AVALANCHE
(The Next Morning)
I sat on my couch, watching the TV and eating my breakfast.
"... , revealing that the cause of the sudden black out in Sector One is that the sector's mako reactor exploded. That's right, the Sector One Mako Reactor was destroyed last night, which also explains the 'earthquake' that accompanied the black out. The criminals behind this disaster were a group of terrorists known as AVALANCHE. President Shinra refused to comment on the matter..."
I sat there half-chewing my food, staring at the TV as they showed footage of people running and different angles of the reactor exploding. The structure of the building the reactor was contained in was still in tact, which kept the plate up where it was. I began to worry about what this AVALANCHE was going to do next. I quickly finished my breakfast and set the plate in the sink. When I got back to the couch, my phone rang. I picked it up and said, "Hello?"
"Lenore," It was my commander. "The president has called an emergency meeting. I'm making it your job to guard it."
"So what else is new, Sir? I always guard the president's meetings."
"It's amazing you made it so far up the ranks with that attitude of yours. Get over there, A.S.A.P.!"
"Yes, Sir." I hung up and got off the couch to get ready for work. I got dressed and brushed my hair. When I was sure I looked decent I picked up my scythe, walked out the door, and headed toward the Shinra building.
******** ******** ********
It was a trip and a half getting to work. I first had to get from my apartment to the Shinra building at the very center of Midgar, which was fairly easy considering how close to it my apartment was. I just had to walk a few blocks down the street to get to the building. The Shinra building consisted of sixty-nine floors. The first two floors were the gift shops and the displays of Shinra's mako-powered vehicles. The floors between two and fifty-nine were always a complete mystery to me. I guess they were office floors or something. The fifty-ninth and sixtieth floors consist of people guarding the floors above, where the President and his top employees go about their businesses. The sixty-first floor was basically a huge break room. There were all sorts of snack bars and coffee bars and tables set all over the place. I sometimes stopped there on my way to work when I had the time and had some coffee. The entire sixty-ninth floor was the president's office. I only went there once with my commander to be introduced as the new guard for the meeting room. His desk was at least twice the size of a regular office desk. The office walls were entirely made up of windows, which gave the president an excellent view of Midgar and the lands beyond it. The sixty-sixth floor was where the meeting room was.
The longest part of the entire trip to work was the elevator ride all the way up to the sixty-sixth floor. The elevator was a little slow, and the choice of music was horrible, so I was nearly driven insane with every trip up and down the elevator. I once thought about going up the stairs instead, but then I asked myself if I really wanted to climb up sixty-six flights of stairs. Plus, it would've taken longer, so in the end I was stuck taking the long and boring elevator to the sixty-sixth floor.
When I got there, everyone was already seated and ready to start the meeting except for Professor Hojo, who had arrived at almost the same time as I had. He was a thin man in who would've looked like he was in his fifties if not for his jet-black hair and moustache. He wore a white lab coat over a black suit shirt and a pair of brown slacks. His brow protrudes over his eyes, creating a shadowed effect on his face. This only added to the Professor's spooky look.
He stopped and looked at me just before reaching the meeting room door. He gave me a crooked smile that sent chills running down my spine. I felt that something about him wasn't quite right, but other than his spooky look, I had no idea what it could've been. After a disturbing five seconds of us staring at each other, his smile grew wider as he turned and continued through the door. He walked into the room and took his seat while I shut the door and took my place in front of the door. After that I breathed a sigh of relief and started my long and boring work.
After about an hour standing there in front of the meeting room door, I realized that I couldn't get my mind off of Raven. I couldn't even explain why either. Maybe it was because I was just that bored. Whatever the reason, it was becoming more annoying than the boredom of guarding the door that nobody cared about.
"This is driving me crazy," I thought to myself.
"Hi, Miss Moira!!!" A familiar little moogle popped up in front of my face.
"Speaking of things that drive me crazy," I thought.
"Hello, Bibble," I responded, annoyed. I especially wasn't in the mood for Holly Bibble's telepathy that day.
"Kupo! Must be exciting!"
"What?"
"That you're dating Mr. Raven!"
"And? Get to the interesting part."
"You're not excited, kupo? You finally found yourself a boyfriend!"
"...I don't think it's that exciting, and he's not all that great."
"Liar! If you don't like him, then how come he's all you can think about today? Hmmm?"
"You really ought to stop picking my brain when you're least welcome."
"Kupo? But I'm always least welcome."
"Exactly."
There was a long period of silence after that. I stared at the far wall as Bibble kept her wide-eyed gaze at me.
"...You like him."
"You're an idiot."
"The least you can do is to admit he's a nice guy, kupo! His nicey-ness counters your meany-ness."
"He's just another guy to me."
"You're in denial, kupo."
"Why don't you just 'kupo' your way out of my sight and leave me to my work?"
"But you'll be bored, kupo!"
That made me angry because I knew she was right.
"Fine."
"You're meaner than usual, kupo, which means that you know that what I'm saying is truth, therefore bringing me to assume that you are in denial, kupo!"
"Ok! Ok! So I guess I like him!"
"Kupo!" Bibble squealed out happily.
"But not a word of this to anyone!"
"Nobody thinks I exist, kupo, so it doesn't matter what I say or do."
"I'm just telling you not to say this to anyone."
"What'll you do if I do, kupo? You can't kill me, 'member? Last time you tried, kupo, you fell on your butt."
"Hmph!"
"I think it's funny that I figured it out before you did, kupo!"
"You know what? Shut up, ok?"
"And do you know what, kupo? You should go find a different line of work or move out of Midgar or something, kupo, because after living here, you've hated your life and went sour."
"Stop reading my mind!" I burst out, realizing that I didn't even have to be thinking it for her to be able to read it. "It's none of your business whether or not I'm happy with my life!"
"I know, but kupo..." She whined looking at the ground, "It bothers me how you're always so miserable. Maybe Mr. Raven can help fix that."
"I wouldn't count on it."
"We'll see. I gotta go now, kupo. I hope Mr. Raven makes you happy."
"Heh."
"Bye-Bye, Miss Moira! Kupo!" She sang as she disappeared as quickly as she appeared.
"Good-bye," I growled, "And good riddance."
I continued my work, which was to stand there in front of the door. I sometimes tried to eavesdrop on the conversation in the meeting room just so I can keep myself busy. Only a small handful of people ever attended these meetings. They were usually Professor Hojo (who always seemed to be on an agenda of his own), a man named Reeve (who was a member of the Shinra secret service called the Turks), President Shinra and his assistants, of course, and his bodyguard, Wyndom Arsenault.
Wyndom was so quiet and seemed to always try so hard to blend into the wall that he was barely noticeable, even to a security guard like me who gets paid to pay attention to detail. He never talked during the meetings, or any other time for that matter. His weapon was a bo-staff. I never bothered trying to make contact with him because he was too quiet and brooding for my taste.
The president addressed the disaster at the Sector One reactor and how the Sector One plate was left with no power until they were able to find an alternate power source to use while they have a new one built. They also mentioned an attempted attack on the Sector Five reactor. Fortunately, the President intercepted AVALANCHE during a visit and sent a giant robot to take care of them. Unfortunately, they managed to escape. The President's investigators had pinpointed AVALANCHE's hideout to be somewhere in the Sector Seven slums, so I was guessing that they were whispering up a plan to track them down and make sure they didn't blow up any more reactors.
There was also mentioning about things called "Ancients" and their role in the future of our world, but by that time I was wondering when the meeting would finish so I could get my hefty paycheck and go home. I stopped eavesdropping and looked up to see if I could find anything different or suspicious, and I found a familiar-looking guy on the far left end of the hall, walking in my general direction. I felt a split-second adrenaline rush come out of nowhere as I recognized the guy to be Raven. He was dressed semi-casually, in dark gray suit pants and a white suit shirt. He was really shuffling through the hall with his head sort of slanted downward, as if disappointed about something. He almost didn't notice me as he was passing me. He would have passed me altogether had I not stuck my scythe out in front of him as he walked.
"Excuse me, SOLDIER," I said in a professional tone, "Were you planning on passing through this hallway without saying 'hello' to me?"
"Moira!" He seemed surprised. "I didn't notice you. Are you on duty?"
"No, I enjoy standing in front of the door to a meeting the President arranged all by himself."
"Uh sorry, stupid question." He crossed his arms and looked down at his boot as he rolled it on the edge of the heal. After short moment he looked back up at me. "You got the 'emergency meeting' shift, eh?"
"Yes, unfortunately. These meetings are of no interest to anyone but the ones inside the room, and even then I think there's a couple of guys in there who would rather be somewhere else. I really don't see why this door needs guarding."
He walked over and leaned on the wall across of me.
"Well, you know, the President has been known to be a bit of an idiot at times."
"Yea, well, he could've just locked the door and that would be all the guarding they'll ever need."
"You're probably right."
"When I spotted you walking, you looked a little down. Did something happen?"
"Well, all the members of SOLDIER were called up early this morning for a special meeting. A few of them didn't show up."
"Is that it?"
"Well, no. I figured since it was so early in the morning, they decided to get more sleep or something, which could get them kicked off of SOLDIER. A couple of the guys who didn't show up were friends of mine. When I tried to call them later on to see what happened, they weren't there. I tried more than a dozen times after that and got nothing. I even tried going to visit each of them, but nobody was there. I'm starting to wonder if there isn't something more to this."
"It hasn't been that long," I tried to comfort him, "It's only late morning. They might turn up later."
"I hope so," he replied and then looked up at me, "Thanks for hearing me out."
"Hey, what else could I do?" I smiled at him and shrugged my shoulders. "My only job is to stand in front of this door pretending it's actually important. Nobody said I couldn't talk to anybody."
"No, I guess not." He smiled and seemed to feel a little better. "Do you have anything planned after this?"
"No, I don't. Why?"
"Well, I was thinking I could get you some coffee or something on the sixty-first floor."
"Sure, why not?"
"Alright then." He clapped his hands and rubbed them together as he started stepping in the direction of the elevator. "I'll meet you there after your shift ok?"
"Sounds good to me."
"Ok." He turned around and started walking away, keeping his eyes on me. "See you later."
"Bye, Raven." I watched him walk into the elevator twelve feet in front of me. He winked and gave me a thumbs-up with a huge dopey grin on his face as the elevator suddenly swooshed downward and disappeared.
******** ******** ********
The meeting didn't end until mid afternoon. When I was finally released from my shift, I sprinted across the hall and into the elevator. I almost cracked the button for the sixty-first floor trying to make the elevator move faster. When I finally got there, I was relieved to see Raven still waiting for me at a table on the far end of the room. When I walked over there, I got a good look at how he was sitting at the table.
He sat on the stool with his head laying on the tabletop facing to his right, eyes shut and mouth wide open. A small puddle of liquid was on the table around the area of his mouth. He had his legs apart with an arm on each leg, and his hands were just dangling in the middle. His rope of a braid hung down behind him.
I sat on the stool to his right and tapped him on the shoulder. When I got no response, I poked him in his side. When that didn't work, I grabbed his braid and tugged it like an old-fashioned doorbell. When I saw that he still wasn't moving, I got frustrated and kicked him in the leg.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" He yelped out as grabbed his leg and started bobbing back and forth. Apparently, I'd kicked him harder than intended. "As if yanking my hair wasn't enough."
"You mean to tell me you were awake the whole time?"
"Well, no," He answered keeping the pained look on his face and holding his leg but he stopped moving. "Just after the part where you yanked my hair."
"Then why didn't you react?"
"Part of training at SOLDIER is learning how to wake up without making a move or sound."
"It sounds pointless."
"It's only useful when someone is breaking into your sleeping quarters."
"Oh…"
There was a long period of silence after that. I just stared at him while he rubbed his leg for a few seconds and then sat up straight.
"So," He started, "How about that coffee I promised you?"
"Sure."
"Wait right here."
He got up and walked toward the coffee bar. Shin-Ra Coffee it was called. I was beginning to wonder if there was any business in Midgar that didn't have Shin-Ra as part of its name. I looked up to see a familiar figure in a white lab coat walking across the room. I wondered where he was going, but didn't want to know what he was up to.
After a few seconds of walking, he suddenly stopped and turned his gaze in my general direction. Then he started walking towards the table I was sitting at. Then he stopped just a few feet in front of me, not far from the edge of the table. He looked down at me with the same crooked grin he walked into the meeting room with.
"Good afternoon," Professor Hojo greeted, "Are you the young lady who guards the meeting room door?"
This question seemed ridiculous because we'd already met this morning before the meeting. "Yes Sir, I am," I answered respectfully nonetheless.
"A rather pointless position in my opinion since the door does indeed have a functional lock." He sat down across the table from me, looking at me over his glasses. "How would you like to guard something more worthy of your skill?"
"And how would someone like you know what my skills are?" I asked in suspicion.
"My sources tell me that you are a skilled scythe-wielder," he answered, "And the look on your face as you arrived this morning seemed rather dulled. As if you'd much rather be someplace else, where there is more 'action'."
"I guess I make it all too obvious how I hate my job."
"Well, I might have a job to offer you that is actually worth guarding."
"Well?" I was getting impatient, "What is it?"
"My laboratory," he answered calmly, "I think it is much more likely that someone would break into my laboratory to try to steal my research than it is for someone to break into a meeting."
"Hmm…" I considered this. It sounded logical enough, but I still didn't want to jump into it just yet.
"If you need to think about it, be my guest. You can give me an answer at the next meeting." He got up off the seat, and turned around to leave. "Just remember that if you refuse, you will be stuck guarding a band of pathetic business politicians in a room that should not be guarded."
Then he walked away to the elevator on the far side of the room. Raven arrived just as he left, holding two cups of coffee.
"Was that Professor Hojo that just walked off?" Raven asked wish a puzzled look on his face as he sat down next to me and handed me my coffee.
"Yea," I answered, "He was offering me a job." I sipped my coffee.
"A job? Doing what?"
"Something about guarding his lab."
"What did you say?"
"I didn't give him an answer. He gave me until the next meeting to think about it, though."
"Are you going to accept it?"
"I'm not sure."
"I wouldn't," said a deep voice from behind us. Raven and I turned around to see a tall man clad in a black suit-shirt, black pants, black gloves, black boots, black sunglasses, and a black cape. He was holding a bo-staff in his right hand.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Arsenault," I greeted respectfully. "Where did you come from?"
"The same place you just came from," he replied, "The meeting room."
I looked his outfit up and down. "Got enough black on you? You look like you'd blend right into the wall in a dark alley."
"No, and I'd blend in anywhere."
"…That's true."
"He's Wyndom Arsenault?" Raven smirked with an almost laughing grin on his face, "President Shin-Ra's bodyguard?"
"What of it, SOLDIER boy?" Wyndom shot back looking at Raven. "It's not exactly a position I'm very proud of."
"I'm not exactly happy with guarding the meeting room door myself," I replied.
There was a moment of silence after that.
"Um, how did you manage to get behind us unnoticed?" I asked Wyndom, breaking the silence.
"I can go just about anywhere without being seen," Wyndom answered, "So I'm not surprised a security guard like you didn't sense me coming."
"Are you saying I'm not a good security guard?"
"No, I'm just saying I'm so unnoticeable, I might as well be invisible."
"Oh…" I sat there for a bit, "So what brings you to our table?"
"I overheard your little conversation with Hojo," he answered.
"What about it?" I asked.
"I wouldn't take that job if I were you," he reiterated.
"And why not?"
"Because he's creepy," Raven butted in.
"I don't trust him," Wyndom answered. "He even gives me the creeps."
"What is likely to happen if I do take this job?"
"Not sure, but there's rumors that people who work for Hojo end up disappearing."
That didn't sound good, but I knew for a fact that most rumors in Midgar were false, so I wan't really buying it.
Raven added, "Some rumors say the disappearances are because Hojo uses those people for secret experiments."
"All the more reason not to take the job," Wyndom added. "The President's an idiot, but at least I know my job's secure as long as he stays alive."
"And you actually believe these rumors?" I asked while sipping my coffee.
"If you've ever seen his lab, you'd have good reason to believe them." Raven answered.
"Well, rumors or not," I started, "I'm sure it would probably be more exciting than guarding the meeting room door."
"Well, whether you listen to me or not, my advice is to stay away from Hojo," Wyndom said as he turned around to leave. "See you at the next meeting."
"It was nice talking to you," I called as he walked away. He waved his left hand as to say "likewise" as he walked away.
"It must be serious if Wyndom Arsenault went out of his way to give you a word of warning," Raven said as we turned back around in our seats, sipping our last bit of coffee. "Because I hear he's certainly not the most sociable guy in Midgar."
"I think he's worrying too much," I replied. "I mean what's the harm in guarding the door? It's not like I'm ever going to actually be in his lab."
"I think he's right, though. I don't think taking this job is a very smart idea."
"If it gets me away from guarding the Meeting Room door, I'll take anything."
"You mean you're actually considering it?"
"Of course I am. And so what if Hojo tries to pull something? I can take care of myself."
"I'm pretty sure you can, but you can't be sure with someone like Hojo."
"So you don't think I can take care of myself?"
"I'm not saying that. I just don't trust Hojo."
"You trusted Hojo with that mako treatment, didn't you?"
"The mako treatment is required to enter SOLDIER. And it's completely different from what we're talking about here."
"How is it different? If anything, what I have is a whole lot safer than what you did. You actually had Hojo do something to you. I'm only going to guard the door."
"There's just no convincing you, is there?"
"I get my stubbornness from my mom."
"I just don't want to see you get hurt."
"I'll be fine. So don't worry about it."
There was a moment of silence after that. I looked at Raven, who was staring at his empty cup of coffee. He had a worried look in his face. Actually, he it seemed like a mix of worry and depression. The thought that I might've hurt his feelings made me feel a huge pang of guilt, like my heart suddenly became heavy. I leaned over and wrapped my arms around him, trying to help him feel better.
"I'll be ok," I assured him.
He let go of his cup and hugged me back, leaning his head against mine.
"Promise me you won't disappear," he whispered.
It took me a while to process his request, but remembering the rumor, I replied.
"I promise."
"I don't want to lose you. Not now that I have you."
"Don't you worry about that."
We let go of each other and looked in each other's eyes. He still looked worried, but it wasn't as bad.
"Does it worry you that much?" I asked him finally.
"Uh, hehe," he chuckled nervously and looked away, as if ashamed by his worry. "I guess I make it obvious, don't I?"
"Yes, you do."
"Professor Hojo is just not a very trustworthy guy."
"I noticed."
We sat there for a long moment. Then he sat up and started looking through his pockets.
"Well, just to get our minds off of this topic…" he started as he kept digging through his pockets.
"Where are they?" He wondered out loud.
"Where are what?" I asked curiously.
"Are you doing anything tomorrow night?" he looked up at me for a split second before looking back down and found what he was looking for.
"Not really," I answered, "Why?"
"Because," he replied while pulling two tickets out of his shirt pocket, "I have two tickets to the play 'Loveless' tomorrow night."
I'd always wanted to go see "Loveless" simply because everyone said it was great, although I never actually took the time to go see it. I didn't really know much about it, but I wanted to watch it anyway. So seeing those tickets in his hand was simply awesome. "Loveless" tickets were also pretty hard to get unless you knew exactly where to get them.
"How did you get those?" I wondered out loud.
"Joe knows a ticket dealer just on the border of Sectors Three and Four. I asked him the favor, and he got the tickets for me. The play is currently being shown in the theater on the Sector Two plate. So it isn't as far away as the park," He stuffed the tickets back in his shirt pocket. "So, are you interested?"
"Of course!" I accepted.
"Well, then it's a date," he said as he got up off the seat. "I'll pick you up tomorrow night then."
"All right." I watched him walk away as I got up to leave myself. Then I walked over to the elevator and took it all the way down so I could make my way home.
As I left the building, Bibble decided to appear in front of me.
"Hi, Miss Moira!"
"Hi Bibble," I answered back and kept walking. After a moment, she let out a gasp, which actually sounded like she was inhaling the word "kupo".
"What is it?" I asked.
"Hojo offered you a job?!"
"Yes, what of it? This is the first time I've heard you address to someone without adding a 'Miss' or 'Mister' in front of the name."
"Hojo doesn't exactly deserve that much respect, kupo."
"No, I guess not, that's why he's got enough respect to be in charge of the science division of Shinra Inc."
"Forget about his title, kupo. He's bad news."
"So I heard."
"You shouldn't take the job, kupo."
"Says who?"
"Says the fact that he's an evil mad scientist."
"Why don't you just mind your own business and let me do my own thinking?"
"But you are doing your own thinking, kupo, and it's not exactly going in the right direction."
"It's not your place to tell me what the right direction is."
"Ok, have it your way, kupo, but remember all the warnings you've been given."
"I can take care of myself."
"If you say so. Hmm, you're almost home, kupo. So I guess I'll just leave you to your thinking now. Bye, Miss Moira!" Then she disappeared just as I arrived at my front door.
I sat down on my couch and turned on the TV. The news was on, and they were talking more about AVALANCHE. It was about how they attempted to blow up the mako reactor in Sector Five, but President Shin-Ra intercepted them and sent a big robot to take care of them. Obviously, the robot was defective, because they got away.
Though one of them fell off the platform of the reactor and into the Sector Five slums below. Whether or not he survived was a mystery. The report said he looked like he was dressed in a SOLDIER outfit, but nobody could identify who he was. He had blonde, spiky hair and wielded a buster sword, which had an extremely wide blade that was more than five times the width of a regular sword's blade.
I was about to turn the TV off when the next story came on.
"…On a stranger note, some members of the military division called SOLDIER have mysteriously disappeared."
"What?!" I exclaimed to nobody in particular.
"Thus far, the only two notable connections are that they were obviously all from SOLDIER, and that all of the missing SOLDIERs were stationed in the town of Nibelheim at some point in their careers. Further details at eleven."
I couldn't think of what frustrated me more, the fact that I had to wait until eleven o'clock to hear more about the story or the fact that some of those missing SOLDIERs were Raven's missing friends. It also bothered me to think that Raven might also turn up missing some time in all of this. Though I didn't worry about it too much since Raven has never mentioned ever being stationed in Nibelheim while he was telling his life story. Although I didn't throw out the chance that he might've been but never told me about it.
I didn't want to think about it though, so I turned the TV off and got up off the couch to go look in the kitchen for something to eat. The coffee was good, but it wasn't very filling. I was too hungry to go through the effort of cooking a meal, so I made a ham and cheese sandwich and went with it.
As I was making the sandwich, I couldn't help but wonder whether or not I should accept Hojo's job offer. It was certainly tempting, seeing as though it would get me away from guarding the door to the meeting room.
"…but what about Raven?" I thought to myself, "He seemed really worried for my safety. I don't really see the harm in guarding the door. It's not like I'd actually be in his lab. But what if those rumors are true?"
I finished making my sandwich and went into my room so I could take a nap after I finished eating. I needed to sleep the boredom of work out of my system.
"If I take the job with Hojo," I thought, "maybe I won't need these after-work naps to cure the tiring boredom."
I then finished my sandwich and slipped into my comfy queen-size bed. As I waited for sleep, I looked around the room at all the things that decorated it. There were mostly pictures from Kalm that I had hung around my bo-staff that hung on the wall to the left of my bed. The door was in front of my bed; so decorating that wall didn't seem to have much point to me. The only thing on that wall was my scythe. I'd hang it there when I wasn't using it.
I looked to my left at all the pictures on the wall. I wanted to look back at my life in Kalm and all the things that have happened there. A few of them were pictures I had while I was in Kalm. There was one with me riding Jamie, one with me and Will standing in front of Jamie, and one with Will in front of Jamie's stable and pointing at Jamie's nameplate with a huge, goofy grin on his face.
There were also other not-so-happy pictures of me that my parents took. I particularly liked this one with me lying on my bed in my bedroom in Kalm, with a bored look on my face while reading a magazine called The Shin-Ra Arsenal. It reminded me of how much I wanted a scythe and how much my parents were against it.
The majority of the pictures on the wall were actually of things that happened after I moved away from Kalm. My parents and Will would sometimes send me pictures with their letters as a visual aid. One of my parents' letters, for instance, mentioned how my dad was promoted to manager of the Kalm Inn. With the letter was a picture of my dad proudly holding a plaque with his name on it and the title of "Manager" underneath his name. Of course when I got that letter, I wrote back in congratulations.
Some of my favorite letters though were the ones that Will sent me with pictures of his progress with the other chocobos. There was one picture with Will sitting cross-legged in one of the chocobo stables holding in his lap a very large chocobo egg that one of his chocobos had just laid. This was the first egg to be laid in the Kalm stables, so it was an important event for Will.
The picture next to it was of Will holding half of an eggshell with a fuzzy, yellow, newly-hatched chicobo sitting inside of it. Of course, this was the same chocobo egg Will was holding in the other picture, and it had just hatched. It was the most adorable little thing I'd seen in any picture, so that picture was placed almost at the very front, being behind the pictures of Will, Jamie, and me.
All of the pictures were hung in a sort of wreath pattern around the bo-staff, which hung directly in the middle of the wall. There were at least three-dozen pictures hanging on that wall, and I was looking at all of them. I spent so much time looking at them that I didn't notice when I finally dozed off to sleep.