#Human alastor

[crackerzaf]

A friendly visit

Alastor visits Mimzy when he can to catch her up on his life

[doliacuddles]

Human! Alastor: Eating while reading the newspaper.

Y/N: Babe, could you...?

Human! Alastor: Here. Hands you his food.

Y/N: No, I meant-.

Human! Alastor: Hands you the newspaper.

Y/N: No! What I want is-.

Human! Alastor: Oh, of course. Gives you some money.

Y/N: Water! I just want water.

Human! Alastor: ...

[alastwhorez]

Whispers in the Confessional

⸸ Pairing: Priest!Alastor x Reader

⸸ Summary: In your isolated little town, Father Alastor arrives as the new priest, captivating the townsfolk with his charm. Strange occurrences start to plague the town, and Father Alastor is keeping secrets, and (Y/n) develops a forbidden attraction to the new priest. Will Alastor be able to keep his secrets hidden?

⸸ Warnings: 18+, MDNI, religion, religious figures, mention of murder, graphic depiction of violence, graphic sexual scenes, corruption, obsession, possessiveness, dark themes. More to be added as I continue the story.

⸸ An: I have Father Alastor stuck in my head, so I decided to turn this one shot into a series. Hope you enjoy it! Not proofread, possible spelling errors.

Chapter One

Chapter two

Chapter three

Chapter four

Chapter five

Chapter six

Chapter seven

Chapter eight

Chapter nine

Chapter ten

[zebrasonice]

I am amazingly happy with my commissioned art made by the very artistically talented @bananadramaaa!

They draw Alastor unbelievable precious and silly and just so wonderfully himself, that I wanted to see how I too would look in their style and alongside the lanky goofball.

[labyrinthofsphinx]

I think you mentioned that Mimzy thinks Vox is hot. What about Rosie? Where does she stand on Vox (looks wise cause she’s obviously happy for Al)

Anon asked: Anyways can we can please get more of Vox being hot?

Anon asked: Does Mimzy think that Al and Vox are like, together together?

Anon asked: Has Rosie met Vox before??

I aim to please. Also I’m back now that Wi-Fi has been restored!

Rosie has met Vox before, and she's around all the time after Alastor first introduced them. She thinks Al's found the perfect partner in him, and she loves how devoted he is to Al. By the time of story, she's been married, like, seven times and hasn't found Mr. Right, so seeing these two...its just the most adorable thing for her. Really gives her the inspiration to keep looking, you know?....Buuuttt that doesn't mean she can't appreciate Vox's looks for herself ;) (respectfully, disrespectfully looking. No touchie though.)

Mimzy...still struggles with the fact the both Alastor and Vox are off the table. And she's convinced that Al is hiding in the closet. And it drives her up the wall because, to her, Vox is right there. Like, there he is! You're happy ending is right there! Again, it's part of the reason that Vox doesn't want her to give Al any relationship advice, because she really, really doesn't get their situation at all.

Thanks for all the asks!

[cannibal-hound-fanart]

So this is a part of a very beautiful fanfiction. Here! Give it a read

[peque917]

[luna-naoffcial]

✦ 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 ✦

—𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐱 𝐅𝐞𝐦! 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

       ∘₊✧─────────✧₊∘

|| 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄 || 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 || 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 ✦✦✦ ||

     ∘₊✧─────────✧₊∘

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐬 (𝐘/𝐍), 𝐚 𝐯𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝟑𝟐, 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫, 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞. "𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐠𝐨𝐭!" 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝, 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐚. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧. 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥. "𝐖𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐬! 𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬!" (𝐘/𝐍) 𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞��, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲.

"𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐝, 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭. 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐈 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐬 𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲," 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.

(𝐘/𝐍) 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐢𝐝, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬. "𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐝𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞?" 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧.

"𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞," 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞. "𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐦𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬," (𝐘/𝐍) 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐫𝐮𝐠, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

"𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞?" 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐩𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐝. "𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦 𝐚 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲," 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞.

"𝐎𝐡 𝐦𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞!" 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐩 𝐛𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬. "𝐈'𝐦 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮," 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝, 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲. (𝐘/𝐍) 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫, 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐝𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. "𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥? 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲," 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.

"𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐮𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬," 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬. "𝐍𝐨! 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞!" 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐝. "𝐇𝐦𝐦, 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞." 𝐇𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐮𝐠 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧.

𝐀𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐦, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫, (𝐘/𝐍) 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐭, 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝, "𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭?" 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬, 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

𝐓𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐣𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞.

"𝐇𝐦𝐦, 𝐈 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐭, 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠," 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐥𝐞. 𝐄𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦, (𝐘/𝐍) 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝, "𝐈'𝐦 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮!" 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐩 𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝. "𝐀𝐡, 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮," 𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.

"𝐘𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬. 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲," 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬. 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞. "𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥," 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐮𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞.

𝐀 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞. "𝐘𝐚𝐲!" 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐥𝐞. 𝐀𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐱 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦. "𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝟓𝟎, 𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐧," 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬.

"𝐖𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐈'𝐦 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝," 𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐇𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐱, 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞. "𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧, 𝐥𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮," 𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥.

𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 (𝐅/𝐂) 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤. "𝐀𝐡, 𝐚𝐡! 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬."

"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐍𝐨! 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐧-" "𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭? 𝐎𝐡, 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰. 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐬𝐨 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐛 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐲 𝐢𝐭," 𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭

𝐒𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐲, 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞. "𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡," 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝, ��𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝, 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬. "𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥," 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐝. "𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤. 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤… 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬." 𝐇𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐫𝐮𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐬. "𝐒𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭," 𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐫. "𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫." 𝐇𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐬.

𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐮𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬. "𝐅𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲, 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞? 𝐈 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝." 𝐇𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬.

𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐱𝐲𝐠𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐬𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝, 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐤𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞�� 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐝, 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 ��𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐱𝐲𝐠𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧'𝐬 𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

"𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞! 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠!" 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐝.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧. 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐝.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲.

"𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞. 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥." 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞.

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐲.

"(𝐘/𝐍)?" 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥. "𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝." 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐩 𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐤𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡.

𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐮𝐩, 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲. "𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠?" 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝. 𝐇𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲.

"𝐇𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐛𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐀𝐥." 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐝.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐣𝐚𝐰 𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. "𝐈'𝐦 𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲, 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞…"

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝.

"𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭." 𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐝, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬.

"𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞… 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠."

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞.

𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲

"𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠?" 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐇𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬.

"𝐈 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐭, 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝. 𝐈 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝,"𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠?" 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐇𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬.

"𝐈 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐭, 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝. 𝐈 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥... 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞. 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲," 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐲, 𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝.

"𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐲? 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞?"

"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈'𝐦 𝐮𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲. 𝐇𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐈 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚. 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐯𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐞... 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈'𝐦 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧... 𝐬𝐨 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩. 𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫���� 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮... 𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡." 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥, 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲. 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐲, 𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐎𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 (𝐇/𝐂) 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

"𝐌𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐈 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮."

"𝐀𝐥, 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈'𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐝." 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐲𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭.

𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦.

"𝐈 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭, 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩... 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬," 𝐇𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲.

𝐀 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬. "𝐈𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐀𝐥, 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝟓 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐰. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞." 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞. "𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨. 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭." 𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐝, 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞. "𝐖𝐞'𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠." 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡, 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞.

─────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧, 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 (𝐘/𝐍)'𝐬 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐥𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐬, 𝐚 𝟏𝟎𝟎%! 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝.

"𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭!" (𝐘/𝐍) 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝, 𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐬𝐦 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭, 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐝-𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥, 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐮𝐩.

"𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤. 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲," 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞. (𝐘/𝐍) 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲, 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐤𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐤𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐀𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐰𝐫𝐚𝐩 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐫𝐲.

"𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥," 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝. "𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐑𝐞𝐠?"

"𝐓𝐢𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞," 𝐑𝐞𝐠 𝐬𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 (𝐘/𝐍)'𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤'𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐩, 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝, 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞. 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞-𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦, 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐭.

"𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐈-" 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐧 (𝐘/𝐍)'𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐇𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐰 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞.

(𝐘/𝐍) 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐩 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤'𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐮𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞. 𝐑𝐞𝐠 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐦, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐩𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝, 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭, 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐧. 𝐑𝐞𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧, 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞. "𝐅𝐮𝐜𝐤!" 𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞. 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤'𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧, 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭, 𝐚𝐬 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.

𝐃𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐑𝐞𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐞. (𝐘/𝐍) 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐨���𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝, 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧. 𝐀𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐠, 𝐣𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤, 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬. 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐠, 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦.

𝐑𝐞𝐠 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧. "𝐅𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡!" 𝐇𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫, 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐮𝐩 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤'𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.

𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐩𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫. "𝐑𝐞𝐠 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞." 𝐇𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝. 𝐀𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐑𝐞𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤. 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐢𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞. 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐇𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠; 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡.

"𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞," 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐠𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩. (𝐘/𝐍) 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐞, 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞. 𝐀𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐮𝐩, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬. 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝.

"𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬? 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐒𝐨 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝. 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲… 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐞…" 𝐇𝐞 𝐬𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝.

"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐠?" "𝐖𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲. 𝐒𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚, 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐝, 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭?" 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐬.

"𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮!" 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝. "𝐍𝐚𝐡, 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐲. 𝐈 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚." 𝐇𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫.

"𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐰𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫." 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. "𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧." 𝐇𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. "𝐍𝐨, 𝐧𝐨, 𝐧𝐨." 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐝.

"𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞." 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮… 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝.

"𝐃𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐤, 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭? 𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞?" 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐮𝐩. "𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐩! 𝐒𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟…"

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐩. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧, 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

𝐀𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧, 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐮𝐩. 𝐀𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬.

"𝐍𝐨…" 𝐇𝐞 𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐜𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝. "𝐒𝐚𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐲𝐞," 𝐑𝐞𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐬 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝.

𝐇𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐠 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐫, 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬.

"𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬," 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐀 𝐬��𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬, "𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮." 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭.

"𝐍𝐨, 𝐍𝐎 𝐍𝐎!" 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐱𝐲𝐠𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟, 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐟 𝐢𝐭. 𝐀𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐚 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐦.

𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤, 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐩𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝.........

𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐍𝐄 : 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐘

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

✦ 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄 ✦

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐖𝐎: 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑

─────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────

Tags: @n0tmentallystable @zoerislovely @bleulivide @kelakat @minamilinaqueen @anonymousfanfictionlover-blog @beardedmusickoala-blog @yourmom132 @aquafelldown43 @drakozybra @nephalem-da @spideyspoolis4life @toxiicink16 @rukk-keith @alvaastralis @solo-noi-nel-vento @alastwhorez @atinymexicanbird @fourthwing-nerd @visara-valentina @songbirdpond @zeyne1p-blog

𝐀/𝐍: 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐰𝐨 (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠)

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[xpxpxp13-alastor-roleplay]

The amount of joy human alastor and his mother gives me should be illegal

Artist

[veramitar]

Radio Man

[notherpuppet]

Guardian Angel AU 👼🏼🪽⚔️🩸

It’s radioapple and Chaggie because I’m entirely self serving in my fanart/fanfics lollll

[russlanbf]

Editing Human Alastor in the show screenshots

[ratsayssqueak]

[alastwhorez]

Thinking about Priest!Alastor..

Priest!Alastor who came to your town wanting a new start

Priest!Alastor who immediately drew attention to himself. Women flocked to him. But who could blame them he was gorgeous.

Priest!Alastor who holds sermons every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

Priest!Alastor who notices You're new to the church. Having heard about the new Priest and how the women fawned all over him.

Priest!Alastor who immediately introduces himself after his sermons. “Hello child, you're a face I haven't seen before. Who might you be?”

Priest!Alastor who is almost immediately drawn to you. The other women of the church become just background characters to your beauty.

Priest!Alastor who notices you start coming to more of his sermons or lingering around the church after them.

Priest!Alastor who starts looking forward to your visits. You are his favorite after all

Priest!Alastor who notices the other men taking a liking to you as well.

Priest!Alastor who gets jealous when he sees you smile or laugh with another man. And don't even get him started on when you playfully smacked Timmy's arm

Priest!Alastor who decides he needs to keep a close eye on you, and what better way then that than to have you help out around the church.

Priest!Alastor who notices your eyes lingering on him longer and longer each day. Not because he's looking at you too though

Priest!Alastor whose jealousy reaches a whole new level when he hears you have a date with Timmy.

Priest!Alastor who decides he needs to “take care” of Timmy. He's a sinner. He can't him his favorite parishioner be tempted or corrupted by such an unholy man

Priest!Alastor who lends you a shoulder to cry on when you tell him Timmy never showed.

Priest!Alastor who did his eulogy at his funeral, and rubbed your back as you cried. Telling you he is in a better place.

Priest!Alastor who went home and fucked his fist to the image of you crying.

Priest!Alastor who never leaves your side when you attend church. He has to keep a close eye on you

Priest!Alastor who is holding confession on Monday, who expects the usual sinners to show up.

Priest!Alastor who is bored of listening to these sinners speak. Letting out a sigh when someone else enter the confessional

Priest!Alastor who is shocked when he hears your sweet voice. “Forgive me Father, for I have sinned” “speak my child”

Priest!Alastor who listens to you talk about having unholy thoughts about a man and about wanting to commit sin of the flesh with him.

Priest!Alastor who groans when you accidentally let it spill that it's him. You think it was someone else you are speaking to.

Priest!Alastor who asks you to describe These thoughts “ I want to touch him, Father, want him to put his mouth on me, and be inside me”

Priest!Alastor who unzips his pants as he listens to you talk. He can't help it. it was getting uncomfortable with his cock strained in his pants.

Priest!Alastor who fists his cock as you continue to speak.

Priest!Alastor who comes up with an idea. He could save you if you just listen to him. “My child, confess your sins to me by acting them out. We will purify your soul”

Priest!Alastor who tells you to part your legs and pull your panties down.

Priest!Alastor who tells you to lick Your finger and start rubbing yourself.

Priest!Alastor who knows he is going to hell anyway, so why not take you with him?

Priest!Alastor who tells you to slip a finger in, then two. The sounds of your moans driving him crazy.

Priest!Alastor who has you cumming on your fingers as you scream out his name.

Priest!Alastor who cums all over his hand as you whimper and whine, ashamed of what you just did

Priest!Alastor who tells you, you need weekly Confession if you wish to be saved. “Thank you Father”

Priest!Alastor who wants to see how far he can push you. He lets his hand run along your lower back or rest on your waist.

Priest!Alastor who notices you wearing more revealing clothing to church each week.

Priest!Alastor who has you stay after his last sermon on Friday night, claiming he needs helps

Priest!Alastor who kisses you as soon as everyone leaves, walking you backwards as he grabs your waist. Your Back hitting one pew before he is pushing you down to your knees. “time to worship my child.” He says as he pulls his aching cock free.

Priest!Alastor who fucks your mouth as you touch yourself

Priest!Alastor who pushes you down on the pew after he comes in your mouth making you swallow. You're on all fours. He pushes dress over his hips and fucks you while in his vestment not bothering to remove it.

Priest!Alastor who drops his facade of being the lord loving man he says to be.

Priest!Alastor who smacks your ass so hard it's going to bruise. He is sucking and biting anywhere he can Reach. He needs to mark you

Priest!Alastor who finished inside of you after making you cum. Secretly hoping you become pregnant. You won't be able to leave him then

Priest!Alastor who has you behind the altar sucking his cock As he delivers his sermon the next day.

Priest!Alastor who “takes care” of any men who look your way. You're his after all. He is just protecting what belongs to him

Priest!Alastor who acts shocked when you tell him your pregnant but he is secretly hiding his smirk

Priest!Alastor who tells you to come live With him. He will take care of you and the baby

Priest!Alastor who doesn't actually Believe in God but finds himself thanking him when you don't mention the bodies in the parsonage basement, or what the strange meat you're eating is.

Priest!Alastor one shot

Priest!Alastor series

I can't get this au out of my head. Send help!

This was quickly written, so please excuse any spelling errors

[sunlit-mess]

coping real hard

[labyrinthofsphinx]

Vox, id you could take Alastor out on the perfect date, what would it be?

All of Vox’s ‘perfect dates’ end up the same. He wakes up at the end.

But he got to hear it. At least in his dreams.

Thanks for the ask!