Once we were all back in Altonio’s apartment, I settled down on the couch yet again. Altonio had left me a glass of water on the coffee table, but the thought of him offering me any liquid made me feel queasy so the water remained untouched. To make matters worse, my thoughts hadn’t strayed from the topic of the strange giant bush in the city.

Going over and over what I had seen on that rooftop, I came to a sudden realisation that made my stomach drop.

‘What about all the people living in those buildings?’ I asked aloud. ‘And what about all those office workers? When the branches grew they would have pierced the buildings!’

My fear fed my imagination and the possibilities became even more horrific. Meanwhile, Altonio was standing in the kitchen with a glass of milk in his hand, completely unfazed by my rising panic. He stared at the glass for a moment and then took a swig before speaking.

‘Well pike, that’s the strange thing: The bush avoided them. Its branches grew around the buildings and its limbs are at their shortest near street level. To be perfectly honest, it’s a bloody miracle nobody was killed.’

I sat up in my seat. ‘That’s… that’s incredible!’

‘You’re telling me!’ Altonio laughed. ‘This phenomenon has caused the unimaginable to happen.’

This phenomenon certainly had done that, and the unimaginable included changing my relatively peaceful life into something I still couldn't process. Would I ever be able to see my family again? Why was I eventually going to be delivered to their Boss? What was really going to happen to me? 

‘Sticking to the same topic,' I said. 'I recall you said you couldn’t tell me where I was. That it would disturb me to see my world. Yet within the same day, you went ahead and showed me this disturbing world, and that I was still in my home city! Did you have a change of heart, Altonio?' 

'Ah well, that's-'

'Or did your boss contact you whilst you were "out" when Octavius and I were talking?’

‘Well you see-’

‘Master does not have to explain himself,’ Octavius cut in. ‘I’m sure his decision to show you the rooftop was a choice he deemed appropriate, or one the Boss deemed appropriate.’

‘I think Master has his own voice, perhaps let him use it?’ I sneered.

Altonio stepped in between our lines of sight. ‘Alright, alright. Let’s just calm down.’

He walked over to Octavius and put a hand on his shoulder. 'Tavi, I appreciate your trust in me, but I can speak for myself.'

Octavius' shoulders drooped and he lowered his head in shame. In fact, he stayed silent for the rest of the night.

'And you,' Altonio said, turning to me. 'you'd do well to keep quiet. Smart alecs don't last long in this world. When you're with me and I say something, or do something, it means you're meant to hear and see it. Nothing here is done by accident.'