Dark Desire

Chapter Five

He didn't get much sleep and was back at his father's shop early in the morning. The town was still sleeping when he slipped into the shop making sure to shut and lock the door behind him. He went into his dad's study and lit the lamp. The papers were still stacked in a pile where he left them the night before. It would take him all day to go through the documents and sort them all out where they belonged. Not to mention it had been so long since he had dealt with anything that he was out of practice on his father's system. As he started going through everything and putting the documents in a particular order, he realized that there was no need to, his father wasn't going to be reviewing anything he did. No one was going to argue with him if he put the documents out of order or didn't sort them a certain way. He started to stop sorting the documents according to his father's way, but it started to feel wrong. He was still too compelled to follow his father's order and found himself going back and fixing everything all over again. It still needed to be a certain way, to feel like his father was still with him. At least in this one way his father would still be here.

Jin arrived later in the day and was surprised at how much work Andrew had managed to get done. "The place is almost completely back to the way it was. You really know your father's system." He said impressed.

"I spent my life helping him with his work." Andrew said proudly. "I will have everything sorted by tomorrow and then I can start looking through everything else to see if I can find anything he left behind." He said to him as he pushed himself away from the desk. His head was starting to hurt, and he needed a break. "I am going to head home for the day now."

"I will see you tomorrow then." Jin said to him and bid him goodnight.

Andrew was amazed at his own work the next day when he arrived. It was after taking a step back from it all that he noticed he had gone through so much, and it was almost all back into order and ready for business. He would have everything finalized today, and he would be able to go through his father's hidden safe for anything else. Although Jin had given him no reason for concern, he still wanted to go into his father's safe alone.

Getting started he slipped into his father's room and pushed the bed away from the wall. Underneath the floorboards where the headboard sat, was a little compartment. Andrew knelt down and very quietly and gently opened it to find a safe placed inside. He knew the combination by heart, as his father taught it to him at a young age just in case anything were to happen to him. He was relieved to hear the click of the lock unlocking and the door gently came open. There were several documents inside, several bags of coins that would set Andrew and his family up for a while, and a letter. Andrew gently picked up the letter and slid it into his pocket. Looking through the documents he found the deed to the shop, and a deed to a plot of land and house in another town. He put everything else back inside the safe and put it back where found it, including the bed. Going back out into the study he turned on the little lamp and pulled out his father's letter, which looked recently made.

"Dear Andrew,

I am sorry to say that if you are reading this letter I am not longer in this world. Please try not to blame yourself for my passing. It was my greatest pleasure in life being your father, and grandfather to Arianne. Nothing was more important to me than your wellbeing and I took great pleasure in doing everything I could to make your lives easier. Take care of yourself and your family. You will find a deed to a small house and plot of land in a town a few days journey from here. Take the coins and anything else you may need with you and leave this place. I fear the illegal network is too large and there is no saving this town. There are too many in too deep. The network has many under their clutches. I fear we can no longer trust Fredrick or Dan. I have put my trust in Jin, however I am starting to have my doubts about him as well. I notice that he disappears at strange times and is not always around. Mages are among us, summoning demons to this town. Please take what you can and leave this place. Find a safe place to go and leave here. Nothing is as important as your safety. I know you are thinking of avenging me, but it's not worth it. If there is an afterlife, I pray we meet in the far-off future and you live a happy and healthy life with your family. Take care my son. I love you."