OPERATION: TRANSFER

INTRUSION

PROLOGUE - INTRUSION
Suburban area in Blackwood, SK

A chorus of noise floods their surroundings.

The wait feels like an eternity.

The clock ticks, slowly draining their patience.

The incessant cacophony of voices fills their head. They try to remain silent, doing their best not to drop even a bead of sweat. They still long for him to arrive, just to claim something that should be theirs.

The voices laugh.

They seem to enjoy themselves, oblivious to this person's everlasting anticipation.

Their body starts to shiver, the frigid atmosphere shaking them to their core. They long for this person, not even for him to arrive, but just to send a sign to them. A sign that they're coming. Yet, their only means of communication is inoperative. The sounds of dread bellow over them, building up into a weight on their shoulders.

They can hardly take it anymore.

Barely do they stay together.

Yet they have to rest their pulse so as not to alert the masses. Their surroundings are all full of strangers, not one of them familiar. None of them to lean their head on, none of them to let them regain their composure. Their sanity, held together by strings.

Soon enough, those strings will tear, ripping them apart.

Suddenly, however...

The sound of a door swinging open is heard.

The sound echoes through their brain. Has it finally happened? Will the salvation they've been awaiting finally arrive?

Without any hesitation, their head jolts up to turn at whomever entered.

They recognize that scarf.

"Hayden! Finally! You took so long, my phone died! Where were you?!" Bee says, relieved that he'd finally arrived. "Eh, it was nothing too important. Just had to take a call," he replies, walking towards the arcade counter. As he gets closer, he notices that Bee is... a bit off-put. "What's up? You're sweating."

"Oh, erm, it's nothing too bad. You just took a while—longer than usual," Bee says, putting their tickets on the counter. "But hey! You came back anyway," they add. Hayden chuckles. "Oh, uh-heh, was that why you were stressed?" he asks.

"I mean, you know about what's been going on recently, right? All these cases of people going missing—" Bee gets interrupted by the man behind the counter. Hayden answers instead. "You know, it's definitely making me worried. Especially for you."