* 𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑹𝒀 𝑷𝑶𝑽 *
𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒔𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔. 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓. 𝑯𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒎 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒆, 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒍𝒚.
𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒂𝒅 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔. 𝑯𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆. "𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆?..." 𝑯𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒔. 𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒓𝒖𝒈. "𝑨𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈." 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒚, 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕.
"𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏." 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔, 𝒉𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕. 𝑰 𝒏𝒐𝒅. "𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 .." 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒍𝒚. 𝑯𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒅𝒔.
𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒖𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏. "𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚?" 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆. 𝑰 𝒏𝒐𝒅. "𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒉.." 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒚.
𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅. "𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚." 𝑯𝒆 𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔. 𝑰 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒘. "𝑭𝒐𝒓?" 𝑰 𝒂𝒔𝒌.
𝑯𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔. "𝑯𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖." 𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔, 𝒂 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆. "𝑰'𝒎 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚.." 𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒍𝒚, 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑰 𝒉𝒖𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎. "𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘." 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒍𝒚, 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎. "𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒕." 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆.
"𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉, 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒊𝒕." 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒍𝒚. "𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 '𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆' 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈."
𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔. 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒅𝒍𝒚. "𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒐 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔." 𝑯𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔. "𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚'𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍."
𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔. "𝑺𝒆𝒆?" 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒚. 𝑰 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒑𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒖𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒍𝒚. "𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕."
𝑰 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒂𝒓. 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒆. "𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕." 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒔. 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎. "𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕!!"
𝑾𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕. 𝑾𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑴𝒚 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔. 𝑨𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 '𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒆' 𝒐𝒓 '𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍' 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆.
𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔. "𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕." 𝑰 𝒎𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒑𝒔 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆. 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒌𝒔. "𝒀𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖."
𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒔𝒐.. 𝑯𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚. 𝑾𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕. 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒖𝒔.. 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔.. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒔. 𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 '𝒖𝒔'.
𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒖𝒑𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒔, 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔. 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒂 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒑 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓. 𝑰 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅. 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔.
"𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝑰 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑?" 𝑰 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒘𝒍. 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅𝒍𝒚. "𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕?" 𝑰 𝒂𝒔𝒌, 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒔. "𝑶𝒉..𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰'𝒎 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐-.." 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏. 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒅𝒔. 𝑰 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉.
"𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘." 𝑰 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍.
𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑𝒔 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒓. "𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚, 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆." 𝑯𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒔, 𝒔𝒆𝒊𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒓.
"𝑰'𝒎 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖." 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔. "𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒈𝒐𝒅𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕." 𝑯𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒈𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒍𝒚. "𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕?"
𝑰 𝒏𝒐𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒇 𝑰'𝒎 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕. 𝑯𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆. "𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈?" 𝑯𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒍𝒚. 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎. "𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈?" 𝑰 𝒎𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓.
𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒔. "𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒐𝒖𝒕." 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒓. 𝑰 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒏. "𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕." 𝑰 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒘𝒍, 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 '𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕' 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒋𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒚. 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔, 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒖𝒓𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆.
"𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕." 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔. 𝑰 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒕. "𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍." 𝑰 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉. "𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔. 𝑺𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒕, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕." 𝑰 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒌.
𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒑𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒋𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒚. 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑰 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌. "𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒆. 𝑰𝒇 𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐, 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕??" 𝑰 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆. 𝑯𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒌𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅, 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒔. 𝑰 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓..
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𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝑺𝒆𝒗'𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓. 𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒆. 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒖𝒔'𝒔 𝒍𝒂𝒑. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒅 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓. 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒏𝒔, 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒖𝒑. "𝑭𝒖𝒄𝒌'𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒌𝒆." 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒔 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓. "𝑯𝒊."
𝑩𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔 : 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆, 𝑮𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒚, 𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒂, 𝑳𝒖𝒏𝒂, 𝑮𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆,, 𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒏, 𝑺𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝑫𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒐. 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒔.
"𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒐? 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝑵𝑶𝑩𝑶𝑫𝒀 𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒂𝒚?!" 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒔, 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒘.
"𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒔𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒚𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅." 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒚, 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈.
"𝑭𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒇𝒇, 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚." 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈.
"𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒉, 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕."
𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏. 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎. "𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉, 𝑺𝒏𝒂𝒑𝒆?"
"𝑵𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌." 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒔.
"𝑺𝒉𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒖𝒑 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒈𝒓𝒖𝒅𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒖𝒔 𝒊𝒏." 𝑫𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔.
"𝑺𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒖𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝑯𝒐𝒈𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔." 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔,
𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒊𝒏. 𝑰 𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆.
𝑵𝒐𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝑴𝒂𝒙, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒅. 𝑰 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒋𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒖𝒔. 𝑰 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒆𝒕 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒚𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎 '𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚'.
𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒐 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍. 𝑭𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒅. 𝑭𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒅. 𝑭𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒆. 𝑭𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕. 𝑭𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒕. 𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒕.
𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆. 𝑨𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔. 𝑨𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔. 𝑨𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝑴𝒂𝒙. 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝑴𝒂𝒙. 𝑾𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒐. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒍. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕.
𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒕. 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌. 𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒔, 𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒓. 𝑰 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒃 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒅𝒍𝒚. 𝑯𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒘. 𝑵𝒐𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆, 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔.
'𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚?' 𝑰 𝒂𝒔𝒌.
'𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.'
'𝑰'𝒎 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆.'
'𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚?'
'𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆.'
'𝑴𝒉𝒎. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔, 𝑰 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕.'
𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈.
'𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏.'
𝑰 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒍𝒚𝒍𝒚.
'𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒈𝒓𝒚𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒔.'
𝑰 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒏𝒅, 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆. 𝑰 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒖𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒄𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒎 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒓. 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒅𝒐 𝒊𝒕. 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏.
𝑴𝒚 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒑 𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔'𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅.
𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍. 𝑵𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅, 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒐𝒏 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚.
𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝑵𝑬𝑽𝑬𝑹 𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚.
𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝑳𝒖𝒏𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆. 𝑵𝒐𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒖𝒈, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒖𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒊𝒕. 𝑬𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒔? 𝑰'𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆.
𝑰 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒅𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉.
𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒂. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆, 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑫𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑫𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒍𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒚, 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑, 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒖-
𝑰 𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒑 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚. 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆. 𝑯𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔. 𝑰 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒉, 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑰 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆.
"𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉."
𝑰 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉. 𝑯𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒔. "𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈!!" 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒚, 𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒐.
"𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝑱𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒖𝒔?" 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔, 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒆. 𝑰 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒋𝒖𝒎𝒑 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒖𝒔 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒘. "𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕?" 𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔. 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒍𝒚. "𝑯𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎. 𝑯𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒐. 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎?" 𝑯𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔.
𝑰 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.
"𝑷𝒂𝒅𝒔. 𝑶𝒉..𝑷𝒂𝒅𝒔 𝑷𝒂𝒅𝒔 𝑷𝒂𝒅𝒔. 𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒐𝒏?" 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒖𝒔 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒘𝒍𝒔. 𝑾𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉.
"𝑩𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚. 𝑯𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒖𝒈𝒍𝒚."
𝑷𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉.
"𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒅. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒓." 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒚, 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔. 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒔. "𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒎." 𝑯𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒔.
"𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒖𝒑 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒅. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒅𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒐."
𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒖𝒔 𝒋𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒔. 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔.
"𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍." 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒏𝒔. 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒌𝒔. "𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕. 𝑼𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝑰'𝒎 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅." 𝑯𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒐𝒏 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔'𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆.
"𝑨𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄." 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔. 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒖𝒑. "𝑴𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒚. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒂 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕."
𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔, 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅. 𝑰 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆, 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔.
𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑸𝒖𝒆𝒆𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑫𝑨𝑽𝑰𝑫 𝑭𝑼𝑪𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑩𝑶𝑾𝑰𝑬. 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒅, 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚.
𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔. 𝑰 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒆 𝒊𝒔, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒅𝒐 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒏𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑰
𝒂𝒎 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕. 𝑴𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒕.
𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆. 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔. 𝑰 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆. 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒐𝒅𝒅, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑯𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒇-𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌. 𝑰 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒘, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚. 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑴𝒂𝒙 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝑵𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒄𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒅.
𝑰 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆, 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒏𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒃𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆, 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇. 𝑰 𝒏𝒐𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝑹𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌'𝒔 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎.
𝑰 𝒔𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒅. 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒋𝒂 𝒗𝒖, 𝒔𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑹𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒓, 𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒂 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒖𝒎𝒂. 𝑰𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔. 𝑩𝒂𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝑷𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓. 𝑱𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝑷𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓'𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒏. 𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒘. 𝑻𝒉𝒆-𝑩𝒐𝒚-𝑾𝒉𝒐-𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝑩𝒐𝒚. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒋𝒂 𝒗𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒐𝒅𝒅, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆.
𝑰 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒍𝒖𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔. 𝑰 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉. 𝑾𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒂 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒐𝒓? 𝑺𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝑷𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑷𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒘 𝒘𝒂𝒔. 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅, 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌.
𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝑰, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒚𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒂𝒏. 𝑻𝒐 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓. 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓.
𝑺𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑳𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝑮𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒚𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒅. 𝑴𝒚 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉. 𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔, 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒌𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔. 𝑰𝒇 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒏𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒂-
"𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕?"
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒓. 𝑺𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.
"𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈." 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒚.
"𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆-"
"𝑭𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍. 𝑴𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒏? 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆!? 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒚, 𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒊𝒕? 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑱𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑴𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒏'𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒌𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒍𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒃𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒅. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒈𝒐𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓.."
𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒂𝒍𝒎. 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓, 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆. 𝑯𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒕, 𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒖𝒑, 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒈𝒐𝒅𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒅.
𝑰 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈. "𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚." 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒅.
𝑰 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒍𝒖𝒔'𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕. 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝑯𝒐𝒈𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔. 𝑯𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒚. 𝑨𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝑰 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔, 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑.
𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒔 - 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔'𝒔 𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒅, 𝑹𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒍𝒖𝒔'𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏. 𝑰 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒍𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒓, 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒐𝒙. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒙 𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒌𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌.
𝑰 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒅, 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒆𝒚 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒂𝒌 𝒃𝒐𝒙.
𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒆𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔. 𝑰 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒂𝒔𝒑 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒙.
𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝟏𝟐, 𝑮𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆, 𝒊𝒏 𝑹𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒍𝒖𝒔 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌'𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎, 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝑷𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒐𝒙 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕.
𝑰 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅.
𝑨/𝑵 : 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝑰'𝒎 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈.