one. 

   The main reason I’m doing this is that Neda went missing looking for Harding. I don’t think his grapes affect Neda as she has shown me how she oils her joints. She won’t die from it. But I will try to find something about Avery especially when I get to Dorking and Whimbleton. There was definitely something off about her the last time I saw her.   Wish me luck ”.

[deckerroosevelt]

Join if you feel like it :)

[deckerroosevelt]

Chapter 6, part 3

   The next few weeks I spent mostly in the archives. Police reports were comprehensive and some words were alien to me. But I must say, my vocabulary grew noticeably and I got more and more confident in reading and writing. 

   I asken Ambeth to look up Neda, but apparently she can’t find any of us in the book. That sounded odd to me. A book that knows everyone to every little detail of your preferences in food to life motivation, and it doesn’t specifically know us? Ambeth wanted to try to look me up and asked for my last name, and I realised I didn’t know. How could I not know my own surname? But soon enough Ambeth consoled me by telling me that none of us knew our last names. Honestly it didn’t comfort me at all. That was even more odd. Especially with Yumekui. She has told me that she’s from an old family in Japan and very proud of it. Though as I thought about it, she had never mentioned any of her family members nor the name of this old family.

   I haven’t seen Treacher in a while. From time to time I see light emerging from under his door but he doesn’t socialise much. I miss his company, but I don’t want to intrigue. He underwent a huge loss with his sister. All I can do is to try to find Harding. I hope he gets better soon.

   I have found three more files matching Harding and one that’s survivor from the internet after going to the local library for research. Nobody there of course believed them but the description was too accurate for them to make up. All of these encounters have happened in Dorking, London and Birmingham. Why is he shifting between these three locations? And they are always near the same neighbourhoods. Does he have houses in those places?

   I heard steps from behind me. Was I as loud as that? I looked to the direction of the sound and it was Treacher. I was surprised to see him at least. I hardly expected to see him out of his room but maybe he was feeling better. 

   “What are you doing?” he asked with a tone I have never heard from his mouth.

   “Trying stuff out”, I answered proudly.

   “Snooping are you? You should focus on more recent stuff”, he shrugged.

   “Isn’t this recent? I’d say it kind of is”, I hesitated. What is wrong with him? 

   “I should take that case then. I’m closer to it. You wouldn’t understand the picture of this one”.

   How so. I’m not stupid and he has always been so supportive. 

   “What do you mean? I think you are too close to it-”

   “Shut up!”

   He took my notebook and threw it on the floor. His skin looked like it was bubbling as if boiling. Did he boil when he was angry?

   “You wouldn’t understand. This is bigger than your human brain”, he shouted as he charged away.

[deckerroosevelt]

Chapter 6, part 2

   That night I stayed awake. I couldn’t stop thinking about my uselessness. People here were so hostile and welcoming to me and I couldn’t offer anything to them. After I laid on my bed for a while, I went to my desk and wrote a plan. Decker had some facts in his speech. I could get good at something. I could try to read more and learn to write well. That would make me at least a little more useful. I could try to solve cases and then people could be proud of me. I finally had a family who could be proud of me, but I had nothing for them to be proud of.

   I could try to find Neda. There has to be some older cases of Harding and so I could get some leads. But what if I let others down and find nothing. I can’t give Treacher false hope. What if I’d ask Ambeth to look up Neda? That’s a great plan! 

   I felt good after making some sort of plan and even finding one solution. However I was restless. I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep. 

   I could sneak to the library.

   I opened my door and looked both ways in the hallway before leaving the room. The route was clear. I didn’t actually know where the library nor the archive were. They might be in the same place. But I knew the house and just kept playing ‘library’ and ‘archives’ in my mind as I went instinctively forward. And I found my way there. 

   The house was restrained everywhere but the absence of noise and any kind of sound was even more notable in the library. It was dark and all I saw was big shapes of huge bookshelves. I had no idea how big the library would be but I didn’t care at the moment. 

   Step 1: Read everyday. And for that I’d need something to read. But what? What am I interested in? Nothing that I could think of.

   if I would have had an idea what I wanted to read the job would have been a lot easier. But I didn’t, so instead I took a candle and went drifting around the place. many books there were in a language I couldn’t read. Some were so old, the English was too confusing. I didn’t even bother to try to read the scientific books. Too many words I wouldn’t know. 

   I must have gotten to the archive section at some point because the books were starting to turn to files. I turned back but the files just kept on popping everywhere. 

   “You want me to read files?” I mumbled but I soon realized that maybe it wasn’t a bad idea after all. They were shorter than actual books and maybe easier to understand. And I could find something regarding Neda and Harding. 

   The unsolved cases were categorized by the ways of death. I was a bit creeped out of how specific some of them were. Some had only a few files in them, but some more usual ways of death were more packed. I would have thought that the weirder ways would be easier to solve as the culprit’s victims were easy to recognize. 

   ‘Loss of all air in body’, ‘complete dehydration’, ‘Full loss of blood without any wounds’, ‘skinning’, ‘lost face’, ‘lost throat’, ‘lost soul’, ‘disjointing’, ‘burnt from inside’...

   ‘Disjointing’? It’s an unfamiliar word but it sounds like what Harding does. 

   I looked at the section and I was surprised how many there were. Was ‘disjointing’ really this popular? It had been only eight years that Harding went missing. He couldn’t have done all these, could he?

   I took out the last three files. They were in chronological order and I wanted to start from the latest cases. Then I would progress on to the older ones.

   Opening them released a puff of dust on my face but I tried to strangle out the cough. I didn’t want to make any sound. Not that I was scared of course.

   I looked through the files and wrote down some important points in my notebook. I tried to avoid looking at the pictures inside the folders, but sometimes if the case sounded potentially like Harding's job, I had to take a look. Nasty stuff, but at some point I started to mindlessly look at them. I tried hard to think about the people as subjectively as I could. 

   One important piece of information that I learned was that it wasn’t usual that nails were ripped off so clean as Harding did. It was a big help in trying to identify the one’s I was interested in. 

   After reading through ten files I had found only one case like Harding. It happened in a public place, nails were missing and all pieces were as if ripped off from the inside of the victim with no bruises on the skin. But the problem was that it happened in Birmingham. Everything else matches his operating style, but the locations. He has been in London and Birmingham, but if he went missing in Whimleton, why has he not been there?

   I was puzzled but also tired. I needed sleep so I snuck back to my room after putting the files back.

[deckerroosevelt]

Chapter 6, part 1

“I have lived here for ten days now, I think. A few days ago Neda went missing and we haven’t heard of her since. Treacher is oddly calm about it but nobody else really is. He hasn’t said a word after it happened and I don’t think he knows I was with him there. As he’s keeping to himself, I have been getting closer and closer to Yumekui and Ambeth. 

   Yumekui is younger than she looks. At first I actually thought she’d be thirty or something but she’s actually only twenty five. She has some sort of sleeping problem, and that makes her look much older. 

   One thing I have figured out here is that we all have some sort of weird ‘abilities’ that actually are just a burden to all of us. Some are human, some are not. I’m quite sure I am a human though. I mean, I had a family. 

   Ambeth’s ‘ability’ is not physically connected to her, but sort of is. She has this book she carries everywhere. She can’t put it down nor stay even 5 feet away from it. It has to be with her or she gets the feeling of incompleteness and emptiness and it drives her crazy in the end. Decker has said the book is mentally part of her. Linked to her brain and that’s why she has to have it at all cost and at all time. I can’t read it. Nobody else can. I just see gibberish all over the pages and Decker said it’s the language of Ambeth’s brain. I don’t know if I believe it though.”

   I hear a knock on my door and I get up to open it. It doesn’t have a lock, but it’s an unspoken rule here not to enter other’s rooms without them opening the door. Decker’s face is behind the door smiling warmly and I can’t help but answer the smile.

   “Can I come in, Loki?” he asks politely.

   “Yes, yes. It’s your house after all”, I open the door so he can come in.

   “I’m aware Treacher already told you about the job you’ll get here and I thought I shouldn’t delay it despite recent problems”, he emphasized the word ‘problems’ and kept a little break. “So, you know the deal and I’m here to propose a position in our team for you. What kind of strengths do you have?”

   I had to think for a moment. I am not strong physically. But I’m not clever either. I want to be in action, but I am kind of a coward. I realized I wouldn’t benefit anything to Decker.

   “Well, I- erm… I don’t know really”, I admit. “I’m not particularly good at anything”.

   “Sure you are. Or at least you will be. But would you like to try different kinds of tasks to start and then we can think about what you performed the best, okay?” he just shrugged cheerfully. Like he’d actually believe in me. I knew I was worthless and he knew it too. He just didn’t want to say it out loud.

[deckerroosevelt]

Chapter 5, part 4 (Back to Loki)

The house was in the middle of a vast vineyard. The sun was setting and it was getting pretty chilly outside. The sudden change in temperature formed fog. It wasn’t thick, but it made the air moist. I was stunned by the beautiful sunset. But soon it would be all the way down and leave us in the dark. 

   We reached the main building and we immediately noticed that the door was slightly ajar. Then we heard a bloodcurdling scream. Treacher bolted inside and I followed. We ran through the lobby and stopped in the living room. Processing the sight took a while.

   I had heard a scream and that's for sure. So had Treacher and I had seen it in his eyes. The worry and anxiety after the cold scream.

   But there in the living room was just Avery. Calmly sitting on the sofa staring at the infinity. With her mouth in a slight smile and a spark I had never quite seen in her eyes. There was something hypnotizing about the setting. Everything was so calm and… normal. However, everything there screamed Not Normal. It was like I'd have been paralyzed. I stood there staring at the woman and trying to figure out what had happened. 

   Then she turned her head ever so slightly with a tilt and her smile grew. Her eyes seemed nearly like plastic.

   “Are you alright boys?” she asked with a monotone voice and a slow tempo. She ended the sentence, but her mouth was left the way it was when she pronounced the ‘s’. 

   Treacher jolted his head to me and remembered me again. But then he forgot.

   “Yes, I am quite alright. Sorry for bothering”, he whispered and started walking out. I wanted to stay and figure out what had happened, but I couldn't stay there without Treacher. 

   Avery gave me a look of mischief and knowledge and at that moment I realized she had remembered me and acknowledged me. I felt a wave of discomfort take over me and I ran to catch up with Treacher.

   What was wrong with him? Avery was clearly not normal. Something had happened there and he just left. And we don’t even know where Neda is and if something happened to her there. Is he out of his mind?

   But I couldn’t talk to him yet. We had to get home first.

**************************************************************

Sorry for the delay. I have been extremely busy with studies and other stuff.... But I hope you enjoyed the new part!

[deckerroosevelt]

Chapter 5, part 3, Neda's POV

I felt bad for not telling Treacher about this trip. But I couldn't wait. I had seen Carlton in action before. I was looking into another case in Victoria train station back then. He had been sitting there for a long while and of course, he caught my eye with his scars and dazzling white clothes. But since he did nothing at that moment, I couldn’t judge. After all, he wasn’t any worse than me. But I soon learned that was not the case.

   Then I remember vividly how he got up and followed a woman. I got suspicious of him and followed. I knew something was off at the very moment he sat on the bench closest to the woman’s bench and started to plate different kinds of grapes on a fancy plate. There were green, purple, crimson, black, dark blue and yellow grapes. Everything you could imagine.

   He then offered some grapes to a man who sat next to him. I saw something change in the man’s eyes as he saw the grapes. He started off with one after thanking Harding for his offer. That is one of the first rules, humans teach their children, don't they. ‘Do not take anything from strangers’. So how did a fully grown man take a grape from a man so suspicious? 

   Harding kept offering more and more to the man and at first I thought, they didn’t do anything after all. But after ten grapes, I started noticing his fingers. And the blood. His fingers started twisting after each grape and finally falling off with a pop of breaking bone. Only his right index finger and thumb not falling, but twisting and squirming and ripping more gapes.

   After he had only two fingers left, they fell off too and the man started to desperately try and take more grapes and every time he got one, a new limb started twisting and eventually ripped off. And the way he devoured every and each of them made me feel sick. The look in his eyes was so desperate and horrified, like he was aware of the situation but just couldn't stop.

   I tried to look around, if someone else had noticed but people just walked past him like nothing was happening. Some stepped on the pool of blood that was dripping from all over his body and still didn’t even flinch an eye. Their shoes were stained, so it had to be real. I didn't know what to do. Decker had forbidden us to make a scene for our own safety.

   I stayed there watching until the man was a pile of bloody separate pieces of arms and legs.

   Now I would have a new chance to catch Harding. And it could be the last one. I tried to look for news about the man in the station, but I never heard anything of it. Now people saw what he had done, so he might be in a vulnerable situation. This might be it. After two years I would finally get closure to the case. 

   The latest victim was in an unstable state before she died, but I got a piece of information. Carlton was aggressive. His ability to make people want the first grape is lower. That’s why the woman still had one leg. 

   I finally got to the winery. It looked so normal and humane. The air was thick and there was a scent of wine in it. I thanked the taxi driver and got off. I walked over to the front doors and rang the bell. For a while nobody answered but then a woman opened the door. Assuming she was Avery, Carlington’s daughter. She looked so normal, so human. It ripped my heart to think of his father while seeing her. 

   “Hello? How can I help you?” she asked with a reserved tone. She must have sensed something off about me. This was a bad idea. I would just scare her off. But then I saw  a figure in the vineyard through the glass doors. 

   “Do you happen to sell grapes or wine to the markets?” I then asked. 

   “No, I don’t. After my father passed I haven’t gotten any good harvests. He must have had a secret to it that I don’t know. Why?” she hesitated.

   “Who’s that in the vineyard?” I went on boldly. I didn’t care anymore. She would or would not get scared. I had to get to the bottom of this.

   She stayed silent for a second. “You can see it?” she finally whispered. She looked at me with tso much intensity that I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Then I recognized her. The woman Carlton had followed in the train station. Had she seen the man’s death like I had. 

   “Yes”.

[deckerroosevelt]

Chapter 5, part 2

It was the first time I stepped into the kitchen. The cook was a big guy and he was reading the paper.

   “Excuse me, do you happen to have any supplies for a trip. We are going as soon as possible, so I could help with them too”, I offered. 

   “Supplies you say? It’s okay lad, I can make a few sandwiches and tea for you. For how many?” he asked. He had a deep husky voice just like you’d expect.

   “There’s two of us. And thank you!”, I answered. I could go grab some of my things while he makes the food. 

   I ran all the way to my room and took a backpack. I would put the sandwiches there and I also took my notebook with me, and a jacket. Then I ran back to the kitchen. 

   The cook was ready and handed me two aluminum foil packets and thermos bottles.

   “There you go, lad. Stay safe and don’t do anything stupid”, he said before turning back. I nodded and hurried to the lobby. This would be my second time going out of this house. Would Treacher remember me outside? Did they even know people can’t remember me outside? He’s not a human though, so maybe he will remember. That would make sense.

   Treacher came to the lobby with a bag and a concerned look. He then turned around and took off his mask and put it in the bag. He had taken the mask off only once before when I was there. I heard the little cracking sounds as he formed features to his face. 

   He turned around after a while. He now looked nearly normal. His skin was slightly too smooth and spotless and face just a bit too symmetrical. But if we look at him from afar and assume he has dyed his hair, we’re good to go. 

   We walked to Hyde Park Corner -station and took the underground to Victoria train station. We’d make it to the next train to Dorking and be there in less than an hour. 

   “I don’t need a ticket. Saves money”, I mentioned before the gates after we had walked there in silence. Treacher jumped a bit and looked at me.

   “Oh, god. When did you- Wait, we left together right? I completely forgot you came along”, he laughed. “I must be nervous”, he said and looked ahead again. I knew he had forgotten I was there again so I didn’t bother repeating myself.  Maybe he’s alive enough to forget me. 

   The next time I reminded Treacher of my existence was on the train when he thought he forgot the supplies. I wasn’t hungry because I had a heavy feeling in my stomach. It didn’t feel nice to be forgotten by someone I had actually befriended. The house was the only place I wasn’t a ghost. I got the feeling of terrible loneliness and I knew I had felt it before. 

   We got off at Dorking after an hour. I shadowed Treacher and tried to keep up with him. We took a taxi and entered the hospital. Treacher went to ask for the victim, who’s name was Harriet Morris. We discovered she had passed away a few hours ago and her visitor had left in a hurry from there after talking to Morris before she died. 

   Treacher was seemingly getting more and more nervous. I wanted to comfort him, but I couldn’t. He sat down for a while, most likely to collect his mind. After a moment he got up, now determined and headed toward the doors. He hailed a taxi and requested a ride to the winery of the Hardings. 

    It took around seven minutes to get there and I would have wanted to stop Treacher there. I didn’t think it was wise to bolt to the house of the Hardings. But then again, Neda could be there and in great danger. And I couldn’t stop Treacher even if he listened. He would forget. 

[deckerroosevelt]

Chapter 5, part 1

I was sitting on a table next to Treacher. We had sneaked into the archive. I was thanking my past self for putting effort in learning to write and read. Though I wasn’t the best at either of them. Neda was supposed to come there too, but I hadn’t seen her today. She didn’t even come to breakfast.

   Treacher had identified him as Carlton Harding who owned a vineyard in Westhumble. They still had no idea what he was doing in London and what had happened to him. Some older files indicate that he’d gone missing and his daughter was left to take care of the winery. But the daughter, Avery Harding, had reported more than once break ins and had been in therapy for hallucinations. Nobody has ever been caught or arrested and no evidence has been found. 

  “What do you think? Why was he in London?” Treacher turns to me. 

  “I don’t know. Could it be him at the winery? The hallucinations of Avery?” I whisper.

  “We believe so. But we don’t know where he is right now, so we can’t go to the house. We need to focus on locating hi-”, he gets interrupted by the door opening. “Hide!” he whispers.

   I hide behind one shelf and peek through the files. It’s Decker, which means I’m playing with fire. I have no idea of how he’d react if he found me. 

   “Treacher, at work already! Don’t overwork yourself. How are you?” Decker worried with no readable emotions in his voice though.

   “I’m doing well actually. I’m waiting for Neda. She was supposed to come hours ago, but I haven’t seen her”, Treacher played it off. He’s a good liar, I noted.

   “Oh. You haven’t heard yet? We got a new victim of Harding on a train to Westhumble. I gave it to Neda in the morning. I am guessing she is interviewing the victim in the hospital”, Decker stated. 

   “Neda interviewing? Has she lost her mind? It shows clearly she isn’t flesh up close!” Treacher panicked. He glanced at me briefly and got up. “I have to go there. Which hospital is it?”

   “That’s the thing, they were taken to Dorking. I’m not fully sure if she went all the way there, but she was quite worried for more victims. It’s a really nasty case”, Decker seemed to be getting worried himself too. “Why don’t you take Loki with you Decker? He has been hiding for long enough”.

   Treacher winced and looked in my direction, embarrassed. I stepped forward, out of the hiding spot. 

   “We’ll get going right away then. I’ll go get money and other stuff needed. Loki, go ask for supplies from the kitchen”, he hurried and I went my way to the kitchen.

[deckerroosevelt]

Hello hello! Here's the writer with a couple of questions.

First of all, I would like to thank the four people following me already, because I think my motivation would have died without you. But anyways, here are the questions:

1. I put the fourth chapter's second part in quite a big chunk there because I didn't know how I would cut it sensibly. Here's the question, do you like it better in bigger or smaller pieces? If bigger, then it will take more time for another post, but it might be easier.

2. Do you want drawings of the characters, or do you want to imagine them yourself? I'm fine with everything and I am a bit interested in how others see the characters and me posting my visions could affect it.

I NEED OPINIONS

[deckerroosevelt]

Chapter 4, part 2

 I put my pencil down and eyed my text. Good enough, I thought and hid the notebook under my pillow again. I got up to open the window. Now that I know where I am, I can’t unsee it. It’s nice living in Hyde park, but I haven’t stepped out since. I took up people watching instead. And in case the man in white appeared again. Not that I would be scared, but my fingers have bandages and still are quite sore. And the naked feeling on them with no nails. Why didn’t I stop after the first grape? Haven’t eaten them after either. 

   Someone knocked on the door and I went to open it. I take a peek at who it is before letting them in, but it’s Treacher, so I let him in.

   “Evening”, he greets with a sarcastic tone. 

   “What are you doing here?” I ask. It is a bit late and this is only the second time ever anyone has come into my room with me.

   “I live here silly! And why not? Do you have something better to do instead than hanging out with me?” Treacher questioned me.

   “Well, not particularly, but… Okay, touché”, I give up. I don’t have a valid excuse and I honestly don’t mind spending time with him. It’s better than people watching.

   “Thought so. Anyways, I do have something I’d like to talk to you about”, he started with a more serious tone. “Did you know that after two weeks of living here, you will get a… how to put this. Well, some kind of a job”, he explained.

   “A job? What kind?” I asked. This came out of the blue for me. Of course living wouldn’t be free here, what did I expect?

   “Well, not a job job, but… I don’t know! Missions, tasks, whatever. So, Decker investigated stuff like the man you encountered last week. The most dangerous things he deals with, but smaller jobs he gives us. We can say no if we want to but, they are quite intriguing sometimes. And we don’t go alone, so don’t worry. As I understand it, Decker is like the police’s supernatural section and all reported stuff like that comes to him. And we help as we can. Most of them are of course unreal, but I have seen some messed up things myself and, well, I am a bit of a messed up thing myself”, he covered. 

   Yeah, he is a messed up guy, but I’m used to it by now. And I can’t say I wouldn’t be messed up myself. But more importantly, I was honestly interested in the “job” thing. Over the past week I have become more curious and I would like to learn more. I have never been to school, and never wanted to go to school. But now I do and this “job” seems like the closest to one.

   “So, next week? Do you have any tasks at the moment? How often do you get them? And what exactly do you do?” I started listing questions that popped into my mind. 

   Treacher stood there for a while staring at me confused. “You are actually interested? Damn. I freaked out when I heard. After last week I figured you’d try to escape and I was ready to help, but ok”. I was quite sure I heard some disappointment in his voice.

   “Well, at the moment we are trying to locate the one that attacked you. And trust me, it’s easier said than done”, Treacher complained. 

   “Actually, he did not attack. I took the grapes by free will”, I clarified.

   “He just made you think like you wanted to eat them by your free will. Trust me, if Decker didn’t come, you would be a pile of limbs in pieces”, he disagreed. 

   “How do they form? I mean, what are they?”

   “It varies a lot. I was created, but I don’t know how she did it. Neda knows more, but she still grieves for her and refuses to mention her. Neda lived with her for years before I was made. She doesn’t blame me for her death. The only thing I know is that the creator was dying and made me as her last deed. Or Neda built me, because she was too weak at that point. She only had to make the sacrifice”, he explained. 

   “What was her name?”

   “I don’t know. There are many things I don’t know. Anyways, I have informed you about what I came to inform you about and it’s getting late. I can show our progress on the thing tomorrow. See you at the archive after breakfast. And no word to Decker about any of this”, he said with his index finger on the mask and walked out of the room.

   “You can trust me!” I shout after him. 

   I tried to fall asleep, but I was too excited for tomorrow. I would get to be an investigator and technically work for the police as Decker’s helper. But not officially yet. 

[deckerroosevelt]

Chapter 4, part 1

“I have lived here for a week now. I have gotten used to some things here, but not completely. I have talked to the others a bit and turns out, they all have feelings and are actually rather nice people. Or then I just have low standards. I apologized to Neda and I think we are good now. Apparently she is somehow Treacher’s sister, but I have no idea how that would even be possible. Maybe I’ll understand it someday.

   Roos- Decker, as he wants me to call him, is a silly guy. Though I know extremely little of him, he seems like a good person. Decker is a bit, how to say this, interesting? I can’t really read him well, but I can’t say a single bad thing about him. Not that I would want to but the others keep him as a god or something. 

   I have gotten quite close with Treacher and Neda. Well, as close as you can after a week. Ambeth and Yumekui mostly keep to themselves. They have some kind of a sibling relationship too, except they are not related at all.

   Apparently Treacher and Neda were made in a circus a long time ago (I don’t really know, but that kind of circus is kind of out dated). And I mean literally made. A ringmaster had a technique to make dolls and give them consciousness and some abilities by sacrificing something in their life. It seems like they made Neda first, but didn’t give her a voice of her own, so she just takes other’s voices. They had sacrificed their life to make Treacher but he doesn’t have a fixed body nor face. That’s the meaning of the mask. There’s nothing under. No features at all.

   I’m not completely clear of their full backstory, but I will write them here as soon as I get them hunted down.

   About Yumekui and Ambeth, I know nothing. Yumekui has insomnia and Ambeth is addicted to one book. Just one. She’s like always reading it.

   About a week ago, I tried leaving. I met a thing who handed grapes and my nails were ripped off. Well, three, because I ate three grapes. Decker said that if I ate more than ten, I would have lost my fingers. And then every piece of me one by one. I'm lucky Decker came to help.”

[deckerroosevelt]

Chapter 3, part 4

  Then I bumped into someone. I got up and didn’t even bother to apologize. But the someone grabbed my hand. I looked up and it was a man wearing a white suit. 

  “Would you like a grape, young man?” he asked with a pleasing voice. I focused my eyes on his face and it was scarred, but he didn’t look like a drug dealer. But there could be anything in the grapes.

   “No, thank you. I’m a bit busy right now”, I rushed and yanked my arm to break free. And I did get my hand free, but the man’s grip was still holding tight. It took some time for me to realize what had happened. The man’s hand’s stitches had broken and the hand was still on my arm. I looked at the man in terror, my heart beating faster and faster.

   “Don’t worry, they are very sweet and fresh. I picked them up today”. 

   I felt a sudden desire to believe in this man and eat a grape. They seemed so harmless and fresh. I could see the water on them making them look shinier and tastier. I couldn’t stop myself from picking up one grape and eating it. It was the best grape I have ever had. It was sweet, but not too sweet with a hint of sour. The peel squirted satisfyingly after a bite and the freshness was indescribable.

   After I had eaten it, I wanted more. I wanted to gulp down them all and devour every single grape. I felt a bizarre feeling on my finger, but it didn’t bother me. I was way too busy thinking about the grapes. I reached for the third grape when someone else’s hand grabbed my arm. They forced me to get away from the man in white, who now even had white eyes. Grinning with his stitched face. 

   Before I even realized, I was back in the lobby. I started panicking about what I had done and who dragged me back in. And the bizarre feeling on my fingers was revealed. Three of my fingernails had fallen off completely. The pain was ghastly and the unprotected skin was bloody and sore. 

   The dagger on the other hand was Roosevelt and he was inspecting my fingers. He looked concerned but determined. Next he looked at the ripped hand still gripping on my right arm. Roosevelt took out small scissors and cut the fingers off from the thumb of the hand. It had sewed itself around. 

   “I will keep this for now”, he said, not removing his eyes from the hand. “That was stupid, Loki. But fortunately nothing worse happened. If you would have eaten more of those… grapes”.

   And he had left me there zoned out. What just happened?

[deckerroosevelt]

Masterlist (C=chapter, p=part)

Writer's questions/notes/other

Discord

Introduction

Prologue

Chapter 1

C1, p2

C1, p3

C1, p4

Chapter 2

C2, p2

C2, p3

C2, p4

Chapter 3

C3, p2

C3, p3

C3, p4

Chapter 4

C4, p2

Chapter 5

C5, p2

C5, p3 (Neda's POV)

C5, p4 (Back to Loki's POV)

Chapter 6

C6, p2

C6, p3

C6, p4

[deckerroosevelt]

Can I recommend making a masterlist with the links for each chapter? Just so people can go to the beginning of the novel without scrolling all the way to the end.

Oh my god thank you!!! I have been thinking about that problem, but I'm new to tumblr and I have no idea how things work here. But thank you, you saving angle!!! I will make a masterlist probably today when I have time. Thank you!!!!! :)))

Update: I did it, but Idk if I did it right or not. If there's some kind of problem on the masterlist, please inform me. (And if you have tips, please share).

[deckerroosevelt]

Chapter 3, part 3

   As I left, I heard Neda whisper something to Treacher. She seemed worried about something. Did I do something wrong? Maybe, but I can’t fix it anymore. If I did something wrong, why could they not just tell it to me or tell me what’s going on here. I want fresh air. 

   I was in the lobby with the checkerboard floor. The big door outside felt like a rescue. I should escape. This place is not right, and I didn’t come here willingly. I do not belong here. Why didn’t I do it yesterday? Why didn’t I think of it? But I need my notebook, so I can prove this place exists- 

   People forget me outside. I don’t need proof. They turn around and forget I ever existed. 

   I’m in front of the door. It looks bigger up close than it did from far. It looks like it could fall on me at any time. But it can't, I reminded myself. I move my hand on the door handle. I look behind me for possible witnesses, but then again. I feel watched anyways.

   “Now or never”, I whisper and open the door and run outside. I feel so relieved. I can feel the wind around my hair and the sunlight can touch my face! The air is so fresh, though not as clean as in the house. I start sprinting away as fast as I can. I’m in Hyde park? The house is in Hyde park? How have I never noticed such a big house there?

   I look behind me, but the house is nowhere to be seen. Did I actually imagine it all? Should I go to a doctor? No, they’d forget me. After some people remembered me, itäs hard to go back to normal. I had my first ever human contacts there. If they were humans. Or even real. I did well, in my opinion. 

  Suddenly I felt terribly lonely. Was this how my life used to be? So lonely? I see a staff member and bolt to him. 

   “Excuse me?”

   “Did you say somethin, boy?” he answered and looked away from me for a while. Then he got on with what he was doing.

    “Excuse me?”

    “Did you say something?” and the same repeated. 

   This is hopeless. I couldn’t even ask one question before he forgot I was there. I can’t even get a job. How did I get money before? Was I a criminal? This is too much for me right now.   I turned 180 degrees around and started running back to where I came from. I tried to go the same exact way since I couldn’t see the house. I could feel my heart beating in my chest. The air was fresh and misty. I felt the air force on my face and reveled in it. I wouldn’t see it again in a while.