Kole became even more sure that his grandfather was playing a practical joke as he flipped through the book. It was only slightly bigger than the palm of his hand, the cover made of some kind of leather. Dark brown in color, it had no words of any kind on it. As far as he could tell, neither did any of the pages, almost as if it was a journal that was intended for him to carry around.
Stuffing it in his back pocket, he pulled out the other item in the box. Letting it unfold itself as he held it at arms length, noticed that he happened to be holding it at the shoulders. It was a cloak. Try as he might, the color escaped him, almost as if when he thought he knew, it changed slightly. He threw it on over his shoulders, attaching the clasp at his collarbone, and flipped the hood over his head.
He walked to the bathroom and admired the cloak in the mirror. It was nearly as long as he was, stopping just above his ankles. The clasp of the cloak was black and in the shape of a wolf. The fine details seemed to be outlines with silver. It was crafted so well, it almost seemed to be alive. The whole thing was remarkable to Kole. Even though He could think of no occassion that he'd get to wear it outside of maybe a cosplay convention, he could tell that it must have cost his grandfather a fortune, and was extremely pleased with it.
All the sudden a wave of exhaustion hit Kole like a ton of bricks. He stumbled as his arm shot out to grab the sink and stableize himself.He didn't know why he was soooo tired all the sudden, but decided to go take a nap anyway. His parents wouldn't be home for who knew how long anyway, so he didn't have anything that needed his immediate attention.
Kole walked to his room and climbed into bed, not bothering to remove the cloak, but actualling wrapping it around himself in leu of his blanket. It was soft and warm. He was out before his head ever hit the pillow.
.................
In a building many miles away, two people sat at a small table, facing each other. Another came and placed a cup of coffee in front of both of them and quietly wwalked away, as if he was never there. The two stared at each other for a long time before one finally broke contact and picked up the cup to take a sip.
"We should have told him." she said anfter taking a long swig of the coffee.
"you know that we couldn't. How could we have ever explained it?" the other spoke in a deep gruff manner.
"I know that, but we should have done SOMETHING, he's our son after all." the lady's voice was soft and gentle, like a spring breeze.
"We have to be strong, and trust that we raised him the best that we could." Koles dad said.
His face held a slight smile, but the sadness in his eyes was unmistakable. He watched his wife from across the table, reaching out and taking her hand in his. A genuine smile reached his face as she squeezed it tightly.
"What do we do now?" she asked barely above a whisper.
"We take our leave." the man said.
Not long after, the waiter returned to the with two plates of food, only to find it empty except for a hundred dollar bill next to one of the coffee cups. He reached out and picked up the money. As he did, hennoticed that money, as well as the table had a light coating of dust on them, as if they hadnt been used or cleaned in a while. The waiter thought it was odd but didn't give it a second thought. He stuffed the money in his pocket and took the dirty cups and food to the kitchen, ready to move on to his next customers.