Part of Chapter 5: "Hey There, Shorty"

Here is part of Chapter 5: "Hey There, Shorty". (As the title of the post suggests). Note: The title was previously "Enter the Gangster", but it has been edited to match updates.

Notch smiled. Hope had just left the room. Good. She was behind on her schoolwork, anyway. She was involved in this too much, he thought. Then again, it wasn’t as if she had a choice. He had taken away her normal childhood thirteen years ago.

Did he regret it? In a way, he supposed, he did. But regret was not something that Notch did well. Reliving the past was pointless; too much like running around in circles.

Yet, perhaps, reliving the past was a way through.

In fact, the only way through.

For Notch had forgotten. He needed to remember, and he wasn’t certain why. He didn’t know how much he had forgotten, or whether it really was important. Specifically, he needed to remember Simile.

            Notch crossed over to his desk and opened a drawer, revealing a drawer full of cell phones. He dug through and found the one he was looking for, and quickly scrolled down the history. He needed to find the beginning…the first text message on the phone. The first text he had ever received.

To: Notch

From: Simile

I’ve seen you on the Town Hall forum. I’ve seen your potential. I was wondering if you would mind working for me.

            A sinister smile crossed Notch’s face. Oh, yes, she saw his potential. She had seen his potential as no one else ever had. He remembered receiving the text, now, and remembered feeling a childish excitement at receiving something so simple.

            He had found Simile. No, she had found him. Picked him up off the street and dusted him off, so to speak.

            First he had loved her for it.

            Before everything changed.

            Simile was beautiful. Charming. Personable. Noble.

            What man wouldn’t fall for her?

            Notch brushed away all of the memories. Yes, he had wanted to remember, but not this much. He stood for a moment, silent, staring at the text message, then with a sudden speed, he slipped open another drawer. It was full of various bits of paper and phone numbers, but he bypassed most of the files, digging through to the very bottom. There, lying crumpled below an old, ripped newspaper article, was a photograph.

            Notch picked it up, smoothing it out. The picture was of a smiling man with black hair. A red-haired woman leaned on his arm, resting her head against his shoulder. Her hand rested on her stomach, which bulged slightly, an obvious expression of her pregnancy.

            Notch tried to remember exactly where he had gotten the photograph. He thought it had come from a background check that Notch had made fifteen years ago on the man.

            As he gazed closely at the man in the photo, Notch nodded slowly in approval.

            Flicker Peterson, indeed, looked a great deal like his father.

            Gasp! Notch has a photograph of Flicker's dad? Why? And did Notch really fall in love with Simile all those years ago? I don't know, I'll have to write the rest later. Oh, well. Hope you liked this part of the chapter! See you on the other side of the glass. 

RANDOM QUOTE FROM THE CEILING FAN:
"Look, boys, we're here!"
"You always say that."
"Well, it's my trademark!"
"Maybe you need, uh...a different trademark."

-President Fantasy