Steam

Chapter 15

Alexander stood, dumbfounded in the office. What on earth had just happened?! He could still hear Thomas' footsteps storming off, to what sounded like upstairs.

He let out a deep breath he felt he had been holding in for far too long. He rubbed his face and eyes slowly with his hands. He glanced around the room, looking for... Well. What was he looking for? Signs of a scuffle? Something out of place?

He wasn't entirely sure himself, yet he continued to carefully run his eyes over everything, looking for anything unusual.

His searching uncovered nothing and he gave up, retreating to Thomas' desk in the hopes of finding something there. Swiftly, he looked up to make sure Thomas had not returned before he rifled through his paperwork. There was no sign of him, so he continued as before. The huge chair creaked as he lowered himself onto it; making himself comfortable. The rain continued to beat down on the window behind him as he searched.

The mass of papers seemed like a job and a half for what appeared to be a small matter, therefore he decided to only look through what he would assume were the more recent things. He picked up a large sheet which seemed to only be a page of his notes as to a new invention of some description. Peering closer, he noticed the ink had run in a few places towards the centre. The page was still damp; indicating the small spillage of whatever liquid this was, must've been recent. He began to think of rational explanations. As he thought, he recalled Thomas had been crying. It clicked that he must've been sat at first when he was crying and it had spilt on to his paper. Alexander gave an empathetic smile to himself; he felt for Thomas, he was like a brother to him, the one he never had.

The top drawer in Thomas' desk was slightly ajar, almost unnoticeably. Gently, he slid his fingers under the handle and pulled it open. The ancient wood creaked as the contents of the drawer was revealed. Inside, was what appeared to be hundreds of letters; some were scrunched up in to a ball, others only slightly creased. Carefully, he picked one out at random and began to read aloud.

"My dearest Victoria, I cannot express in spoken words my love for you and..." He trailed off.

He took out another.

"Victoria, my love, you are the only thing in this world that makes my life worth living..."

And another.

"Darling Victoria, my undying love for you is all that keeps me going anymore..."

He must've read three dozen almost poetic love letters that night, all addressed to Victoria. His language and expression was moving and brought adoring tears to Alexander's eyes. They were so beautiful and heart-felt, it made him wonder if he really did know the man he called his best friend and business partner. There must've been a hundred more he would not have had time to read as he softly placed the letters back in the drawer and shut it.

He suddenly became aware of the suppressed emotions that Thomas had. And how much he did in fact love Victoria. He let out a deep sigh and looked over at the clock on the counter. Twenty-five past nine! He had been down there much longer than he had anticipated! He hauled himself from the chair and left. By now, the rain had softened to a gentle patter on the glass as he walked out of Thomas's office. He was exhausted, and planned to go straight to bed.

He took one last glance at the room that knew his best friend better than he did, and shut the door behind him.