Chapter 13: A shadow revealed

“In other news,” A lady in a tight blue dress points to a screen, “The New Olympic committee is wondering what the rules are going to be for the new season of Olympics. Some people are saying that the Olympics this year will be postponed indefinitely.”

I turn off the television with a sigh. I lean back in my new recliner I bought from a thrift shop. Twenty bucks, all that was wrong was that it smelled of dead animals. Nothing a little bit of spray couldn’t fix. Okay, maybe it was slightly shredded as well, but duct tape still exists, so why not use it?

I walk with my slippers on the cold wooden floors. The floor echoing out in complaint as I move to the kitchen across the room.

I fill my glass with cold water and chug the whole thing. My throat dry from the oddly warm weather for the season. My cell phone rings from inside my pocket and as I grab it out of my pocket I accidentally answer the call. I quickly put it up to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Good evening. Are you by any chance Phillip Tethers?” A female voice asks me.

“Yes. How can I help you?” I put my glass back on to the counter and sit down at the table with pen and paper in my hand. I am a prepared man, what can I say?

“Fantastic! We were worried you would have changed your phone number.” Her voice suddenly sounds like it is a much higher pitch. “I am Selena, secretary of Charles Grainsworth, Chief Executive Officer of Inter Corporation.”

“Oh? Inter Corporation? How are you guys doing? I haven’t seen any news in the past two months on you guys, almost forgot I worked there.” I laugh slightly as I lean back in my chair.

“I’m glad to see that you no longer hold a grudge against the company… no, wait, that isn’t why I called. I called to ask if you would like to come and chat with Charles over dinner.”

“Hm, what’s the purpose?”

“I’m going to be straight forward, we would like your help funding something. I don’t know the all the details and Charles told me not to tell you about what little I did know, however, we have a feeling that you would be very interested.” Her voice finally drops down to a pitch where I can have my cell phone on my head.

“Yeah, if the dinner is tonight, I’d be glad to go, however tomorrow would be no good. The day after that is also good.”

“Not even going to complain?” I hear her laugh, “I was told you liked to complain.”

“Hey, shouldn’t you just arrange the dinner now? Why be so nitpicky about the details? You don’t seem very professional for the secretary of a CEO.”

“So? I’m his wife, I can get away with it.” She sighs as I hear her start typing on a keyboard. “I guess you’re right though. We will pay for the meal. Is tonight actually good for you?”

“Yep.” I look at my calendar on my fridge. I like using paper calendars. Fuck the trees and all that sappy goodness. Pun intended. “I’m good for today, I’ll just have to leave my girlfriend at home then.”

“No, no. Feel free to bring her along.” I hear some paper rustling and some chatter in the background. “How does fast food sound to you? I rarely get it.”

“You’re asking someone to meet up for an event where six figures and up might be thrown around, and you want to take them to fast food?” I laugh loudly, Cecilia walks in to the room and I put my finger on my mouth and change it to speakerphone. I wonder how long she was here for.

“We can always go to a fancy restaurant, and get potentially recognized.” In response to this, Cecilia makes an ‘X’ with her arms.

“Nope, I wasn’t complaining. I’m in. I crave tacos.” Cecilia gives a thumbs up.

“So, T*co B*ll?”

“I like it, what time are we going to meet up then?”

“I was thinking that maybe we could meet up, right now actually. You may be discussing things with Charles for a while, and maybe your girlfriend and I could do some adventuring in the area.”

“No. Cecilia will stay with me. She is in charge of the money I have just as much as I am.” Cecilia smiles happily while mouthing ‘Thank you’.

“Fair enough, I won’t stick around for that boring meeting. I’m still going to walk around after I eat.” She sighs. “Would it be okay if I talk to your girlfriend?”

“Sure.” I nod to Cecilia who hangs her head with a sigh. She stays silent for a while, probably to make them think I was handing her the phone.

“Hello Selena.” Cecilia says with a cheerful voice. “My name is Cecilia.”

“Nice to talk to you Cecilia. How are you this evening?”

“Not bad. How are you?”

“Good, good. So, are you willing to go to the meeting between Phillip and Charles Grainsworth, the CEO of the company your boyfriend worked at before, to discuss an important matter that requires large amounts of money?”

“Sure, but how do you even know that we acquired any money?”

“That statement right there is enough proof. Charles had a hunch, and by that, I mean we’ve already been in contact with Phillip. Actually, Charles has been in contact, I have not talked to him before today.”

“I see.” Cecilia glares at me, I just shrug my shoulders with a look on my face that says, ‘Who cares?’

“Well, all that being said and done, are you willing to come?”

“Yes. I would be glad to come.” Cecilia sighs, “I’m the one that told the fucker to buy a lottery ticket, who’d think we’d actually win it though. I’d be glad to see what this thing you have planned is.”

“That’s great! There should be a car outside of your residence… well, that is if you are where Phillip lived while he worked for Inter.”

“What’s with people already being at my house when they want to meet up?” I let my head hit the table.

“I’m on speakerphone?” Selena sighs, “Tell me things in advance. Oh well, please head out to the car in the driveway, the plate should be Alpha Omega Bravo seven nine one. The driver should also have a scar on his chin.”

a“Ah, that’s just to make sure it’s the right car and the right driver? Good to know. I’ll see you when you get to the place.”

“See you then. Take care Phillip.” Selena hangs up the call.

“Well, I guess we are gonna go to T*co B*ll now.” I stand up and go to the closet near the front door and grab my jacket. I grab out Cecilia’s white jacket and throw it to her as she makes it to me.

“We haven’t been there in a little while. It’ll be nice to see if their tacos are still as average as they always are.” Cecilia puts on her white jacket and we walk to the car.

I make sure to check the license plate and it matches what Selena told me. Thankfully, the driver isn’t some buff guy, just a sad looking office worker that messed up shaving the day before this. I feel for you, I feel for you.

---At T*co B*ll---

“You know Cecilia,” I say as I take a drink of a fountain drink I bought for myself, “I have no idea what this CEO or his wife looks like.” Cecilia’s head hits the table.

“Are you kidding me?” Cecilia raises her head and rubs her forehead, “Here we are, sitting in a fast food place, waiting to make what might be more than a hundred million dollar business deal, not knowing what our business partners look like. Aren’t we just fools?”

I look around and notice that the sky is starting to darken. Stupid sun, setting at ridiculous times of day. The tinge of red from the sky flows in to the building, making the red colored booth seats look very dirty. The tables weren’t cleaned off either… some things never change.

“It’s going to be okay, Cecilia” I slide my drink to her. “Have a sip, it’ll calm you down… maybe.”

“Fine.” She takes a sip and sighs. “They probably know what you look like, considering you had company ID, working at a fancy place like that.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was hoping.” My phone suddenly rings. I look and see it is Charles, and answer it right away. “Hey, you guys almost here?”

“Yeah, but we don’t know what you look like. Minor oversight that we forgot to bring a picture with us. Where are you sitting?” I stand up and look around.

“Farthest corner from the front counter. I’m the idiot that is standing up and waving at some grandpa in blue jeans and a green jacket. I think it might be you judging from the way he is on his phone.”

“Not me, I am behind the grandpa though” A middle aged looking man walks through and sits down across from me, hanging up his phone. His slightly blue hair is weird to see, who does he think he is, a main character? “Nice to finally meet you in person, Phillip Tethers. You are… in better shape than what I expected.”

“Likewise, mister Charles Grainsworth. I’ve taken care of myself you know. Being lazy is the first step to losing who you are.” I look to the woman who also sits down, she is oddly short… “Are you Selena Grainsworth? Blink once if he kidnapped you, blink twice if you need me to call the police.” She quickly blinks twice and smiles. I grab my phone out of my pocket, fake putting in numbers and put it to my ear. “Hello, police?”

“No! This is my daughter, Mary. She is fifteen this year.” Charles starts to panic slightly. “Wait… you must not have actually called the cops.”

“I like him.” Mary smiles as she nods. “Mom went to go wandering already, Dad took too long getting ready and Mom gave up on him.”

“I thought it’d be something like your daughter.” I smile and turn to Cecilia, “This is Cecilia, my girlfriend.”

“Nice to finally acquaint myself with someone close to Philip.”

“Dad, the way you put that sounds stiff and suspicious.” Mary smiles happily, “Nice to meet you Cecilia… Tethers?”

“Nope. Her family name is still Howler. She isn’t married to me.”

“Hm, ‘…is still Howler.’” Mary smiles mischievously, “May as well have said, ‘Is my wife to be’.”

Cecilia and I sigh at the same time. This girl… She will go far in life. I’m not even mad. Cecilia looks at me like I shouldn’t be giving the small girl an approving gaze.

“The future is uncertain, Mary. You can never take for granted what we have today, for we might not always have it.” I smile as I gesture to the front counter. “I am hungry now though, that is certain.”

“Yes, Mr. Grim.” Charles stands up and takes off his dark blue jacket that almost matches his hair. “I’ll go order the food, you can chat with my daughter in the meantime.”

“I want twelve hard shell tacos.” I look to Cecilia and she nods, “Make that twenty.”

“Good thing this place is cheap.” Charles laughs, “And for you Mary? Same as usual?”

“Yes please.” She smiles happily. We watch as Charles lines up to order. “So. How’d you two meet?”

“Ouch, starting off deep already, you’re going to go far kid.” I look to Cecilia and she nods, “It’s a long story, but so is the line for food. What is a small girl going to do with this information?”

“Phillip and I met in school a long time ago. I wouldn’t quite call us childhood friends, but we have known each other for a while.” Cecilia looks out the window as the sun finally goes down past the horizon. “I spent time with him as we had the same interests and we always hung out in the same group. We played video games of all types together. Soon after that, he got a girlfriend. Not one of us in our group of friends saw what she was doing to him.”

“I was blinded by young love. If I had a chance, I would definitely go back in time and hit myself really hard, telling myself that I was smarter than that.” I look up at the ceiling and lament on the past.

“In the end, our group slowly fell apart as we entered high school. I got a boyfriend and Phillip had his girlfriend so we started talking less and less.” Cecilia taps her fingers on the table. “I was overjoyed to have a boyfriend, and I stopped playing games to spend more time with him. Which, by the way, I regret.”

“In the end, by the second year of high school, I finally figured out what was going on as I went to her house, she said her parents were going to be away for a while. I’m sure even a young girl like you can understand what I was going to do there.” I lean back in the booth seat. “I get to her house and I saw the woman I loved making out with another man. It still hurts me to this day. Fun fact, the boy she was kissing was someone I was familiar with, my old best friend.”

“That sucks.” Mary lowers her head, “I’m sorry for what happened.”

“If that was then end of it, I wouldn’t be in the position I am now. Cecilia, you take over. I can’t bring myself to say what happened next. Yes, you have my permission to tell her.”

“I guess I’ll take over then,” Cecilia leans her head on my shoulder and hugs me lightly. “As a cruel joke, the girl’s brothers were also there. As Phillip tried to run away, the bothers held him down and tied him to a chair. The girl then insulted Phillip for hours, making fun of him for not seeing that he was being used for entertainment. His money, his intelligence.”

“That’s the quick version, but one of the brothers was recording the entire thing and it was released on social media. Many, many people tried to help me, but it was just more painful. I couldn’t forget about it because people kept bringing it up. Everyone in the entire city, not to mention my school, knew about what happened to me. The girl quickly changed schools to where the other guy went.” I take a deep breath to calm myself.

“Phillip started to care less and less. Until one day, he finally snapped. He beat some random guy because he decided to insult Phillip for failing to see that she was leading him on. He was beat so bad he was in a coma for almost a week. Phillip just kept punching him until Phillip was eventually pinned to the ground by several other students.” Cecilia pats my head as I lower it to the table. “He was expelled and had to move to a different city due to a restraining order. I begged my parents to move to the same city as him, and they agreed. I followed Phillip, dumping my boyfriend at the time, telling Phillip I was in a long distance relationship.”

“She started to follow me around at school and teasing me.” I raise my head and laugh, “I think I am grateful for it though. It got my mind off of what happened. I ignored everyone else and focused on school. I avoided Cecilia to the best of my abilities. She was damn persistent though. I was unable to trust anyone female, so my parents helped make it so I only had male teachers for my final years.”

“Why did you even go to school?” Mary tilts her head, “Most people who experience something as traumatic as that either commit suicide or never appear again in society.”

“I went to school because I knew the consequences of not having an education in this day and age. Suicide… it was never really a choice to me. Death is just running away from my problems. If I ran away, how could I prove to myself that I was better than her? Why choose death when I had so many years ahead to improve myself. I got the top grades in my school and got an office job almost immediately.”

“At Inter Corporation?” Mary smiles, “Then from there you made the company a large amount of money, but being unlucky enough to get caught up in corruption?”

“Exactly. My childhood was overall… Meh. Eight out of ten, instructions unclear, ceiling fans hurt. Would play again.” I smile and laugh.

“It’s good that you can joke about things like that.” Charles sits down at the table, “Sorry for listening in, but it got real quiet in here. I’m sure everyone heard.” He gestures to a couple people sending looks of pity.

“The past is the past. You learn from the past, not despair. Yes. It was sad. Yes, it still hurts. Who cares though?” I smile as I grab a taco and unwrap it. “I’m over it. I still have some trust issues here and there, but it’s to be expected.”

“Isn’t tying you to a chair against your will a crime?”

“Yes, yes it is. Since they also were dumb enough to release the video, there was also evidence that I was bound against my will.” I take a bite of the taco and smile. Yay! They still taste good! “She should still be in prison, along with the other guy. In fact, even her parents were fined for colluding with them. Not to mention the brothers’ crimes of being the ones that actually tied me down.”

“Hm. Well, I guess I know more about you. I have respect for you Phillip.” Charles says this with a mouth full of taco, so the seriousness is lost. “So, we aren’t here to listen to each other’s sob stories.”

“Yep. What’s this deal you have?” I say as I finish my first taco. “It must be pretty important if you would call me out the same night you mention this deal.”

“Yes. I’m sure you are aware of the changes the new VR game, ‘Forged Path’ is bringing to the real world. People with inhuman amounts of strength are appearing out of nowhere.”

“Yes. What does this have to do with me though?”

“I know that you have recently acquired a small fortune. I was wondering if you would be willing to fund a new division within the police forces that specializes in dealing with people that have acquired strength from the game.” Charles grabs another taco from his pile.

“Hm. What are the benefits?” I stop eating and focus on the conversation, even though Charles has no intention of doing the same.

“Right now, none. Also, if you are as lucky in the game as I think you are. The only student of Sir Arthur Cunningham of the Royal Guard.”

“Yep, that’s me all right.” I sigh as I give up being serious and eat another taco. “I may have been a bit lucky and got some strength, nothing huge though.”

“That’s enough for me.” Charles grabs a stack of paper from his bag and hands it to me. “Please read this over carefully. There’s no rush.”

I look at the papers and read the header at the top of the first page; ‘Donation Contract’.

“I’d like a day or two to read this over. I’ll get back to you as soon as I have read it over.” I put the stack of papers in to my bag.

“That’s fine, enjoy your food.” Charles smiles as he looks to Mary, who was happily munching on a large wrap that was almost the same size as her head. “Are you and Ms. Cecilia busy after this?”

“I don’t think so?” I look to Cecilia and she shakes her head while stuffing her mouth with another taco. “Then it looks like we aren’t busy.”

“Fantastic!” Charles claps his hands together happily, startling Mary who wasn’t paying attention. “You should come with us to downtown, we can head to the top of the Sky Tower. Look at the city.”

“You know, that actually sounds like it will be fun.” I smile and put my left arm around Cecilia. “I’m sure the views of the city are wonderful at this time of day.”

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Life really has changed for me. I can’t help but let a smile creep on to my face.

“What’s up Phillip?” Cecilia looks at me with a bit of worry.

“Nothing much. Just thinking how lucky I am to have you here with me now.” I smile as Cecilia and Mary both start to blush.

“A natural lady killer?” Charles laughs as he eats yet another taco.

Spare me the compliments.