Chapter 518 – Putting the cards on the table [2]

(POV - Graham Vickers)

There had been countless moments throughout Graham’s life when he had wondered why certain things had to happen the way they did. The first time had been when he was still a child. He had fallen off his bike after picking up far too much speed, despite clearly having no idea what he was doing.

He remembered sitting there on the ground, his knees scraped and his eyes watering, staring at the bicycle lying several feet away. Back then, his childish mind couldn’t understand why it had happened. All he knew was that it hurt, and that it felt unfair.

The question returned a few years later, in a much more painful form, when his first pet, a small cat Graham had affectionately named Tom, succumbed to a degenerative illness. This time, there was no clumsy fall or bad decision to blame. Tom had simply gotten sick.

Graham could still remember holding the small, fragile body in his arms, unable to understand why someone so small and innocent had to die. It was then, for the first time, that he realized some things simply happened without asking for permission.

Years later, the same question returned when one of his closest friends died in an accident. Graham remembered receiving the news and remaining silent for a long time, waiting for someone to tell him there had been some kind of mistake. That this couldn’t be happening.

That his friend would show up the next day like he always did. But that never happened. And eventually, the question surfaced one last time, or at least, the last time Graham could remember, when his family was killed by an anomaly.

By then, anomalies had begun appearing one after another across the world, bringing disasters no one understood and a reality that seemed to have completely lost its meaning. This time, however, Graham was no longer a child. He understood perfectly well what had happened.

And perhaps that was precisely why the question hurt more than all the times before. Why? Why had it happened? Why them? Why that way? Graham never found an answer. In fact, after so many losses, he had begun to believe that perhaps there was no answer at all. Graham could remember all those little moments from his life. Moments that, on their own, perhaps hadn’t meant much.

A comment, a loss, an apparently insignificant choice, a disappointment, a conversation that stayed with him far longer than it should have. Small things that, over the years, had piled on top of one another until, little by little, they shaped Graham into the person he was now.

Those moments had defined his motivations, pushing him down the path he currently walked. They had also transformed his worldview into something far more... pragmatic. It was an almost unrecognizable change compared to the boy Graham had once been. Back then, Graham had simply been a naive young man with no real understanding of how life actually worked.

He didn’t know what the future had in store for him. He didn’t understand how much people could change, how easily circumstances could destroy something someone believed was permanent, or, worse yet, how effortlessly everything could lose its meaning.

Back then, he believed there were some things that simply couldn’t go wrong. Now, he knew that almost anything could. And perhaps that was exactly why Graham sometimes entertained an absurd thought. If he ever had the chance to go back in time and meet his younger self, what would he do? The answer came immediately.

He would kill him. Not out of hatred. Much less out of contempt. He would do it to spare him. Spare that poor boy from discovering what the world truly was. Spare his eyes from witnessing what reality would eventually become. Spare his mind from what Graham would, years later, learn in the worst way possible.

Because looking back, there was something deeply wrong with all of it. Not just with the world. But with how everything had reached this point. And perhaps that was the part that bothered Graham the most: realizing that, somewhere along the way, what had once seemed impossible had become his reality. A reality so twisted and wrong that, sometimes, he found himself missing the naive person he used to be.

Graham showed no reaction to the thoughts running through his mind. It wasn’t the first time they had surfaced, and it most likely wouldn’t be the last. In fact, he dreamed about them whenever he closed his eyes. At first, he might have tried to push them away. Over time, however, he had simply learned to accept their presence.

Some things didn’t disappear just because you wished they would. With that in mind, Graham set his thoughts aside and continued walking through the city’s cold streets. The wind cut softly between the buildings, carrying with it the distant hum of traffic and the voices of the few people still out on the streets.

After a few minutes, he finally stopped. The city’s main park lay before him. It was a fairly large place, with wide stretches of grass, several old trees, and, at its center, a lake reflecting the scattered lights around it. Graham made a habit of visiting at least once a week.

Even he didn’t know exactly why. There was nothing particularly special about the place. It wasn’t as though he had any important memories there, nor was there any obligation that kept bringing him back. He simply kept returning. Maybe that was precisely why he liked it.

Graham closed his eyes for a brief moment. A subtle smile, carrying an irony that was difficult to interpret, appeared at the corner of his lips. Then he turned around. Three people were walking toward him. He recognized them immediately. All three were members of an organization with which Graham was, at least for the time being, allied.

They didn’t necessarily share the same beliefs, much less pursue exactly the same goals. In fact, under different circumstances, it was entirely possible that they would have ended up on opposite sides.

But their plans overlapped enough. And as long as their interests remained aligned, working together was simply more convenient than fighting one another. Graham kept his smile as he watched the trio approach.

“I was wondering if I’d gotten here too early... but it looks like I arrived right on time” Graham didn’t turn his head. There was no need. He let his words linger in the air for a few moments, calm and almost casual, allowing his “companions” to draw their own conclusions from them.

A brief silence followed: “I was the one who asked for this meeting. The least I could do was show the proper respect and arrive on time” The male voice that answered was subtly deep, carrying a seriousness that didn’t seem likely to fade anytime soon.

From the corner of his eye, Graham noticed the figure’s rigid posture. He wasn’t exactly an inviting presence. Graham, however, didn’t care. After all, this man was, in one way or another, helping him achieve his ultimate goal. A goal that, fortunately, the man had no idea what it actually was.

“Is that so?” Graham asked, raising one eyebrow slightly. A smile appeared on his lips, but it never reached his eyes. It was an empty expression, impossible to interpret as either genuinely friendly or hostile: “I didn’t know you held me in such high regard” He let the words hang in the air for a moment before adding in an almost casual tone: “In that case, I’ll follow your example the next time we meet, my dear Oliver”

Oliver showed no reaction upon hearing his own name. No change in expression, no involuntary movement, not even the slightest suspicious glance. Graham hadn’t expected anything different. He doubted Oliver still had any attachment to that name.

Perhaps, to him, “Oliver” was nothing more than a memory belonging to a life he had left behind, something that had once defined him but no longer carried the same meaning. Seen from that perspective, his lack of reaction wasn’t strange at all.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Graham subtly shifted his gaze toward the other two guests. A woman with a cold, serious appearance, her expression seemingly incapable of revealing anything beyond a carefully controlled calm.

Beside her stood a man who wore an almost permanent, ironic smile, as though he were always just one sarcastic comment away from turning any conversation into a provocation. Graham hadn’t interacted much with either of them. Not that he needed to.

His alliance with Oliver was, at its core, purely transactional. They each had their own goals, and for the time being, their interests simply happened to align. As long as one man’s path continued to lead toward the destination the other desired, there was no reason to complicate their relationship.

Nothing more than that. Of course... Graham had never mentioned that once he finally achieved his goal, Oliver might no longer have time to pursue his own. Just a passing thought. A detail that, for now, didn’t need to be shared.

Graham dismissed the idea as naturally as it had appeared and turned his attention back to the conversation: “My goal is getting closer and closer to being achieved” he said, his voice remaining calm: “Almost all the pieces are already in place. It won’t be much longer”

He paused briefly, his eyes sweeping across the surroundings as though he could see beyond what lay before him, every move he had planned over so many years: “And my next move...” A faint glimmer appeared in his eyes: “Should be enough to trigger the opening of the event I’ve been waiting for all these years” For a moment, Graham almost felt like smiling. Almost.

Oliver didn’t respond. Graham didn’t mind. He had expected as much. Oliver was simply like that. He wasn’t a man of many words, especially when there was nothing he considered necessary to add. Even so, Graham was certain that Oliver had taken in every word he had said.

Oliver might remain silent, but that didn’t mean he was ignoring what he heard. Graham then lifted his eyes toward the sky. Dark clouds covered much of the city, heavy and dense, promising rain that would likely fall later. A cold breeze swept across his face, making him narrow his eyes slightly.

But Graham wasn’t really concerned about the weather. His attention was already focused on what would come next. He had plans for the future, and he intended to put them into action the moment he had the opportunity. That was why, despite his calm appearance, a quiet sense of anticipation was steadily growing inside him. Graham was eager for the opening of the next stage.