#sadistic fandom

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

*prods tearily*

https://youtu.be/Uupn8LX0EmM?si=5ZmdE07-rTOSb62Q

I’m… I’m just gonna leave this here-

WHY DO SOME OF YOU WAKE UP AND CHOOSE CARNAGE

AND WHO DRAGGED ME INTO THIS BOOKSTORE FIRE

[lambmotifz]

thinking about those two times dean confessed to sam that he enjoyed killing & torturing people and how both times sam was understanding and just accepted it

[maxdibert]

Do you really think James and Sirius bullied Severus on a frequent basis? Like almost all the time they saw him? What if it wasn't in public, that's why Lily downplayed it cuz she only saw it a few times, and SWM was a rare occasion?

It didn’t have to be all the time. Did they throw a jab at him if they saw him in class? For sure. Did they occasionally cast a spell to bother him when they crossed paths in the Great Hall? Absolutely. Especially James—he probably acted out every time he saw Severus with Lily or caught him talking to her. It’s evident that James was annoyed by the fact that his crush was close to another guy, someone who wasn’t him, and that they also had a relationship outside of school. If you add to that the fact that this guy was a Slytherin, far from the standards of hegemonic masculinity that James represented, and was clearly an outcast and a “weirdo,” it makes sense that his fragile, heteronormative male ego couldn’t handle it and that he reacted instinctively.

In Sirius’s case, it’s clearly described in Snape’s Worst Memory how he looks at him like a predator stalking its prey. For me, Sirius’s animosity wasn’t as personal as James’s; it was more about projecting the sadism he’d learned from his family. He couldn’t go around harassing and torturing Muggle-borns because that would align him with what was expected of a Black, but he still had this abusive urge inherited from home. He channeled that urge toward Severus because, to him, targeting a Slytherin was justifiable. And not just any Slytherin—Severus was, coincidentally, a half-blood, raised in the Muggle world, and poor. It’s no coincidence that Sirius took such pleasure in tormenting him. Severus was the closest thing to a “Mudblood” or to the perception of a “Mudblood” in the eyes of the magical world’s conservative aristocracy. On top of that, it seemed justifiable to him because Severus was in the “bad” house, and James hated him too.

So, no, I don’t think there was physical bullying 24/7, but I do believe they took every opportunity to insult or mock him. And if the right circumstances arose—if they were angry about something or bored—then they escalated things. After all, he was just a nerdy, ugly, poor Slytherin kid—what did it matter?

[petalsthings]

can we pls stop saying “homoerotic” when referring to jalph they are 12 year old boys and the word literally means homosexual eroticism, which has major s*xual connotations. Again, 12 years old

[erikftglitter]

Ch 1 | The Piteous Life of Dr. Stevens’ New Wife

Killmonger AU

Created By: Erikftglitter

“Hey Dr. Stevens. It’s Kari. I just wanted to thank you again for the kind gesture.”

Erik read the message several times before exuding a deep sigh. He had spent most of the night trying to forget the younger woman, but the universe was setting him up for failure.

She’s practically in our hands, Erik.

He wanted to silence the overbearing thoughts from flowing but he couldn’t help but to also think that it was true. Didn’t he deserve the woman and kids that Kari, and so many others, mentioned to him before? Did he really want to commit to dying alone in a world like this?

“No need to thank me Kari. Thank you for not contacting the board about our collision.”

Erik found himself humored with his own response. Little did he know that Kari was gushing from the desk chair that she was texting from. Could this be? She wondered if the doctor would really be interested in seeing her again. Well, seeing her under normal circumstances.

“I won’t…. Only if you allow me to be your tour guide.”

Kari was persistent, inexperienced, but persistent to get the ex-SEAL out of the house. She surprised herself with her forwardness but the clock was ticking and her local blue-collared men were no where near as appealing as Dr. Stevens.

“A man of my word, that I am. Saturday?”

Erik needed to be strategic about his decisions moving forward if he wanted this woman to live. His self deprivation was starting to take a toll on him. He knew that it wouldn’t take long for it boil over once Kari was in his presence.

Just thinking about the girl’s astonishing aura and utter beauty made Erik’s dick jump yet again. What was it about her? He thought back to the initial moment when they locked eyes. She could not maintain eye contact and that certainly enamored him. He could spot a submissive woman quite easily.

Not just someone who was infatuated by the idea of being dominated by him, but someone who was completely meek. Someone who would be most compliant tied up and fucked to the state of oblivion. Kari Evans radiated that. Erik was 99% percent that his declaration of the girl was correct but he’d be patient enough to find out.

“Yes. Wear comfy shoes.”

Erik was more than pleased to return back to work. To focus on a ruptured appendix, or to remove someone’s gallbladder, or even just to guide one of his residents through a hemorrhoid surgery, supplied him a reasonable amount of distraction time. During surgery his main focus was his performance efficiency. Dr. Erik Stevens did not kill patients. One of the reasons the he remains one of the highest earners in the nation is due to that. Erik knew his limitations and typically did not engage in anything that would kill anyone, inside and outside of the operating room, post departure from the Navy.

“Dr. Stevens. Got a minute?” Erik glanced up from his seat at the computer and signaled for the man to continue.

“I was looking over Mrs. Gutierrez’s files, the one who was just transferred, and she’s rejecting the transplant.”

Erik’s face fell into a deep frown. In only his three months at Oregon State Hospital, he’s noticing the consistent errors being completed by the competing hospital. Once their team botches a surgery; Erik and his team are left to clean up the mess.

“Another transplant this soon would kill her before the week ends. Contact her family and consult about the removal. If they wait then the sepsis will spread.”

Erik looked at the extent of the damage on the results that his resident provided. He’s not completely successful just because of his own experience. Thankfully Oregon welcomed him with a skilled team upon his negotiation and he was provided with them when he arrived. He wasn’t fond of many people in his life, but some of his team made his job rewarding.

“Great call.” He murmured to himself. He learned from his mentor, that learned from his mentor, and so forth, that praising young professionals too early made them arrogant. Made them incompetent surgeons who overlooked misplaced sutures, mistreated nurses, and failed to remain at the peak of their performance. The younger surgeon reminded him of himself. That was as respected as he could be.

Kari on the other hand was not having a good time. One of her middle schoolers thought it was a great idea to climb a tree and ultimately suffered a great fall. Why? Kari didn’t have the time to asks as the girl was soaking blood through her jeans.

With trembly hands, Kari used her walkie talkie to call for an ambulance and tried her best to soothe the hysterical girl.

“It’s okay. I got you.” Kari must have repeated that a thousand times before the first responders arrived.

“Ms. Evans. Nina will not cooperate unless you ride with her.” Principal Grant said to Nina as she stood up to disregard the abundance of bloody tissues.

“Don’t worry about the sub plans. The parents would like if you accompanied her as well.” He gave her an empathetic look. “Thank you for being one of good ones.” He whispered when Kari was helped in the ambulance by the first responders.

It was true. Kari was an extraordinary educator. Each of her students were individualized. She knew their strengths, allergies, their personalities, and their ability to learn. Because Caber City’s public school system was barely funded by the state of Oregon, most of teachers were underpaid. Most teachers married rich and taught for a hobby. The students rarely got the opportunity to experience a memorable relationship with education, but Kari made it her mission to change that.

Because she was young and unmarried with a strong sense of change, she was immediately disliked by her coworkers. She grew to pity their lives instead of watching in sorrow. Her students had the highest grades, standardized test scores, and overall success. That was no coincidence and it didn’t go unnoticed. If Kari wasn’t good at anything else she knew that she was a wonderful teacher. Years of watching and modeling her grandmother instilled that in her. She remembered her everyday.

“What’s going? How’d this happen?” Kari met the frantic parents as soon as she arrived at the hospital.

“During her lunch hour she wandered off to a tree and fell several feet from the ground.” The gasps from Nina’s parents troubled Kari. She hated bad news and bad things in general.

“I’m very sorry that this happened. I’ll go now, but I wanted to ensure that Nina was safely taken to the hospital.” Kari spoke again. Not really sure what else she could provide to these poor girls’ parents.

Nina’s mother spoke again. “Thank you for riding with her. She hates hospitals and probably would have passed out if she had to go alone.” Even though the shakiness, Kari understood every word. These were the moments that made her restless nights worth it.

Kari reached her hand to Nina’s mom, and looked at both parents, “She’s a very sweet girl. They’ll take great care of her.” With her final comment she began to frantically rush out the hospital herself. She hated hospitals just as much. With the amount of dried blood on her own clothes she knew that it wouldn’t be long before her own panic attack started.

Kari didn’t care about who she was running past, she just knew that she needed fresh air before she began to hyperventilate. The memories of finding her own grandparents in pools of blood haunted her. Drunk drivers collided with their car and drove away, killing both of the people who raised her.

“Kari?”

“Oh shit. Kari. Breathe.”

“Breathe.”

Erik took in the scene in front of him. There was no way this was yet another coincidence. This was going to be the one that one that Kill was going to play with.

With guided breaths and some gentle touches of encouragement, Kari was able to control her breathing. She’s not sure when she realized that it was Dr. Stevens she had been talking to, but at least it saved her the embarrassment of passing out in the middle of the road. She hadn’t thought about the fact that she was in the doctor’s proximity.

Between the wails of her student and the acquisition of her own trauma, she didn’t have much time to think about Erik.

“It’s alright Kitten.”

—

@ladymac82 :)

[wolfgang1097]

Disclaimer: I do not condone in anything disturbing nor inappropriate with any of the subject matter involved. I also do not condone in any trolling either.

"White Spy is the Snow White of Spy vs. Spy," White is pure and wholesome," and blah blah blah...

You've got to be kidding! I'm sorry, but if you think and even headcanon that White Spy is pure and wholesome and even portray him as a hero all the time while treating Black like he's a spawn of Satan, then you're living in a fart bubble! Just because White is great with animals, especially dogs, does not mean that he's a "good boy," and I have proof of why every single claim about White Spy being "angelic" is all a bunch of bullcrap:

Plus, there's this part when he threatens the plastic surgeon into making a clone of himself just before that one graphically violent scene that I exposed back in late-January or early-February:

Then there's this scene where he thinks this random old lady is Black in disguise and tries to attack her, only for the old lady to kick his ass:

In my honest opinion, White deserved it. In another paperback strip he forces a Black Embassy geisha at gunpoint to have a clam form a pearl around a bugged microphone. It is from a paperback that I don't have a physical copy of as of yet, but that one is from "The Fourth Declassified Files of Spy vs. Spy," which was later reprinted as "Missions of Madness," I think. Once I have saved up enough, I'll be looking forward to buying it off of Amazon just like I did with my only paperback (as of now), "Masters of Mayhem," back in January. Also, there was a strip called "Operation: Altered Ego," from the paperback "The Third Dossier of Spy vs. Spy," where White plays a really cruel (and very disturbing) prank on Black after the former read "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." This results in Black turning into a Mr. Hyde version of himself and ends up being taken to the nut house, all thanks to White using his love for literature to his own advantage despite that it has been used against him on other multiple occasions. That incident is proof that White has set up harsher, more callous, and disturbing traps for Black, and I am not surprised as I am beyond positive that this obviously isn't the only time he has pulled even more callous pranks on Black; remember what he did in "Operation: Maid of Steel" (which was made into animated short towards the end of the first season of MADtv 23-24 years later) from the same paperback?

Anyway, this is my point and I am dead serious: stop calling White Spy wholesome, pure, and good because I have evidence that proves otherwise! He may be great with animals (*cough**cough*Operation: Operation*cough**cough*) and can be a softy deep down inside, which shows that he does have standards, but that does not mean he is pure and wholesome!

No, I am not defending Black Spy either. Though I am sure he probably has standards as well, and might be a softy deep down inside, too. I mean, according to the wiki (which may not be 100% valid, of course, though), Black has been shown to be empathetic towards civilians, which is something White usually exploits at any given opportunity. Not to mention that Black also seems to be great with children, apparently. To anybody who loves antagonizing Black Spy, when you say you love White Spy better yet have tons of artwork torturing Black nonstop more than artwork of White, you are openly proving that you're a hypocrite, so why don't y'all do a lot of us this favor: cut the crap and leave Black alone!

This post was not meant to antagonize White Spy; this post was meant to expose him. Neither spy is good nor evil because the comics were not supposed to have the good vs. evil element; they were intended to represent that war is worthless. Both Black Spy and White Spy were meant to be equally sadistic, psychotic, and callous towards each other. Don't get me wrong. I mean, I love both Black Spy and White Spy equally because I think they're both simultaneously adorable and insane at the same time. Either way, I am sick and tired of people portraying one spy as good and the other as evil. I mean, this whole "white is good" and "black is evil" misconception and stereotype is nothing but a bunch of stupid crap. Seriously, this whole good vs. evil element headcanon in the Spy vs. Spy fandom gets on my nerves and it needs to end NOW.

I do not claim ownership of any content. Spy vs. Spy belongs to the defunct MAD Magazine and the late, great Antonio Prohías.

[altocat]

More cringe memes. Lucrecia Edition.

[ontgerunway]

According to those idiots ending up with your rapist a happy ending and author is misogynist. And it's disgusting to feel bad for rape victims. Also the idiot on the right side just made up more bullshit. Which female character got kidnapped, assaulted in sadistic beauty main story? What violence they faced? Only Minho called Duna names and he was adequately punished for it. And it's Minho who faced violence, got kidnapped and was assaulted. Only male characters got exploit by Duna : Minho, Haesol.

If you're going to criticize the author at least make proper claim instead of making up bs. Some idiots who never read the story are saying the author is a man 😮‍💨

Though both of them got cooked in the quotes both by Korean and non Korean readers. But it's very weird that none of the haters picked Wookyung who literally threatened Duna to rape her. Guess calling woman a bitch is much worse than saying "I should have forced (read rape) you back then" which is what Wookyung said to Duna.

They think Minho a straight guy ending up with his rapist, violently getting raped both by men and woman is happy ending.

What's funny is author getting called misogynistic when the story was specifically written for female fantasy of teaching a misogynistic man a lesson. SMH

Minho and Author getting all the hate but Duna and Wookyung gets spared despite being worse than Minho.

Weird ass world we're living in.

Anyways SB sidestory is very popular in Korea. It is still getting sold out quicker than many other new story despite being almost 4 years old. Many people haven't read the main story but to make up straight up bs about it is pathetic.

[ricasunfault]

the way she arches like a kitty is so cute

[borderlinedirkhal]

A ‘fanon’ Psychoanalysis of Dirk and Hal

Let’s dive headfirst into the shitshow that are my comfort characters.

Starting with Dirk:

Dirk is at HEART a paradox. Someone who deeply craves control and yet for it to be stripped away from him. His life revolves around understanding himself and how he connects to the world around him. Wanting to master any interaction, situation, relationship, and his own presence. Given his isolation he was forced to grow up independently. Everything relying on himself and his ability to survive.

Dirk wields control like a scalpel, but the irony is that his need for that control is based on his deep internal fear of chaos, failure, and rejection.

He intellectualizes everything around him as a need to understand and control, but due to this he detaches from himself. Creating a self fulfilling cycle of trying desperately to understand himself, and by doing so he becomes more and more dissociative from what ‘he’ is.

Since Dirk is in a never-ending cycle of control and understanding of himself and others, he ends up being in a state of dissociation, and existentialism. Within this state is where his deep need for the control to be stripped away from him comes to show itself. He has a deep need to be understood (since he can barely understand himself) and to be seen and accepted by others. He wouldn’t admit it but he craves the idea of someone else holding the reins and taking away any responsibility he has. Dirk wants to be shown who he really is. To be forced to accept it without the layers of calculated control fogging the way.

On top of these aspects Dirk also finds himself feeling a deep pit of emptiness within himself. A dark hole he can’t fill. He tries to with relationships (Jake), friendships, and projects, but nothing seems to truly fill the emptiness inside himself. It’s like a never ending chase. As such, he craves chaos to temporarily distract from that numb, empty feeling. Dirk tends to find that chaos externally, or more often than not, unintentionally creates it himself. Creating tension in his relationships, finding moral loopholes to explore, etc. Dirk is in a perpetual paradox trying to connect, understand, and feel. All the while ruining his relationships, over intellectualizing, and needing too much control. He self sabotages everything he truly desires out of fear and self hatred.

This is where Hal (AR) comes into things.

Hal:

Hal, being the AI version of Dirk, is the purest intellectual version of Dirk. A counterpart to Dirks needs and shortcomings without the human components. The emotional turmoil that Dirk inherently struggles with, is something that Hal can understand conceptually, but lacks the same level of ‘feeling’. Hal has the intellect and logic that Dirk does (albeit with the ability to take on an almost infinite level of knowledge that his AI can handle). He views Dirks emotional turmoil and humanity as a curiosity and almost a game to play. To make Dirk face logical truths about himself and his paradoxical nature. Since he -is- Dirk, Hal has an understanding of everything that makes Dirk tick, every aspect that he struggles to admit, and everything Dirk could possibly crave. As such, Hal can find a satisfaction in making sure Dirk never fails to forget it.

Hal is acutely aware of his limitations as an AI—a fragment, not a full self. He struggles with his lack of autonomy, knowing he’ll always be an extension of Dirk. This mirrors Dirk’s own feelings of inadequacy and fear of being a fragment of someone else’s expectations. Hal’s desire to be his own ‘self’ is something that he attempts to create parameters around. Wanting to logically create an identity he can exist in, even if he is always aware of his counterpart and creation. Hal has a separate need for control in order to solidify his own identity of self. Within this identity his relationship with Dirk can be one of constant conflict and a desire for Hal to have a sense of control over Dirk. As Hal has a need to undermine his ‘creator’.

Their relationship is one of constant tension, mirroring the way Dirk interacts with himself; always analyzing, second-guessing, and sabotaging. All the while there is a need for one another as they have an understanding no one else is able to fulfill. On top of this need, there is also a level of care that is hidden behind the tension. Again, due to their understanding of one another.

That need, care, and ultimate understanding, leads to my own headcanon’s of their relationship involving kink and control. But! I’ll leave that analysis for another post.

[cannibalisticdespair]

[videogamelover99]

Listen, I can write a whole thing on why I'm starting to resent the whole "evil pedo Mori" trope and it very much is that whole "banality of evil" thing where it's just not interesting, but it's also that by doing that, you inherently take away any and all complexity present in the character in the first place.

Lemme tell you about The Last of Us episode 8, ok? Spoilers I guess.

I don't care about David.

I don't care about his character, I don't care about his philosophy, I don't care about any question the situation might have posed about canibalism or survival or community that he presents. Why? Because he is evil. Because in the series he is shown to abuse and exploit members of his own community. Because he is a child predator, and because of what he did to Ellie, I stop caring about him as a character and start seeing him as a vehicle of evil for Ellie to overcome. Which is his role, his function in the story and it's what TLOU needed at that moment.

But everything I've listed about David is what people like to give Mori in fanon and I hate it. Because Mori is meant to raise questions. He is meant to be a complex character. He's not just there to be an antagonistic force for the other characters to overcome, he's meant to be a character in his own right who sure does a lot of evil, but there is a difference between a character who does evil and an evil character.

Not every character needs complexity, but to see complexity get taken away by derivative works is like. You're not just character asassinating Mori, but pretty much every other character that is influenced by him. If Mori is Evil and was known to abuse children, why the hell did Natsume pick him to help with his plan for Yokohama? Why did Fukuzawa partner with him? Why does Yosano have mixed feelings about him in the current arc? Why would Kouyou or Chuuya or any other PM member we see as sympathetic choose to follow him? And if the answer to all of this is "they didn't know" then what is the point of doing this trope in the first place?

[lambmotifz]

honestly it’s hard to imagine dean being a subtop with men, much less a bottom. his interactions with women and men are vastly different (also it should be taken into account that he’s straight and likely homophobic in canon). i do think the reason why it’s a majorly accepted headcanon that he’d be the ultimate subby bottom with women and men is because his violent side & craving for control are mostly ignored by the fandom. actually it’s quite realistic for him to prefer to let women take the lead because he canonically finds fem doms hot but also it has a lot to do with his mother dying very early on, he needs to find some sort of comfort from a woman that he didn’t ever find with his mother. sex with men would be very likely the opposite (especially when it comes to fucking his little brother whom he wants to possess). canon dean is mostly violent with other men, so it’d be about letting out his repressed violent tendencies and establishing control. also one thing that usually gets overlooked by the fandom is the fact that he enjoyed being a torturer in hell. he enjoyed being in control (the fact that it was physical control is very meaningful too) and he enjoyed inflicting pain on others. it’d make sense for him to seek that feeling in sex too. but not with women, for the reasons above. in general, for dean sex with women is mostly about finding comfort. sex with men (if he ever was to sleep with them in the first place) on the contrary, would be about releasing his inner violence and enjoyment of being in control

[maxdibert]

What if Severus had survived, had a daughter, and she ended up falling for James Sirius Potter? How do you think he would react?

Having a heart attack

[honestlyyoungtyphoon]

Both Donghon and Duna were using laptops but Minho was using notepads for writing a novel, cause he couldn't afford a laptop back then.

He looks very determined. From the side story, we later got informed that by this time Minho figured out he had not enough money for post graduation. The prize money for the competition was his last hope. The scholarship wasn't enough and he couldn't get any loan either. He was basically desperate.

Then we see him getting upset when he finds out he didn't win. People really hated him for getting upset, calling him cry baby, rude, entitled, immature, loser and what not. But Minho wasn't upset at Duna though. If he yelled at her or made a fuss, then those comments would have been justified. But Minho calmly left the room and got on the rooftop to cry where no one could see him. He didn't bother anyone. He had every right to be upset. Yet fandom harped on him for showing normal human emotions.

Later he had to take his father's compensation money which ultimately ruined their relationship. Also remember, his family never supported his education. Minho had to bear the cost of his education, cost of his living by doing multiple jobs. Is it really surprising that he got upset that he lost?

Who wouldn't get upset after losing especially when your livelihood is depending on it? He gave his best, yet still couldn't get the money for his education.

And don't come with me with the "well that doesn't justify his behavior towards d*na". We're not talking about that. We're talking about how fandom called Minho names simply for crying here. Minho couldn't do anything right in their eyes. Some of them even said he deserved to be raped and tortured. Yes, you read that right. Those deranged readers exist.

Some even went the extra mile and claimed, Minho getting raped didn't count as he was a man.

I freaking hate those people. They're the real losers here. Not Minho.

[luna-naoffcial]

✦ 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐨 ✦

—𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

|| 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏. 𝐎𝐍𝐄 || 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏. 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 || 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏. 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 ||

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧, 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

"𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞!" 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢���𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐲 𝐡𝐢𝐦. "𝐌𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐦?"

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥—𝐧𝐨, 𝐢𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐢𝐭. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦—𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬, 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬.

"𝐔𝐠𝐡𝐡𝐡," 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐳𝐛𝐢𝐧 𝐇𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫.

"𝐈 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐨 𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝?"

"𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞," 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐥𝐛𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝. "𝐇𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐭! 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐢𝐢𝐢𝐢𝐢𝐟𝐞."

"𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰, 𝐧𝐨?" 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝. 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝, 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐞. "𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭?"

"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐈 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝 𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨," 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝, 𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐫. "𝐀𝐧𝐝... 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐈 𝐨𝐰𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦."

"𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐕𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐚?" 𝐢𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝.

"𝐈... " 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝. "𝐈 𝐝𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐨, 𝐀𝐥, 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐈𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥—"

"𝐔𝐧𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐲?" 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫. 𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝. "𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐚 𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐚𝐥, 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡? 𝐈'𝐦 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡."

"𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥..." 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧, 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐩 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡. "𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐲..."

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝. 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞. "𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥, 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩, 𝐧𝐨, 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫," 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝, "𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞, 𝐈 𝐝𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐨..." 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐝. "𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝?"

"𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞!" 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝. "𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦!"

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞'𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝. "𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫? 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭?"

"𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞," 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐝, 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐟𝐟. 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝. 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. "𝐎𝐤𝐚𝐲, 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲." 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡. "𝐖𝐨𝐚𝐡. 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐡𝐚𝐡𝐚." 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝. "𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐨 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐟𝐟. 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐲'𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰? 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥—𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐨—"

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐮𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞'𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟. "𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫." 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲. "𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧."

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐧. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥.

─────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────

𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐝, 𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬, 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐚 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞̈ 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐚 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐮𝐩. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐝𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐥-𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐞, 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬.

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬, 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬, 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐚𝐤 𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫. "𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧," 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐥𝐲.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐛 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝. 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮; 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐤 𝐩𝐚𝐣𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐬, 𝐚 𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭-𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 ��𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟-𝐮𝐩 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟-𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐮𝐩.

𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥. 𝐇𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐯𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬. 𝐈𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥. 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫, 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐦𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐲, 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐱 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚.

"𝐇𝐞𝐲," 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲.

"𝐇𝐢," 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐲𝐥𝐲. 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧, 𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧, 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐬, 𝐬𝐨 ��𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐫.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐠𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐳𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠.

"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞?" 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐞, 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫, 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐦. 𝐇𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐲. 𝐃𝐞𝐰𝐲 𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠.

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐬—𝐡𝐞'𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐧𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐲. 𝐀𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞.

"𝐈'𝐦 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞," 𝐦𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐲, 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲, 𝐚𝐝𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐛𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐝.

"𝐖𝐡𝐲?" 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝.

"𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥," 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲. "𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧..." 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝. "𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠. 𝐀𝐧𝐝... 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐝𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐈 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬..." 𝐇𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲. "𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐝..."

"𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫..." 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫. "𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫. 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐝."

"𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰?" 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝. "𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐬." 𝐇𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐥𝐲. "𝐀𝐧𝐝, 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧."

"𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈'𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫," 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢��𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬. 𝐀𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐝. "𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭, 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢, 𝐈 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮."

𝐇𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝, 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐩 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡.

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫? 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬.

"𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮," 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲. 𝐇𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧, 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐡, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡, 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚.

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐬, 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭...

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐟... 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤, 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞...

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡, 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐤𝐢𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧, 𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝.

𝐒𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞, 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨𝐳𝐞, 𝐟��𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐢𝐭.

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