Hell's Eyes

Chapter Two Affairs of the Afflicted

F or many days more, Elliot experienced jitters and terrible unease. He flinched every time the door to his office opened or closed or each time someone called upon him, their voice much too loud for the raw sensitivity of his ears, until he finally stopped going to work altogether. By the time the fourth morning had come around and she hadn’t seen Mr. Noblémyn pass by in either his comings or goings to work, Miss Elsie Hyacinth began to worry. She’d never known him to miss a day of work in all the years she’d known him. She’d also never known him to go so long without stopping into her bakery. As she untied the strings of her apron and donned her cloak, she determined to pay him a visit. Elsie hummed to herself as she wrapped a cinnegal and poured some fresh cocholee into a pitcher that she covered with some cloth and placed both into her basket before saying farewell to her mother and father, who’d come to relieve her of her duty to the bakery. More often than not, Elsie spent her afternoons wandering the town and surrounding forestland, glad to breathe in the cool air of the trees for a change after spending the long morning hours baking. But today, she would make an exception to her usual routine, for Mr. Noblémyn’s sake. Offering friendly nods or pleasantries to the people she passed on her way to Mr. Noblémyn’s modest home, Elsie began to wonder if maybe

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