Gamer Boi

Part 4: Suspicious Behavior

Angel had been good all week; he followed the rules, woke up early in the morning for meetings, did all the exercises, and didn't complain once. The hotel was extremely suspicious at this point. Angel would be caught humming a bit or offering to help cook dinner. Husk was the only one who didn't seem to care as he drunk himself into a stupor almost every night. Charlie was happy but curious as to why Angel was so compliant recently and decided to investigate.

First thing she did was try a direct approach; she saw him smiling happily at his phone while sitting on the hallway chaise relaxing. He laughed a little loud and texted quickly. She decided to sneak over and say hi.

"Hey Angel, whatcha laughing at?" She asked sweetly, smiling widely.

Angel tried to hold back his tears as he showed her a picture that had a dirty joke. She quickly looked to the top to see the contact name, John. John? She laughed and slapped her knee a little.

"Wow that's hilarious Angel! Who even sent that?" She giggled to seal the deal.

Angel smiled and wiped his eyes. "Oh, a friend of mine," he stated simply.

"Wow, so a friend from work?" She inched the question.

"Oh, nah, a new friend," he waved her away as he typed on the phone.

She knew that's all she was going to get from him.

"Okay, cool, good talking with you. See you at dinner," she waved and walked off.

A new friend huh? What new friend had this good an influence on him?

She pondered her questions as she walked to Vaggie. Vaggie looked at her in question.

"So what's going on with him?" She asked.

"A friend named John, I guess. Not a friend from work apparently and he seems to put Angel in a good mood," She tapped her fingers against her chin.

"Hm, sounds like a fake name if I'm honest, and I already know Angel isn't going to tell us shit," Vaggie states blankly.

"Yeah, I'm curious though as to why he changed so suddenly, it has to be this 'John' guy," She squints her eyes.

"Well hello there!" Alastor suddenly appears and the girls shriek in surprise.

"What the hell Alastor! You need to warn people before scaring them to their second death!" Vaggie screeched at him.

"Oh, pardon me, but perhaps your ears aren't as good as they used to be, listening to that loud music in those strange ear muffs." He grinned at the fuming moth girl. Charlie was back to thinking.

"So Al, have you noticed Angel's...strange behavior?" She asks in a whisper.

"Hm...I did notice he arrived to breakfast this morning at eight am sharp! It's odd behavior for him, I suppose." He duly noted.

"Do you think it would be a total invasion of privacy if we kept an eye on him for a while, just to see what's going on with him? This isn't normal behavior and if he's part of the hotel, his lifestyle is of our interest." Charlie reasoned with herself as she asked the question.

"Hun, are you suggesting we stalk him?" Vaggie smirked at Charlie.

Charlie looked at her in horror, "No-no, not quite like that......maybe...um yeah, sort of." She gave a crooked smile, trying to look innocent.

Alastor grinned. "Perhaps you're on to something there, Charlotte! My shadows are the best at sneaking around, and I'm intrigued by the discovery of Angel's escapades at the least," He had a large, toothy smile, his eyes darker.