The Accident?

Running into his apartment, he ripped open his closet door, where within was his backpack. Inside were the last remains of his old life, along with a book which contained the location of a forger who could help him start all over...again. Grabbing a few possessions and some money, he began to head toward the bank when he heard a familiar noise: Peter frantically barking. Running down to the floor below, he saw Rory collapsed in the doorway of her apartment. Running over, he knelt down and could barely feel a pulse, so he immediately reached into his pocket for his phone and called 911.

Rory opened her eyes and was confused to find Baker standing over her.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I’m not so sure,” Baker responded. “An ambulance is on its way. We’ll get you to the hospital and have everything checked out.”

Walking her down stairs through the throng of other residents, he maneuvered Rory towards the incoming EMT’s and explained what he saw.

After receiving attention, Rory was cleared, and decided to take Peter for a walk. Baker couldn’t fathom why she wanted to do that, and offered to walk with them just incase anything happened. She politely declined, but Baker tailed them anyway, worried more for the safety of Rory than himself. 5 minutes in, he noticed Rory stumbling-barely able to hold herself steady-and randomly crossing the street. Reaching Rainbow River, he saw the pair pause and turn around, and he let out a small sigh of relief that they were going home. But what happened next seemed to happen in slow motion. Rory was in the middle of the road again, and a car turned the corner and sped toward her. Baker was frozen, helpless as he watched the collision which sent Rory into the river without a scream.

Calling 911, he ran back towards the Victorian screaming, “Jenn killed Rory!”

The Return

Baker had been in hiding for only a week. He hated the isolation, of not being able to talk to anyone else or make contact with them. But he knew he couldn’t just pretend like nothing had happened. He was one of the most wanted men in the city, and there was very little chance he could return to his regular life.

However, he didn’t believe himself to be a bad person. Just like everyone else, he helped repair the city in the aftermath of the storm, just out of sight. Continuing this behavior for the day, he was exhausted by the time a small festival rolled into town, setting up a stage and concessions in the park. As the smells and sounds collided with him, he realized he couldn’t do this for much longer. Pulling his coat up and his hat down, he walked towards the baked goods stand, avoiding eye contact of everyone else.

Even with all of his cautious actions, he couldn’t help but say hi to a few people, namely Rory. She seemed so much happier now than she had the last time he saw her, and couldn’t help himself. She didn’t seem to worried about the fact he was wanted, as she believed in his good character. Saying hi to some others from the Victorian, he waited among them for the upcoming eclipse, acting like nothing had happened.

In the next couple of weeks, Baker had slowly returned to his apartment. Being very inconspicuous with his actions and only alerting those he trusted to his presence, he began to resume his normal life. But one day, a note showed up on his door. It read: To whom it may concern, the former tenant of this apartment is under investigation by the United States Army for desertion and assault of an officer. Any information is welcome and will be rewarded. Any accomplices with de dealt with accordingly. At the bottom was the stamp of the army, and Baker knew that if he didn’t flee at this moment, the might face a terrible fate.

Mistake

It had been a long day for Baker. He’d been trying to cook a new chicken recipe for the entirety of the morning, with less than stellar results. His current attempt, which he thought was number six after losing count multiple times, wasn’t turning out much better. After pulling out another piece of burnt food, he was coming very close to losing his temper. Very few people knew this about him, but Baker had an awful rage when he became very frustrated. He’d lose all sense of right and wrong, and could be very hard to reason with and calm down.

Deciding to just go out to eat, Baker gathered his things and headed out into the town. Angling towards Long Horn Diner, he began his walk without any urgency, trying to regain his temper. Midway through his walk however, he began to flip out. A monster thunderstorm, complete with bright flashes of lightning and pounding rain. To Baker, this was just the icing on the cake for his bad morning. Running into the nearby package store, he proceeded to the liquor aisle, where he grabbed the first bottle he saw and began to drink.  The clerk began to yell, “Hey, you need to stop and pay for that!”, but Baker didn’t stop. Instead, he paused and sang, “Everything you say to me takes me one step closer to the edge, and I’m about to break.”

Deciding that he couldn’t make Baker stop, the cleric called the police, and an officer showed up shortly after. Walking into the store, he saw Baker just standing in one of the aisles, looking at the selection available. Moving towards him, he said, ‘Sir, I’m gonna need you to come with me.” Approaching him from behind, he couldn’t see the redness present on Bakers face, a mix of his anger and intoxication. He was also unprepared for what happened next, as Baker turned around, and with his advanced military training, incapacitated the officer with one punch. Looking down, his eyes grew wide as he realized what he just did. Slowly stepping back, he pulled his coat over his face and ran out of the store towards the outskirts of town, thinking to himself, What have I done?

Relief

Ever since his interaction in the park, Baker had been more cautious and meticulous with everything he did. Before leaving his apartment, he checked to make sure no one was in the hallway, or even on his floor, as he believed he was being watched by someone who knew who he really was. After leaving the Victorian, he would quickly get to his destination, never stopping for any person or event that popped up along his route. If possible, Baker would try his hardest not to leave his apartment at all, as he knew that it was his one safe place in the city.

However, today was the day he needed to get his weekly supply of groceries, so he had no choice but to leave the Victorian. Putting on his body-concealing trench coat, he maneuvered his way through the lobby without attracting the attention of Ellen or any other residents that were moving in and out of the building. Quickly deciding there might be a lot of people at the local store, he headed into Helen's Produce Store on Simone and Carrier. Looking past the ominous electric sign and rusted doors, he saw no other customers inside and walked in unheralded. 

Once inside, he worked to find the items he wanted, searching through the moldy items present on the self. After grabbing a few pieces of fruit and placing them into his cart, Baker turned, and was looking right into the face of an old lady wearing a christmas sweater. Jumping out of his shoes, Baker dropped the majority of his groceries onto the floor due to the unexpected appearance of the lady. 

"I'm so sorry for startling you," she began to say. "My name is Helen and I just wanted to ask if you needed any help."

Standing up and dusting himself off, Baker replied," Well, once I pick all of my things up, I could use help checking out."

Grabbing his scattered items, Baker and Helen went to one of the many counters and began to check all of his groceries. During this process, the two engaged in some small talk, with Baker becoming more and more engaged as time progressed. As his final total was rung up, Baker couldn't help but feel relieved and thankful, as this frail lady had just helped him become open once more to interactions with others, something he'd been very docile with in the prior weeks.

Maybe now I can go back to being myself, Baker thought as he walked out of the small store, groceries and trench coat in hand. 

Memories

The train horn was the first sign of things to come. The whistle woke Baker up as if it had been right in his room with him. Jumping out of bed, he alertly looked around the room until he realized where the noise originated from. Relaxing, he thought to himself, I came to live here because it was quiet, so I wouldn’t be on edge all of the time. He looked at his watch. Seeing that it was 4 am, he realized he might as well begin his day, as he would have to wake up in an hour anyway. But, after making his morning cup of coffee and sitting in front of his computer, he saw that work was cancelled due to a pipe burst.

Due to the nature of his unnatural feeling desk job, Baker had some work he needed to catch up on because of his lack of efficiency while at work. However, after many hours, he thought he’d take a walk as he hadn’t been outside all day. Setting a timer to make sure he’d be home by 5pm, Baker set off on his walk, moving towards the park on Only Way street because it would be less crowded than other parts of the city. Strangely, the train was stopped nearby, but this only deserved an acknowledgement in the mind of Baker; he just wanted to enjoy his walk through the dense fog, as it was just him alone with his thoughts, nothing else in sight to distract him.

Walking through the park, Baker was startled to see an old man and a child sitting together on a bench. Walking closer to the pair, he began to hear noise coming from the man's mouth, and saw duct tape over the child’s face. Upon hearing footsteps, the old man yelled out, “The truth with all its power lives inside me!” This stopped baker in his tracks, as he only had one secret that only he knew; He hadn’t even told Rory, the only person he conversed with in the whole city. There’s no way he could know that. He’s just a crazy old man. Making eye contact with the child before turning away, he began walking home. But through the fog, he could have sworn he saw a person running around, lit on fire from head to toe. Baker flashed back to 3 years ago, in some unknown Province in Iraq, watching as his squad was engulfed in IED flames. That was the final straw that caused his desertion after his leader left them for dead in some small town.

There’s no way this has anything to do with that old man, it can’t be. And with that image in his head, Baker ran back to his apartment as fast as he could, trying to figure out how someone knew his most private secret; the truth about why he was in this no name city.

Finding a Friend

This sucks.

For what felt the the millionth time that day, Baker complained to himself about his current situation. He was stuck down at Rainbow river, washing his clothes along with many other residents of the city. Some he recognized from the lobby of the Victorian, but most were just faces in the crowd. 

The water situation in the city had become worse over the days following the disappearance of the mayor. It was almost as if he knew the problem was unfixable, so he left while he still could. What a good leader he is, leaving us all to fend for ourselves. With the lack of water becoming more and more of a pressing issue, many of the restaurants and businesses throughout the city were closed down, waiting for water prices to fall so they could resume business. This included Empire offices, but Baker wasn't that concerned. He'd saved up a little bit of money incase of an emergency like this, and as the city's previous power outage showed, anything could happen, so it was good to be prepared. 

However, with this opening in his schedule, Baker was finding it hard to keep himself occupied. Usually, he worked all day, but now without this, he didn't have anything to do, and loneliness began to mount on his shoulders. Looking around at all of the other people near him, he felt like there wasn't anything he could do to start a conversation, as the common theme was how irritating the water problem was.

Sighing as he rose with his washed clothes, Baker began to walk back towards the Victorian. Unbeknownst to him, he was dropping a few of his clothes as he went down Simone Boulevard. 

"Excuse me sir!!"

Turning around, Baker saw a dog and a woman chasing after him, the dog holding his socks in its mouth and the woman holding a couple of his Shirts.

"I believe you dropped these while you were walking" the woman said.

'Oh, thank you. I didn't even realize. I'm Baker by the way"

"Rory. Nice to meet you. And this right here is Peter" she said while patting her dog on the head.

"Well, thank both of you for giving these back to me. I was just heading back to the Victorian"

"Oh really me too! Let's walk together." Rory replied.

This is Home?

Looking around at the new accommodations in his living room, Baker was finally beginning to feel welcomed in his own apartment. A tall lamp rested in the corner of the living room, shining light over a newly purchased ikea couch. The rest of the apartment was filled with cheap, but surprisingly nice looking furniture purchased form the pawn shop and ordered from online bargain sites.

After looking for a job for weeks, Baker finally got his chance at empire offices'. It was a basic desk job, but it was better than nothing, and it definitely afforded Baker luxuries that weren't at all possible before. His new couch was a prime example of his hard work, the upgrade from the almost rotting piece of fabric he had before astonishing to him. It was perfect timing too, as he had read that the Magazine Southern Living was coming to The Victorian. Baker shook with excitement. He couldn't wait to show off what his hard work had accomplish and was beginning to evolve into, and this was a prime opportunity to share his story.

Outside his apartment, he could hear many footsteps and voices moving rapidly through the building. That has to be them he thought to himself. Stepping out of his kitchen, he slowing walked toward the door, preparing himself for the inevitable knock that would soon come. Suddenly, he heard a woman yelling, followed by a loud bang.

"What the hell was that?"
"She has a gun!"
"If you've got a reporter in there, send it home!"

Baker could barely comprehend all the screaming before it was once again silent, all of the footsteps he heard gone with their frantic owners. There will always be another time. he thought to himself as he returned once again to his brand new couch.