“If I were you, I'd have decided it's time to have a long, long talk with my parents as soon as I could.”

That's what Irene had said. Stopping close, idling by, she whirred the car to the entrance of my apartment building.

Upwards, from the dusted windshield, I could see my humble abode, still with the door ajar, still emblazoned with the bold black initials inscribed on the yellow tape sealing the doorway.

>

“You can cross,” Irene said, clicking open the passenger-side lock. “I’ll allow it. Go grab some clothes, some things... We'll find you guys another place to stay."

Another click sounded, as I swung open the door, the crunch of gravel dispersing across the sole of my shoes as I stepped onto the curb.

Walking didn’t feel like walking. Sure, my legs went one step after the other. But it didn’t feel like I was the one taking those steps. Breathing, blinking… none of those actions felt like me.

Not after what Irene had said.

“Mr. Man, are you alright? Need some company?”

Ria’s voice went ahead and assailed the vacantness I was feeling. It was like I was suddenly snapped back into my own consciousness, as my eyes turned back to find Ria in all her flaming, smoldering golden glory, wearing a quizzical look on her face.

Immediately, alarm bells started blaring in my head and my eyes quickly darted to the left and right.

“You have flames for hair,” I whispered, after finding the street deserted. “People will see you.”

Apparently, I was alone in my concern, for Ria simply brushed it off with a wave of a hand.

“It’s October on its spookiest day,” came her reasoning. “The excuse practically writes itself.“

Wasn’t quite convinced myself, but so long as it was okay with Irene…

I peeked over Ria’s shoulders, giving a quick glance back in the direction of where the car rumbled in place. Adalia and Ash were still blissfully unaware of any ongoings over in the backseat, meanwhile, Irene was there shrugging her shoulders while nudging her head at me as if to say, “Just go with it, dude, I dunno.”

So go with it, I did. Into the building and aboard the lift I went, with a blazing, humming-to-herself phoenix in tow. The silence and the compactness of the elevator ride had my awareness slipping away again, my thoughts helplessly adrift in the sea of heavy contemplation.

No Matriarch, no mythical beings present. It was I that destroyed the motel room, it was I that gave Irene those wounds.

How, exactly?

That was the question of the year, right there.

I for one, couldn’t recall a single thing that happened between spilling and blood and waking up in that abandoned building. But based on what Irene claimed, apparently, I was inducted into a hypnotic state.

The same one Ash was in.

And in that state, I did things, unexpected things. Irene was unfortunately vague about how things went down because not even she knew how things had exactly transpired.

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One moment, there we stood at opposite ends of the room. The next, I was slowly walking out of the room with a vacant expression on my face, and when she tried to stop me… then that’s when it happened.

Irene woke up shortly after, bruised and battered, with the room in a state of disrepair, a large gaping hole tore into the wall where I have presumably disappeared into.

And that was that.

“Did I really do that?”

The chime of the elevator bell parted the doors wide open, exiting first went Ria, twirling around to face me with her eyebrows raised in affirmation.

“Yep, you did,” she said with a smile.

“And you knew?” I said, stepping out alongside her.

“Where did you think you got your extra point from?”

Trudging, walking, I spoke out again. “Can you tell me what exactly - “ And trailed off.

Someone was already at my door. Someone I knew well… much to my dismay.

That someone formed a slimy grin on his face as our eyes met contact, a cigarette tucked between his puckered lips. That someone turned, took off his bowler hat, and gave a courteous bow in my direction.

“Missed me?” croaked his contemptuous voice.

“Not for long enough,” I felt my mood take a nosedive. “Why are you here?”

Bowler-hat man reveled in my aggravation, a snide smirk permanently curling his lips even as he continued speaking.

“Spare me the hostility, friend, I ain’t here for business.” His attention was then taken over by the burning mistress at my side. I could practically see the question mark floating atop his head as he continued squinting at her… uhh, abnormal appearance.

“Why’s the lady on fire?” He asked.

“Trick or treat!” spoke Ria with a sweet smile. “Aiming for first place in a competition this year. I think I might have actually outdone myself this time, don’t you think so?”

The man stayed staring at Ria a little longer than I would have been comfortable with but eventually, surprisingly, he accepted it without batting an eye, even went as far as nodding his head, visibly impressed.

“Frankly, lady, if you don’t end up winning… you’ve been scammed,” He said.

Well frankly, bowler-hat man, you’re actually the last one person I ever wanna hear bringing up the word scam in that context. How do you even sleep at night?

“Speaking of scams,” I said, marveling over just what people would believe in nowadays. “Why are you here?”

“Your dad gave us a call.”

My -

“Dad?”

He nodded his head. “Daddy dearest indeed."

In the realm of telecommunication, at this point in time, I was essentially a caveman. Phone dead, laptop gone. I had absolutely no means of contacting anyone or for anyone to contact me, and I didn’t really expect anyone to, much less my own Dad.

It seemed like ages since I last heard from him. So why was he…?

“I assume your phone’s broken?” The man said. “He mentioned he couldn’t reach ya. Must have assumed we had something to do with it. So he gave the boss I call.”

He took a big puff before continuing again, huffing out smoke as he did. “Boss said we had nothing to do with it. Rightfully so. Then your dear ol’ dad asked us to check up on you. Can you imagine that? Your dad asking us to play babysitter? The nerve...”

Honestly, it wasn’t a far stretch of the imagination for me. My dad has done far crazier things than asking the mob to babysit his son.

Like that time during a cruise ship out at sea, the madman actually went and dove into the middle of the pacific ocean because he dropped his bottle of coke into the watery depths. Didn’t even consider buying another one, just went straight for it. Long story short, he swam back to the ship no worse for wear and with the coke bottle raised up high.

So in regards to this whole ordeal here? Not even fazed. Just really off-put by it, well, by him mostly.

Bowler-hat man had his stare off gazing into the distance, sighing. “Anyway, since here I am talking to you, you can probably assume how that story went, yeah?”

“Pretty much.”

“Good. This will be easy to explain then.”

His stubby hand delved into the depths of his coat pocket, rummaging and fiddling about, before pulling out two different looking objects. One of which jingled while the other flapped. Both, he went ahead and flung at me.

I caught them just in time. And for what now laid between the palm of my hands was something worth raising an eyebrow on. I looked back up at the man.

“A key and a slip of paper?”

“That's a house key and that's the house’s address,” he corrected. “Short version - start packing your bags up boy, you’re moving outta here.”