Hugarius awakes again, the morning light from the sun warming him as he rises. Taking care to wipe the Red Sea of sleep from his eyes, he stretches luxuriously to shake of the last bonds of sleep. He heads downstairs and makes his way to the kitchen. Grabbing a bowl of cereal, he begins finishing his father's book on materials that he started last night. About ten minutes later, after depositing his bowl and spoon into the sink, Hugarius closes the book, satisfied in an increase in knowledge. He goes to return the book to his father's study, but is stopped by his mother who says; "Hugarius, I want you to know that my and your father will be going out today for about a day. So, that will mean you have to make your own dinner. But, it gives you the run of the house." She says with a kind smile on her face. Hugarius gives a smile in return, happy with this new development. He quickly walks to his father's study and returns the book with a 'thank you' to his father before leaving. His mother and father are soon off and away to their destination, Hugarius watching them go with a feeling of increased freedom.

  As evening lands on the town and on his house, Hugarius sits on his swivel chair and turns on the news, flicking through channels until... "...Police report that through CCTV outside of the apartment buildings, it has been discovered that the fires that ravaged the three apartment buildings belonging to Alan Tuftwood two nights ago were no accident. The identity of this unknown arsonist has yet to be discovered but they had an ensemble to disguise their identity and were also responsible for the open bottles of paraffin left inside each of the three buildings. More on this as the police release information. Stay with us on Channel 3." finishes the anchor's first announcement. Hugarius shakes his head. The police even now cannot identify the criminal responsible. The anchor welcomes Alan Tuftwood for a small talk. Small and with a goatee beard that makes him look a mix between comical and clever, Tuftwood clears his throat and begins; "Thank you David. I am here to publicly declare my support for this investigation. I want to know who set my apartments on fire. And I want to know who thinks they have the right to commit arson in this town and disturb its inhabitants. That is why I am funding this investigation and am giving the police full leeway to search the apartments using whatever technology I can provide to discover this perpetrator.". Hugarius switches off the TV after this determined declaration from Tuftwood. His sister bursts through his door, evidently excited, and tells him in a triumphant tone "Didn't I tell you? I knew I was right!".

  "I never actually disagreed with you." responds Hugarius with a smug smile. His sister shakes her head in annoyance, and walks out again. Probably to go bother someone else, Hugarius reckons with amusement. Hugarius goes to sleep after seeing the time on his phone: 10:30pm. Hugarius wakes as usual the next morning, the alarm clock beside him reading 7:48 am. Not five minutes later, he is making cereal again. Eating the bran flakes, his phone vibrates slightly indicating a new message beside him. Hugarius picks up the phone. It's from 'Burner' again. The message informs him that even he cannot trace where the paraffin bottles where bought from, and neither can the police. He messages 'Burner' back, telling him that he should not worry, but keep at trying to gather information. 'Burner' agrees and Hugarius finishes the cereal and puts the dishes away after cleaning them in the sink. Back in his room, Hugarius's phone vibrates again. This time, it's a message from his mother. She tells him that she and his father will be back by about 2:30 next morning. He sighs and changes clothes so that he can look less like he just rolled out of bed. Hugarius then leaves the house and begins the walk to the local shops, a much quicker walk than the one to the high street. Reaching the shop he had in mind, he enters the cafe. The smell of roasting coffee beans and cinnamon pastries bombards his nose. He may not like coffee, but the smell reminds him that the cafe's workers know how to make good food and good drinks. He orders a plain bagel and a cup of tea at the counter, then takes the only unoccupied table, beside one of two chattering men with no food only coffee on their table. The tea and bagel does not take long to be delivered to his table, but already the two men at the table already are chatting about rumours.

  "So, you heard about why I think the buildings were burned?" one of the men asks the other as Hugarius takes a bite out of the crispy bagel.

  "No. Go on, mate." his friend encourages him in an interested voice, moving slightly closer as if afraid of missing a detail.

  "Well, rumours are that Tuftwood's corrupt. I believe 'em. All that funding the investigation. I bet my last penny that he is using whatever he can get away with even when there isn't an investigation.".

  "What's that have to do with the fires?" his friend asks in response. Hugarius finishes the bagel and starts draining the tea slowly.

  "I'm getting to that." the man replies, clearly relishing the conversation. "Well, the fires were done by some sort of arsonist is what everyone reckons. But why didn't they target the other buildings? There was, and still is plenty of soft targets down that end of the town.".

  "Because people were in those buildings at the time. They didn't want the people to be hurt.".

  "Nah," the man responds, unconvinced. "It was definitely to do with Tuftwood. Think about it. Who would really be angry with Tuftwood if he really is corrupt and decide to torch all three of his renovation projects in one go?".

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  "An anarchist..." his friend replies in hushed tones.

  "Exactly." the man says with an air of having proved a point.

  Hugarius sees a hole in that theory but chooses not to point it out, instead leaving a ten pound note on the table and walking through the cafe to outside. After spending another couple of hours around the shops, he returns home. "It's ten past two in the afternoon." His sister says in a disbelieving voice as Hugarius closes the door.

  Hugarius checks the time on his phone. "So it is." He replies in a mock surprised voice.

  His sister just sighs in annoyance. "I'm going out with some friends at one of their houses. Wanna come?" She asks him. Hugarius declines.

  "I have to watch over the house to stop it being set alight. "He jokes then says seriously, "And, I have to get some food. I'm starving.".

  "Yeah, with your cooking skills, the house will be set alight either way." She says with snark as she departs the house for her friend's.

  Hugarius scowls. He spends most of the next few hours watching videos on his phone. He finds an old video of him and the rest of his immediate family dated three summers ago, so when he was about 15. They are playing volleyball on the beach and even himself in the video looks happy and fulfilled. Not anymore, Hugarius reflects. Hugarius smiles at some of the funny moments of the video. As the video ends, the back door opens and he hears his sister make a noisy entrance into the kitchen. "I'm home." She declares as though she's proclaiming that the Messiah has arrived, Hugarius thinks with a chuckle. Hugarius makes his way to the kitchen, and finds his sister leaning on the counter, clearly having waited for the reception.

  "I had a good time with my friends. How come you never see your friends anymore?" She asks, suddenly more curious than before.

  "Just don't feel like it." Hugarius responds with a shrug.

  "Do you...know how they are doing?" She finishes with a slight blush.

  "Yes. And he's doing fine." Her brother responds with a knowing smile. He then walks up the stairs to his room and starts researching potential careers he could undertake as soon as his bottom hits the chair and his hands reach the keyboard. He remembers an email sent to him by his , now former, teachers that expressed their hopes that he might take an apprenticeship. Hugarius scowls. His teachers were smart but always treated him like he was average intelligence, that an apprenticeship would be anything but beneath him. He checks the time again: 9:00pm. After making himself a big dinner and consuming it, he goes to bed like his sister. And neither of them hear their parents return to the home early in the morning.

  That same morning but at 10 o'clock, Hugarius wakes up feeling energetic. He rushes downstairs and greets his parents before stopping as a spoon of freshly made honey and strawberry porridge hits his mouth. The kitchen TV reports on another event to shake the town, and the one east of them; "Late last night, the scientific lab in Dirtwood Town, east of here, was broken into and many of the staff were brutally assaulted, as they tried to stop an unidentified person from taking a set of items that they are refusing to reveal to the public. Alan Tuftwood is here with us again to, as he says, shed some light on the situation." finishes the anchor, moving away from the camera slightly to allow more focus on Tuftwood, also in a chair. "Good morning. Well, as promised, I have my own take on these strange events. I believe that these two events are related. Why? Well, firstly, both incidents took place at night. Both resulted in no casualties but a lot of damage. And thirdly, both perpetrators are unidentified and good at avoiding detection. I for one, should think that the police should try and connect the dots as soon as possible so that the perpetrator might be discovered and brought to justice.". Hugarius's father snorts, clearly unimpressed. Hugarius's phone vibrates. The message is from 'Burner', informing Hugarius that he thinks it's strange that if Tuftwood is calling for a link to be found, then why is he resisting police attempts to examine both crime scenes. 'Burner's second message tells Hugarius that 'Burner's own informants have reported that Tuftwood is saying that allowing police access to the labs would encourage an attack elsewhere due to displacement. 'Burner' says he agrees with this assessment but that it still doesn't fully explain Tuftwood's statement to the news. Hugarius responds to 'Burner's messages; "How has Tuftwood not been arrested for unlawfully barricading police attempts to lawfully investigate a crime scene?".

  'Burner' responds with "Exactly. Keep sharp and I'll find out what I can.".

  Hugarius puts away his phone and finishes his cereal in silence before thanking his mother for it and putting the dishes in the sink. He and his sister then spend the next few hours discussing rumours at school before they move on to what could possibly have motivated the person responsible for the incidents and whether it is one criminal, or two. His sister reckons it is two as the motivations to both incidents don't seem to possibly connect. She also informs Hugarius that the police are still maintaining a loose patrol and investigation of the three now blackened apartment buildings. They both eventually move on to who might be the criminal/s. Hugarius figures out that it must be someone who goes out a lot at night as that is when both of the incidents started. They both look at each other after that conclusion, thinking the same thing; that either narrows down almost everybody, or only proves a few people innocent. Neither outcomes would be easy to investigate. Soon after this tense realisation, Hugarius and his sister are told to go to sleep as they have a trip tomorrow. "Ugh, that stupid trip they think would be good for us." She says in a disgusted voice as she enters her room. Hugarius enters his and flops down onto the bed. His parents quickly fall asleep, ironically, as they have no big trip they need their sleep for.

  Little did the little family know, but one man would earn his eternal rest this very same night.