He's gone, isn't he? BOOK 1 - Espressleine - EspressoxMadeleine

The Biggest Mistake

"Drip.. Drip.. Drip"
The faint sound of rain, echoed in the air as it slowly dropped on the street. In reality, all time was slowing down to Espresso. The noises of chatter in the background, the silent steps he took as he continued to step slowly across the sidewalk. The events that were soon to take place, that weren't all the same as the scenario he was in. Right now was a time to unwind, a time to consider your choices within existence. Later, was a fight for your life where only the most terrible outcomes would be set into place for those who were unfortunate. It seems
depressing, but to Espresso it was just a normal day among the rest. The shades in the sky, fading with the outline of misery. He felt a shiver down his spine, having thoughts that were most unfortunate. The cold breeze, flowing throughout his coat made the aura somewhat graciously devastating. This was Espresso in general, a true mind of his own. You would of never thought of him as the social link, which he isn't. His so called acquaintance was quite the opposite, some considered him a gift from heaven. He disliked the constant energy that radiated off of the man. Which gave him headaches, that he had to learned to cope with.. sometimes. Although, even as if it seemed and even when he acted like the man was the worst on the planet, he actually wasn't bad whatsoever. His feelings were displayed in a way that, not everybody quite understood. He was busy, and didn't really take the time to unwind to reality. It was an aggravating feeling, yet that feeling faded into the ways of daily activity and feeling. That completely disguised itself as normal to his everyday life. The sounds of dripping intensified, as the water dripped off his umbrella and onto the cement. It was so quiet to him in the Kingdom, perhaps because since it was rainy, only a few people were outside wandering the streets. He had no reason to either, just wanted to clear his mind for once in a lifetime. Espresso began to admire his surroundings, noticing the window in the front of Madeleine's estate. He stopped right in his track, letting curiosity kill the cat for once.

He saw Madeleine, putting his palm to his face and looking outside his window. Espresso was standing right in the view of the Window, in practical plain sight. Espresso could see Madeleine's eyes light up, which give him a nervous feeling in his gut. He pretended to not see him, and attempt to speed walk away although Madeleine was already heading outside to speak to him.

"Espresso!" The voice yelled, running across the watery street to catch up to the brown-haired boy. Espresso sighed in surrender, stopping in his tracks once more to allow him to catch up. "May I accompany you?" Madeleine said, with a smile on his face. It seems lonely facial expression he gave through the window had disappeared, which Espresso didn't quite understand. "I'm pretty sure I do not have a choice to refuse, so follow along if you must." Espresso replied, offering Madeleine to stand under the umbrella with him. "Jeez, you know you are reckless right? It's raining and you step a foot outside without an umbrella. That long hair of yours being wet is going to get you sick." Espresso complained, as they continued to walk down the street. He didn't really quite know where they were heading, maybe just to his house for some reason.  I mean, where else would they even go? A short walk it was, they had finally made it to Espresso's place. Before Espresso could open the door, he had noticed something slit between the doorway. He pulled it out with caution, and Madeleine stood behind him also curious. Beforehand, Madeleine was chattering away as Espresso just listened but this card had seemed to shut him up. "Do you know what this is? I'm quite puzzled by the basic appearance of it. This symbol patterns meaning goes beyond my knowledge." Espresso said, puzzled at the sight of the card. On the card laid a circle, a triangle, and then a square. "Ah, no I actually haven't!" Madeleine said, with the grand tone in his voice as usual. But he did hear something a few days previous about the little children receiving cards. "Perhaps it's just some business advertising? I cant give any accurate information myself but I can assume!" Madeleine said, trying to help out in his own ways. Although assumptions weren't enough for Espresso, he had to do digging or else it would be on his mind for a long while. Espresso turned the card around, as what appeared to be a various arrangement of numbers on the back of it. He spaced out for a moment, thinking if this could be some sort of prank or even something worse. Espresso shook his head a bit and snapped back to reality. "Apologies, it would be a shame if we both got sick outside of here. I suppose you can come in, just don't break anything." Espresso said, opening the door and inviting him in. Madeleine walked inside, Espresso following after as the door shut.

"So are you going to call the number? I would just to figure out what it is!" Madeleine said, staring at the Antique landline telephone resting on one of the counters. He neared closer to it, yet not touching it as he was instructed not to. "I suppose, if you're just as curious as me then might as well." Espresso said, before walking next to him and picking up the phone. You could hear the phone ring a bit as it waited for someone to pick up. When it finally did, Espresso was greeted with an Anonymous voice.

"Do you wish to Participate in the Game?"
Said the voice, in the most blandest tone ever. This made Espresso confused, he had no idea what was going on. Truthfully he thought this was some sort of prank, so he would play along with it before he could decipher what this callers intentions were.

"I suppose so, although I'm with a Friend of mine. So would we both count as participants?" Espresso responded, faking the tone of being interested. Madeleine looked at Espresso with confusion, having not a clue on who he was talking to. The phone was silent for a moment, as the quiet air flowed through the room. It took a moment for the anonymous voice to respond, the audio was quite scratchy so Espresso couldn't make out what he said entirely. But he did hear most of it, and assumed the rest on what he said.

"That is fine. Please list your name and bir-"
The Anonymous voice said before the audio was filled with complete lag.
Espresso thought this was shady, and had no idea on why he was even continuing this conversation. He calmly spoke in his birthday, and Madeleine's birthday as well. It wasn't long after that until they got a reply, as the audio seemed to be fixed.

"Thank you for choosing to participate. You will be playing with 65 others. Please have you and your friend meet in front of the castle at 1:00 AM." The Anonymous voice said, ending the call before Espresso could respond. Espresso placed the phone back down, crossing his arms and looking at Madeleine.

"I couldn't quite intercept what the point of that was, but I desire to dig deeper. And I was wondering if you would like to come along with me tonight." Espresso said, thinking it would be a good idea to bring Madeleine with him since 1, he had registered both of them in whatever he just signed up for. And 2, because Madeleine had that divine sword to protect the both of them with. Although for Madeleine, he intercepted this as a Date Invitation which in his perspective he was freaking out.

"I would be honored to accompany you tonight!" Madeleine said, a light pink tint appearing around his cheeks. The subtle smile he gave afterwards made Espresso feel all warm inside for some reason. Even if Espresso's intentions weren't to ask Madeleine out like that, he didn't correct Madeleines thoughts and let them be. "Alright then, you can stay here for tonight. We will have to be in front of the Castle at 1:00 AM if we want to figure out this conundrum." Espresso said, not having a single issue with it since he normally was up the entire night. Although Madeleine seemed a bit surprised at this sudden news. "Why are we going out at 1:00 AM?! That's such a shady time to be outside!" Madeleine complained, not expecting that certain timing to hangout in the open. "It's not really a hangout.. It's just to figure out what's the point of this dumb card. And yes, I am aware this is a bit far just to figure out some silly purpose of a card but something in the back of my mind is telling me to figure it out." Espresso said, sighing shortly after his explanation.

"Ah.. I seem to Understand what you mean now. Alright, still fine by me!" Madeleine responded, a bit disappointed but wouldn't let that get him down. He told himself to be grateful for anytime he got to spend with Espresso. Since deep down for some reason he found him alluring in a way, it was a feeling he hadn't felt before.

"If that wraps things up, I suggest you go to sleep about now. I know you have a really good sleep schedule, but for tonight you should be able to mess it up. So get some rest and I will awake you when it is time to get ready."
Espresso said, pointing to the door of the guest bedroom. Once he saw Madeleine enter the room, he closed the door and wandered into his room.

He is yet to know, that leaving to go find out would be The Biggest Mistake he would have made in history.