Best Served Cold

Day Six: Pawns

Note: So the first character profile on Lewis came out today, and soon Vivi and Arthur’s profiles will follow. I would like to note that this fic has been written PRIOR to said profiles, so I deeply apologize if my character facts are off. I had to make them up sans the information the creator is now putting out. The characters are owned by MysteryBen and Artsy.

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             It had been over a year since Arthur had been to the cave, and his memories surrounding entering and exiting it were hazy. He knew which general direction it lay in, and an approximate distance. With that in mind, he pointed the van in that direction and took off. He stopped once during the night to refuel, use the restroom, and purchase a cup of crappy gas station coffee that tasted like the dregs from three nights ago.

            It had been several hours of driving before they found the cave, that much he remembered. He’d spent most of it looking out the window, with a few sidelong glances at the happy trio up front. Involuntarily his eyes dropped to the wheel where his hands rested. Lewis had sat here. Lewis had held this wheel, just an hour or so before he died.

            He shook free of the chill and gunned out of the gas station, tires screeching. He clipped a sign on his way out, but straightened the van and took off down the empty highway. He noted the horizon had turned a few shades lighter, signaling the beginning of the 6th morning. He swallowed painfully.

            Good. I can’t take this much longer anyway.

            It couldn’t be much farther. They’d taken some side-trail around the area, but there were dozens of side-trails. He could see them just up ahead, snaking off every few-hundred feet to meander about the desert. With no cars in sight, he put pressure on the brakes to consider his options.

            As he did, the memory of the path came to him. He shook his head slightly. He was sure he hadn’t known which path to take a moment before… but as long as he knew where he was going, he supposed it didn’t matter. He pressed down on the gas, counting off twelve side roads before taking the thirteenth.

            The thirteenth road took a winding route to a small series of cliffs, and at the base of one such cliff lay the cave. He parked just outside, setting the emergency brake and leaving the keys in the ignition. Maybe the next poor soul that lost their way out here would have a quick escape.

            The cave was no less frightening a year later. The mouth of it yawned above, grinning obscenely down at him. Arthur knew better, knew it was just an odd rock formation, but he couldn’t shake the same thoughts that had haunted him a year before; that the mouth of the cavern looked like a ravenous beast, and that he was somehow walking willingly into its jaws.

            For just a moment, he faltered. Doubts crowded his mind.

            What if Vivi is right, and we could figure this out together?

            What if Mystery could hold Lewis off long enough for me to explain?

            What if Lewis just doesn’t know?

            Just as quickly, each was shot down.

            You’d be putting her in danger, and she’d hate you for murdering Lewis.

            You sent Mystery away, and Lewis doesn’t want to hear an explanation.

            You don’t deserve a hearing.