Sinners - The Puppet (currently being re-written)

Chapter 5 - Daily life, insufferable

Arthur stared for a long, long time as Nate and Rosa entered the taxi and went on their way to who knew where. Admittedly, he was unsatisfied with the way the conversation was cut but Rosa seemed to be in a hurry and Nate didn't look that well so he bit back his curiosity and simply watched while they left.

It was strange to see something as ordinary as a taxi pass him by and know that inside were people who suffered the same insufferable circumstances as he did. He was told that there were hardly any Castyph  around unlike hundreds of years ago--though nobody said why--hence this was the first time he ever saw people like him close to his age.

That was the sole reason why he had a strange willingness to engage in discussion with them despite the fact that he was never the talkative type and in fact preferred silence. To begin with, he wouldn't even know what sort of topics he would bring out should he get the chance to actually talk to them. His mind was overloading with things he wanted answered he couldn't simply just pick out one question and forget about other equally important matters.

He shook his head. This was the ultimate reason why he hated talking in the first place. Peace and quiet was a better companion when it came to organizing his thoughts into following a common flow.

So then, he needed to leave. The city offered not a single means of comfort, not with the crowd still gathered like flies due to the ambulance that just left. He pulled his hood and pushed his way through the onlookers.

His movements stopped abruptly at a familiar ringtone. Just his luck. He'd barely gotten a few paces away from the crowd and now he was going to take a call? With a sigh, he fished out his phone from his pocket, aching feet rushing to get much needed comfort at home.

The sky was hardly a shade of orange when Arthur's face darkened and his eye twitched. Nagging old hag--that was the caller ID displayed on the screen of his phone, accompanied by a black background and the words DANGER! spelled in bold red letters.

He clicked his tongue. Arthur continued the walk back home and glared at the people who happened to stare at him. He disregarded the annoying vibration left of his phone when he turned down the volume, hoping somehow that he could avoid talking to that woman for at least the rest of the afternoon.

But of course it didn't stop. Of course despite his best efforts, his phone buzzed like a busy bee. He wanted to turn the darned thing off. It was probably cursed or something. But at the same time he knew that if he did that, she would appear before him--and that was the worst possible case scenario he wanted to avoid at all costs.

The walk home was, surprisingly, short and by then the buzzing had ceased. He stared at the black screen. Brown eyes reflected upon its scratched surface (and he probably should get a new one soon). He knew he hurt her feelings by ignoring her and, well, maybe doing that was a little too harsh but God, all he wanted was a peaceful afternoon.

And there was no such thing as peaceful with her in the picture.

Arthur eyed at the two-story house before him. It wasn't anything extravagant. In fact, it was rather small, and having two stories was simply to make up for the lack of floor space. Its walls were painted white and was surrounded by a well-trimmed lawn. 

He unlocked the metal gate, making sure to lock it again (just in case) before approaching the front door. He reached for the knob and the wooden door slammed into his face.

White. His vision was pure white.

Arthur hissed, face in his hands as he tried to register what in the flipping hell just happened and who the hell was in his otherwise empty house.