Black Swan Wonderland

Widow

Halo Twenty-Eight: Widow:

The following events are a record of the last day of summer in the Apocalypse Game.

In the early hours of the morning, Suzuki-sensei went out for his morning jog. He was playing 80's rock on his iPod. He had to be in the mood to get his exercise in. The teacher was looking forward to seeing his homeroom again. It didn't take him long to get into his morning routine.

She sat in her white 2006 Toyota. Her hands gripped the steering wheel. Her eyes stayed on the teacher's back. Could she do this? Could she actually commit to this? He was part of the problem. He did nothing to stop his daughter's pain. "They were just kids," he said. "They are just joking around." She gritted her teeth. Her foot pressed down on the gas. Too late to turn back now.

Suzuki-sensei didn't hear what was going on behind him. The music built up to the next track. His fitness tracker counted away with his steps. He was going to beat his record for the summer. The next track started to play. Meanwhile, that white Toyota sped closer.

The teacher turned his head.

Bam!

Suzuki-sensei was sent flying through the air before hitting the asphalt. She turned and looked behind her. The teacher lay crumpled on the ground, twitching. She clicked her tongue and backed up over her victim. She crushed him about two more times before she pulled away.

She was in it now. Too late to turn back.

Around eight in the morning, Tom and Vorona made it down to a run-down apartment complex. Once again, they were going to try and collect a debt from a notorious playboy wannabe. Having Shizuo here would've made things go faster. But he's still trapped in the basement. They still didn't know what to do with him either.

Tom tried to shake that from his mind as he went up the stairs. He came up to apartment 27. Vorona waited at the foot of the steps. At first, Tom knocked on the door.

"Dan-san!" he shouted. "I know you are in there! Come out so that we can talk!" No answer still. Tom shook his head to himself. Really? They were going to do this again? Okay then. Tom took in a deep breath.

Bam!

The debt collector kicked down the door. Right away, a rotten smell greeted him. Tom backed up, covering his nose. Without going inside, he had a guess of what that smell was.

"What is it?" Vorona asked. Tom was about to speak when he heard footsteps and small wheels coming up the stairs. The adults turned to see a little girl about eight years old coming up to the door.

"Good morning," she said. "I'm here to collect scraps of metal for a class project. Do you have some today?" Tom and Vorona looked at each other. The debt collector couldn't let this child be scarred for life just by going inside.

"I'm sorry, dear," Tom said, kneeling down to her eye level. "But I can tell you where you can find some." He pointed to the apartment across the way. The little girl looked at him with a confused look on her face.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yeah," he insisted. The debt collector gave the child a nudge forward.

"Go on," he said. "Get going." The little girl looked over at Vorona. The Russian assassin didn't say a word.

"Okay..." the child said at last. Tom watched as the little girl dragged her little red wagon down the stairs. Once she was at the bottom of the stairs and going to the other apartment, he called the police.

Just as Tom predicted, two bodies were taken out of the apartment. Dan-san was found on his bedroom floor lying face down. It looked like he had been beaten and stabbed to death. A woman about twenty-three years old had been shot once in the head in the bed. Aside from Tom kicking down the door, there was no sign of a break-in into the apartment.