𝙇𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝘼𝙩 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛, 𝘽𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙚!

TWENTY FIVE - The City Speaks

"Do you two want something to eat?"

David and Mari looked up at Corinne. It had been thirty minutes since they arrived at her apartment, waiting for Joe to wake up from his name.

Mari was the first to respond, "Yes, please."

She'd been dying for something to eat, she thought David would be too, but he hadn't said anything. Neither of them had eaten in nearly ten hours.

Corinne got up from her seat, "Want pizza?" she asked, moving to get her car-keys from the nightstand next to her bed.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Mari answered, nodding.

David still had yet to say anything, nor had his eyes moved from his son. He hadn't even thought about food for the last ten hours, it was the least of his concern.

Corinne spared one more concerned glance at Joe, then to David, before she finally moved to the door.

"Alright, I'll be back soon."

She left the room, hoping that Joe would be awake by the time she got back.

The pair that the woman left behind stayed silent for a moment, both pairs of eyes trained on Joe.

"What you thinking about?" Mari asked out of the blue, her eyes not moving from the young boy.

"...Everything."

Her head turned to face him as he looked up at her, "Like what?" she asked.

"I'll listen."

He pursed his lips, trying to convince himself not to spill his whole life out onto this woman, but he couldn't help it. She was the only one who'd ever offered to hear his issues.

"Angie should be here." He started, watching Mari nod as if it was an obvious observation.

"Of course she should."

"But she's not."

Mari's eyebrows furrowed, "...Is she on drugs?"

"Not that I know of, no." He answered, shaking his head.

"So she's simply deranged?" Mari asked, her head tilted to the side in confusion.

David nodded, "Yes."

Mari sighed, "I hate to judge someone I've never met...But I don't like her."

"I understand."

He couldn't bring himself to agree. He could never bring himself to do it, he didn't know why, but all he could think about were the years he spent trying to convince himself that his love for her was still there. Maybe he was stuck in those years, he wished he could relive them. He was doing so much better then than he was now-- mentally at least.

However-- he couldn't deny how many times his friends expressed their dislike for the woman. No one liked her, they might've liked her at one point if they knew her back in '71, but they didn't like her now. They didn't like her 'parenting', if you could even call it that and they didn't like how she treated David.

"I'm also starting to grow worried, you know."

"About what?" Mari asked, her brows furrowing again.

"The city, it feels different."

If possible, an even more confused expression wiped across the woman's face.

"What do you mean?" She asked, watching the falter in his expression as he tried to think of a way to put his feelings into words.

"Like-- I feel nervous all the time. There's an unnerving sense about it, things have been happening lately that I don't like."

Mari's expression didn't change, "What kind of things?"