#Lucifer Was Innocent

[digitalwebshopping]

Lucifer Was Innocent Novel

Lucifer, the angel who fell from heaven and was expelled due to his rebellion, poses a difficulty to our conscience of good and evil books. Was he really a bad guy or a victim of circumstances who refused to get involved? His disobedience is the cause of the disagreement: truth seeker or power hungry egoist? The exploration of Lucifer's story causes us to question ethics, free will, and the essence of evil.

[lambmotifz]

the reason why sam and dean’s unhealthy dynamic doesn’t need to be fixed is because they both (unconsciously) crave power imbalance but for completely different reasons

dean didn’t have much power when he was younger since john took his control away from him. which is why he seeks power/control via hunting, violence and his relationship with sam. dean’s repressed sadistic tendencies, his love for hunting, his enjoyment of torturing & killing souls in hell come from his repressed need to be in control

and sam, as jared said, wants to restrain his physical power. not only because he doesn’t feel comfortable in his body, being too big and intimidating on the outside but feeling smaller and craving safety on the inside. but also because of his guilt and wanting to prove to himself, and to dean, that he’s good. that dean can trust him. it makes him seek comfort in being punished, in being restrained and feeling smaller than he is, but dean is the only person who can give him what he needs because dean is also the only person sam trusts and submits to. as twisted as it may be, but dean’s control over him is the only thing that gives him a feeling of safety he’s always craved

they complement each other in this fucked up way, that’s why their dynamic cannot exist without a certain amount of power imbalance

[writteninlunarlight-years]

pspspsps; can you do some headcannons for Lucifer getting a crush on a friend and how this absolute disaster of a man would handle it? thanks love you <3

One Hazbin Hotel Lucifer headcanon is coming up!! Also, you are not dumb, Anon. I also sometimes forget that I write for two different Lucifers it gets confusing at times! I appreciate the clarification!

You and Lucifer went way back, back in heaven back. You heard all his ideas and thoughts, never once questioning him or calling him out like others did.

Lucifer thought he would never see you again when he fell from heaven. That you would be a distant memory for him to look back on.

He always kept a picture of you from your younger years in heaven tucked in his pocket. He even told Lilith all about you and Charlie.

Imagine his surprise when he entered his daughters hotel to see her for the first time in ages and there you were sitting at the bar talking to a cat demon.

He was in shock but due to the Radio Demon needing to butt in he was quickly pulled out of his shock.

Once things had settled at the hotel Lucifer learned from Charlie how she found you wondering the streets not to long after their father-daughter argument just before the hotel opened.

He was impressed that you willingly lost your title among the elder angels all because you couldn't stand the thought that innocent souls were being played with every year.

As he watched you coach Charlie and assist in the hotel he was taken aback. You may be a demonic angel now but you were just as breath taking as when you were teens.

Your (H/C) hair was pulled back from your face as you worked on a billboard for Charlie to hang. He loved your devotion to his family even if you never knew she was his till he appeared.

When he sought your company out privately for the first time after reuniting with you he was a complete mess.

He talked to himself in the mirror, talked to Charlie, Alsastor, hell he even turned to Angel dust on how to rekindle the old times with you.

Ironically after all this planning and attempts to talk to you, you were the one to ask him out for a day on the town you know for old time sake.

He was so excited yet so crushed that you made it a 'friend' date. But he knew he was getting ahead of himself. He would court you appropriately he wasn't going to mess another relationship up.

The date went well besides the 12 poles, 6 signs, 4 people, and 2 cars that he has tripped, walked, ran, and crawled in too. He couldn't help it you were just so you.

He was falling fast and hard as he learned more about how you were one of the only activists on the angelic counsel fighting his fight even after he fell.

When Adam threatened war on Charlies hotel he knew his hands were tied due to his deal with the Angels. Yours weren't though however. Once you guys learned about the Angelic Steel you and Vaggie took to training the cadets.

When Adam saw you down with Charlie baring arms he was taken aback you one of the wise elder angels fighting him? Oh this was gonna be so sick killing you.

You fought harder and better though, till Adam went for a lethal strike on Charlie. Without hesitating you took part of the blow for her when pushing her out of the way.

When the carnage and battle was over Charlie went searching for you scared for the worse. When Lucifer chased after her asking what was wrong and saw you barely breathing he was devastated.

You were nursed back to health by the Morningstars for weeks. Never once being allowed to even exist alone.

Once you were okay again and getting ready to re-debut yourself to society Charlie pulled you aside and told you how she would be totally cool with it if you where another mom for her.

When you confronted Lucifer about the weird conversation you definitely saw him turn in to a puddle and disappear.

Slowly though over time Lucifer you and Charlie started making your own little family. You were hesitant especially with Lilith still being out there somewhere but you would fight for what you loved if you had too.

When Lucifer finally confessed his feelings after almost a year and half of you being back in his life he made it a big big deal.

The whole hotel was involved having every guest help surprise you with either old pictures from your angel years together or even some new ones from now.

Once you finally got to Lucifer he did one hell of a showstopping number to confirm what you had begun to suspect.

When you accepted his confession whole heartedly he was so happy and excited that the next day he made a public message to all of hell how lucky he was.

He couldn't be more happy with his new little family, even if Lilith came back he would be happy with you. All three of you could assist Charlie and redeem those in hell together.

[devildomwriter]

Local Sadist caught looking ADORABLE

[goldenamaranthe-blog]

That's Dick Magic, Baby!: Chaggie feat. Lucifer

Niffty: Charlie, I have a question.

Vaggie: No, you can not buy the Roach Blaster 5,000 to commit mass bug genocide.

Charlie: Vaggie, please. (To Niffty) What is it, Niffty?

Niffty: You're a Hellborn, right?

Charlie: Uh... yes?

Niffty: (to Vaggie) And you're an ex-Exorcist angel that was more or less Heaven born?

Vaggie: I- (pauses as she pinches her chin in thought) Huh... I'm actually not sure. I guess so?

Niffty: So, if Heaven born can have babies with humans and other Heaven born, and Hellborn can have babies with other Hellborn, does that mean that you two can have babies?

Angel: (in the distance) Ha! Hahahahahaha!

Charlie: (blushing profusely and plastering her hands to her face) N-Niffty, there's... um... more to making a baby than just being a compatible species.

Niffty: Like what?

Charlie: L-Like.... Um.... Vaggie, help me out here!

Vaggie: (several shades of purple darker from blushing and mumbling in Spanish)

Angel: (shouting from the other room) One of 'em needs a dick, Niffty!

Niffty: Oh, I knew that, but I figured that we're in Hell and Lucifer is literally Charlie's dad. I thought it was common knowledge that dick magic was a thing he could do.

Charlie: Say what now???

Lucifer 🍎: (bursts through the wall like the Kool-Aid Man) Diiiiiiiid somebody say dick magic?!

Charlie: Dad?! That's an actual thing?!

Lucifer 🍎: Of COURSE it's a thing!!! Watch!!! (Snaps his fingers)

Vaggie: Askfbdjsk!!! *POOF!!!* (Crumples to the floor as her wings spring out)

Charlie: Vaggie! (Drops to her knees) Babe! Are you okay?!

Vaggie: (blushing and slightly mortified) I think my insides just became my outsides...

Charlie: You're what? (Notices a bulge in Vaggies' skirt and her horns and tail poof into existence as her eyes turn the same blood red shade of her face) Oh~

Lucifer 🍎: (proudly) See? Dick magic. Now. What exactly were we talking about?

Niffty: I was wondering if Charlie and Vaggie could have a baby.

Lucifer 🍎: (plasters hand to hat) Ho! Um! Huh. T-Thats a good question! I'd assume so since Angel's don't have the same restrictions as sinners. Charlie, dear- (Looks around) Where did she go?

Niffty: She ran up the stairs with her tail dragging Vaggie along like a dog in a leash.

Lucifer 🍎: (silently screams and rushes to the stairs while magically pulling boxes of condoms out of his pockets) Chaaaaarlie!!!! Charlie Bear!!! Charliezard!!! Little Duckie!!! Wait!!! I don't care how adorable your babies would be!!! You need protection!!!!

Angel: (slowly dying from asphyxiation as he laughs)

[rius-cave]

Unfortunately for Lucifer’s self restraint, one of Eden Adam’s favorite games was play-tackling/wrestling

Despite his angelic strength he winds up underneath Adam quite a few times (which I’m sure wasn’t an intentional choice at all /s)

And despite the fact that Adam KNOWS Lucifer is an almost all powerful being for some reason he’s always surprised when Lucifer ends up on top of him, pinning him to the floor

ANON THIS IS LITERALLY JUST MY EDEN ADAMSAPPLE COMIC LMAOOOOOOO

AUUGGHHB I love Eden Adam being a little mischievously playful!! He's innocent, but he's still kind of a shit (endearingly) so he'd play pranks and annoy people on purpose LOL

HEHEHE, of course Lucifer could overpower him easily, but he lets him "beat him" most of the time because it just makes his blood rush and his heart pump HEHEEHEE

[iisasarcasticlittleshite]

An Innocent Mistake (Finale)

"Has Barbatos brought MC back yet?" Mammon demanded. "I got the pictures in from the photoshoot we did!"

"Oooh, lemme see!" Asmodeus chirped, clamouring for the envelope as Mammon held it out of reach. "Gimme!"

"Hell nah! I promised MC we'd look at 'em together! Get yer hands offa me!"

"We kept their outfits, right?" Belphie asked, half asleep on the sofa, legs resting across Beel's thighs as the gluttonous demon ate popcorn beside him. "They looked really cute in that blue silk one."

"What about the armour! Like a mini warrior dragon!" Spewed Levi, cheeks growing pink at the memory. He has his own collection of pictures taken of little dragon MC in all sorts of different outfits. One of his favourites was when he draped thin chains of gold around their horns and wings, making them look like almost godly.

The house of Lamentation has gotten used to many an odd occasion, from curses to video games, and their human inhabitant turning draconic has been no different.

Over the month they've been in this form, MC has grown from the size of a housecat to the size of a medium-large dog, and the brothers have found ways to accomodate.

Satan reads his notes to them so they can't fall behind on classes, Asmodeus paints their claws the same way he'd paint their fingernails, Beel feeds them off his own plate most of the time and Belphie is more then happy to use them as a pillow with or without scales.

Still, they miss MC's voice. As cute as chirping and growling is, it just isn't the same.

The brothers all look up at once at the sound of the front door opening, only to find Lucifer, with no dragon in sight.

He takes note of their disappointment, and laments adding to it.

"I've received some disturbing news. Apparently, Solomon has collected MC from the Demon Lord's Castle. He failed to inform anyone that he's found a way to attempt to turn them back."

"Attempt?" Satan muttered suspiciously.

"That's not a good word." Levi agreed with the sentiment. "What if he turns them into something else, like a-"

"There's no point speculating." The eldest put an end to the panic before the real objections could really start. "I've already contacted Simeon, Solomon isn't at Purgatory Hall, he's taken them somewhere else to reverse the spell."

"And we're just supposed to trust the crazy bastard?!" Mammon wailed.

"Not much choice is there, really." Asmo frowned, folding his arms around himself as he does on fearful occasions. "At least we know the pacts still work, so MC can tell us if things go really wrong...right?"

A heavy silence fell over the room, one nobody broke as they all quietly found perches around the living room to wait, napping, scrolling through DDD's or watching some droning nature documentary that no one really paid attention too.

Not much of anything was said for at least twenty minutes, until the sound of a fresh bag of chips cracked open the silence.

"Isn't this the same narrator who did that short series?"

"Yeah, think he started out with documentaries though." Levi replied without thinking, without realising that speaking was the very voice he's been replaying from his phone at night, the voice they've all missed to death.

It's Beel, whose sensitive nose picks up their scent, who throws himself to his feet, sending popcorn and Belphie flying when he takes off and crashed MC into his infamous bear hug.

The human barely has time to laugh at their reactions as they throw arms and legs around Beel and squeeze tight, relishing the feeling of a proper hug for the first time in weeks.

Belphie is hot on his brother's heels, ending up sandwiching MC between them, as they always do. If MC could still purr, they would have.

"Hey! What's the big idea, scarin' us all like that!" Mammon's objections fell on utterly deaf ears, as the second MC wriggled out from between the twins and hugged him, he couldn't hold onto the mask.

He buried his face in their neck to hide his smile, "reluctantly" wrapping his arms around them to pull them close. "Don't go lettin' that shady sorcerer do that to ya again, ya hear?"

"But Mammon, didn't you think I was cute as a dragon?"

"Shaddup, stupid human."

"Mammon! My turn!" Asmodeus demanded, and soon had MC happily in his arms, spinning happily as he smattered their face with kisses. "Welcome back hon!"

"No ill effects from the transformation?" Satan appeared at Asmo's side, affectionately stroking their hair while Asmo continued to rock them gently back and forth.

MC smiled happily, revelling in the rare display of affection from the Avatar of Wrath. Satan isn't a hugger on the best of days, let alone in front of his brothers.

"I'm fine, was barely disoriented. Pretty sure Solomon would rather I'd have been unconscious though..."

Satan's lips twitched into a smirk. "Something tells me you didn't just say I told you so."

MC's innocent grin said it all.

They sidled away from a reluctant Asmo to high five Levi. "Transformation achieved! I'd have so levelled up by now!"

"You are always OP, Henry!"

"Does anyone know what OP means?"

"Nope. MC does, ask them later."

Finally, the human looked to Lucifer, smiling quietly at them, holding himself back, as usual. During the weeks they'd spent as a dragon, Lucifer had been so careful, so diligent in making sure they stayed safe.

MC didn't care if he was too proud to hug them in front of his brothers, they jumped on him, happily nuzzling into his collar. "Thank you, for looking after me.

"I am...glad you're back." Relief filled his words as he muttered close to their ear. "Next time that sorcerer wants to try a new spell, you cast it on him first."

MC laughed, happily surrounded by some very relieved demons and back in their own skin. "Duly noted. But you're all still in deep shit for letting Barbatos use me as a rat catcher."

"Oh...oh shit."

@ihatecorns

[luna-naoffcial]

I need an awesome writter to make my daydream come true.. *peaks at you*

Very platonic..Alastor finding a child reader that somehow fell in hell , either were in heaven and followed the exorcist out or heaven made a mistake.

And we clingy af..you know like cats somehow LOVE people that don't like cats? Yea that's us with Alastor. He acts like he hates it cuz he has a réputation damn it ,but he feeds us , reads us stories , does our hair and gets caught , claimed he was making sure we didn't bring flees back in the hotel. So fucking smug when we throw a tantrum cuz we want Alastor and not anyone else to hold us

Lucifer arrives and he's a dad to charlie so..idk baby fever high af ? he totally spoils us rotten and tries to take us away (lowkey kidnaping us LOL). Feeds us snack and fightd with Alastor about our fzvorite food..we like all of it. Defently put us in a duck onesie.

Arts and craft time , we made a poor copy of Alastor's staff..and made round circles with permanent red marker on our cheeks

Ohhhhh, interesting XD welp enjoy!

─────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────

【 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞 】

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐞𝐦! 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧! 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥! 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝! 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬. 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧. 𝐘𝐞𝐭, 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞: 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞-𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝, 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐳𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐡, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠—𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐬, 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐝. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢��𝐠 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐤-𝐝𝐚𝐛 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐰? 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐬, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐛 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞—𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧.

𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐲, 𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝, 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐒𝐨, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐟, 𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞, 𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲.

“𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥,” 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲. “𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮?”

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐲, 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐭. “𝐈—𝐈 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞,” 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐩 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥. 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐢𝐧. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮? 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥’𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬.

“𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞,” 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐲, 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐥. “𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐤, 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫! 𝐓𝐫𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐧!”

“𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭!” 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝, 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐭. “𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞!”

𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐠𝐨. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧. 𝐈𝐟 𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐈𝐟 𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬, 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠.

“𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞?” 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐦.

“𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐞,” 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲, 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞, 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝. “𝐍𝐢𝐜𝐞?” 𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐝. “𝐎𝐡, 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧.”

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐇𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐝𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩. 𝐘𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧.

𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲—𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞—𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰.

𝐇𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐇𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭. 𝐇𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝’𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐬. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝.

“𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞?” 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐠𝐠𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲.

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐭, 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐢𝐠, 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐝. “𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫.” 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐠𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝, 𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐲. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭? 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧! 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐲. 𝐇𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐦𝐩.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐞𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐛𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰.

“𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞?” 𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝.

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧. “𝐍𝐨𝐩𝐞, 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫.”

𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐳𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝, 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐇𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭—𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐠𝐨.

“𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥,” 𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧, 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞, “𝐈’𝐦 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. ��𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞"

𝐇𝐞 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐥, 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐭-𝐩𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤.

“𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠?” 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝.

“𝐮𝐡𝐦, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮?” 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐥𝐲, 𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞.

𝐀 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐇𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧, 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐨 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲.

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨.

𝐈𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞.

“𝐇𝐨𝐰... 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭?!” 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭. “𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟... 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐞?”

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. “𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰! 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮.”

𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬—𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞, 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬—𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝. 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐭. 𝐇𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡, 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝, 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝’𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥.

“𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐞,” 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝, 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠. “𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐨 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐥𝐲. 𝐖𝐞’𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞.”

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲, 𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥, 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐭. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞, 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐟𝐟 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞’𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞. 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞. “𝐎𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐬𝐡, 𝐀𝐥, 𝐰𝐡𝐨’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬? 𝐇𝐞’𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞!” 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐬𝐦.

𝐕𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐞, 𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝. 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐬. “𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞? 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐝? 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦?” 𝐬𝐡�� 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐭 𝐕𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐞, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. “𝐍𝐨, 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫,” 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞. “𝐈’𝐦 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲... 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭.”

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.

“𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞?” 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 𝐃𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮. "𝐇𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥... 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐢𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬.” 𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐩𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐝.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐝𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐩 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 𝐃𝐮𝐬𝐭. “𝐈 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭," 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧?" 𝐇𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲, "𝐀 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐫, 𝐈'𝐦 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐫" 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝

"𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐧, 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮" 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐤, 𝐚𝐬 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰, "𝐨𝐡𝐡𝐡𝐡𝐡, 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐫! 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐀𝐥, 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥” 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐲.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞, 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐲, 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. “𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬!” 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐞𝐝. “𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞!”

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐫. “𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐭𝐨𝐨,” 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥, 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐭. 𝐇𝐞'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐰. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐲, 𝐚 𝐩𝐮𝐳𝐳𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐭. 𝐈𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐝𝐨. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐰.

𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞, 𝐕𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐲, 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝. “𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐈 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥—”

“𝐎𝐡, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫,” 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐲, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦. “𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬. 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭?”

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐟𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐢𝐫.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐝𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐤𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 “𝐡𝐞.”

𝐍𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐈𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞, 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬, 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭. “𝐎𝐡! 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝! 𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬! 𝐈’𝐦 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮!”

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲. “𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬? 𝐘𝐞𝐬, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞!"

─────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 ��𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥, 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞. 𝐇𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐟𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧—𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐧, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲.

𝐇𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞, 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡. 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝, 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐫𝐲. 𝐈𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭, 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐲, 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐰 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐫 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐭. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞.

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞’𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝. 𝐀𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫—𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐬—𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.

"𝐇𝐞𝐲," 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥. "𝐖𝐞'𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮... 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, '𝐤𝐢𝐝', 𝐛𝐮𝐭... 𝐮𝐦..." 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬. "𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞, 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐞?"

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞. "𝐎𝐡, 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐘/𝐧," 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐥��𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞’𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝. “𝐘/𝐧?” 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝. "𝐎𝐡, 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞!"

𝐀𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐲, 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 𝐃𝐮𝐬𝐭, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞. 𝐇𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, "𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐘/𝐧... 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐚... 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭?"

𝐘/𝐧’𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬. "𝐈’𝐦 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐞," 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫-𝐨𝐟-𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭.

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐳𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬.

𝐕𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐞𝐲𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥, 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫. “𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚 ‘𝐡𝐞’ 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰?” 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞, 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐡. 𝐇𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐦𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞. “𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞,” 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐡. “𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐲. 𝐈𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐬𝐤.”

𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 𝐃𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝. “𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐧, 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐡𝐮𝐡?” 𝐇𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫, 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐝. “𝐆𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞.”

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞, 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐤, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮. “𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰?” 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝. “𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬𝐤?”

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝, 𝐚 𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞. “𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭,” 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐫𝐮𝐠. “𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐟𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟.”

𝐕𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰, 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝. “𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐨. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥, 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 ‘𝐡𝐞’ 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞... 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩, 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤?”

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮. “𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞. 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝. 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧.” 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐩𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫—𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

𝐘𝐨𝐮, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭, 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚 "𝐡𝐞" 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 "𝐬𝐡𝐞" 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫.

𝐀𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐬, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬. 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞, 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮. “𝐒𝐨, 𝐘/𝐧, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠?” 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. “𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐰... 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫,” 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐚 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮—𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞. 𝐍𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲.

─────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐰𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐩 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐭. 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞’𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞.

“𝐃𝐚𝐝?” 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦.

𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝. “𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞, 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫! 𝐇𝐨𝐰’𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥?” 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐟𝐮𝐥, 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫-𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦—𝐧𝐨, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞, 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐨𝐛𝐧𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭.

𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥, 𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐩 𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 �� 𝐛𝐮𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐫. “𝐀𝐡, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬,” 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲. “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞.”

𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞. “𝐎𝐡, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧,” 𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. “𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠?” 𝐇𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐬, 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞.

“𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐈 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐭,” 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝, "𝐢 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬.” 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐦, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐚𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞.

𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐫-𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟.

“𝐇𝐢,” 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐲𝐥𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐭 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐨... 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞.

𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝. “𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞,” 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐧. 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭. “𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞?”

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝, 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤. “𝐈’𝐦 𝐘/𝐧,” 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲.

𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐜. “𝐘/𝐧, 𝐡𝐦𝐦? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫.”

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝. 𝐀 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐣𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲, 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐫.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. “𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐬𝐨? 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐘/𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐨! 𝐒𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞!”

𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮. “𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐞?” 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬. 𝐍𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞—𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝, 𝐚 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐩 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬. 𝐇𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐛𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞? 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝.

"𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐬𝐢𝐫," 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐞, "𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐥 𝐘/𝐧, 𝐈 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥. 𝐀 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥."

𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞. “𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲?” 𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. “𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤. 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐨... 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮?” 𝐇𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞-𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞. “𝐁𝐮𝐭, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞—𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐝. 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐘/𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞.”

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐢𝐥. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐇𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠—𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞, 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞.

“𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨?” 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐯𝐞𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐦. “𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐈 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞’𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬. 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐘/𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨... 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.”

𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐠𝐚𝐬𝐩, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐥𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐤. “𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐡𝐨𝐩, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲,” 𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤-𝐚𝐧𝐝-𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞, 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐠𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐘/𝐧, 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐲.

𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 ��𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲. “𝐒𝐨, 𝐘/𝐧, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨? 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫.” 𝐇𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐤, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐞.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐣𝐚𝐰 𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫. 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭.

“𝐈𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥,” 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐡, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞. “𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐈’𝐦 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐘/𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞. 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞.”

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐝, 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐯𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧—𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞, 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫-𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐧. 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐩 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦. 𝐇𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧—𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞—𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐫, 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲.

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦, 𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐫, 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟-𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞.

“𝐇𝐢, 𝐝𝐚𝐝!” 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐩𝐞𝐝, 𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐢𝐫.

“𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫,” 𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐲, 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐇𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰. “𝐌𝐲, 𝐦𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧... 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭��𝐜 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞. 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬?”

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝. “𝐍𝐨𝐩𝐞! 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞!”

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐇𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤, 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞. 𝐈𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐧.

“𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐞?” 𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲. “𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐡! 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐈 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭!”

“𝐀𝐡, 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝,” 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡. “𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞. 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐈’𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐲—𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤?”

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝. “𝐍𝐨𝐨𝐨, 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝.”

“𝐍𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞, 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭.” 𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

“𝐇𝐦𝐦... 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲,” 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐩. “𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐱 𝐢𝐭?”

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐩, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲. “𝐘𝐞𝐬, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞!”

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦. “𝐒𝐢𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧. 𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨.”

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫, 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐛 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬. 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐛 𝐬𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐛𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐭. “𝐎𝐰!”

“𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥, 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞,” 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐦 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝. “𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.”

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐛 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭. 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐧��𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐭.

“𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐨 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬?” 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲, 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫.

𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭. “𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫"

“𝐚𝐰𝐰𝐰, 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲?”

“𝐎𝐡, 𝐲𝐞𝐬.” 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐭

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐇𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤, 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬.

"𝐍𝐨𝐰, 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤.” 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞, 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝. “𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭!” 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝, 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐭.

“𝐎𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬,” 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞. “𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫.”

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞. “𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐝𝐚𝐝.”

“𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞,” 𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲. “𝐍𝐨𝐰, 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 𝐃𝐮𝐬𝐭, 𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤.”

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐧𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐀𝐬 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤, 𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠—𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥—𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭... 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝, 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦.

─────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────

[i-will-just-nyom-bi]

A New Guest

Imagine, Charlie finds a new sinner and takes him to the hotel.

When he settles down, he starts talking to other residents.

Angle: Sooo, how long are you here?

Sinner: About 20-30 years.

Vaggie: Wow! Where were you all this time??

Sinner: I was lurking around. Wasn't that hard, really. Since I died I don't have to eat.

Husk: Hmm... How did you die?

Sinner: On my death bed, surrounded by my loving family.

Niffty: Why are you here?

Sinner: Pardon me?

Niffty: What did you do to come to hell.

Charlie&Angel: NIFFTY!!

Niffty: What? He doesn't sound like a bad boi. Boring.

Sinner: Heh, a little funny actually.. I was a hunter. I used to hunt for living my whole life, until my kids got out to town and bought me there. Gosh, all that new technology! Made me insane

Alastor: I can understand you, my dear new friend.

Sinner: Thanks pal. Anyway, I was hunting one day, and I heard a shuffle and saw some brown fur. I thought it to be a deer, so I shot it.

Sinner: Unfortunately, it was our local radio host. Such shame... I loved his little podcast... I felt so bad for taking his innocent life and devoted mine to help other people...

Alastor: ...

Husk: That's unfortunate buddy. I guess you've got the highest change to actu- OH MY GOD ALASTOR PUT THE GUY DOWN

Vaggie: ALSTOR PUT OUR GUEST DOWN AAAA

Angel: CHARLIE CALL THE SHORT KING ALASTOR HAS GONE ROGUE HE RIPPED THE NEW GUEST APART

[spinningchipfreak]

sweethearts just chilling :]

[fyreinhell]

everytime i look in the lilith tag I see so much hate and antagonism for her, like my god. we barely know much about her but some people are just desperate to hate on her while woobifying male characters and I can think of one word why.

[digitalwebshopping]

5 Reasons Why ‘Lucifer Was Innocent’ is a Must-Read for Fans of Dark Fantasy

Dark fantasy has always been a shot in the arm for readers thanks to its unrivaled supernatural elements, trauma that prompts moral reflections, and otherworldly narratives. Are you in the process of selecting your next book? If so, you might want to add Lucifer Was Innocent to your list as it is a great representative of the genre. In this blog, we will explore five compelling reasons why this novel is an essential read for fans of dark fantasy.

1. An Intriguing Premise

The thought of Lucifer as the one who has been wronged, a fallen angel who can relate to us, is a tempting one. In Lucifer Was Innocent, the age-old argument of the battle of good and evil is turned upside down. Lucifer is depicted not as the typical villain but as a figure whose interpretation of sin and justice makes you question the existence of such a concept. This unique perspective bring you in and you are eager to find out...

2. Rich, Dark World-Building

World-building is a vital part of any dark fantasy novel and Lucifer Was Innocent is no exception. The book allegorically describes the regions of heaven, the dimensions and different places where angels and demons come from, and the shadows of the earth. These accurately portrayed settings of the realm of the true and false create a world that the reader can interact with, which ultimately enriches the experience. If you are a fan of dark and gothic places, you will be amazed by and entranced by this beautiful, horrible landscape.

3. Complex and Layered Characters

One of the significant advantages of Lucifer Was Innocent is its character development. Each and every character, respectful to angels as well as demons, is moralistic grey. The character of Lucifer is at the cognition of duality, being an example of both repentance and insurrection. The other characters are just as exciting, with the likes of the main character, who you think is one thing at first but then you find out he is someone else, and also the characters whose pasts and motivations are not straightforward and keep changing throughout the story. The lesson of moral relativity, together with an emotional sliding scale, makes it a must-read for those who enjoy complex characters in their fantasy reads.

4. Exploration of Thought-Provoking Themes

Even though Lucifer Was Innocent is a work of art in its own right, its relevance to very real topics like free will, morality, and the nature of evil remains unquestionable. The book illustrates this through Lucifer's travel to the outer limits. So, the novel gives rise to the notion that good and evil may not necessarily be as starkly defined as they appear to be. The book contains a wealth of ideas for readers who like stories that explore deeply philosophical issues and are imbued with an engaging plot.

5. Unpredictable Twists and Turns

The book keeps readers on their toes with its completely unpredictable plot twists. Just when you think you have the story figured out, it suddenly takes you by surprise. This unpredictability is exactly what makes Lucifer Was Innocent a mesmerizing page-turner. The story's perfectly timed revelations and surprises are what let it stay gripping for a long time.

Conclusion: Why You Should Buy It

In conclusion, Lucifer Was Innocent Novel is not just another dark fantasy novel; it's a thought-provoking exploration of morality, identity, and redemption set in a beautifully crafted world. Its layered characters, gripping twists, and rich themes make it a standout title in the genre. If you’re a fan of dark fantasy, this novel is a must-read. You should buy Lucifer Was Innocent from Amazone today and immerse yourself in a story that challenges everything you thought you knew about good and evil.

[allastoredeer]

honestly at this point if i see 'lucifer fan' in bio - i run away and i run even faster if it's radioapple fun 🙃

too tired of 'tall buff stoic manly man and his cute short feminine girlie' i see 99% of time from these people

there's some who only post luci/lilith and these ones are ok (still not everyone tho) but the large part just have veeeeery different view on his character than i do

"too tired of 'tall buff stoic manly man and his cute short feminine girlie'"

Me too, bro. Me too. Why can't we have tall buff stoic masculine girlie and cute short feminine man. Or tall cute stoic man and short masculine girlie. Or short stoic masculine man and cute tall feminine girlie. Let's mix things up a little. Variety is the spice of life.

Apart from him being UwU-ified to Hell and back (lol), I think one of my biggest fanon Lucifer pet peeves is when he's absolved of all his faults and wrongdoings. Like, when the "blame" for Lucifer and Lilith's divorce is put solely on Lillith. Or she's made out to be this super abusive, manipulative partner who's been taking advantage of him since Eden. Like she's the one who kept Charlie and Lucifer apart, and thus is the reason they're so estranged. Like he's this wide-eyed, easily manipulated ray of sunshine who can't defend himself. Like he's this poor little baby man who's never done any wrong, and everyone else just bullies him.

I'm a-okay with Lilith being the big-bad of season 2, or season 3, because evil and/or morally grey female characters fuck yes, but after seeing how much hate she gets (after 5 seconds of screen time at the end of the show) and how much she's blamed for everything wrong in Lucifer's life, it makes me hope that she's not the villain.

A lot of my dislike for Lucifer's fanon characterizations is based on his interactions between Alastor or Lilith, I'm actually just now realizing.

This got a little side-tracked, but yeah, a large part of it really is just having very, very different views about his character.

[lettherebemonsters]

Is it bad that I want to see, before Adam starts his redemption arc in late season 2/early season 3, him beating the living shit out of Lucifer?

Like yeah, we love the funny little clown but he royally, catastrophically and biblically fucked Adam over so bad that it had Lu permanently on a no-fly ban to heaven.

He beat up Adam, flexing how he's the superior one. I'd love to see him get a taste of his own medicine.

[wobblesthewaffle]

Lucifer: Why is everyone so obsessed with top or bottom? Honestly, I’d just be excited to have a bunk bed. 

Angel: Angel: I'm gonna tell them.  Vaggie: Don't you dare.

[angelsdean]

seeing a post that gets some things right (interesting complex john thoughts) but other parts dead wrong (bad dean takes) has me like *eye twitch*