“What happened?”

“I already told you. She’s not reachable.”

“You’ve seen her? You can verify this?”

“Yes. I visited her yesterday and there’s not much left there.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. I had nothing to do with it. They found her that way before I was able to reach her.”

“And you don’t know what she did with it?”

“I’m still investigating.”

“This is not like you. I expected this to be over and done with weeks ago. Have you checked all of her relatives? She must have given it to one of them.”

“Of course I did. I’ve visited each one of them and none of them have any of the signs.”

“What are your plans?”

“I will contact you when I discover its location.”

“That’s not good enough. The council is growing frustrated. They want to send someone else in. They’re losing faith in you.”

“This failure shouldn’t be only on my head. I was following your guidance.”

“Don’t drag me in on this. You operated alone and never told me enough to guide you. The council understands our relationship. They’re willing to give you one more week. After that, you’re on your own.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“I’m just reporting back what the council said. One week from today, if you don’t have any good news, don’t bother calling back.”

“I can’t believe this. I demand a meeting with the council.”

“One week.”

“You are a scoundrel. I will find it, and when I do, you will wish I didn’t.”

“You don’t sound so cocky anymore. I like you like this much better. I won’t expect to hear from you next week. It was nice doing business with you, Mr. Faerlik. I’d wish you luck, but as you said, I’m not sure I want you to find it.”

“For all of our sake, I hope I find it.”

The thought came suddenly to Lenny as he showered. He could do much with his knowledge of the sweater. There were plenty of people he could help with it. It was something special. He had been using the powers for petty things. There was a much larger world out there that he could help benefit. The thought stopped him cold, and he stepped out of the shower, standing naked in front of the mirror, dripping water onto the tile floor. The sweater gave him something special, and he needed to use it for more than he had been. Lenny’s imagination began to run wild. He saw himself running through the streets, solving crimes, and catching the bad guy. He was a modern superhero, a real hero, not a comic book character. He imagined the adoration of the people, the crowds that would visit him in his house, and wait eagerly for his next edict. “With great power comes great responsibility,” he reminded himself. He would be the embodiment of all that was good in the world.

Lenny chuckled at the thought of him having great power, or anyone lining up to hear him speak. A cold wind blew through the closet door. He shivered and looked up to see himself in his reflection. His weight had dropped over the last two weeks. He usually did not notice his weight fluctuations. At times, when his sedentary lifestyle began to catch up with him, he saw fat growths in his buttocks and legs. The wiggle and flapping of the fat growths were all the inspiration Lenny needed to return to the gym. But mostly, because of his genes or family history, weight was not a problem for him. When he flexed his arms, he noticed that the small bulges were no longer there. The skin hung a little loosely around his arms, not with fat deposits, but more as if there was nothing underneath for the skin to grab on to. His ribcage was a little sunken and his stomach looked a bit distended, as if he had just finished a large meal. He ate a large breakfast that morning, and figured that could explain it. But even after the large breakfast, he felt hungry, as if the food just passed right through him.

He grabbed a towel and dried himself, turning away from the mirror to avoid looking at his body. The last two weeks had been rather stressful, and that could easily explain the weight loss. The pink sweater was folded on the sink table. It looked almost brown, and worn. Lenny sniffed the sweater and it smelled of use, a mixture of dried sweat and worldly smells like dried frying oil and the smoke of the city. He had put up his laundry the previous night, but decided against placing the sweater in the wash. He was wearing the sweater when he put the wash on, but even after realizing that he forgot to put the sweater in the washer, he hesitated. He did not understand the sweater, and he was afraid that the sweater’s magic would weaken or go away if he washed it. He did not know this was true—he was just worried about it. He pulled the sweater over his head. The sweater still scratched his skin, but it was a comfortable scratching. He enjoyed the feeling of the raw cotton against his skin. He breathed deeply in relief when the sweater was on, his fears about his weight vanishing and his focus returning.

He finished dressing, stepping into a pair of boxers and pulling on a pair of jeans. Samantha left early that morning and he was not planning on seeing her until the evening. The whole day was his to experiment with. He resolved to do some good with his knowledge. He tried to think of where he was most needed, but nothing came to him. He did not understand how the sweater’s powers worked. He did not always know the answers to the questions that skittered through his mind. Instead, the knowledge came randomly, appearing as knowledge that he already had when the interested subject came up. It was difficult for Lenny to differentiate between the knowledge that he had and the knowledge the sweater gave him. It was one of the reasons it had taken him so long to realize what the sweater was providing for him.

When he could not trick the sweater into giving him a hint of where to go to help people, he decided to wander around randomly. There must be someone out there who needed his brand of help. He left his house and decided on the mall. There were always people that needed help there.

He arrived at the mall at lunch time, and parked the car in the lot closest to the food court. The weather was perfect, a sunny, seventy degree day, with a slight breeze coming off the ocean and up through the outdoor corridors of the mall. The food court was full of young families, mostly mothers and their children. The chain restaurants that dominated the small food court area were making brisk sales. The baby carriages outnumbered the men. Lenny sat down near the edge of the food court, choosing a table that overlooked the entire area.

He studied the families, wondering what he was looking for. Perhaps some of the children were abused by their fathers, or the mothers drank all day and disregarded their children. Even in a place such as this, he knew darkness lurked. But nothing came to him. He tried to tell the story of the people that sat around him, but nothing came out. It was no different than how he remembered people watching. He could make up a story, perhaps that mother over there, the thin one with the large tits, perhaps she was cheating on her husband, the corporate lawyer who lived in his office and probably was fucking his secretary. But he did not know if any of was truth. It was fictional, an interesting diversion that let him see the lines and forms that the people would take if he set them to his canvas.

The tables were white with wired chairs, and families pulled up more than the requisite four chairs per table. Three Hispanic women wiped down vacated tables, moving from table to table, carrying the empty trays and wrappers to the trashcans. Lenny studied everything around him and found nothing. He saw what he normally saw. He knew nothing special, could see no deeper vision. Maybe it was not really, he thought. His anxiety increased and he called Samantha. Lenny was not always as stable as he would like to be. Once an idea took hold in his mind, he would turn and twist around it until controlled his thoughts. Usually, these ideas related to his work. He did not mind that insanity as much. It helped him finish projects and find unique and interesting solutions. But when his focus fell on something mundane or material, such as his failure to pay his bills timely or waiting for a package to be delivered, the anxiety would drive him mad, until he was jumping off the walls, speaking too fast, and looking for any place to release his energy. With his failure to focus his mind on what was going around him, to not know and his inability to still believe that what he felt he knew with the sweater was real, Lenny was finding himself in such a place.

He dialed Samantha’s number but she did not answer. He decided not to leave a message, since she would probably worry about him. He looked around him at the diners and thought about buying food, but the thought of having to choose which food he would order was overwhelming. He decided to leave. The stress was getting to him and this was not a good time for him to be alone.

His phone rang. “You called,” Samantha said.

“Yeah, I was just thinking about you,” Lenny said.

“Are you alright? You sound a little strange. Where are you?” Samantha said.

“I’m fine. I’m just visiting your friendly neighborhood mall. I’m trying to find inspiration for a project at work. I finished the first draft yesterday, but I’m not satisfied with the work. I was hoping that some people watching would spark something in me,” Lenny said.

“Any fires?” Samantha said.

“Not even smoke. What are you doing,” Lenny said.

“I’m working. You know, nose to the grindstone, trying to keep the boss man happy,” Samantha said.

“You have time for lunch?” Lenny said.

“I’m afraid not, Lenny. I organized a lunch meeting and we’ve ordered pizza already,” Samantha said.

“Are you in the meeting already?” Lenny said.

“Not yet. I’m heading there in a few minutes. Are you sure you’re alright? I must sound like a broken record, but ever since your aunt got sick, you’ve been acting strange. I thought you were getting better,” Samantha said.

“It’s nothing. I’m just going through one of my mood swings. You know how those are,” Lenny said.

“I know them only too well. Are you calmer now?” Samantha said.

“I’m getting there. Will you meet me tonight to go visit my aunt again?” Lenny said.

“I don’t think we should go tonight. You’ve been spending too much time there and it’s time you got out. Maybe we should get some fresh air tonight, or take in a movie. When’s the last time we went to the movies?” Samantha said.

“I haven’t been fair to you lately. I’m sorry for that,” Lenny said.

“Nothing to be sorry about, but you can make it up to me if we see a movie tonight. Think about it. I have to get to my meeting. Take care of yourself. Maybe you should go to work. That sometimes gets you out of your funks,” Samantha said.

“I’ll think about it. Have fun at the meeting,” Lenny said and hung up the phone. He put the phone away in his pocket and pulled down on the sweater, stretching it until it reached his knees, and then releasing it.

Word count: 2,014

Caffeination: tall mocha

Feeling: Like I just wrote barely 2k words of filler. This sucks.