(𝑰𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 Cynthia_mooney)
𝑴𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆, 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒘𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓.
"𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒉, 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒉. 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚. 𝑶𝒌𝒂𝒚?" 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑 𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒂𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕.
"𝒀𝒆𝒔... 𝒀𝑬𝑺!" 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒊𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅𝒍𝒚, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒘𝒔. 𝑯𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒈𝒊𝒃𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕.
"𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆! (𝒀/𝒏)! 𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕!" 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒅.
"𝑨𝒉! 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕?" 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒎 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒚. "𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕?" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆, 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒅.
"𝑮𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆!" 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅𝒍𝒚.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒚. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝑫𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅.
"𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏?" 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅.
𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒎 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒖𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕.
"𝑴𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒅 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅, 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝑨𝒓𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕. 𝑯𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒈𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒅." 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅, 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆.
𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒚𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒃 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒖𝒑 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓.
"𝑩𝒖𝒕-𝒃𝒖𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓-" 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒌𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈.
𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒊𝒇 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅.
꧁❦༻♥︎╳♥︎༺❦꧂
𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝑬𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒆𝒆𝒌 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆.
"𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐!" 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆.
𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒏.
"𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐?" 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒔, 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆. "𝑪𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒚..."
𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒍. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒑𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕, 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒕𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓.
"𝑶𝒉, 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚..." 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒑𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒍. "𝑨𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒚."
𝑨𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒍𝒚 𝒖𝒑 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑹𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅.
"𝑼𝒉.. 𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐? 𝑰𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆?" 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏, 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎, 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒕, 𝑳𝒖𝒕𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝒃𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝑨𝒓𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇, 𝑨𝒅𝒂𝒎, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒓𝒊𝒃 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅.
"𝑺𝒖𝒑!" 𝑨𝒅𝒂𝒎 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚.
"𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕!" 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒌𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒚.
"𝑯𝒊, 𝑰'𝒎 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆. 𝑴𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖." 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆.
"𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒉, 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘." 𝑨𝒅𝒂𝒎 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚.
"𝑶𝒌𝒂𝒚, 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍." 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒘𝒌𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒍𝒚. "𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖."
"𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚. 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒕𝒐𝒐." 𝑨𝒅𝒂𝒎 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒌𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒑𝒔 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉, 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎, 𝒇𝒊𝒛𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕.
"𝑯𝒂! 𝑰 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖." 𝑨𝒅𝒂𝒎 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒅, 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒕. "𝑫𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕?" 𝑳𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅.
"𝑯𝒂. 𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕." 𝑨𝒅𝒂𝒎 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒅. 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑨𝒅𝒂𝒎 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎.
"𝑼𝒉... 𝑺𝒐, 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆?" 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒚.
"𝑵𝒐, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝑰'𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆?" 𝑨𝒅𝒂𝒎 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒅. "𝑵𝒐, 𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏, 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒃𝒆, 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒆𝒔. 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈. 𝑩𝒖𝒕! 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂 𝒃𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓! 𝑴𝒂𝒏. 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒐 '𝒆𝒖𝒈𝒉', 𝒚𝒂 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘?" 𝑯𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒅. "𝑬𝒘."
"𝑹𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕. 𝑺𝒐, 𝑰'𝒎 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒘𝒆'𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕-" 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒃𝒚 𝑨𝒅𝒂𝒎 𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒑𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒆𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕.
"𝑯𝒆𝒚, 𝒉𝒆𝒚, 𝒉𝒆𝒚, 𝒉𝒆𝒚, 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏. 𝑾𝒆'𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆. 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆. 𝑴𝒎𝒎. 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒉? 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒓𝒚? 𝑰 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖." 𝑨𝒅𝒂𝒎 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒔 𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆.
"𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆. 𝒀𝒐𝒖'𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒕." 𝑨𝒅𝒂𝒎 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒅.
"𝑼𝒉... 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒔." 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒄𝒆, 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒛𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒚𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒅𝒂𝒎 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒔.
"𝑰 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉!" 𝑨𝒅𝒂𝒎 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅. "𝑭𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏' 𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔!"
𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒖𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝑨𝒅𝒂𝒎'𝒔 𝒉𝒚𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓.
꧁༻❦༒╳♡╳༒❦༺꧂
𝑴𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒂𝒛𝒃𝒊𝒏 𝑯𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍.
𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝑫𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒌𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝑯𝒖𝒔𝒌 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆.
𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌.
"𝑶𝒌𝒂𝒚, 𝒔𝒐, 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕, 𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍. 𝑶𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆." 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓. "𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓?"
𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒑𝒔 𝒂 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒋𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆; 𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈-𝒕𝒚𝒑𝒆 𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒂 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 1930𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒏𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒎𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.
𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒖𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖.
"𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓, 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒔 𝒂 𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒂." 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒆𝒅. "𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒂?"
𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅.
"𝑯𝒎𝒎." 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒚, 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒅𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆'𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕, 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕. 𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒑𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒋𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒂 𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒂 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒂𝒑𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓.
"𝑨𝒍𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕! 𝑳𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔!" 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆, 𝒅𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒙 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍.
𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒚... 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚, 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒓.
𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆.
꧁☬༻༒╳♡╳༒༺☬꧂
𝑰𝒏 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝑻𝑽, 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌.
"𝑰𝒕'𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚, 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆. 𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐-" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒃𝒚 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎.
"𝑺𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒉𝒎𝒎?" 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓, 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒖𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑯𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚, 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔.
"𝑼𝒈𝒉, 𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒋𝒐... 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆?" 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒚𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒐 𝑫𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏'𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎.
𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓, 𝒖𝒏𝒇𝒂𝒛𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆'𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒚𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓. "𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕."
𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒘 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒑𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒂 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒘𝒊𝒇𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅, 𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒘 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉, 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔.
"𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚, 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒏𝒐𝒘." 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒈𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒚. "𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒋𝒐𝒃!"
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒋𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆.
𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒃𝒚 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒔, 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒂 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎. "𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆, 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅-" 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒂𝒔 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒂 𝒂𝒕 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓.
"𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒈𝒐𝒄𝒘𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒄 𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕-" 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒂 𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒅. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕, 𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒏𝒐𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒂 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒓. "𝑼𝒈𝒉!"
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒓 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒚 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏𝒔.
"𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓." 𝑨𝑳𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒖𝒑𝒊𝒍𝒔 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒈𝒐 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒄. "𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒐."
𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆.
𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎. "𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒊𝒕. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆. 𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒐 '𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈' 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒚 𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒘𝒍, 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒕, 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒔?"
𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒎 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒕, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒓.
𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆. "𝑭𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉. 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕. 𝑳𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒍."
"𝑷𝒇𝒇𝒕, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝑰'𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒑𝒊𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖?" 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒅, 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅.
"𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍, 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒍. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒂𝒇𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒚 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏." 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒏.
𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏.
"𝑶𝒓... 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆." 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅.
𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒇 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒅. "𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒆."
𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒔 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒆𝒗𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒑 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅.
"𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏!" 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒍 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒎 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒇𝒇 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂 50'𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒚𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒎 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒘. 𝑰𝒏𝒌 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒋𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 (𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕).
"𝑨𝒍𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒍𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍." 𝑽𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒆𝒓.