'Why did he suddenly get all serious?'
Stunned by his change in demeanor, I started to worry if I had brought up a taboo topic.
"What is it that you wish to inquire about Graham?"
The Headmaster took a seat and placed his teacup onto the table, continuing to glare at me.
'Crap, what do I do? Should I just explain the whole situation to him and hope that he pities me and tells me about Graham?'
'No. I can't do that. If I did, that would basically be giving him my weakness.'
Biting my lip, I decided to tell a half-truth and half-lie. I did not know how much he knew about me, but I was certain he still did not know that I had lost my memories.
"Well Headmaster, you may or may not know this but, I have been Professor Graham's psychiatrist for around six months now."
I continued to maintain my composure, picking up the cup of tea and taking a sip from it.
"Recently, I haven't been able to contact him. I even went to his house; however, there was no one home, and according to his neighbor, Graham hasn't been home for a few days."
"So, you came here to ask me if I knew anything about Graham's disappearance, is it?"
Placing my cup back down, I leaned back against the sofa, looking straight into the Headmaster's eyes.
"Yes, something like that. More exactly, I was wondering if you could contact him or at least tell me where he was."
Hearing this, the Headmaster's eyes softened a little.
"Let me ask you a question first. Did you enter Graham's house?"
'Hmm, what an odd question. Why and how would I even enter Graham's house?'
Though slightly confused, I did not show it, but instead answered him with a question.
"No, I didn't. Why? Should I have?"
"No, that would have been attempted robbery if you did. Hahaha."
Surprisingly, the Headmaster's attitude did a complete 180, wearing that same polite smile from earlier.
"Sorry, but I was just teasing you earlier. I am aware of Graham's disappearance. In fact, I was the last person he contacted."
"What really?"
I couldn't help but blurt out in surprise due to him casually dropping this information.
'What is this guy playing at?'
His erratic behavior completely threw me off — one moment he was completely serious, the next he was laughing. I narrowed my eyes, focusing on analyzing his movements.
"In that case, do you know where he is right now?"
"Well, no. But I can show you what he sent me a week ago."
The Headmaster stood up and moved toward his desk, opening a drawer underneath. From within, he took out a small brown envelope and carefully opened it.
"Here, read it for yourself."
He threw the letter toward me, causing it to flutter through the air before being caught by my hand.
I opened it and began reading its contents.
'Dear Silas Hargreaves, I am writing this letter to you to inform you of my decision. I have thought long and hard about it, and I have decided to follow in your footsteps and become someone renowned. I will be in seclusion for the next week, and I hope the next time we meet, it will be when I have achieved greatness. Yours sincerely, Graham Hensley.'
'What the hell? That's it?'
I looked back up toward Headmaster Silas, expecting more answers.
"As you can see, Graham has decided to go into seclusion to complete his patent on his innovation for gas lamps, and unfortunately, he did not tell me where he was going."
'If what he is saying is true, then Graham's disappearance does fit the timeline, and he should be returning any day now.'
I continued to look intently at him, watching as he sat back down on the sofa, cupping his hands.
"Don't worry too much. I'm sure Graham will be back soon. Maybe you should go check out his favorite cake shop. It is located in—"
"Hot Cross Street, yes, I do know about it. Thank you for your time, Headmaster. I will be taking my leave now."
I swiftly headed out, exiting the office without bothering to finish the tea he had offered me.
'Clearly he wasn't going to give any more useful information.'
For some reason, halfway through our interaction, I started to feel very annoyed at him.
No, it was more like disgust.
'He acted very suspicious right from the beginning — first the switch in demeanor, next the way he gave me information that barely answered my question, and how he tried to play off Graham's disappearance as nothing. The worst was his fake smile. I hated it. From the way he walked, talked, and moved his hands, I knew he was definitely hiding something from me, but he was so brazen and confident doing it. It was like he knew I was analyzing his movements, trying to deduce his true feelings, and was mocking me the entire time.'
Feeling frustrated, I hightailed my way out of the University and made my way to the cake shop in Hot Cross Street.
***
Hot Cross Street
Entering the bakery, I found a seat near the corner of the shop.
Slightly winded from my journey here, I took a short breather to recollect myself.
"Hello sir, would you like to order a cake?"
Next to me, a young waiter placed a menu onto the table, recommending different cakes and desserts.
"The chocolate mousse cake here is to die for; it's our house special. Furthermore, it's only two silver coins for a slice."
'Hmm, I guess a dessert wouldn't hurt…'
"Sure, I'll get one slice of it, thank you."
After sending off the waiter, I took out the notebook and started writing down my thoughts.
Silas Hargreaves, Headmaster of Blackwell University. Extremely suspicious and revolting. Definitely knows something about Graham's disappearance. Linked to something about "Achieving Greatness."
'I don't believe that bullshit about the gas lamp patent for a second!'
Why would anyone need to go into seclusion just for that?
It just did not make sense.
Furthermore, with my skills as a psychiatrist to read him, I could—
'Wait, psychiatrist skills?'
It was then I realized I had subconsciously remembered my ability to read others as a psychiatrist, using it on Silas.
Realizing this, I now had a faint smile.
'Maybe it was worth it after all to visit the University, as it allowed me to recover the memories of how to read others I learnt there, along with my disgust towards the Headmaster.'
This was my reward for dealing with that creep of a Headmaster.
Yes, it was.
Still, there was nothing else I could do now. I had lost all my leads on Graham, unable to think of anything else I could do to sniff him out.
The best course of action was probably to wait for Graham to return. If he ever does.
"Sir, your cake."
Placed down onto my table was what seemed like a bright orange cake. Seeing this, I was extremely puzzled.
'Didn't I order a chocolate cake?'
"Umm, waiter. I think you brought me the wrong cake. I ordered a chocolate cake, not an orange cake."
"What do you mean, sir? This is most definitely our chocolate cake."
"What? Just look at the color; it's bright orange—"
As I looked back at the cake, the words caught in my mouth.
'How? It was clearly orange, so how is it brown now?'
Contrary to what I saw earlier, the cake seemed to have magically changed color from orange to brown. It was perplexing, to say the least.
"Oh… Sorry, I guess I must have been too tired and mistaken the color. My apologies."
I awkwardly apologized to the waiter, taking out two silver coins and three copper coins to pay him — the copper coins as a tip for my mistake.
As the waiter walked away, he seemed to give me a weird glance, like I was mentally ill.
'Maybe I am going crazy because of all this…'
Picking up my spoon, I took a bite of the cake.
Once it entered my mouth, I instantly felt the rich chocolatey flavor explode out. The soft cake melted on my tongue, coating it in the rich, gooey chocolate mousse within.
'Mm, yes, this is amazing.'
I continued to savor the chocolate, enjoying every bite to its fullness.
Well, I did until my third bite — the sweet flavor suddenly changed to sour, causing me to immediately spit the cake out.
"Cough! What the hell."
I looked down onto the plate — once again, the cake had changed from chocolate to orange.
Reaching for the tissue next to me, I was horrified to find it had turned into a piece of human skin.
"AHHHH!"
I jumped out of my seat in fright.
The odd occurrences didn't stop, as the people around me all seemed to disappear as well.
I was now alone.
'What the hell? What is happening? Where is everyone?'
Frantic thoughts clouded my mind as I cautiously walked from my seat, heading toward the exit.
I didn't know what was happening — and I didn't want to know what was happening either. Right now, my only goal was to escape.
Reaching the door, I quickly opened it and ran outside.
Just as I thought I was free, I found the once-bustling streets now empty.
The shops were all run-down and decayed.
Turning back around, the bakery had also disappeared.
"This... This has to be a dream, right?"
'Maybe I'm just hallucinating from stress. Or maybe I, I...'
I didn't want to admit it, but maybe I was crazy?