𝑰𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝑺𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆. 𝑨 𝑺𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝑺𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍.

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝟖 - 𝑨𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈.

𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆. "𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒃𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆, 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅, 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕?"
𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔'𝒔 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏. "𝑺𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈..."
"𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒕, 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆." 𝑰 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏.

"𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒚??" 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔. 𝑰 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒌. "𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒊𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒂𝒚.." 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌, 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎.
"𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕?! 𝑾𝒉𝒚?" 𝑯𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒔, 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅.
"𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒙, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒃𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝑰 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝑱𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑳𝒊𝒍𝒚. 𝑱𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒖𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑳𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒅." 𝑰 𝒑𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚.

𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅. "𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑴𝒂𝒙 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆." 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒚.
"𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒖𝒑.. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒅. 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆. 𝑰 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕.."

𝑯𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒓. 𝑾𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒔𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒅. 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒅-𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒚𝒙 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔. 𝑰 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉.
"𝑰 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒘. 𝑹𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒍𝒖𝒔. 𝑹𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒍𝒖𝒔 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆, 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔."

𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔'𝒔 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏. ".. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒚?" 𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒍𝒚, 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒇.

"𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆, 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝑰 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒔𝒐." 𝑰 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏. 𝑯𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒅𝒔 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒚. 𝑰 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉. "𝑯𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒉𝒆 '𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒅'. 𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑯𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝑴𝒂𝒍𝒇𝒐𝒚 𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆."