"Are you sure you're okay?"
Thor, standing at the door, surveyed Eddie. Eddie's condition appeared very terrible; his hair looked unwashed for days and was a mess, like a bird's nest. The sweater he was wearing seemed to be a designer brand but had threads coming out in numerous places. Not to mention his overcoat, one sleeve of it was filthy with what looked like oil stains.
Having roamed Hell's Kitchen these past days, Thor had encountered several homeless people. Eddie, with his present appearance, looked like he could easily blend in with them.
Seeing the mournful state of his neighbor, Thor felt too embarrassed to chide him about his disruptive activities. All he could say was, "If you need help, I live next door…"
"Dammit! I am not homeless!" Eddie, visibly seeing the pity in Thor's eyes, struck the door frame hard, declaring, "I'm just…"
After blurting out a word, he abruptly swayed backward, stumbling against the entrance hall, spilling a cup of water and breaking it. Glancing backward, he cursed, "Blast it, how did it…"
Falling toward the left, he hit his head on the door frame, thereafter staggering back like a marionette. Retreating clumsily, he staggered to the sink to vomit.
Thor could no longer afford to be a bystander. Be it to help Eddie or save his hard-found rental from ruin, he had to move into Eddie's room to assess what had happened.
Eddie's room was a mess. Piles of boxes with files and clutter blocked the doorway. From the looks of it, someone hastily stacked random, mismatched items which could tumble at any moment.
Dodging the paper stacks, Thor spotted a collection of machines he didn't recognize to his left side. There were haphazard frameworks and things that looked like cannons.
Having lived in the world of humans for a while, Thor recognized that anything mechanical he couldn't understand must be expensive. Damaging it could lead to a hefty compensation. So, he sidestepped to the right, approaching the couch.
The sofa was piled with clothes; the most noticeable being several suits wrapped in dust covers. They were distinct from the other clothes and even though Thor couldn't differentiate types of human clothes, these suits appeared expertly tailored, much superior to the other clothes.
Moving further in, he spotted a suitcase sprawled on the floor. It was clear that Eddie had been kicked out. His suitcase was a chaotic mess and many items had yet to be unpacked, just shoved inside it.
Crossing the suitcase and advancing into the kitchen, Thor saw Eddie squatting on the floor, leaning against the cabinet. Eddie's meltdown appeared complete, he appeared dazed and was mumbling to himself.
A massive shadow loomed over him — Thor. Looking up, Eddie saw the tall, built Thor looking down at him concerned. For a moment, Eddie opened his mouth as if to call for rescue but reconsidered upon realizing the absurdness of his plea, saying nothing.
"Maybe I should take you to the hospital," Thor lowered his gaze and said to Eddie, "you truly look extremely sick."
On that note, Thor stepped further in as if to make a phone call. Eddie hastily stood up, restraining him from leaving and saying: "No! Don't go! I don't have money to pay for the ambulance anymore!"
"But you honestly look miserable," Thor pointed at Eddie's face and said: "You're the most haggard human I've ever seen. Don't you have a mirror to look at yourself?"
With a deep sigh, Eddie languidly moved to the couch, pushed the jumbled clothes aside, and said, "You are from Texas, right? Take a seat. I don't have much to offer you... please fetch those two cans of beer by the suitcase."
Thor stayed in place and glanced at him. Even though he was not very familiar with earthlings, he could discern basic scenarios. It was obvious this man was not a vagrant but someone who had fallen into woeful circumstances for unknown reasons. It looked like he had a lot of stories to share.
Thor glanced at the window, it was still early. His job at the warehouse worked three shifts, so it wasn't his time to work yet. Killing time, Thor obliged Eddie's demand, fetched two cans of beer from Eddie's suitcase, and then sat down on the sofa. Handing one can to Eddie, he placed the other in front of himself.
Of course, Thor was familiar with beer. When working at the warehouse, the boss would provide a meal. Thor worked the late shift and after the shift, his colleagues would invite him for a draft of beer.
For Thor, the earth's beer was a little weak, but he liked it more than having none. So, on his first day in his new home, he bought a few extra bottles of beer for his room.
Eddie opened his beer can and took two big gulps by himself. Waving his hand at him, Thor said, "Don't do that. I can tell you're not a regular drinker. If you gulp that way, you're just swallowing the foam and will be full soon."
"Soon?" Eddie gave a bitter laugh and said, "I only have these two cans of beer. How long do you think they will last?"
"That's alright, I have a few bottles at my place. I'll bring them for you later," Thor responded without a care. His time on the battlefield had honed his hearty temperament. Watching him, Eddie remarked, "You should be a military veteran, right? I can tell that you've served in a war."
Raising his eyebrows was Thor, the first time someone had posed such a question to him. He responded to Eddie, "You're also not ordinary. No one has ever identified my status before."
When Thor acknowledged, Eddie surveyed him again and said, "Given your physique, you should be one of the elite special forces. Which unit were you in? Why didn't you become an instructor?"
Thor gave a wave of his hand, having no intention of continuing the conversation. Over these many days, he had come to realize that bragging about his exploits on Earth would only label him as a madman and cost him his job.
Deep down, Thor had never really held ordinary humans in high regard. Thus, he didn't need their affirmation of his achievements. In the future, if anyone asked, he would merely wave and remain silent.
"Okay, I know you're bound by non-disclosure agreements, so I won't pry anymore," Eddie said, taking another sip of his beer. "Given this, I guess you must be pretty tight-lipped. Probably won't hurt to share some things with you."
"How did you end up like this?"
Thor looked around the room and said, "You have quite a bit of valuable stuff in here. You must have been quite wealthy before, right? How did you end up in such a state?"
Upon bringing up this topic, Eddie let out a deep sigh. Revved up by the alcohol, he began to unfold his story.
"What I'm about to tell you might shock you. You may even think I'm insane. But this is the truth."
Eddie downed his beer, his fingers clutching tightly around the can, muscles standing out on his hands.
"Originally, I was a journalist, and an ace one at that. I won many awards, interviewed a great number of celebrities. Many renowned reports were by me. At my peak, even the editor-in-chief had to curry my favours."
Eddie dropped the beer can onto the coffee table with a bang, saying, "But everything changed a month ago."
His hold around the beer can tightened, the foam from the beer swelling out from the can opening. Amidst the dim light, it shimmered with a dazzling sheen. Eddie's eyes fixated on that gleam, his thoughts drifting back to a month ago.
"Morning, Eddie."
"Morning. What's up? You seem to have something to say?" Eddie gazed at his colleague, who had just greeted him and was now huddling closer to him, whispering, "The editor-in-chief is looking for you. He seems pretty angry. You'd better be careful."
After saying that, the colleague patted Eddie's shoulder and walked away. Eddie, documents in hand and camera slung around his neck, pushed open the glass door to the Editor-in-chief's office.
The editor was on the phone. Seeing Eddie come in, he gave him a once over, then hung up the call. Knocking on the desk to gesture Eddie over, he said, "Eddie, did you read the 'Bugle Daily' yesterday?"
"Ah, no. What happened to them?"
"Their new issue is selling like hotcakes, the magazine too. They've launched an issue compiling all the weirdos of New York, packing high-resolution shots of Spiderman and Iron Man, even photos of them performing heroic acts. Some reporter even managed to chat with Spiderman and confirmed that he is, in fact, just a high school student."
"In contrast, our last issue sold poorly. Nobody gives a damn about river construction projects."
"Eddie, I know you're a renowned reporter. But you've been working on skewed topics lately. People aren't interested in whichever magnate is starting what projects. That has nothing to do with them. All they want to see are high-quality, handsome shots of these vigilantes in New York and shocking gossips about them."
"I know..." The editor stretched out his hand to pacify Eddie and continued, "I know it's not your forte. But we need to consider the bottom line. If we can't come up with big news, this quarter's performance will be miserable, and we may have to enforce a pay cut."
Eddie caught the underlying threat in the editor's tone and said with some frustration, "Wasn't our coverage on the vampire incident a big hit?"
"That was months ago. In our industry, it might as well have been centuries ago. We must find some fresh explosive content!"
"By the way, have you heard about the hot topic of the moment, the 'Eternal Life Factor'?"
"I've heard of it, but I don't know much about it."
"That's fine. Tomorrow, I have an appointment with Drake, the owner of the Life Foundation. You'll be interviewing him about the 'Eternal Life Factor'."
"The Life Foundation claims they've found a better method to extract the 'Eternal Life Factor', producing faster and more significant results. Many testers have given good feedback. Drake is enjoying immense popularity lately."
The editor clenched his fist, saying, "We must seize this opportunity. If this interview becomes popular, we may have a chance to try that magical 'Eternity Factor Potion' ourselves, not to mention trumping 'Bugle Daily'."
"Go on, Eddie. This could be a new peak in your career."