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--donation bonus (day #4, post 1/5)--
‘My dad takes medication,’ said Hector. ‘Sometimes, he has... bad days... and... I mean, even normally, he’s not very... um... talkative. But... he likes to be alone on his bad days...’

‘Hmm. What kind of medication?’

‘Eh... honestly, I’m not sure...’

‘What?’

‘My parents have always kinda... hid it from me... I think Dad’s embarrassed by it. And Mom just... I don’t know...’

‘How could you tell he was having a bad day, then?’

‘He was home when he should have been at work, for one thing. And... I could see the tremors... in his hands. They were weak, but...’

‘Ah.’ Garovel paused. ‘Y’know, I could follow him around and probably figure it out, if you want.’

Hector’s eyes widened, and he shook his head. ‘N-no, that’s... please don’t do that...’

‘Why not? You’d rather not know?’

‘I just... That’s, um... My parents are very private people. My dad even more so than my mom. I don’t... wanna... do that to him... I mean, he doesn’t want me to know, so...’

The reaper shrugged. ‘If you say so. Personally, I think it’d be better to know, but it’s your family.’

On the bus, Hector took the seat behind the driver and stared out the window. Garovel floated right outside.

‘So do you, um... do you really not know what Geoffrey is? Bohwanox thought you might have some idea.’

‘I wish I did,’ he said. ‘But that creature... I’ve never seen anything like it. It was just so...’

‘So, what?’

‘Wrong.’

‘How do you mean...? Like, his aura was really fucked up or something?’

‘Essentially, yeah. But it didn’t seem like a human soul that had become corrupted somehow. It seemed completely inhuman to begin with.’

‘Hmm...’