“You can’t be serious,” Adam Strange said. “No leads. God dammit.”
“That’s…” Stephen muttered.
“Your brother, yes,” I said. “It seems the Strange family are privy to holding onto things.”
Adam slammed the phone on the table.
His girlfriend Michelle placed a comforting hand on his back. “You see he’s gone. Just accept it…”
“He’s presumed missing,” Adam snapped. “Not gone. I asked around at the bank and they said he withdrew a large amount of money for a trip and…”
“Adam,” Michelle said firmly. “This is driving you crazy. I can’t stand to see you like this. You’re driving the both of us apart and…”
“He’s my little brother, Michelle,” Adam said. “I can’t just leave him alone like this. I know for a fact that he wouldn’t abandon me so…”
“Just face it,” Michelle said. “Your brother is gone, dead or otherwise. You need to move on. This obsession it’s… it’s driving you crazy. You need to stop before…”
Adam sighed. “I’m sorry Michelle.” He turned to face her. “But he’s my brother.”
Michelle clenched her fist. She turned her back on Adam and left the room. Adam’s sigh was remorseful, he pinched the bridge of his nose and went back to his phone, tapping in a number.
“He doesn’t have to…” Stephen said. “I made my choice.”
“Your brother loves you, Stephen,” I said. “Loves you so much he refuses to let go. Much like you and your ties to this world.”
“Can’t I at least tell him something?” Stephen said. “Tell him I’m fine or…”
“We don’t know how our choices will affect others, Stephen,” I said. “All we can do is make them and accept the consequences whatever they may be.”
“This is Hugo Strange,” the voice on voicemail said with an eerie confidence. “For any queries or bookings please refer to my assistant otherwise make it quick.”
“Oh god no,” Stephen said. “Not Hugo. Hugo is… Hugo…”
“Look Hugo,” Adam said. “I… I know we don’t talk anymore and… and… yeah. But you helped with Stephen’s surgery and I guess…”
“No Adam,” Stephen shouted. “Not him. Anybody but him.”
I stepped in front of Stephen.
“Scream all you want,” I said. “Your brother will not hear you.”
“I don’t know I guess I’m trying to appeal to the part of you that cares,” Adam said. “I know you don’t like us or dad for that matter but he’s our baby brother and…”
Adam turned back. “What’s that?”
“He’s a monster, Adam,” Stephen pleaded desperately. “Don’t do it. Don’t…”
Stephen placed his transparent palms on Adam’s shoulders, screaming to a person who wouldn’t hear him.
And then there was a flash of pure white light that startled the both of us.
Stephen stared at empty space. Adam Strange had disappeared.
“W-where’s Adam?” Stephen muttered.
He turned to me, his eyes flaring up in anger. “Where the hell is my brother?”
“Gone,” I said calmly. “He’s gone light years away from us.”
“That doesn’t answer anything,” Stephen said. “Where the hell is my…”
Stephen tried yanking me to face him but before he could we were back in the Sanctuary. Stephen let out a gasp.
“You Strange brothers are destined for great things,” I said. “Even the worst of you.”
…
(You have one voice mail.
Pointed ears stared at him. Mannequins dressed in black, dressed in the likeness of the man that haunted his mind, driving Hugo Strange into a deep obsession he hadn’t felt in a long while. An obsession that made him feel alive.
Hugo Strange played the voicemail.
“Look, Hugo I know we…” said a voice. The voice of his brother.
Hugo Strange paused the voicemail and deleted it.
He picked up his pen and started working on his reports, unaware of the crack that had formed on the surface because of how tightly he was gripping it.
Ink squirted out of the pen and into his hand. A frustrated sigh later he threw the pen into the dustbin but it bounced off the edge and onto the floor. Hugo picked it up again and threw it but it bounced off.
Hugo let out a scream. He picked up the pen and threw it at one of the mannequins that was in the room, ink splashing all over the hooded face.
Hugo shouted and upturned his desk, papers and pens scattered all over the room. He stepped on pens, tore papers, threw down his mannequin. His office becoming more and more claustrophobic until he stood alone, surrounded by the mess he had made. Upturned mannequins and torn paper, Hugo Strange just laughed.)
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