Kaden Jannsen; Sagaro Basement
"Ah, I... Sorry. I'll just, um... I'll be going then." Ah, Lucas sounded so concerned, startled, confused... This seemed like a blow to him, something that he had no idea to handle. It left a bad feeling in Kaden's heart, in his chest. But he had had to do it; there was no other choice. The bl- not-paint was disorienting, making him want to flee in terror. But he couldn't, at least not physically. And if it had lasted much longer, he surely would have fled behind the mask, no matter the consequences. So he had saved Lucas, right? It was better in the long run, and his task could be completed, finally. He could smooth things over, explain himself to Lucas, later, much later. Once Lucas had a clean shirt and Kaden had calmed down...
The pounding in his head, the ringing in his ears, they were slowing down, calming. He just sat there, sure that Lucas was gone, but still unable to lift his head to check, to guarantee. A draft in the parking garage flipped his sketchpad to the next page, fully revealing the license drawing, visible even between Kaden's legs. It was confusing, straight black and white, lines drawn onto a page, patterns going every which way. The letters J and S were visible, along with F, i, h, v, y, U, f, A, P, g, t, E, W, R, m, I, and maybe even a few more. And numbers were visible too, 8 and 7 of course, but the other digits existed as well. Lines, patterns, shapes, numbers, letters, words, punctuation, symbols, ordered, randomly placed, grouped, scattered, empty spaces, places filled with so many things they turn black and unreadable. It was chaotic and jumbled, but the only thing out of place was the hyphen, hidden in the black lines. The only hyphen in the picture, marking the license plate as the real hidden message in an otherwise abstract, intricate, intriguing piece of art. But only he would recognize it, at least without spending too much time studying the drawing. It was well done if he said so himself.
Above Kaden, the clock tolled again, this time at the forty-five. 9:45, only a quarter hour until the deadline. He reached into his bag and pulled out the box, finally standing and walking over to the car next to him, the destination, the final stop of his job. Opening the trunk, he deposited the sleek, black box, wanting nothing to do with it anymore this night. Slamming the trunk, he turned around and walked to the escalator, going up and striding out the door, headed home.
It was a long walk home, but that was okay. He had a lot to think about. The Itex job, the flying woman and Judgement, the other people in Itex and whatever their jobs had been. Had the Chariot gone and given her mask away? What was the Tower's job? How did the Star and Hermit fare? And what was with Coraline? She had freaked out and needed his help, and Lucas'. And why did Lucas have so much... well, blood, on his shirt? Someone had to have been hurt in order for that to happen, but who? And by whom? What would his next task be? Did the mask really do as they said, as he believed? He hoped he didn't have to find out, and if he did, he hoped it wouldn't be soon...
He snuck into his room, climbing through the window into his room. Whether his parents cared or not didn't bother him, but he wasn't going to enter the front entrance and listen to their admonishing. He just wanted peace and quiet, sleep, hopefully restless today? Though likely not... He figured he'd see dreams about today's happenings, about the events in his book, but they were simply dreams, and they would be gone by the next morning. He lay down, closed his eyes, and waited to drift off to sleep, happy to sleep in, if he could, on the next day, the weekend.