I wonder again if this kid is our only hope. There are so many issues in this image before me, one I don't think can be fixed.
I wonder if Arthur sees it too? or can only broken souls see it?
How long will it take Arthur to lose a bit of his soul too? For him to lose a bit of himself that he will never get back.
I wonder if this kid's mentor, Nick Carter can relate to us.
I need to stop Arthur from going to ghost houses, this is already the second one.
There are pictures everywhere here too. Pictures that paint beautiful relationships, a lived life, a time of happiness. I wonder how many people have left him alone in this world, how many people in these pictures no longer exist.
"It's about Nyx", the kid says.
Carter straightens up, he looks at the kid in a way he hadn't before.
"What has she done now?", he asks annoyed. that's an odd question for someone who is very much dead.
Mac makes an affronted noise in the back of her throat, "It's not always Nyx's fault!"
I am tempted to disagree if she is anything like Arthur has described. She is Arthur with a sugar rush on a good day, but that is more than a decade-old information.
Carter sends a glare at the kid that yells "I disagree".
"It's not always her fault?", the kid sounds a lot less confident.
"We have a tally on the number of cops she has punched", Carter supplies. I wonder if I should start a tally too... thought it feels too late to start now, I don't remember how much I have already punched...
Arthur makes a surprised squeak.
"Hey! That's not her fault! the cops are always picking on someone, besides it's always so cool to see her punch someone, ah reminds me of when we first met." the kid says, I promise I could see hearts in her eyes.
"sHE bEat Up A Cop wHEn YoU FirST MeT?!", Arthur yells, I hold back a snicker.
The kid looks at Arthur confused, "What? No! It was not a cop". Arthur lets out a sigh of relief.
"It was a mercenary", Arthur looks like he wants to die. Yup blaming it all on Nyx indeed.
Carter brushes past it like it is normal, "You still haven't told me what this is about"
"It's about the incident..." Mac drags off, for a second her eyes daze over and she looks at nothing, and just as she is gone, she comes back, "I want to submit a formal request to reopen the Woods research facility explosion case."
Carter takes a deep breath, "No."
Mac bristles, "What do you mean no?"
"a negative answer," he says.
that just makes the kid angry, "I know what no means!".
"Then act like it.", He snaps. Mac flinches back.
His eyes dull, "This isn't the way, this isn't going to give you closure, this isn't going to help you."
and the anger is back, "You would know all about that wouldn't you!".
a line is crossed.
as soon as the words had left her mouth, she had crumbled, her face displaying all the guilt she felt.
Carter glances at a picture of him, Nxy, and a woman with long black hair and a kind smile.
"It's time for you to leave," he says quietly.
There is no anger left between either of them, just sadness.
Mac hesitates for a bit before she leaves, Arthur right behind.
I stay.
"she was important to you," I say looking at the women in the picture.
"she was, she is." I dip my head a bit in acknowledgment.
"Nyx is important to Mac", I say.
"I know" he sighs looking at me tiredly.
"Nyx is important to Arthur"
he scoffs, "I highly doubt that". I kindly ignore that comment.
"Nyx is important to you"
He looks at the picture once again, a gentle kindness in his eyes, or maybe it is just melancholy, remembering the days he no longer has.
"she is, she always will be," he says. Love was all it took to turn this stoic man into a pile of mush.
Love truly is the most terrible of curses.
"I see," with that, I turn and leave him alone in his home filled with ghosts.