#group 16

Jimmy walked over to them as calmly as he could but Clancy and Doohickey's lessons rang true in his mind, keep calm, don't look threatening (apparently Jimmy couldn't look threatening unless he was high on coke) and keep any potential victim as safe as he could (preferably without causing harm to himself as well). "I heard shouting" He said, hand gripping his police badge in his pocket. He was directing it towards the clearly older, bald man who had shouted at Jimmy's lookalike.

Surprisingly enough it was the child who answered. "I dropped my-" He cut himself off with surprising restraint for a six(?) year old. "No that's trauma dumping, mummy said not to do that." Jimmy opened his mouth to respond then whoosh. Fuck, the door had shut, now how was Jimmy going to leave? He could always ask other customers he supposed. Someones voice drew him off the tangent his mind created.

"Why did you ask us this" The bald man said with a clear look of disdain on his face. The boy next to him was now silent, he looked scared.

"Well- I-" Jimmy stammered, he felt that if he was to say he was a police officer, the man would freak. He looked over at the barista who could clearly not care what was happening. Fuck, he was no good at coming up with alibis on the fly.

"You should leave us alone now" The bald man said, the boy looked scared. "Arthur and I would like you go" So the boys name was Arthur. He looked absolutely terrified. His hands were shaking, and the tea still coated his body. Jimmy wondered if he was burnt at all, the tea must have been boiling. More and more things kept adding up, and it was looking bad.

"I'll- I'll sit back down then" Jimmy said, hoping to God they would not leave. He pulled out his phone. He needed to tell someone about this, it wasn't right. He scrolled through his contacts. Clancy? Doohickey? They didn't trust him as much ever since the comptroller incident. Big Jimmy was always an option? No, he would panic. Well, he always had Toby's number still. No, that might be illegal. Shit.

There was a scraping of chairs and Jimmy knew it was Arthur and the Bald Man getting up to go. He had to follow them. How would he leave without making it too obvious he was following them, he couldn't open the door for fucks sake. If he followed directly behind them they would know, the man was already suspicious enough of him.

He looked up from his seat, staring directly into Arthur's eyes. The boy was petrified. The man tugged him away by the scruff of his t-shirt, the dried blood on it staring mockingly at Jimmy as Arthur was led away.

The bell rang as they left the cafe and all Jimmy could do was sit there watching, unable to do anything at all.

“Do you want some tea?” They were in Winthrop’s little kitchen, a place Arthur was sure had never seen light before. He wondered if Winthrop knew that having too much tea wasn’t healthy. They hadn’t drunk anything else these past few days. “No thank you. We’ve just had tea, not half an hour ago, remember?” Arthur was aware of how nervous he sounded. He tried to calm himself by playing with the stitching of his jeans. Winthrop suddenly looked a lot more threatening. “That tea was spilled. And you know it is necessary for our little game. Can you remember what happens if you don’t follow the rules?” Arthur looked down to the dried blood on his shirt. It was weird; every night he dreamt of this maze, but he couldn’t remember ever being there. It was horrifying. He wasn’t sure if Winthrop had meant that by the rules of the game, but he knew not to test Winthrop’s patience. He sighed. “I’ll have some tea.” The bald man nodded. “Good choice.”

While the water was boiling in the kettle, Arthur closed his eyes. For a moment, just a second, he was back in England, sitting in the kitchen with his mother. His imagination could’ve been real if his body didn’t hurt and his shirt wasn’t soaked with spilled tea.

Winthrop placed a cup of tea in front of Arthur. Then he took the only other free chair and sat down. The game had started. “I am aware”, Winthrop started, “that I am responsible for my suffering.” Arthur didn’t take a sip; he was only a child, how could he be responsible for something that big? He hadn’t chosen to go to America with this strange man, away from his family, not knowing when he’d see them again. Things like that just happened to him.

It’d been less than a week that Arthur and his mum had met dad again. It’d been less than a week that the family had been reunited. And in less than a week, Arthur had been taken from them. These last few days he’d been with Winthrop, who seemed to think Arthur was the worst person to ever exist. What had he done?

“I know what I have done, and for my actions, I must suffer”, Winthrop continued. Arthur just looked at him. He could feel that Winthrop got angrier, but couldn’t explain why. I have freed daddy, Arthur thought. That’s all I did. Is he angry at me for that? Is he angry at me, because I took the one companion he had? Is he holding me hostage because of that? There were tears in Arthur’s eyes, he didn’t want to play this game anymore, he wanted to go home. But Winthrop continued. “I am ready to take my new job with the vow of silence, for I have taken another person out of that job.” 

Arthur drank, he couldn’t control it. The tea was hot, it burnt his tongue and throat, but he emptied the entire cup. And he prayed that someone would come to save him, anyone. Anyone to take him out of this dark kitchen.