Unanswered Question.

Ashley was skipping along the corridor towards the banquet hall. If Ninja-san asked her to hold her tongue, it means that he had an important conversation with his friend. And since well-bred children do not eavesdrop adult conversations, she decided that it was time to eat something delicious.

Up ahead, the girl saw Sean standing alone, the boy was looking out the window and was lost in his own thoughts. Insidious light glanced in the girl's eyes. She was still mad at her friend, that he did not come to look for her, but not so much anymore, because she was able to make friends with Ninja-san. However, as true pirates say, an eye for an eye, and this was exactly the case.

The girl looked around, there was no one in the corridor except her and Sean. Although it was strictly forbidden to do anything like this, the temptation was too great and she really wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.

"Boo!!!!"

Sean jumped on the spot and fell to the floor when a girl appeared out of nowhere. Ashley crossed her arms and looked at the boy with a triumphant smile of a winner.

"Stupid! Could you just come closer normally, or what?" Sean got up from the floor and began to shake himself down, although the carpet was perfectly clean, he could not look the girl in the eye because of his embarrassment and focused all attention on his trousers.

"You are stupid! This is for you for not looking for me!"

"You know that teleporting is forbidden! What if someone saw it?!" Sean replied back, he lacked the courage to admit that he indeed forgot about her.

"You say so, because you yourself do not know how to do it!" The girl cried out and covered her mouth with her palm. The boy's face noticeably darkened, Ashley realized that her last words were a bit too much. Without hesitation, she jumped to a friend and kissed him on the cheek.

"What are you doing?!" Sean covered his face with his hands and turned away, a pink blush appeared on his cheeks.

"That's my way to tell you that I'm sorry. I always kiss my mother when I want to apologize for something. I did not want to offend you when I said that you do not know how to teleport. But you must apologize too. I was waiting for you, but you did not come!" the girl said with offense in her voice.

Sean sighed, whenever this annoying little girl was spinning around him, his quiet life turned into a complete circus. And every time she made him laugh, feel embarrassed, annoyed, happy. She was like a kaleidoscope of emotions, each moment was evoking new sensations in him.

"Sorry, you're right, I saw a table with candies and forgot about you," the boy told her everything the way it was, but Ashley's face expression said that those words were not enough. He shifted from foot to foot, tormenting himself with doubts about whether to do it or not, and then leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

"What are you doing?!"

"What do you mean, what? I am apologizing! You did it first yourself!"

Two children were looking at each other in confusion like two red tomatoes.

"Is it hue and cry or what?" A cheerful voice from the side interrupted their awkward moment.

"Daniel!" Ashley rushed towards the man and jumped on him like a little monkey. Daniel picked the girl up in his arms and lifted into the air, "My princess, you are unusually active today! Did something good happen?"

"Yes, it happened! Today, I-" the girl wanted to tell about her new friend, but she remembered that she didn't know if Ninja-san ate her cookies. After all, if he did not eat it, then their agreement is not yet valid. She decided that she would wait until the next meeting, and when he confirmed that he agreed to be a member of her team, then she would lead him to everyone and introduce him. They all will be delighted with such a surprise!

The girl smiled slyly and decided to keep this secret with her, "Yes, Sean just apologized for not playing hide and seek with me!"

Daniel dropped an apprising glance at his nephew, the boy lowered his eyes to the floor in embarrassment. Making young Anderson apologize was quite a task, it looks like that the stubbornness that he seemed to have taken after David was multiplied in this little man at times. He knew when he was wrong, he could then do everything possible to remedy the situation, but just coming up and apologizing out loud was a rare event. And to the great surprise of adults, Ashley was the only person to whom he could say these words without hesitation.

"Well, good if it's so," Daniel lowered the girl to the floor and patted Sean on the shoulder as a sign of approval. "How about you go back to the hall? When we were leaving with Corey, we saw how they put a huge plate of jelly beans on the table." The children's eyes shone with bright colors, Daniel knew very well how this couple of hooligans loves these jelly beans.

"Sean!" Elena, with joy and relief in her eyes, ran up to her son and hugged him. Behind her followed three men with a very serious look. She straightened the boy's suit, and asked with a little worry in her voice, "Sean, would you please tell me, did anybody come up to you and Ashley? Maybe some strangers? Nobody asked anything?"

The children exchanged glances between themselves and they both, thinking about their own, looked at the adults and with a smile on their faces said in unison, "No, there was no one."

"All right, dear grownups and children, I propose to return to our plan for eating marmalade! And so, who is first?" Daniel clapped his hands and raised his hand up.

"Me, me!" Sean and Ashley shouted back and ran to the side of the hall.

"Corey, honey, look after them, please," the man winked at his beloved one and the woman followed the children.

"And now," Daniel turned to the rest of the company; his face was serious and focused, "I suppose you want to tell me the bad news, right?"

. . .

Ashley happily scrambled up the bed and crawled under the covers. On the table next to her there were photos of her family and friends. Sean, guys from kindergarten, Elena and the company, mom and dad. A picture of her father was closest to her bed, the girl did it so that he would not be sad to stand by, and so he was among her closest people.

"Mom, what do you think, dad can come to us, right? If a rocket is built in his sky, will he be able to fly here?"

Corey was stunned to hear her daughter's question. The girl had not started such conversations for a long time and the woman did not know how to respond her. "I don't know, my dear. If they build it, then, yes, he will probably be able to come." Corey smiled and stroked Ashley's head, "But you have to eat well, listen to your mother and grow up to be a strong, smart and healthy girl. Then dad will be very happy, even if he cannot fly."

"Mom, do you want dad to fly in here?" Corey froze for a second, and then pinched her daughter by the nose, "Ok, now, go to sleep! Stop talking!" She leaned over and kissed the girl on the forehead, "Good night, dear."

"Yeah, and you too, mom," the girl replied, and five minutes later she plunged herself into her sweet childhood dreams.

Corey looked lovingly at her daughter's sleeping face, and then looked at the photograph standing on the table. She left Ashley's room and quietly closed the door behind her. Leaning on the back of the door, Corey closed her eyes. The last question of her daughter was spinning in her head.

Thoughts brought her back to that vision, to those blue cold eyes, that indifferent face that she seemed to have seen in that dark corridor. If Rick were alive, would she want him back in her life? She did not know the answer to this question.

. . .

The man, accompanied by his servant, descended the stairs. The gray walls of the basement gave off unpleasant dampness; there was a strange smell in the air, causing a feeling of vomiting and dizziness. But all this, it seemed, had no effect on these two men, as if visiting this place was their everyday ritual.

Seeing them, the guard straightened up and took a step to the side to let them into the room behind the heavy metal door. Two went inside and slammed the door behind them. The man sitting on the floor raised his head and looked at them with displeasure, "Tell your boss that I do not intend to cooperate with him. Even if you kill me, it will not change the situation, so I advise you to let me go if you want to stay alive."

"Hmm, you know, it would be better if you were silent, then I might have made your last moments of life not so painful. Although...," the man removed the mask from his face, an ominous smile and a devilish gleam in his eyes seemed even more terrible under the dim light of a lamp hanging alone on the ceiling, "It's not in my style," he finished the phrase and took a step forward.

The prisoner started and backed away, his face distorted by a grimace of horror, "N-no, no! Do not come to me! Monster!" His voice broke off and only stifled rattles were heard in the room until after some time there was complete silence.

Marcus turned around, put on his gloves and headed for the exit, "Clean it up here. And yes," he turned his head and looked at Rick, "Another mistake with the task, and the same thing will happen to you."

The servant lowered his head and, without saying a word in reply, waited until the Master left the room. He knew that this was the only warning. This man does not forgive mistakes and disobedience.

Rick went ahead, took a lifeless body and dragged it into the next room, where the stove was already burning. He threw the body into the fire and watched as the flame devoured the remains of the man who looked more like a mummy than a once-living person. Making sure that there was no trace of the body, he turned and walked away.

The night air was filled with silence and coolness as if nothing in the world existed. Rick sat on the roof of the building and looked into the distance. The small lights were so far away that they seemed unreal; there was only darkness, dark and black forest, which did not let in a single drop of light. This landscape was an excellent reflection of his soul, in which there was nothing but emptiness.

He put his hand in his pocket and took out a small bag of cookies, which was presented to him by a little unfamiliar girl. The man took one cookie and looked at it. For some reason, this cookie seemed very familiar to him, as if once he had already seen this, only when?

Rick opened his mouth and bit off a piece, as soon as the cookie touched his tongue, the man froze. His heart pounded like crazy, the effect of this treat was comparable to the effect of the drug.

Without even noticing, he ate a few pieces in a row, until the last three portions were left in the bag. The man closed the bag and clamped it between his palms. It seemed to him that an inexplicable and pleasant warmth emanated from this little thing.

"Hmm, it's really tasty," he whispered to himself and did what he had never done since the day he woke up in a cold cave next to a man who called himself his Master. Rick raised his head, closed his eyes and smiled.