The Licensed Mage

28 Turbelance

        Raven rubbed his eyes as the computer burned them. It was past midnight and the twins just came in to start their graveyard shift. They pushed for him to go home but he refused, not until he found something on the Wilkson’s. He discovered that the mother, Melinda Wilkson, did indeed die when her son John was 8 and Sam only a few days old. The incident report was spotchy at best but something the kid John gave in his testimony nagged at him.

        “…It was like she was choking. She kept screaming at Sam to let her go…”

        Raven knew that tied in to how Emily died but how it was connected nearly 16 years apart beside Sam was proving elusive. He was getting nothing from that angle so he got the idea to work the Mr. Bud Wilkson angle. His has a dirt bag record which made him wonder how he ended up in such a nice place and dug deeper. Grew up in NYC, middle income home. Developed a gambling and drug addiction before high school.

        He came across a report where Bud Wilkson was listed as a witness. Apparently he straightened his act in college and even got engaged to an Allison McLain. On April 25th, 2194, three years before he married his deceased wife Melinda, Bud and Allison were mugged while walking through the park at 3:38 am. There was an altercation where Bud fought off their attacker but not before he killed Allison. She died in Bud’s arms and he later found out the mugger was a mage. He was never arrested. Bud Wilkson stayed in the cops’ radar as he became associated with protest involving the Puritans.

        His involvement with the Puritans became more and more until he was suspected of being one of the leaders for the NY district. Raven was shocked to find out he married his wife within this time and turns out Melinda was suspected of being a Puritan herself. Raven shifted through more articles on the projection and pinched his nose as he eyes burned.

        “Go home Black-“

        “-we’ll close up shop.”

        Raven looked up to see the twins yawning over their coffees staring at him. He sighed as he shut his computer off, “Yeah, thanks guys.”

        He quickly left before he could get sucked into his work, knowing if he did he’ll never leave. Then what good would he be to Claire? He bit back a yawn as he walked to his car and quickly sped down the road towards home. He parked in the parking basement of his apartment building and quickly went up the elevator to the 4th floor. His keys jiggled as he tried unlocking the door but the door was stuck and he had to slam his shoulder into the door to get it open. His down stairs neighbor started banging on his floor as his door slammed opened, yelling to keep quiet.

        Raven mumbled curses at the shrewd old man living downstairs and stumbled his way into his apartment. The floors creaked, the windows were cracked and the wallpaper was peeling. He slammed the door shut with his foot fumbling on the wall for the light switch. He switched it on but the light bulb flickered off. Raven shuffled over and twisted the bulb and cried out as the light blinded his eyes. He mumbled some more as he made his way into the too small kitchen and was careful not to yank the door off his fridge as he opened it. Pulling out a bottle of beer he slammed the door shut and plopped himself onto his couch before his TV.

        He flipped through channels as he sipped his cold beer. Drifting away from the program his eyes shifted around his home, comparing it to the splendor of Claire’s loft. He growled at himself as he shut the TV off and drained his beer. He felt angry with himself as he walked into his bedroom and stripped. Throwing his clothes into the corner he pulled the covers and plopped himself into his bed. He threw his arm over his eyes as he listened to his A/C whirring, turning his hot apartment into a cool oasis.