‘Hey, hey HEY!”

  Andrew blew back the door of Edwards office with one decisive kick while grinning cheerfully. A gust of wind entered the room, knocking over some of Edwards papers, though he wasn’t bothered, as he was aggressively typing away at his keyboard, while taking a swift sips of water. Though he wasn’t alone! A horde of flies hung above him buzzing about the room obnoxiously, some burning themselves from the exposed lightbulbs.

  “Hmph.”

  Andrew frowned. He marched up to Edwards desk observing his work.

  “Got a lotta stuff to do still!? It’s the end of the day though.”

  “I have other obligations Mr Campbell. Leave.”

  “See! There ya go again, all this “Mr Campbell”. Ya know how stupid it sounds callin’ me Mr!?”

  He grinned, chuckling to himself.

  “In case ya don’t remember I’m nobody special, or fancy!”

  Andrew hoped for some sort of reaction from his retorts, though Edward wasn’t having any of it. He continued to type away, though slower.

  “Well.”

  Andrew rubbed the back of his neck.

  “I was gonna go ahead and ask if you wanted to pass the time and play a couple rounds…”

  From his cargo pants pocket, Andrew withdrew a pack of poker cards, which were held together by a rubber band. Edwards' eyes briefly glanced at the cards.

  “ But if you’ve got your own stuff to keep up with, then I guess I’ll go kick rocks.”

  He began to trot along, hunching his back and letting his arms hang in a cartoonishly depressing fashion.

  Edward’s swarm of flies began to draw closer. Their insistent buzzing disrupted his thoughts, he paused. He glanced at the bottom left side of his laptop, acknowledging the time. Would it be for the best to continue working? He could always finish early and be home, but to what? Ellie had been distant, and May was staying over at his sisters for the week. Though at this moment the absence of his family didn’t bother him nearly as much as it did before. Something about Andrew peaked his interest, as he was the only one that gave him something… familiar.

  Edward let out a long, exasperated sigh while closing his laptop, and moving it to the side. Andrew smirked cockily, turning around.

  “Fine.But I’m not playing Texas Hold em.

  “HEE HEE! Knew you’d come around ya stubborn lug!”

  Looking at Andrew’s face, Edward had noticed more wrinkles from his forehead. As well as a stubble of hair on his chin and upper lip.

  He then skipped over to Edwards desk, plopped his butt on a chair and immediately began shuffling the cards.

  “We’re not playin’ Texas hold’em, but I’d still like to wager somethin’. If ya don’t mind!”

  “Oh yeah? And what's that?”

  “Your time!”

  He shuffled the cards once more. Edward raised an eyebrow.

  “Huh?”

  “Good one, isn’t it? Yer always slavin’ away not havin’ any fun! So why don’t we make a bet! For every round I win, I get an hour of yer time to play games and do more goofy stuff!”

  “What are you, some little kid?”

  On second thought, I’ve never asked him how old he is… I don’t even know where he's from- that accent…

  “Alright, fine. But for every round I win, you have to share something about yourself. Deal?”

  He extended his hand to Andrew.

  “Whatevs!”

  Andrew shook his hand with a firm grip.

  As they played, Edward had made the mistake several times of revealing his hand to Andrew. He sought to destroy Edward and win, though not for the sake of pulling him out of shell, but out of a competitive streak. They were both like this. Edward had envisioned that the two were playing soccer, both of them trying to establish dominance over the ball to score into their goals. However, whether it was luck, circumstance, or just plain cheating, Andrew had somehow managed to walk away with the best hand every time. One, two, three, and four days of Edwards life were exchanged to Andrew. It wasn’t until the fifth round did Edwards' determination to win pay off.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  “Ha, HA! READ EM’ AND WEEP, FLUSH!”

  He yelled out slightly blushing from the excitement.

  “Tch. You just got lucky, let’s go again!”

  “Now hold on. You’ve gotta answer my questions now. We had a deal.”

  “Okay, okay! GOD! What do you wanna know, huh?”

  He thought about it deeply, Causing Andrew’s body to stiffen as his mind scattered about wondering what details Edward could possibly want to know about him.

  “... How old are you?”

  Andrew stared at him blankly, he smirked.

  “Thirty!”

  “You liar! No you’re not!”

  Could he be…? Although Andrew did have older features about him, his body and demeanor were that of a younger man. Or maybe he was thinking about it too hard…

  “Alright, fine ya caught me.”

  “So then, how old are you?”

  “.... I…. I don’t know.”

  “Don’t know?”

  He paused, smirking a bit, what kind of trick was he playing now?

  “Alright then… Where are you from?”

  Texas maybe?

  “... Not too sure about that one either…”

  He scratched the back of his head.

  Weird but okay.

  “Do you have a middle name?

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Favorite food?”

  “I only remember eatin’ a good ass can of chef boyardee, ya don’t wanna know how I warmed it up!”

  “Your parents?”

  “Don’t ‘member.”

  He stood up, pushing the chair from behind him.

  “Then what do you know!? You have to know something about yourself!”

  Edward covered his mouth. Was that too dramatic? He thought sitting back down.

  “Nevermind. That, was my bad.”

  Andrew was taken aback by Edwards boldness, as well as his genuine eagerness to learn more about him. His eyes fell onto the floor as he began to feel a bit ashamed of himself.

  “I’d figure you were gonna ask me somethin’ dumb, like my what kinda chips I like- or if I like the left side of twix or the right… To be honest… I don’t know a lotta about myself… I just sorta woke up one day in Flatbush, and I’ve been wonderin’ ever since. Lookin’ for a place to call home…”

  “Hm.”

  Amnesia? LIke in a movie? That sounds fake! But, his eyes.

  There wasn’t a trace of doubt in Edwards mind that time. Those sincere eyes weren’t the kind Andrew could make on his own, no matter how elaborate, or heart wrenching his lies were, Andrew couldn’t lie to himself that well.

  “.... Well then forget it. It’s none of my business..

  “ … But I have to ask one thing…What here in Flatbush makes you wanna stay?”

  “Hm? Just seems like a pretty alright place, dont’cha think?”

  “That’s debatable. Especially with the recent stuff…”

  “Recent stuff? What recent stuff?! I wanna keep up with the times!”

  “There’s been a certain group of people on the Subway… eating people.”

  “Whuh?!”

  “Well, that’s at least what I think. The news says it’s likely a specific serial killer who's been collecting people’s body parts at random, and mauling them, but with how the corpses were described by the police… I doubt someone could tear into someone so easily, even if they are crazy…”

  “Ah.”

  “... But for whatever reason, there are still animals being eaten too…”

  He mumbled under his breath as he thought on and on, until his wife came to his mind once more. He shook off the thought.

  “You really never heard about any of that?”

  “Nah… Could be cuz I never had to take the subway. I always sorta hung around some Mcdonalds or Burger King and ate the leftovers.”

  “Oh…”

  There was silence.

  Could she…?

  The thought alone made tears well up in his eyes. Now she was running away from him- They have a daughter- A relationship that needed to be nurtured… Whatever is wrong with her, doesn’t he know he can help… Doesn’t she?

  Andrew bit his bottom lip, seemingly nervous.

  “... I dunno… Really about anythin’... Eatin’ people isn’t natural to anybody… Could be an illness or somethin’ so…”

  He paused, reflecting on his words.

  “They should go visit a psych ward or somethin’! Get some help from people around ‘em… From everybody.”

  Everybody?

  “But anyways! This was fun!”

  Andrew rose from his seat, clasping both of Edwards hands.

  “Don’t know much about this dead man stuff! But I gotta feeling it’s gonna blow over real quick, don’t you worry!”

  He paused. What did he just say?

  “Dead… man….?”

  “Huh? Dead man? Who said…”

  He paused.

  “Gah..!”

  He held his head as a pulsating bang echoed through his mind.

  “Hey- ANTHONY!”

  Though before Edward could walk around his desk to help Andrew, Andrew pulled a grin, still squinting in pain.

  “It’s awright! It’s totally awright!”

  “Are you!? You look pained, here- Just sit down!”

  As Edward attempted to grab hold of Andrew, Andrew narrowly dodged his attempts to reach out, he backed further towards the door, as Edward stared at him with a pained expression.

  “I don’t normally say this sorta stuff to someone I barely know, but I’ve got a good feeling about you man! I couldn't care less bout any deadman, or what's here in Flatbush! I just know everything is gonna be cool as gravy the more time I spend with you and E-.”

  He paused, the pain in his head continued to hammer away.

  “Let’s do this again sometime! Chiao!”

  He said, slightly groaning. As Andrew exited the room Edward looked dumbfounded…

  What the hell just happened?

  He looked down at the poker cards Andrew had left behind.

  Deadman.

  —--

  As time passed Edward would come to accept this new quirk of Andrews. They would play a game, talk, and Andrew would immediately leave in some sort of anguish- or turmoil that he would seemingly forget the next day. Edward couldn’t decipher whether this was another ploy of Andrew’s to gain pity, or if he was being genuine. It just seemed too aloof to him. But one thing was for certain. Whenever the two talked, and they began to learn more about each other, the more Edward began to understand what attracted him to Andrew.

  “Great time playing uno man! I’ll catch you later, Chiao!”

  His freedom. The kind of freedom Edward had in high school before he had graduated- The kind of boyish charm Edward had likely had before he was thrusted into the harsh world of adulting. A love of life that was so strong it couldn’t be penetrated by some hardships. But even on the job Andrew had remained as chiper and steadfast as ever. If he had worn out his shoes that day, he would walk barefoot and help in other ways- If he lost a huge bet between the two, he would pout briefly, then cackle like some hyena. Even when compared to everyone else, Andrew had quite literally had nothing and was homeless, he could still smile. He was like a juvenile little kid… He envied that.

  Was there a passion or dream he had achieved to be that happy? Has he ever achieved greatness in a past life? How could he laugh so much if he didn’t?

  With all of these questions bouncing in his mind, he never bothered to ask more on the subject of Deadmen. All he cared for was to understand.

  Regardless of the envy, confusion, or self loathing Andrew’s presence had brought, he wanted to continue indulging that smile.

  “Yeah, Chiao.”

  He smirked, and Andrew did the same closing the door.

  The face behind that smile gave him the one thing he could hold his sincerest trust in. Not even his own wife could give him that.