𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖱𝖾𝖽 𝖢𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗎𝗋𝗒

"And that's the whole house, Mr. Reed," the lady realtor turned around and said.

Evander took one good look at the furnished space in front of him. Inside the manor it was almost all dark wood, the color of black coffee running through every room, catching the light from the windows. The walls were paneled in rich mahogany, hand-carved woodwork framing every doorway, mantel, and staircase. It was massive.

Evander loved it.

As the realtor closed the deal, she gave Evander a warm welcome to his new 2.3 million dollar home on Madison Drive while she started heading toward the front door.

After she left, Evander struck a match and lit up the stone fireplace, then made his way to the bar and opened a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon. He sat on the high stool letting the first sip burn the inside of his throat, only for a moment.

He sat there playing with his Victorian signet ring on his left middle finger — his father's old ring that he had made into a daylight ring back in 1805 by a witch.

Later that evening he decided to take a late night stroll through Old Town, ten minutes from his new manor. It was the oldest part of Cypress End, the buildings were two and three story historic structures, some had faded paint showing the bricks underneath, some painted over in deep creams, muted greens, and dusty blues.

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The streets were busy, people moving from one spot to another in groups, laughing, drinking, live musicians playing on patios and street corners. The energy was warm, fun. Peaceful.

Evander had not been in Mississippi in 38 years. He'd been moving around state to state, country to country, never truly settling losing a sense of who he was in a way.

While walking down Remington Avenue, which was basically an alleyway that became a street narrow, brick-paved, running parallel to the back of Old Quarter Street. During the day delivery trucks use it, and at night it's mostly empty and dark.

He felt a cool gust of breeze pass by his face. He looked around and didn't see anything and kept walking. Then he felt a presence behind him and caught a glimpse of a shadow. He was confused about what was going on and then felt an overpowering sleepy feeling wash over him.

He collapsed.