Episode Three: "The Chance"

Episode Three: "The Chance"

I handled my job distantly that day, and Mr. Trice constantly asked me about my behavior and mood. He offered me the day off again. I sternly rejected his offer. I didn't have a home to go to anymore though I wondered what the area where my home once sat looked like now. I wondered if the guards stood around analyzing the surroundings, and what would happen next.

A young mother and her twin boys laughed and played as the line of customers died down. Their laughs were soothing and reminding of the times when my years were few. It didn't bother me as much as it used to�"to see mothers and their children playing together. I enjoyed it now. It allowed me to hold on to the little light that remained in my past.

I watched strangers pass by the windows until a familiar face came into view.

"Mr. Trice!" I yelled for him in the back. "Mr. Trice, I'm taking a break. Will you mind the desk?"

The back door opened. "Take your time!"

I followed the stranger, as I once called him, down the dusty street and with just a few turns I found myself in the upper-class market where women wore long sleeves in the heat, and the men wore brown or burgundy. Kaze didn't wear either shades so I found him quickly in the moments I lost him.

He darted up a pair of brick stairs, and I rushed behind him before he turned the large brass handle of the double doors. But I stopped when he froze. He didn't turn to me. He simply started at the brass handle for the following moments.

I bit my lip, and stepped backwards down the steps, and hoped for gravity's kindness.

Kaze entered the building. I allowed it. And I walked back contemplating on my actions. I shook my head because I was sure of it that he didn't see me.

The store was empty when I arrived. I closed the door quietly, and looked for Mr. Trice. He was no longer behind the desk therefore I found my bottom on my stool�"the usual.

And the back door creaked. "Where did you venture off to?" He asked.

"I ran into the market to see if I could find myself a new dress."

He walked down the center aisle and held his hand out. The handle wiggled, and the door opened. "I don't have anymore. You'll have to find your scales somewhere else."

A hand reached in as if about to grab the door handle, and he laughed. "I seek something else." The familiar stranger said.

"As long as you know that I no longer carry illegal items." Mr. Trice said as he released his telepathic grip on the door, and with a swish of his hand, the door's spring swung it closed.

Kaze caught it with his arm, and helped himself.

I held my breath. "I thought I'd never see you again?" I asked.

"Seems I've seen you twice today, actually."

My cheeks grew flush, and I straightened my back expressionless.

He loosened his collar and unbuttoned the top of his vest before he fell onto the counter and whispered. "Why were you following me?"

"I�"" I peered over Kaze's shoulder and made eye contact with Mr. Trice who presumed to roll his eyes, and then he left the room. "I wasn't following you."

"Lies." He said with a crooked grin. "All of it. You caught me walking passed the shop. I heard the door close just as I passed, and I caught you behind me several times."

I held my chin up. "There must be a shape-shifter in our presence, because I haven't left the shop in quite a while. At least since this morning."

He narrowed his eyes. "I never mentioned a time. This may have occurred this morning, this evening, anytime of the day. Under what reasons do you have for mentioning a time?"

I swallowed, veered my eyes off into the yonder, and continued to dig my grave. "I mentioned a time before you'd ask me of it, in which you ventured down a different path by asking me why I mentioned it instead of asking me when I followed you."

He nodded. "I choose honesty over any path, and I'll be completely honest with you�"you've stepped out of these doors three times today. You went to the bakery the first time. The second time you went for a walk. And after that, you left to follow me."

My gut sank, then anger rose. "How dare you follow me like you'd hunt some wild animal."

He shrugged, and with a smug laid his hands out flat on the counter. "If I were a wild animal you'd have no luck killing me. I knew you were behind me the entire time."

I breathed, and spoke even more quietly. "I need your help."

His playfulness vanished. "Continue."

"I�"" I hesitated, and hugged myself.

"Whatever the issue, I'm sure it's not as severe as you think."

I smiled weakly. "I need a place to stay, but no one can know where. I was directed to stay with the shop keeper�"" I swung my head at the back door in Mr. Trice's direction. "�"the old man who slammed the door on you. But I can't stay with him."

Kaze crossed his arms, and fixed his posture. "You have nowhere else to go?"

"I'm sorry." I shook my head. "I don't know why I'm asking you this because it's not your problem."

He never winced. "I don't know why but I don't feel hesitant to help."

A customer entered the shop and broke our concentration. We both peered at the older man, and went about our business.

"I may be able to fix this temporarily, but I'll have to come back."

The day carried on, and the first sun began to set. I jumped at every time the door opened as I looked for Kaze walk through it. Mr. Trice asked me very little of anything for the rest of the day, and kept to himself in the back of the shop. I didn't mind it. I enjoyed the quiet and lack of conversation. I thought about my sister often. I didn't expect her to walk through the door, but I expected Krio at some point. I'd see neither of them that day. And Krio had no idea that I wouldn't be staying with Mr. Trice either.

Mr. Trice would be upset that I wouldn't come back to work that next day, especially after everything he had done for me. If Kaze found me a place to live, I'd find work elsewhere.

I began closing the store, and Mr. Trice had yet to come from his office. I refused to lock the door until I left the building, however, in hopes that Kaze would return.

He didn't. I opened the door into Mr. Trice's office, and after three years I realized I had never been behind the door before. I had no need to until now.

He sat at a small study crowded with papers, books, and documents of all sorts. A candle burned at the top of a shelf that seemed to cast a sharp shadow across half of the small room. He rose from his chair slowly. "You've been quiet all day."

He didn't ask a question. He stated the obvious.

"Mr. Trice, I think I may be in trouble."

"Now I have you talking. What troubles do you have."

I breathed, and cupped my hands together. "I don't really know. But there's a lot of people involved, and I don't know what to do."

A knock came to the door. The window panes rattled. We both turned to face the noise, but neither of us acted.

"Our guest will understand that we are closed along with all of the other shops in the market." He said lowly. "I don't know if this will help you, but I have a gift for you."

He pulled a piece of tattered paper from under a book, and held it out.

I stared at it. My chest sank, and I couldn't take it.

"It's the deeds to the shop. I want you to have it."

With my mouth ajar, I gently took the papers from hand. I glanced over it, and near the bottom was line for my signature. Mr. Trice had beautifully signed his name across the line beside it: Sylvester Trice.

More knocks came to the front door, this time louder.

"We are closed!" Mr. Trice yelled.

I glanced at the front door from a crack in the back office door. A figure continued to stand at the entrance.

"I don't know what to say."

He leaned back in his chair. "You don't have to say anything. Take it with pride and maybe it will bring you enough to build a house of your own one day. Find someone who can help you manage it, and the connections you need are already here. I'm old. I'm tired. And I have more than enough."

The knocks came again.

I caught Mr. Trice before I rose his voice. "Let me go talk to our guest. It may be an emergency." I left the papers on his desk, and rushed to the front door.

I opened it, and Kaze had just turned his back.

"Wait." I closed the door behind me, and kept my hands on the handle.

He wore his buttoned shirt without his vest, untucked from his trousers, and his hair was knotted messier than normal.

"You may stay at my old home with my sister." He began, and he spoke rapidly. "You will find work there. My maid quit many weeks ago, and my sister has never been one to clean up after herself. I'll pay you triple what you make here."

I stood silent as a nudge in my throat grew.

"Do you still need a place to stay?" He asked with his hands held out. "If not then I must be leaving."

I walked back inside of the shop. Mr. Trice stood at the doorway, and he stared at me most peculiarly. I went to the counter, and swapped the key for my coin purse as his eyes barreled into the back of my neck. The front door seemed so much heavier when I opened it this time, and in the back of my heavy mind I thought it was Mr. Trice using his abilities.

My grin came across vague to I'm sure. But I reached around, and locked the brass handle one last time.

I closed the door to everything I had known.

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

A very entertaining story. I like the feel of old places and times. I enjoyed the conversation and the honest tone of this chapter. I liked how you left a open ending. Thank you for sharing the outstanding story.
Coyote

[Christoph Poe]

Thank you kindly for reading! I'll do my best to return the favor sometime soon. I'm really surprised that you made it through all three chapters because honestly you could have just read the first chapter and left a review. So you honestly enjoyed it? I'm trying to take the more professional route with my writing. I need a story that's going to sell, and while I've been working on this for years I've tweaked it to the best of my ability that way audiences everywhere will enjoy it.

Anyway, thank you kindly for your thoughts. I greatly appreciate them.

--Christoph

[Coyote Poetry]

Was my pleasure. I enjoy your work.

[Christoph Poe]

The next chapter is now available if you're interested. (You've really given me more than enough already, so read it on your own time only if you're interested in the story.)

And thanks again. XD