Wings of Heart and Gold

Chapter 2: Back to Work

Chapter 2: Back to Work

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Striker gasped and panicked as he heard his alarm go off. He hadn't been expecting it, considering he was sleeping peacefully without the nightmare he had at midnight. He opened his sleepy eyes slightly and tapped the off button and the noise went away.

He checked the time on his alarm clock, which read 8:15 AM. He had to be at work by 10:30 AM, which was scheduled by Blitzo.

Striker sighed as he lifted his blanket off him and went to the drawer to grab his clothes. Luckily, Blitzo let him wear whatever he wanted just so the latter would feel welcome at I.M.P. and not an outsider. He pulled out his clothes from his drawer and started to get dressed. Once he was dressed in his clothes, he made his way to the stall, where Bombproof was kept.

"Morning, boy," he greeted.

Bombproof nickered, seeing his owner.

Then Striker went to fetch a pail to fill water in. He turned on the hose and once it was filled, he turned it off. He picked it up and poured it in a trough.

Bombproof walked over to his trough filled with water and started drinking it.

Striker stroked his back. "I'll be making breakfast, but I'll be back."

Striker went back in the house to make breakfast. He opened the fridge to find strips of bacon in a bag and pulled it out and closed the door. He got out a frying pan from the cabinet with pots and pans to use to fry bacon and the other one to make eggs. He set the pan on the stovetop, turned on the stove, and put all the bacon strips onto the pan, letting them sizzle.

When one side was cooked, he'd flip the bacon over.

Striker returned to the fridge to grab a carton of eggs, so he could fry them. First, he put two slices of bread into the toaster for the fried eggs. Next, he turned on the stove and put olive oil on the other pan and cracked eggs next to it, letting the yolk fall onto the pan. Then, he put pepper onto the eggs. However, he checked the bacon to see if it was done. Seeing that it was done, he turned off the left side of the stove and flipped the eggs over.

Suddenly, the toaster popped and he grabbed a plate from the cabinet of plates as soon as he finished with the eggs and turned off the stove. He set the plate next to the toaster. He went back to the fridge to get butter for the toast and got a butter knife from the silverware drawer. He opened the butter container and carefully spread the butter on the toast. With that taken care of, he returned to the stove to set the eggs on the toast by using a spatula.

As for the bacon, Striker grabbed a paper towel to get rid of the grease and sat down on the table, so he could enjoy his breakfast.

When he finished eating, he came back to Bombproof's stall with some leftover bacon.

"Here you go, Bombproof," he said, handing his horse some bacon, "Bon Appetite."

With great relish, Bombproof greedily scarfed down the bacon his master cooked for him.

"Ready for the big day, boy?"

Bombproof nodded as he nickered.

"Good. Now, let's get going." Striker went to the stables to get the saddle and reins. He placed the saddle on Bombproof's back and wrapped the reins around his neck and in his mouth. When finished, he climbed up his horse and sat on the saddle. With one swift kick to the side, Bombproof shot out of the stall.

...

On that same morning, on his way to work, some onlookers were giving him judging looks, still remembering the Harvest Moon Festival when he tried to kill the demon prince who hosted it. Some of the others were understanding since they forgave him. They were concerned, seeing his tired expression and wondered how he became so worn out. They heard he was pressured by the prince's wife to kill him until he found out the former had a child.