Cry for Help

After Cossette explained her concern, a thoughtful silence filled their table. Even though it was common for Douglas to spend time in solitude outside of town, he never crossed the border without informing anyone. In the end, this young man was a show-off, so what could be the reason for keeping this sudden move a secret? Lawrence looked at Eugene, silently presenting the same question. Eugene, on the other hand, glanced at Sylvia, but then shook his head and turned to Cossette again.

"Outside of France, you say? Are you absolutely sure it was Douglas?"

"I would certainly be able to recognize his voice even from a single sigh. It was Douglas, I swear!" she explained, to which Sylvia finally spoke, "This man was present at the Fire of Prometheus, right?"

Lawrence and Eugene exchanged gazes, first spoke Eugene, "I mean, that's what he was yapping about for quite a while."

Then Lawrence added, "We did not really believe it, because he did not see us being… interrogated by other people. Maurice was especially callous about his stated presence."

"By the way, why is he not here? I was quite sure that you would come together."

"Ah, I actually called him, but he is busy studying for the end of semester. I guess university is more draining than public school."

"You two have the attention span of a toddler, how about you two bring your chit-chat to the neighbouring table?" interrupted Sylvia, to which Eugene crossed his arms and replied, "And why are you suddenly so interested in the fate of that idiot?"

The woman ignored Eugene's question and instead turned to Cossette, observing her with a serious glint in her eyes, "Monsieur Douglas was indeed present at the Fire of Prometheus, and I saw him going some place with a woman in bird's mask."

Cossette gasped at her words and turned away after noticing Lawrence's and Eugene's interest in this topic. Cossette was also the only person from their group who remained within the castle of Beaumont after the phantom cormorant was caught. For a long time Eugene thought she met another man at the celebration which resulted in their break-up, but it seems like it was not the case, unless it was another woman in bird's mask.

"You are correct… I met with Douglas at the Fire of Prometheus. In fact, it was my goal to begin with, to know what he was planning on doing."

"What do you mean?" raised his brow Eugene and Sylvia sighed, but Cossette replied, "We were short on money at one point in time, and he swore that he had found a goldmine. I was quite certain that it had something to do with illegal business, but then… once I found him in the castle of Beaumont, he was flirting with another woman."

Lawrence shook his head and Eugene said, "Classic Douglas."

"You are wrong!" exclaimed Cossette, but then lowered her tone again, "He can be clingy to others at times, this is true, but he never meant to actually cheat on me! He is a moron, but I can be sure that he was always loyal to me, until I saw him with that woman, that is."

Suddenly, tears formed in Cossette's eye corners and she lowered her head. Eugene was about to stand up, but then noticed how Lawrence patted her shoulder with eyes full of sympathy. These two sure grew closer after Cossette and Douglas broke up, which is not a bad thing. Even though Lawrence can be timid and awkward at times, he was a much better choice for a long-lasting relationship. Though Eugene could not help but feel pity and even guilt towards Cossette, she had full trust in someone like Douglas, despite their attempts to explain how much of a Casanova that man was. But it really felt like Douglas was capable of growing through his troublesome nature once he met someone caring and understanding like Cossette, he hoped that everything would work out between them, but alas someone's nature is not as flexible. Douglas left yet another woman in tears, although one question still remained in Eugene's head, which he was more than willing to present.

"Do you know who that woman was? Maybe she has something to do with his disappearance?"

Cossette raised her head and tried to recompose herself. She glanced over at Lawrence and nodded at him, then continued with her story, "Well, after I met him there, we went somewhere less crowded to have the discussion. He explained to me that the woman he was talking to was the princess of some place. He expressed his wish to get some money through her, but refused to tell how. I lashed at him for not being honest with me, and he screamed back. Then, I decided to end our relationship, I just could not bear his lifestyle of risks and disappearances."

The two men remained silent, not knowing what to say in Douglas's defence. Cossette was completely right about his weird habits of going hustling elsewhere. This is precisely why he was also fun to be around, not only you get to hear some crazy stories, but experience them first hand, whenever Douglas was given a wheel to lead their boys' night.

Then, after a few minutes of silence, Sylvia finally spoke up, she asked "Yet you are still worried about him, even though you cut all ties?"

"After the occurrence, I moved back to my parent's house, but he still tried to reach out to me. It happened several times throughout October, but at one point, he stopped. I thought it was finally over, but why would he cut ties with you as well? Unless, perhaps, something happened to him, while he was away! He also called me, not any of you, but me! Something is certainly off."

After hearing her explanation, Eugene exhaled and leaned back in disbelief. Cossette still had feelings for Douglas, which was absurd. Just how much a sinful foil one should be for people to move over? Eugene could not understand her train of thought, and so did not Lawrence, whose face bore a sign of pain.

"Very interesting." said Sylvia, and looked over her book, "Humans can be foolish at times, huh?"

"What is the matter? Did you realise something?"

All three people turned to Sylvia, who was visibly irritated from the sudden attention. She shook her head and replied, "Maybe I did, and if my theory is correct, then that man fully deserved what had happened to him."

Eugene narrowed his brows and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Oh, you will find out very soon."

After saying her words, Sylvia stood up. She took her coat from the hanger and put it on before saying her farewells and leaving the café. Eugene knew that she was not bluffing about her realisation and unwillingness to speak. She left simply to avoid annoying questions, but if she said that the answers will soon come, then so will happen. All Eugene had to do was wait.

The three of them sat in a café for a short while to further delve into possibilities of what might have happened to Douglas. At one point, Jessie joined the discussion and everything should have been explained all over again. With this tempo, the quartet did not reach any solid conclusion and after another round of coffee, the three customers left the premise, leaving Jessie in solitude until the closing hours. They strolled a little around the town, enjoying chilly winds and rare snowflakes that befell on their skin to immediately melt away. But after the sun reached the horizon, Eugene broke away from the small group of friends and headed home. Street lights were not yet adjusted to the short days of winter, thus the first few hours after the sunset were pitch black, which made it hard to orient around the town. Luckily, Eugene reached his home right after the last rays of light disappeared for the day.

His heavy footsteps spun across the stairs, until he reached his apartment. Inside, however, another surprise was awaiting. His phone was ringing, which made Eugene raise his brow. After the wires of his phone were cut, Douglas actually gave away his old phone, which was known only by Arnold, his brother Christopher, Vera and Sylvia. So who could have called him at this time?

He dashed towards the phone, took the handset and listened to a familiar voice that said, "Oh, thank god! Eugene, can you hear me?"

"D-douglas!?" exclaimed Eugene. Sylvia's prophecy came true much sooner than he had expected. After a brief pause, the man said, "Where the hell have you been? Cossette is really worried about you."

"Cossette? Of course, she must have already told you… anyway, please, for the love of god, do not tell her what I am about to tell you. I am in big trouble!"

Eugene remained silent, thus Douglas continued, "So, I have moved to Liechtenstein like a month ago. I was quite close with their royal family, but then, a murder happened! The 2nd prince of Liechtenstein was found dead, and I was accused of it. Please, I beg you, persuade Sylvia to be my defence attorney!"