¡Hola! ¿Como estas? ¿Muy bien? ¡Bien! I don't know why I'm speaking Spanish... I'm learning Chinese... Anyway, I had this idea and had to write it down ASAP. Just as a warning, I may or may not continue this. If I do, expect late updates because I'm supposed to be working on another story. Well, only expect that if you plan on reading this...

Onward, dear friends!

The streets of London were bustling with people on this particular rainy day. People were laughing, smiling, talking on phones, window shopping, or even simply walking. Among this crowd of people was a rather short twenty-three year old man with choppy blonde hair, emerald green eyes, and quite bushy eyebrows. (Don't tell him I said that last bit, he'd try to strangle me.) The man sighed and glanced at his watch as he strode towards what appeared to be a tea shop. The door opened with the sound of a bell and he closed his umbrella and stepped inside. The man working the counter looked up and smiled.

"Hey, Arthur. The usual?" Arthur gave him a small smile and nodded before he sat at a table by the window.

The man at the counter turned to one of his coworkers and said, "Earl grey tea with a spot of cream, two teaspoons of sugar and a blueberry scone for Kirkland."

After that was said, Arthur turned toward the window and watched as the droplets of water slid down the pane. He sighed again. Arthur Kirkland was nothing special. Just another person with a job and a life. He was simply a librarian. Nothing more, nothing less. He only chose the job so he could be closer to the one thing he loved: books. The fact that Arthur had the qualifications to be an editor/publisher or even a school teacher peeved him a bit for he only managed to get a measly job as a librarian. He sighed again and closed his eyes to let his mind wander. More often than not, he would do this and imagine himself as something he was not. He would imagine himself as a noble, a magician, a singer, an actor, even as more absurd things such as a pirate.

He let his mind wander for a bit before he was removed from his thoughts.

"Arthur!" Arthur turned his head in the direction of the counter and saw the man holding a cup and a bag. He stood and walked towards him, pulling out his wallet. Arthur pulled out the necessary amount of pounds and placed them on the counter. He reached for the cup and the bag, "Thanks Andrew." Andrew smiled and nodded at him as he handed Arthur his order.

They waved at each other before Arthur turned and walked back to the entrance of the shop. As he opened the door, hearing the ding of the bell, he opened his umbrella and stepped back out into the cold and rain. Once outside, he took a sip of his tea and let out a sigh of utter bliss. He stood there for a few moments before turning and walking in the direction of his workplace. That's when he thought he heard someone say his name. He paused mid-step and looked around. Could it have been his imagination? No, it sounded too real for that, right?

...

Arthur began to think that it quite possibly was his imagination. Wait, there it was again! It sounded like... A child? Arthur turned around and saw a flash of bright reds, yellows, greens, and oranges run off down the street and around the corner. Arthur frowned and walked in the same direction. 'What am I doing?', He thought, 'I don't know who this could be or where they're leading me!' Yet, he continued to walk, as if being drawn by some unknown force. When he rounded the corner, he found a labyrinth of hedges with roses on them. The roses were all blue for some strange reason, not that he minded, blue happened to be a favorite color of his. Yet, he didn't remember these hedges ever being here. The noises of the busy city were also gone. He turned around and found that the streets were no longer there. He was surrounded by the over-sized rose bushes.

When he turned back in the direction he was originally facing, he found a playing card face down on the ground. He crouched and picked it up. When he flipped it over, he found that it was the Ace of Spades. Arthur smiled at the card, the Ace of Spades had always been one of his most favorite cards in an entire deck of cards. It was always the most beautiful and intricate card. When he looked up, he saw another card not too far away, also faced down. He stood and walked over to it, picking it up. Two of Spades. Another card, Three of Spades. After that, Four of Spades. Arthur realized that the cards were set in a way that they were ascending. He followed the cards through the maze, one after the other. Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten. Since those were all of the numbers, Arthur wondered if there would be any more cards and if so, what cards would they be? Hearts? Diamonds? Clubs?

When he looked in front of himself, he saw another card, faced down like the rest of them. When he picked it up and turned it over, he found it was not what he thought, but the Jack of Spades. Arthur stared at the card for a moment before shrugging and continuing to walk, 'The person who placed these cards obviously really likes the spades' cards.' He picked up a card that was placed not to far from where he was originally standing. It, of course, was also faced down. King of Spades. Arthur continued to walk, but when he came across what he supposed was the final card, he found it was placed on a bed of what appeared to be weeds and twigs. This card was not faced down. It was the Queen of Spades. He walked towards the card to pick it up, but when he stepped upon the weeds and sticks, he fell into a large hole. As he dropped, he released twelve out of thirteen cards. The thirteenth card, being the Queen of Spades, managed to find itself stuck inside the sleeve of Arthur's peacoat.

Hmm, it appears Arthur has fallen into a trap. Shall we see what happens to our beloved Brit in the next chapter? Favorite, follow, review and all that jazz. You should know the drill.

Until next time~