95 Spectators (1/2)

Timothy's jaw was frozen. He was scared.

”What… what do you want?” he stuttered due to fear.

The man chuckled in an unsettling way. Timothy noticed that one of his teeth was replaced with a golden fake one.

”I told you, we are here to help” he sat on the bed and like before, his movements were fluid. ”The one you call Sylvie is telling the truth. You must trust her.”

”What are you talking about? Sylvie? Wha…?” Timothy shook his head and frowned. He was already confused and the mention of Sylvie's name further mangled his thoughts. ”Who are you anyway?”

The man spun his cane in a playful way. ”It doesn't matter who we are. We have been watching you for a long time Timothy. We have taken a liking to you. You have the potential and we are starting to invest. But lately, you are making some big mistakes so we decided to intervene. Treat this as our gift to you. Now let me tell you that your friend Erik can't be rescued without the help of Sylvie.”

Timothy was still scared. He can't set aside the fact that there was a strange man sitting on his bed. Also, the man's words were the stuff of horrors. Watching him for a long time? Invest? He felt like a puppet being controlled from the shadows.

”I..”

”You don't trust us?” He smiled again and the golden tooth was revealed. ”Good. We would be disappointed if you trusted us that easily. So we will instead let you see someone who can change your mind. I'm sure you missed her already. You have an hour King Timothy”

Timothy's vision blurred. Everything went dark.

The next thing he knew, he was inside a room. The room was familiar and it soon occurred to him that it was Lucia's room in Solon. He was still shaking from what happened. Is this a dream? He asked. But the lack of answer terrified his being.

”Tim?” a sweet voice called from behind. He turned around and saw Lucia in her nightgown. She looked shocked.

He ran towards her. Even though he understood nothing of what's happening, his longing for her won over his fear.

She stepped back at first. He could tell that she was scared. But it seemed she also missed him enough. She ran forward to embrace him.

But when they were about to embrace each other, a strange thing happened. Timothy's arms passed through her body like smoke. He couldn't touch her.

He tried to touch her again and the same thing happened. He looked at his hands. So they can see and hear each other, but can't touch?

”What's happening Tim?” She looked at him. ”You are Timothy right?”

He did not answer and walked towards her bed. He sat down.

Lucia followed and sat beside him.

”It's hard to explain, but let me try.” He said.

Timothy then explained everything to her, every single thing that transpired. He told her about Erik and his sins towards his friend. He told her about Sylvie's offer. Lastly, he told her about the strange man and how he ended up here. Lucia listened without saying anything and his explanation took almost an hour.

”So let's talk about the man first. If he was telling the truth then we only have a few minutes left.” Lucia said after Timothy finished his tale. ”Who do you think he is? And why is he talking as if he's not alone? And how in the world is he able to send you here?”

”I don't know. I'm as puzzled as you are. He said that they have been watching me. I'm scared Lucia. I'm sure he was the one who sent me here. He said it's a gift of sort. He is powerful. If he wishes to, he could have killed me. I'm truly scared. It's my first time experiencing something like this. ”

”Does Leo's Tear know something about this?” she asked.

”No” Timothy shook his head. ”We don't even know that such thing was possible. I was in my tent a few minutes ago. The next thing I know, I'm here. ”

”Then we don't have enough information about him. He could be our future enemy, but for now he is helping us. We don't know anything so we can't do anything. Be careful Tim.”

”You seem calm about this” he commented.