During the walk, my mind turns to the riddle I had been given the other day from my Shard.

“I was there with Mallory...” I need to look up who that was.

Wait. I could do that right now. I pull out my phone and look up.

“Mallory, Arthur.”

The result that came up was something called, “Le Morte D’Arthur.” Was it French? It was a book about King Arthur, written in England; apparently while in a prison. Maybe the figure behind the Shard was someone associated with the Arthur myths? Is it someone associated with Mallory? No, there were no grand stories about them that I could think of at the top of my head, and there was that section of, “kith and kin,” and, "within the land of liberty". Perhaps they were talking about the early colonists? Le Morte D'Arthur was a book, right?

I stop for a moment and pull out one of the gift cards and enter its code after I downloaded the app. After, that I bought the book. 30 dollars for an audiobook? Holy hell, that was quite the expense. Luckily I got two free credits for downloading the app. 30 dollars saved. I look for another book of folklore centered around the British Isles. Canterbury Tales? No, they seem more like children’s stories. Folk Tales of the Border Counties? Would I learn anything useful from that? No, let’s dig a little deeper. Find something that might give me a skill, or at least deepen my understanding. Eventually, I land on a book by a man called Manly P. Hall, “Unseen Forces.” It looks to be a short one, about spirits and the like. Wouldn’t that help? I use the last credit to buy it. I download it and listen to it. It was shorter than Le Morte D’Arthur.

It’s read by a man with a grandfatherly-like voice, and I let my mind drift as I walk across the street. There’d be one more crosswalk, a little further down, before the motel. I put my phone in my pocket, pick up what bags didn’t fit inside my backpack, and continued on my way. It only took a few steps for my phone to ring to life. I sigh, put the bags back down, and pull my phone from my pocket. I don’t recognize the number right off the bat, so I answer it.

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“Hello?”

“Lawrence.” Mark’s voice sounds terse over the line.

I sigh. That bitch.

“What?”

“I heard you insulted my wife, don’t you ever—” I hang up.

He always believed whatever his wife said about me. She could make up the most ridiculous lies, and he would believe them, whole cloth. Did something else happen? Maybe Allie got hit by a bus. That’s a terrible thing to think. What has gotten into me today? I feel my forehead. No fever. I shrug and I pick up the bags.

My phone rings again. It’s Mark no doubt. I let it go to voicemail, and then there are no more calls. This would make it harder to reconcile, I’m aware, however, I was too frustrated. I knew that I would say some things that I would never be able to take back.

I take a deep breath as I step forward. An indescribable rage began to bubble within me. Why do I always have to be the one to be the bigger man? Why did I always have to be the one to hold his tongue? No, Lawrence. This is what you sowed. Your years of leeching off of others inevitably lead to this situation. I knew that. I cemented that in my mind, but still I couldn’t help but feel a bit of injustice in it all.

Was it like this when I was a kid? I don’t know. Many of my memories from before the breakdown were hazy. They were there, but it was as if I was viewing them from outside of my body as if I had never really lived that portion of my life; as if something else had possessed me at some point. Now that I knew that gods and spirits were real, maybe I really had been possessed by something. I push the thought out of my mind for now, and continue on my way, listening to the audiobook.

It doesn’t take me that long to make it back to the motel. Half an hour at most. On the way, I get about halfway through the audiobook. It went over the different types of, “unseen forces,” that work in our life; spirits, angels, and the such. Would I be able to call on angels? Maybe I should try it. Would I need a different medium? There was also a brief description of each of the elemental spirits. Was that true? Who was this Manly P. Hall? I might have to look into him more after I get back to the motel. I wonder if I could create more spells with my knowledge. What stat would increase the likelihood of that? Surely Creativity. I had excess points from leveling up after the level 15 gate. Ah, why not? It was only 3 points, after all. Might as well test that theory.

“Can you put my points into Creativity?”

“Certainly.”

Heat spreads through my head; beginning at the front and arching backward towards the back of my skull. It was as if something had gripped my head and began to shake it ferociously. I stop and fall against the nearby concrete wall of the overpass I had been passing under. My eyes spin, and when I open them everything seemed just a tiny bit brighter than before.