Chapter 4

The factory was a mess, papers scattered across the floors and glass shards littered around the rooms. The white paint had almost chipped off completely, and many of the doors had been taken off their hinges. Strangely enough, the main lighting still worked. No one had paid the electricity bills, so Arder didn't understand how this was possible.

"I haven't been here since my ninth birthday," Arder said.

"Is this his office?" Grey asked, standing in the now doorless entryway. The room didn't look different inside. It still had Cyrus' tall mahogany bookshelves, all filled to the brim with books and notebooks. His old scratched up desk was left opened with files and pens pouring out of it. The only notable difference was the empty spot where his desktop use to sit.

Arder nodded, taking a seat on one of the two oddly coloured sofas. They were both a bright orange colour that didn't match anything else in the room, yet they still seemed to fit in with the atmosphere.

"My mom use to drop me off here after school when she had to work," Arder said, smiling at the memory. She had loved coming to the factory, and exploring the hundreds of different rooms.

"I haven't actually been here before," Grey admitted, picking up a file that had fallen to the floor. He tucked it back into the open drawer and sunk into the couch next to Arder. "I've only visited the company building."

"It's so weird being here now," she said, shaking her head. The memories she wanted to forget kept coming to mind. She knew this had been a bad idea.

"Because of how it looks or because it's been so long?" Grey asked, staring out the large window in front of them. The dark navy curtains that hung before it were ripped and had built up a lot of dust over the years.

"I don't know," Arder replied. "I think it's both." She missed Cyrus, and being there with Grey felt like she was invading the place. "So what did you need to get?" she asked.

"Right," Grey said. "I'm looking for a file that might have my name on it."

Arder walked over to the desk and sat down in its chair. Pulling open the drawers, she glanced back at Grey. "Aren't you going to help?" she teased.

"Yeah," he answered, opening a drawer to the left of the desk. "I'll look on this side, you take care of that one?"

She nodded and started sifting through the files. She saw ones for all sorts of people and companies, but none were Grey's. "It's not here," she said.

"Not over here either," he sighed. "I'll find it eventually." He then stared out the window behind the desk, lost in thought.

She followed his gaze and saw two buildings that were also abandoned. Their conditions were no better than the factory's. Squinting at the second of the two, Arder noticed that it looked familiar. She could see the gravel on its flat roof and the staircase that lead up to the front door. That's when Arder recalled a memory that had been buried beneath the rest. She had always remembered Cyrus leaving her at the factory, but before that moment it had always been a blank after that.

~~~

"Where are we going Cyrus?" she asked with a huge grin on her face. It was her ninth birthday, and she walked down the street hand in hand with the man who was once her father's best friend. He was dressed in a suit, like always. Cyrus was a businessman; just not your typical businessman.

When they arrived at his company's factory, he let go of her hand. He kneeled in front of her and smiled. It was a real and genuine smile, one she hadn't seen from him before.

"Arder, you know your father would have really loved you, right?" he asked her.

"As much as you?" she questioned, still grinning. People walked up and down the street, not paying much attention to them. The neighbourhood had become quite popular over the years with all the apartment buildings and restaurants popping up around it.

"As much as me." He paused and held her hand again. "But I have to leave," he said.

"Leave?" she asked."Where are you going?"

"Well," he replied, "I'm going to see your father." He watched as the grin on her face was replaced by a frown and tears started to fall from her eyes. She hated that he was leaving her. After all, he was all she had. Arder looked up at him, not understanding where or why he was going. "Hey, it's okay. It doesn't mean I'll be gone forever. You'll see me again," he reassured her.

"You'll come back?" she asked with wide eyes.

He nodded and wiped a tear off her face before hugging her tight. "Promise," he whispered. He pulled away and walked across the street into an alleyway, leaving the girl he loved like a daughter in front of the factory alone. When he disappeared into the darkness, she started to cry again. She cried more than she ever had before, not wanting to be left behind. When he didn't return, Arder sat on the curb with her head in her hands and waited for her mom to come pick her up.

Eight years later, she still didn't know why he had abandoned her there.

~~~~

The memory was one that confused her. She didn't even know where he had gone until her mother told her that he moved back 'home.'

"Are you okay?" Grey asked, interrupting her racing thoughts.

"What?" She had almost forgotten he was in the room. She tore her eyes away from the building and turned to face him.

"You're crying," he stated. His voice reminded her of the day before, when he looked concerned. His dark eyebrows furrowed together into a straight line.

"Am I?" Arder asked, realizing that the tears had dropped down her face. "I didn't even notice."

Grey nodded and brushed them away with a calloused thumb. She took in a sharp breath, surprised at his closeness.

"Was he someone to cry over?" Grey asked with no emotion present on his face. In that moment, Arder didn't feel as if she could relate to anyone as well as she could to Grey. He hadn't known his father either, and knowing that made Arder feel just a little less alone.

"Yes," she replied without even needing to think about it. She still couldn't believe that he was dead, that he broke his promise to return. Her mind went blank when she remembered what he had said: I'm going to see your father.

But her father was dead. He had died before she was even born. Just as her thoughts started to wander, the boy beside her brought her back to reality.

"Let's get out of here. This was a bad idea." He stood up and walked past her to the main exit. When she didn't follow, he put a hand on her shoulder. This made her turn to face him.

He gave her a reassuring smile before continuing to walk outside. Arder soon trailed behind him into the late afternoon.

~~~~

She looked at her phone and saw the time. School had just ended and she needed to get to work. "I should get going, I'm late for work," she said, breaking their comfortable silence.

They had been walking around the neighbourhood for a long time, not going anywhere in particular. It was nice being in the community after so long, and she had needed to think. She felt much too at ease around him though, but he was Cyrus's son. How could she not be?

"I'll walk you," he volunteered, heading down the uneven sidewalk. Their words hung in the silence of the abandoned area like echoes in a canyon. She nodded and they kept walking, their arms brushing every couple of minutes. She didn't feel scared of him, but she felt like she should be. Arder had never been one to feel fear though.

"Did I know you when we were younger?" she asked. The roads started to change, and Arder knew they were approaching the cafe. There was a drastic change in the environment once you turned onto its street. Everything looked nicer and newer.

"No, I lived with my mom. Cyrus always called though, and I think he mentioned you once. I had heard about your father before too," Grey replied.

When they got to the corner where the cafe was situated, she thanked him. He raised his eyebrows in question and asked, "What did I do?"

She shrugged, not really knowing, before walking away from him and into the cafe. When she heard the glass door close, she turned back around but didn't see him. She looked out the windows for where he went, not being able to find him. She saw a flash of black from the corner of her eye, but it was already across the street. Walking back outside, she looked over the cars driving past. Still, she found no trace of the boy with the raven-black hair. He had disappeared from sight much faster than she thought to be possible.

"Figure it out, Arder," she heard a low voice say, but when she looked around there was no one there. Not a single person on the street made eye contact with her, but she swore she heard the voice. Then Arder heard it again, and she realized no one had said it out loud at all.

It was in her head.