𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑒𝑟

𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒖𝒆

"𝑨𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒂, 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔. 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝑻𝒂𝒚𝒍𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒐𝒌?" 𝑴𝒐𝒎 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒃𝒆𝒅.

𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒅, "𝑶𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑴𝒐𝒎, 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑰' 𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏?"

𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆.

"𝑴𝒐𝒎?" 𝑰 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅.

"𝑨𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆-𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒓," 𝑴𝒐𝒎 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒅. "𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏?"

"𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒉...?" 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒚.

"𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒆. 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒑𝒉𝒚𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚. 𝑰 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒇𝒆𝒘 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕," 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅.

𝑴𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒕. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒏. 𝑴𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚.

"𝑶𝒉, 𝑴𝒐𝒎," 𝑰 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕.

𝑰 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 4 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒇 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅, "𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝑨𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆-𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒓. 𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕."

𝑴𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅, "𝑴𝒐𝒎... 𝑴𝑶𝑴, 𝑵𝑶!!!"

𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅, 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅, 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒖𝒑, 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒆. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒅. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒅. 𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒂 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒆. 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒂𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅.

𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒇𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆. 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝑳𝒂𝒔 𝑽𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒔. 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝒎𝒆. 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝒂𝒍𝒕 𝑳𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝑪𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒌𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒇𝒇. 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝑴𝒊𝒂𝒎𝒊 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒖𝒔𝒉 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒚. 𝑰'𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝑵𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒗𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆, 𝑻𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒆. 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝑶𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆, 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆, 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅. 𝑯𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒕𝒇𝒖𝒍, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒔? 𝑾𝒆'𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒆...