The Arcane Trilogy: Better Call Paul - Book 1

Chapter 23: Don't Fix What's Not Broken

The morning rose very early for Paul, as he knew he had to get as much of Josy's paperwork done before the workday officially began. As the sun slowly peeked over the horizon, Paul was already hard at work, slaving away in his office at the various forms that needed to be filled out, for his own personal records, and others that had to be sent to various state departments. It was boring and monotonous work, but Paul needed to be done, and he wanted Josy to have time with her father. He knew all too well what it was like to lose family, and to watch someone wither away and die.

Soon enough, Paul heard the sound of clients arriving into the office, praying that if they could not read, they could understand the general gist of his message on his office door, so that he did not have to constantly explain the way that the meetings would proceed. Clients would wait outside in the waiting room and Paul would come out to greet them one at a time, thus beginning their consultation or meeting. He had a note on his office explaining as such, but due to many of his potential or returning clients lacking the ability to read, Paul often had to recite the process at least once an hour. After lunch, Paul found himself more fatigued than he could remember being, truly missing the contributions Josy would make to ensuring all the fine print was taken care of. Paul's mind felt like a whirlwind of fire at the act of trying to remember everything that was required of him.

Shortly after lunch, he popped his head out the office door, mentally preparing himself for another recital of the meeting procedure. After completing such explanation, his next guest possessed a dishevelled head of brown hair on a young-looking woman, who sat alongside her young son, who looked no older than 8 or so. Paul welcomed the pair in as his sat behind his desk.

"I hope the day has been treating us well." Greeted Paul, as he had done a thousand times before. The woman meekly smiled, clearly fatigued from something, a feeling Paul could relate to. He was about to turn and address the young boy, but he had already occupied himself on the sofa, looking as though he was ready to drop into a deep sleep immediately. "Shall we use our inside voices?" Whispered Paul with a smile that the woman waved away.

"This whole ordeal has been exhausting for us all. You could shout and he probably wouldn't notice." Explained the young brunette, who cracked a very weak smile.

"Well how about you start by explaining this 'ordeal' Mrs...?" Trailed off Paul, prompting her to respond.

"Just Pia." She replied plainly.

"Ok then, Pia. What has happened."

"Well, my younger brother has been arrested. They snatched him up for murder." Explained Pia, causing Paul's smile to fade away as she spoke on a very dark topic. His eyes glanced over to the little boy who's eyes flicked open and shut. "I have two brothers. The eldest of the two got arrested." Clarified Pia before returning to the story. "I was coming back from work and Leyton had decided to come and wait outside. He wanted to talk to me away from Otto over there." Began explaining Pia as she craned her head slightly to the young boy who was deep into his slumber. "Then, on our way home, we were cornered by a mugger from the undercity a few streets from our home. Leyton defended me, but the mugger ended up cutting his wrist in the exchange. The fight eventually drew some enforcers in, who saw the scene and cuffed my brother." She explained as her voice slightly wavered.

"Hey take it easy. It can't have been easy for you. Take your time." Soothed Paul, as the young woman composed herself.

"We don't know what to do. Our parents died a few weeks back, so we've been barely scrapping together enough for the bills. Me and Leyton have been working full time hours whilst still having to look out for little Otto. But after this, we didn't' know what we could do, so you seemed like the only option left." Explained Pia as she wiped a few tears from her eyes.