BLARRRGGFF  

Lewis retched into an empty barrel lying on the corner of the street. He wiped the corners of his mouth with the tail end of his coat. Despite the urges in his mind to stay at the Cathedral of Eternity, the other portion of his brain warred with that thought, concerned with the experience that he had just felt after resting inside. The strange sense of calmness had been too jarring for his rattled mind.

Right after he had left the cathedral, a sickening feeling, as if his stomach were detoxifying itself after swallowing some poison, lurched from the depths of his throat. The bile that he expelled was foul and black, clearly not the contents of what he had eaten during lunch. 

Although he cut a sorry outward figure, his mind was racing as he analyzed the situation that he had just experienced. What was that unnatural calmness that descended on me? It seemed as if the bishop knew exactly what was plaguing my mind and he decided to perform an impromptu exorcism. The calmness that had descended upon him was forced almost as if he had been doused with an anesthetic and the efforts kicked right in, suppressing all his worried thoughts. Lewis lurched from the now-contaminated barrel and sat down on the curbs of the sidewalks, his eyes staring into the distance, not focused on anything.   

Could it be that I had been so open in my distress that Bishop Rand had decided to act? Lewis mentally challenged that thought as soon as it surfaced. Impossible, that look in his eyes told me that he knew something unrelated to that accident that I had witnessed triggered a breakdown. That forced passive state... I’ve never been a seriously devout believer of a deity in my life, but this incident is probably the first time I have ever directly experienced something close to the supernatural! Lewis sighed and straightened out his clothes before making sure that he had not dropped anything from his trek from the cathedral.  

Curious passengers who had witnessed his vomiting and subsequent passiveness shook their heads, bemoaning the lack of social responsibility that the youth of Conant City had become. “And yet, one wonders why the government has been forcing the temperance movement,” a disgusted woman muttered while shielding her daughter from Lewis’ view.  

I must seek out Bishop Rand in the future to truly see if there are any supernatural powers associated with him or his church! Lewis ignored the snide comments and stood up, swaying for a moment as a brief sense of dizziness accompanied that motion. He took care to wipe off the remnants of the incident as best as possible.  

Pausing for a moment to orient his location, he began walking back. How strange, mother has been a devout believer in the Evernight Goddess for her whole life, why did she never tell me about any strange events that have happened to her while she was in church? He wondered to himself, the sounds of his keys jingling in his pocket accompanied him all the way home.   

When he had walked into the house, only Claire was still awake, still poring over her notes from her class. She nodded towards him in acknowledgment before pausing and looking at the state of his clothes. “Is this some sort of hazing experience for your job today?” she pinched her nose in disgust. She hurried forward to help Lewis in taking off his outer garments.   

“Nope, just me feeling a bit under the weather,” Lewis lied. The last thing he needed now was to have his sister and mother worrying about what he had experienced over the past few days. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the food that I ate today at work was spiked though,” he continued, hoping to end the conversation before it dragged on too long.  

“Heavens, maybe purchase some food from the stalls outside instead of eating the food that they provide at work then.” Claire clicked her teeth. She placed his vomit-stained and rumpled clothes into a bag and placed them on the table. “It's going to take a day for us to clean your clothes”  

“Thankfully, I didn’t ruin any of my nice clothes” Lewis smiled and opened his bag to take out his more formal wear. “I’m going to need them for tomorrow when I go to the Stage Theater with Ava.”   

Claire wrinkled her forehead towards his shoddy attempt at keeping his clothes neat but did not say a word. She leaned forward to take a teapot that lay on the nearby windowsill. “So, how was your job today?,” she asked while blowing her breath over the still-steaming cup. “Anything exciting happen?” 

“Nothing really fun at my job, just paperwork,” Lewis said disappointedly. He slung his satchel onto the table and poured himself a cup of tea “I was able to meet most of my coworkers except for my boss” 

“That sounds boring, but I’m sure it will get interesting the longer you work,” Claire sipped her tea. She let out a long-contented breath, “From what I understand, most newspapers in the city usually make their newbies do some office work before chasing down stories.” 

“I hope so, so far there is a never-ending pile of papers for me to go through at work. Lewis gulped down his tea and then yawned. “I’m going to sleep early; my mind needs a break from calculating all those figures.” Claire, who went back to scribbling down her annotations, acknowledged the last remark with a slight inclination in her head. 

“One last thing, do you think that I was too overdressed for work today in those clothes?” Lewis asked, pausing before he could walk into the staircase. He took a glance at the clothes, still remembering the jabs that he had received from his fellow coworkers. “Some of the people at the newspaper thought so”  

“I thought you looked fine,” Claire chewed the tip of her pen in thought. “Anyways, you cannot ruin your reputation from just wearing nice clothes and you will have to wear them tomorrow anyway. They might start appreciating you for your quirks?”  

Lewis could only roll his eyes at his sister before saying goodnight to her and heading back to his room.  

…   

The next day, Lewis arrived at 145 Clarence Street, much earlier than normal to get a head start with his job and to also see if he could catch a glimpse of the reclusive Regis Morris. And it might be better if I just take off my formal clothes before changing into some more casual wear before everyone starts ragging on me.  

The early morning sun had just peaked above the horizon and the streetlamps were still on, custody of how early it was. Most of the people in Conant City had just awoken from their sleep and the only sound one could hear was the occasional rumble of a passing carriage.  

Lewis looked at the neat white building before blinking and rubbing his eyes in astonishment. The third-story curtains of the Citizens Chronicle's building were flipped aside, and Lewis could see that the lights of the building were clearly on. He hurried to the front door, taking note to see that doors were unlocked and cracked open.  

Could it be Regis? I remember David telling me that only three or four people had access to the front door and only Regis or Sinclair had access to the third-floor rooms. He reasoned in his head before grabbing the doorknob and opening the door. The sounds of paper shuffling could be heard from the workroom down the hall and past the lobby.  

Lewis walked down the hallway and opened the door quickly to see the occupant inside. The sounds of shuffling paper stopped as the subject of that noise, a short and thin man looked at the person who had just entered the room.  

“Hello?” Lewis said cautiously to the unfamiliar face and held out a hand, “My name is Lewis Overton and I’m the new employee at this newspaper” While he spoke, he quickly noted down defining features of the man in front of him. He had short black hair and bright brown eyes that seemed ready to laugh at any speaker. He was dressed more like a detective than a reporter with his peaked hat and gray trench coat.   

The man looked at Lewis and a brief and indiscernible gleam passed his eyes. He grinned infectiously and shook Lewis’ proffered hand, “Nice to meet you, Lewis, my name is Lawrence Odean. I’m one of the journalists working at the Citizens Chronicle.”  

“Likewise,” Lewis released the handshake and smiled back. Inwardly, he was shaking his head in disappointment, Dammit, I guess I’m just not fated to meet Regis at all! He asked in confusion,” Do you know where Mr. Morris? I am very interested in meeting him.”  

Lawrence scratched his head, “Regis tends to be very busy when he works.” His tone changed abruptly to one of annoyance, “Also, he likes to play jokes on us. One time, he hid in the bathroom at work for an hour before jumping out to scare us when we were having our lunch. Chances are, he will see you before he sees us.”  

Lewis nodded and thought while listening. That is one of the skills of a top-tier journalist, being able to sneak around without anyone's notice. He asked, “Do you know why the lights to the third floor were on then? I thought only Regis or Sinclair had access to that floor”  

“Lights? you must be mistaken. When I arrived here, none of the lights were on. Lawrence grunted as he heaved a bunch of papers onto the table. “I have to double-check some of these figures from the Archives before I head back out to the factories.”  

“What case are you working on right now?” Lewis asked curiously. I wonder if anything I overheard from the Underway can help him out.  

Lawrence placed a finger onto his lip and said, “Sorry, top-secret information. The only way you’re going to learn about this story is when the printing press is releasing all those fine articles!” He scribbled down a few figures from one of the papers onto a small notebook in which he pocketed quickly. “I must head back out now to catch the public carriage to the industrial district. It was nice meeting you, Lewis” he waved at Lewis before the workroom.  

The room was left in a mess with fluttering papers and inkblot sheets. Lewis took an exasperated breath, “I swear, nobody else in this place seems to care about cleanliness!” before he started to reorganize the documents back into their boxes.   

Only a few minutes had passed when David had arrived, He wore a dark blue overcoat and a large top hat that hung haphazardly off to the side of his head. His white-gloved hand-carried a large traveling bag that he nearly dropped in surprise when he saw Lewis in the workroom.  

“How did you get inside? he questioned as he slung his traveling bag over one of the coat racks. “What are you doing with those papers?”   

Faced with the barrage of questions, Lewis took them in stride. “Well, I met Lawrence this morning and he was the one who had unlocked the door. These papers belonged to him since he had to take out several documents for his report today.” He grunted while lifting a particularly heavy box that was stuffed to the rim with papers,” I’m just cleaning up after him.”  

“Strange,” David commented while picking up a few of the papers lying around the carpet. He brushed off any dust or hair that it had inevitably picked up. “For a guy with such messy long hair, Lawrence tends to be very clean and orderly with his papers.”  

“I guess whatever he had to do today required his utmost attention, “Lewis frowned for a moment when he responded to David. I swear, I just forgot something very important about Lawrence when he came in. I’ll remember it the next time I talk to him.  

“Speaking of which, today is a field day in which we go out to gather any last-second stories that we can write on the side columns of the newspaper. Since we are going out, we have to be prepared and make a good impression with our interviewees” David gestured to his large traveling bag and his top hat that covered his curly reddish-blond hair. “Lawrence was probably late for his interview, hence the hastiness” 

Lewis looked at one of the papers hanging out of the box. On it, he could see a letter stamped with a symbol of a heraldic flag, something that ordinary people rarely saw. He squinted his eyes interestedly at the emblem which had vines that grew around a pair of golden stag antlers. 

He recalled that heraldic flags were only awarded to people of extremely high standing whether it be an influential tycoon with ties to the crown of a powerful noble such as a Duke of a county. I wonder what this powerful person has to do with a few toxic waste disposal spillages from one of the metalworking factories.

“Snooping into other people’s businesses isn’t very nice you know,” David chided after he noticed Lewis’ examination of the paper. Then he clarified, “Well, we like for our stories to remain private until they are released to prevent any inadvertent leaks. Besides any personal issues that Lawrence has should be his alone to bear unless he wants to share it with us.” 

“Sorry, it kind of drew my eye when I passed over it,” Lewis apologized to the writer. He carefully placed the lid back on top of the hefty box. 

David waved his hand dismissively, “Don’t worry about it, it happens to everyone.” He continued, “I went off on a tangent about my main point though, most of us won’t be here in the building, so you can just work on rearranging our newspaper records in the archive for the rest of the day.”  

Lewis nodded and began heading back to the second floor where the Archives were located. He thought in relief and exasperation. Phew! Now the chances are much lower in that nobody will see me leave in my formal clothes. I can now spend all day looking through these dusty old financial records!  

David grinned approvingly towards Lewis and left the room. The day went by much slower than usual since only Stephanie and John had decided to stay behind in the building. After saying his goodbyes to them, he quickly left the room before they could see him frantically buttoning up his suit.