𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚕 - 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍

05

𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛
𝚠𝚘𝚘𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚘𝚝

𝙵𝙱𝙸, 𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚗 𝚞𝚙!

━━━━━━◇x◇━━━━━━

ROSEMARY HAD TO ADMIT, this guy's first impression on them was tacky. First, he dressed oddly (tho she has no room to complain since she hasn't seen a casual outfit worn), next; his legs laid on top of a table, third; he's drinking in a broken teacup.

Rosemary didn't like him one bit.

"Are you Minerva?" Emma asked the stranger, which he answered short nope. "No wonder you act like that, old man." Rosemary spat, crossing her arms as she shifts her weight to her other foot.

"Waddya' say, kid?!" He says, munching on a cookie loudly. "If you're not William Minerva, please call him. We came all the way here to meet him." Ray says politely, trying to shift the stranger's attention away from Ro ( which she noticed).

"He ain't here chum!" The man said, still chewing the biscuits. "What a shame huh? No Minerva's around here, at all." The man continued, looking somewhat amused and not amused by the situation.

"So Minerva really was a dirty liar!! " the kids complained, making a commotion about it as Ray scolded them. "Clearly, you know of Minerva too. We need more information, where is he right now?" Rosemary asks the stranger, struggling to keep her voice from stuttering.

"No idea man!" The guy said exaggeratedly, leaning against his chair as he shoves another biscuit down his mouth. "Who are you? What are you going here?" Ray asks him, becoming restless by the amount of questions unanswered.

"Who am I?" The guy repeated, reaching out from his coat pocket to show a pen. "I'm your senior." He answered, the identical pen pointing at the kids who were confused. "Senior?" Rosemary muttered, her brows furrowing as she watches the man stand up.

"Yup, we'll not from Grace Field anyway." The man fiddled with his tucked shirt, pulling it and explains his abdomen. Rosemary quickly looked away, "we're kids you know!" Rosemary exclaimed, her face burning up red in embarrassment.

Emma jabbed her at the stomach as she eyed what the man was showing. Rosemary sucked in a breath, 'it's just like ours. . . but placed somewhere else. ' Rosemary thought.

The man told them that he was from another plantation, namely, Glory Bell, which he and his comrades escaped thirteen years ago. He also said that Minerva hasn't shown up ever since he came, quoting that the man is a dirty liar.

Rosemary eyed the man who was on top of the table, crouching to their level. "So. . . where's the rest of you?" She asked him, observing the room.
"Dead. All of 'em. I'm the only survivor." he answered, gaining pitied and sorrowful looks from the children.

"Ah- come on, don't get so gloomy now! It all happened years ago!" The man told them, waving his hands to reassure them. "But. . ." Anna muttered, biting her lip.

The man began to threaten them, telling them to get lost and that they're all weak. Rosemary glanced at Emma, noticing her distressed look. The stranger didn't want to share anything.

"Comrades equals dead weight. Hope equals dead weight. Caring equals dead weight. All of that just weighs you down." He said, angering Emma.

"You're wrong!" Emma exclaimed, slamming both her hands on the table. Rosemary looks at the man as he grabs something behind him. Instinctively, she pushed Emma out of the way, making the man grab her and point the gun to her head.