Chapter 8: Encounter

9:00 pm. January 12th, 2009. Sunday.

I had a fun time hanging out with Sam and Brandon. In my previous life, I didn't have friends that would worry about me as much as Sam and Brandon worry about Adam. Although their worries were for Adam, it was pretty nice to have good friends like that.

It took me about twenty minutes to walk back home. A decently long walk but I enjoyed being lost in my thoughts as I listened to music on my phone. This world surprisingly had a lot of the same artists from my previous world so it didn't take long to find songs that I liked. Of course, being back in 2009 meant that I had to listen to tracks that would be considered nostalgic in my time.

As I approached the house I took off my headphones and put them back in my pocket. I didn't want to attract unnecessary attention if the idiots were at home. I disliked the thought of having to talk to them even though I never once did after I inhabited Adam's body. Maybe it was remnants of Adam's soul or an instinctive reaction but every time I thought of them I'd immediately feel disgusted.

There's also the fact that they oddly never approached me after I had woken up in this world. They definitely knew something or had something to do with what happened to Adam during the last 3 weeks but I can't just go ahead and ask them. I will have to find out for myself.

I have been noticing that some people keep on staring at me whenever I go outside, maybe they also knew something. I don't know, thinking about all this just gives me a headache.

As I was lost in my thought, I had failed to notice that the three pigs were also approaching the house. By the time I had realized we had already made eye contact. It was too late to avoid them now...

•••••

The Hart family was in a good mood today.

Harry Hart had just signed a business deal with Metropolis's best company, Lexcorp. While the exact contents of the deal were morally questionable, Harry only focused on the number of zeroes that would show up in his bank account.

It was obviously not the first time he signed a less than legal business deal but it was his first time with such a reputable company. He knew of the nasty rumors that surrounded Lexcorp but it never mattered to him in the first place.

As long as he could earn money, he was willing to do anything. To celebrate his success, he had decided to take his family out for dinner. They spent their time enjoying themselves over the luxurious menu of the place. Dishes that easily cost hundreds of dollars were quickly ordered and swallowed. Granted Harry was ordering most of those dishes while Beatrice and Reel had a normal meal.

After having what could only be viewed as the time of his life Harry and his family headed back home. What they never expected was that they were going to run into something unpleasant.

A few meters away from them they could see the thing they'd only ever consider as an object walking towards them seemingly lost in its thoughts.

A while ago Harry was paid a very generous amount to let some people take Adam for a few weeks. These strange people had mentioned that they'd take care of all the legal works if something consequential were to happen to Adam.

Harry realized that he'd be able to get his hands on more money than he could ever get from Adam's inheritance and willingly handed Adam to them.

He didn't expect that they would return Adam after weeks had passed. He fully expected them to harvest his organs or something. After Adam came back, Harry was given even more money to follow future instructions from those people. Harry of course as long as was paid enough he'd do anything.

He was told to take better care of Adam and avoid unnecessary contact with him until he's contacted again. Following through with their deal Harry every now and then left meals out for Adam. For Harry, this was the most amount of effort he was willing to put in. He told his wife and son to leave Adam alone as well but Reel wasn't willing to listen.

Fearing that the deal he made with those unknown people would be jeopardized, he had to increase his son's months allowance. His wife Beatrice couldn't care less about the abomination living in their house so she didn't bat an eye at Harry's decision.

Within seconds there were only a few feet of distance between Adam and them. Adam looked troubled but seemed to quickly make up his mind and said, "Hello, Uncle."

Taken aback by his casual manner, Reel got worked up. In his mind he thought, how could a servant like him talk so casually with them. Moreover, he didn't even acknowledge Reel's existence. He was determined to teach Adam a lesson but his father fearing Reel was going to get him into trouble stopped him from moving forward.

Harry nodded at Adam and went inside the house, leaving Adam by himself outside. He left the door open for Adam but didn't do anything more than necessary.

This was the first time Adam and they came face to face after he was returned. They saw him around before but never close enough to engage in a conversation. What shocked Harry, even more, was that Adam was the one to say something first.

Adam was usually never the one to initiate a conversation. He could sense that something had changed in Adam but he didn't think that he needed to care as long he got paid.

•••••

I didn't think they'd be so dismissive. I purposely greeted them casually because I knew that Reel would get mad at me. I wanted to see how they were going to react since they've been acting so different compared to what I remember fro1m Adam's memories.

But I didn't expect Harry to hold Reel back. Harry is afraid of something but I'm not sure what. Did som1eone scare the shit out of him and that someone is protecting Adam?

Couldn't be right?