Despond

Seven

Brogin laughed, then his mother slapped him across the face too.

Both brothers stood with their heads hung low, holding back stinging tears as water dropped from the ceiling almost melodically.

"Your father would skin you alive if he was here right now." the squat woman hissed.

"Yes, Ma," the twins said in unison.

"You had a whole troop of guards traipsing through this place! What if they'd found the books?"

Grobin reached behind the counter and pulled out a oversized, leather-bound diary. The ruined pages bled out of the covers and slopped to the floor around his ankles. His mother hit him once more.

"Don't get smart," she snapped. "What did you tell them?"

"Nothin'" Brogin said. "We said we didn't no what happened. Said it must have been some sort of Despian witch. Told them he ran off after stealing some money."

"And they bought it?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We're a nothing pawn shop, as far as they know anyway," Grobin said, "They weren't interested in helping. It'll just be some quirky story for them to tell back at the base."

It was at that moment the corpse which was once tied to the chair crashed out of the cupboard they'd haphazardly stuffed him into. Luckily, the internal storm had washed away what blood had puddled the floor of the back room before the guards had arrived.

"And the guy, this Hopper, he stole nothing?" She asked, not giving it a second look.

The two brothers exchanged a glance and both fell under her piercing stare.

"He stole something back," Brogin stated, "He came in with this golden ball thing."

"Like an egg," Grobin chimed in.

"Yeah, like an egg. We took it from him as repayment for his debts."

"And then he attacked?" Their mother began to tap an impatient foot, splashing the miniature puddle under her shoe.

"Well, we may have beaten on him a little first... The usual stuff. But then he escaped, and when he ran for the door, he did this." Brogin held his hands up and gestured around the room.

A sizeable droplet landed on his mother's neck and ran a path down her back. She shivered, deciding to have done with this nightmare.

"Clean this mess up." she said, turning towards the shop front, "Find this Hopper character and bring him to me."

"Yes, Ma," they both said, sighing as they scanned the room for a place to start.

"And pick the fucking door up before someone knicks it!" she shouted back as she stepped through the open threshold.

They waited until the harsh clicking of high heels vanished out of earshot before they both walked to the door to pick it up. They had dragged it in from its original spot across the street, but now even the slightest of breezes toppled it inwards.

As they bent down to grab hold of the sodden wood, a pair of boots stepped deliberately onto it as a lone figure entered the store.

"We're closed." they said in echoing annoyance.

The boots continued up the door, causing both men to pull their fingers from under it or have them trapped by the weight. They rose to their full height, and left the intruder somewhere down by their hip.

"You really don't want to test us, Despian." Grobin sighed. "We've had one hell of a day."

"I can see." Ryder said, inspecting the ruined store.