"Gooooooood morning, New Orleans and all of my listeners in other places! It's quite a wonderful morning today! The current date is November 19th, 1929! The weather on this glorious Saturday morning is partly cloudy with a high of 70 degrees Fahrenheit and a low of 55 degrees Fahrenheit!" Alastor says into the microphone, his voice in his usual sprightly tone.
He puts his hand out towards Edith who gets the message and picks up the next piece of paper, handing it to him, proud to be helping.
"Today's headlines state that the Wall Street Stock Market has lost 10 million dollars in one single day! How dearly unfortunate! Hope that gets settled up soon! Remember dear listeners, we will get through this dark crash together as one!"
Again he holds out his hand and the little girl gives him the next page, listening to the news happily.
"In other news, the New Orleans Smile Killer strikes again with one new kill added to the long list of murders. Police say today's victim was 35 year old Edward Bosco. The body was found in a small forest mutilated and spread across the forest floor. May the lord take care of their poor poor soul!"
Husker rolls his eyes behind the glass as Al continues with the news.
"And now a message from the New Orleans Sheriff's Office, they say: 'The police department is doing everything we can to track down The Smile Killer, however as the long and relentless search for this horrible murderer continues, we advise all citizens to remain indoors whenever possible with all doors and windows to your homes locked at all times. If you see any suspicious activity, report it to the local police immediately and do not approach. Watch out for each other and keep each other safe.' What an interesting message from our protectors! Hopefully the perpetrator of such horrid crimes will be brought to justice soon!"
Another paper.
"Now then, before we get to today's stories, how about a little Jazz to relax!? We'll be back shortly!" He said. Before turning off his microphone as Husk presses a button that starts playing music.
"You are doing very well darling!" Alastor says to Edith. She smiles proudly in response.
This was very fun for her, she was getting to help a radio host do a radio show! How exciting was that, even though she didn't really understand what he was talking about, it was still quite the amazing experience for her! Getting to go behind the scenes of something everyone in town always spoke about was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
For the next 3 hours it was the same thing, Alastor read giving news statements, telling all types of stories he came up with and some that audience members sent in, all entertaining the large group of listeners. At 1:30 PM, they went off the air for what was meant to be a 2 and a half hour lunch break.
Alastor let out a sigh, leaning back in his chair. "Oh my! Entertainment is such an incredible career, wouldn't you agree my dear?" he asked.
Edith nodded in agreement. "It's entertaining!" she said smiling.
The man laughed, "That is why it is called 'entertainment' of course! Everyday is quite the experience. It never gets old!" He exclaimed, proud of the work he does. "Now then, how about we go and feed ourselves then we have a few minor things to do." he stated before sorting out his papers and walking out of the room, holding Edith's hand in his own.
"If we fail to return by 4 o'clock, do tell Anthony to take over for me." He stated. Without looking back at them Husk just raised his hand and shooed him away mumbling, "Yeah yeah, whatever." in return.
With that, Al brought Edith back downstairs and to his car, carefully placing her back into the passenger seat and driving off down the streets of their hometown. "Where are we going?" The young girl asked curiously, not really caring for the answer, just happy to be riding in a vehicle again.
"Well my dear, we are going to go somewhere where you can eat and then we have a couple of errands we must run." The radio host responded, not taking his eyes off the road in front of him.
Edith nodded and looked out her window. She could get used to this. At least- she hopes she gets the chance to get used to it. She looked at the things they passed, how fascinating.
~
Meanwhile, Mimzy and Sam sat in the parlor, looking at each other in the dimly lit room. They haven't spoken for a while, just looked at each other. Earlier, Mimzy had turned on the radio to listen to Alastor's morning show. Sam was nonetheless surprised at the man's career choice. Though, he was also very relieved. He at least had some sort of clue as to his sibling's whereabouts which was rather calming to him.
However, like all morning radio shows, it had to go to break in order to give the host and tech crew a chance to have lunch and relax for a bit before starting their afternoon show.
When Al had said his goodbyes to the audience and jazz music started playing, Mimzy turned off the radio and sat back in her chair, now here we are; An extremely uncomfortable and tense silence between two people that are not sure if the other is friend or foe just yet. They stared into each other's eyes with such intensity, it was almost as if lasers were coming out of their pupils and blinding the other.
"Sooo-" Sam started, breaking the heavy silence. "How long have you known Alastor?"
Mimzy was a bit surprised that the boy was the one to speak first but she was willing to make conversation nonetheless. "I've known Al for 'bout 8 months or so. My sis Vivienne introduced us to eachotha'. Viv started workin' with Al 'bout a year ago and I went to visit 'er at work and she told me she wanted me to meet him. He was such a gentleman! A weaklin' would tremble at the sight o' him!"
"Okay but how did you find out about his- well- secret?" The teen asked, curious and desperate for any sort of answer he can obtain.
The blonde woman laughed. "That's a lil' more tricky. Not many folks know about his night life. Not even my own sis does. As for how I found out- I guess it just kinda came out at some point. I'm not too certain 'bout that one suga'."
Sam sighed, he wanted to know more but obviously she either didn't want to tell him or honestly couldn't remember. He doesn't know her well enough to sense if she's lying to him or not, but whatever, he'll find out more about that subject later. For now he has to focus on the task at hand: Finding a way out of here.
Obviously night isn't a good time since he and Edith sleep on the third floor and can't jump out a window or anything and Alastor seems to stay up, guarding the stairs and whatnot. Sam would say during the day when Al is at work is a good idea but if he is going to always have Edith with him, that's going to be a real problem. He'll have to find out another time where it will be safe for them to leave.
Perhaps the third floor thing won't be a problem if he can just figure out how to get down safely. He'll either have to develop some kind of ladder or rope using materials around Alastor's home. A ladder will be a little more tricky, but a rope? He could probably just tie together some curtains or bedsheets. The only problem would be having to teach Edith how to climb down something like that without falling and, given her age, that would prove to be quite the challenge. Though she's smart, she could do it, surely. If not, he'll go down first so that if she does fall he could either put something down to cushion her fall or he could catch her.
"What'cha thinkin' about, kiddo?" Mimzy's voice rang, ripping Sam's train of thought off the tracks.
"What?" He asked.
"I asked what yer' thinkin' about." She responded. "You were lookin' out into nothin' for a while so..."
Sam hesitated for a minute, he didn't know why, was it nerves or fear? He didn't know. "I was uh- just wondering what my sister is doing right about now. T-That's what I was thinking."
Mimzy sighed deeply. "You were thinkin' about tryin' to escape weren'cha?" She asked with a smug look on her face. How did she know what he was thinking?! He wasn't thinking out loud so that's not a reason. She can't read his mind... Ugh it must have been obvious in his facial expression that he was in deep thought.
"I-I- How-?"
"Hun, I run a club. Ya learn to read faces. I simply don't see why ya wanna leave. Look at this place!" She said, gesturing her arms to the room around them. "Al is a very successful man suga'! Sure his hobbies are- questionable, but he really isn't that bad once ya get to know 'em-"
"HE'S A MURDERER!" Sam yelled in anger and shock at what she was saying. "Why would I want myself and my 5 YEAR OLD SISTER to stay here with a SERIAL KILLER?!"
"Al told me before I met ya that ya were homeless orphans!" She exclaimed back at him. Before sighing and rubbing the bridge of her nose to calm herself down. "Think of it this way, ya both had nothin' before meetin' Al. Now ya both have a home, food, a caretaker, and don't you forget, ya still have each otha'. Alastor coulda easily killed you and taken yer' sister, she's a younglin' so he trusts her. He don't trust you, why else do ya think I'm here?"
Mimzy paused for a bit to let Sam take in that information which he did.
Sam slowly sat back down and went back into deep thought. He never did think of it that way. Alastor tried telling him before that they were lucky and that they would be better off keeping their mouths shut and staying with him... but he didn't believe him. He was so determined to escape, he didn't let that thought process through his brain. But- well-...
The boy sighed. "Him and I don't trust each other. He doesn't trust me to not try to sneak away and expose him and I don't trust him to not harm my sister or me. Sure, we have more than what we had on the streets, but how could living in fear and hatred be any better than having nothing but being relatively happy? I don't see any reason to stay here." He said calmly.
The woman rolled her eyes. "Al isn't gonna hurt ya. Think about it- he's had no problem killin' men who are stronger, taller, and faster than him. If he could do that, how would he have trouble killin' 2 kids? He wouldn't. So if he wanted to kill ya, he would have done it already. Besides- you have a sista'. He's a gentleman. He wouldn't dare intentionally hurt a hair on an innocent lady's head. His ma taught him better than that."
"His mother..." Sam mumbled to himself. He wondered what his mother was like in order for Alastor to become a serial killer. How strange, she was nice enough to teach her son to be a gentleman but- he still seemingly became a criminal.
Now the question is- what was his father like? Was the father even in the picture? Was the father a gentleman too and that's how Al became a gentleman? A gentleman raised by a gentleman would make sense but then it still stands- how did he become a serial killer? What in the world led up to it?
Everyone acts a certain way because there were lots of factors that led to them acting that way. What they're parents were like, what their childhood was like, what their friends were like, what education they had. All of these play a role in shaping a person. Some stories are more tragic than others and some are more boring than others. All are different.
"What was his mother like?" The boy asked, his curiosity reaching its peak.
Mimzy shook her head. "I don't think it's my place to tell ya that suga'. You should ask Al 'bout it. He might just tell ya if he feels like it. Though, he's kinda sensitive about his past. But since yer' gonna be livin' with him, he might open up to ya more over time."
Sam thought to himself for a minute. Maybe that's a way he can get out of here, he can win Alastor's trust so that maybe he either didn't need Mimzy around to keep him in check and in line anymore or maybe Al can give him more freedom. Both are equally good ways that he can get out of here.
"Yer' doin' it again aren't ya!" The woman exclaimed.
"No!" The teen replied without thinking. "You're doing it again! Leave me alone!"
Without another second, Sam ran out of the room and up the stairs. Mimzy didn't follow, instead she went back to the radio to wait for Alastor's 4 o'clock show to start.