Chereads / Night Of the Pawn / Chapter 4 - Golden Gift

Chapter 4 - Golden Gift

He thought for a moment as he laid his head down. Why? What was the town hiding? Were they all in on it? Maybe, but sleep was imminent so he wouldn't have much more time to think. So he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

What seemed like hours later he awoke. But it was still dark. No. It wasn't dark. The same purple hue shown through the window. Illuminating the room. But it wasn't a reflection. It was the actual moon.

He noted that there wasn't even supposed to be a moon that night. Did he sleep for a whole moon cycle? No, that means he slept for a month. That means something else was happening. He made the choice to explore the building. He left his room in a swift motion. This would have made the door creak normally but there was no sound. It was like the moment he woke up.

He went into the kitchen hoping that William was there. But he wasn't. In fact, the kitchen wasn't even there, nor the dining room table. Actually nothing was in the building. It was empty. He walked back to the room passing the bathroom and one other door. He stopped at that door. That door had never been there before. Usually it was a painting. So he opened the door. It was a study.

A very formal study. A fire was going in the fireplace, a book was on a desk in the corner, there were bookshelves filled with books everywhere. But then the fire went out. Making the room glow with purple and a cold air to blow through.

But then another, completely red fire lit. But it didn't replace the purple nor the cold air. He walked over to the red fire. It wasn't hot. Out of instinct he reached his hand inside. He grabbed a box, a long box. He took it out, then the red fire went out. He opened the box and saw a solid gold revolver. But before he could touch it a cocking sound echoed, the room went dark. A gunshot ringed his ears.

He awoke with a jolt. It was only a dream. That didn't help though. He looked out the window. The orange and red of the sun was lighting up the sky. It was no longer dark. He felt calmer now that the sun was out, and he rolled off the mattress. He noticed he was still wearing the outfit Willaim had bought but he didn't mind.

He exited his room and walked to the kitchen. Everything was there, and there was breakfast. But there was no sign of Willam, other than a note next to the breakfast.

'John, I know this is sudden, but I need you to take the painting next to the bathroom down. I won't be there to help you so be careful. I probably won't be back anytime soon. Just know that nothing that happens is your fault. Don't listen to the rumors, don't bring attention to yourself -William'

He was confused. Why would he sound so scared of rumors? But that didn't matter, something was behind that painting, and he wanted to figure out what. He put down the note and walked to the painting. He wasn't sure if actually taking the painting off the wall was a good thing or a bad thing, but his curiosity got the better of him.

He took down the painting, and something clicked. Gears behind the wall seemed to turn. The wall seemed to be lowering. And lowering. And lowering. Until it finally came to a stop, and a door was revealed. He opened the door, and to his surprise, it was the same room as his dream. Of course there were some differences, the fire wasn't going and the room wasn't purple.

But other than that everything was exactly the same. He thought for a moment, then went over to the fireplace. He reached out into the burnt charcoal that was once logs and felt a box. His intuition was right. The box was also there. He laid the box in front of him. But before he could open it a churning in his stomach appeared.

This was where he seemed to be shot in his dream. But he knew no one else was in the building. Although the churning never went away, he decided to open the box. It was the same solid golden revolver he had seen. He took it out of its box. The revolver's gold was cold and overbearing, but he didn't mind. He could feel an engraving etched into the side of the revolver.

He turned it over and read the inscription. 'The Golden Death' was its name. He went to set the revolver back into the box, but he noticed another golden item. It was a pocket watch that had his name on it. He put the revolver down and picked up the watch.

He opened the packet watch only to see its cracked glass and non moving clock in the background. He closed it and put it in his pocket, picking the revolver back up, and walking to the desk in the corner. On the desk was a blank book, and a holster with a belt, most likely for the revolver.

He took the belt and wrapped it around his waist, making sure it was tight enough to stay. He put the revolver into the hoster, and put his coat over all of it. He realized he had inside pockets to his coat so he decided to take the blank book and a pen that was also on the desk.

He left the room swiftly, and went into the kitchen. He grabbed the breakfast, ate it, then left the building. As he went out he noticed people started glaring at him. But he didn't mind. He was going somewhere. He didn't exactly know where, but still.

He walked over out of the busy street, and into an alleyway. The smells, he noticed, were different from the main street. He hadn't really cared, but the main street smelled more sweet and less repulsive. But this alley smelled more like a cemetery if the bodys were above the ground.

But still he continued on and made it to a shop at a dead end. He noted that the only things that seemed to be around were rats and insects as he entered. He saw that there was no one inside the shop. Or so he thought as he was attacked from behind.

A man, who had been hiding behind the door, slashed his back with a knife. "You! You're one of them!" The man shouted after seeing blood. He pulled out the revolver, and shot the man in his abdomen. Not killing him instantly. "What do you mean?" He said to the man in pain as he got up.

The man let out a small snarl, then a cough. With blood dripping down his mouth the man started to speak. "You're one of them. You're a Blessed, just like the rumor said…That girl was right."

He expected this to happen, but not so soon. The man gave him a solemn smile. "Someone's already put a bounty on your head. You might want to be careful-" But before the man could finish, he was shot.

He had shot the man, because he didn't want to hear more. "Sorry. I don't care." He felt bad but he couldn't for too long as he heard someone coming. They had most likely heard the shots of the revolver. So he fled, not before grabbing things from the shop.