The power to control dreams? ...Truly a miraculous ability I have never heard of before. I digested Gibbs's story, then glanced at Alice, who was slumped over the table. The little girl's mouth was half-open, and her eyes sparkled.
Sutton walked over, holding a small glass of Nihua brew with a smile, and beckoned to me. "It looks like you two are having a good chat. Do you mind if I join in?"
Gibbs thoroughly detested Sutton. He was the sort of man whose loves and hates were absolute, and he never put on a friendly face for anyone he disliked. He considered Sutton an unadulterated hypocrite—all glossy charm on the surface while his hands were soaked in blood behind the scenes, hardly the sort of person worth cultivating a deep friendship with. Therefore, with a slightly sarcastic edge, Gibbs said, "We are truly flattered by the grand arrival of the great hero! How could we possibly dare to refuse to give you face?" His tone was explicitly unfriendly as he cast a cold glare at Sutton.
Sutton wasn't offended at all. He maintained his trademark smile, completely ignoring Gibbs's remark as he pulled over a chair and sat down beside me.
Alice was sitting sideways on my lap. Seeing Sutton approach, she hurriedly wrapped her arms around my neck, pressed her tiny cheek against my chest, and whispered softly into my ear, "Daddy, Alice is scared of this big uncle. He's so weird..."
I patted Alice's back to soothe her and answered in a quiet voice, "It's all right, it's all right. Daddy is here, Alice, don't be scared."
I pulled Alice's little legs back so she wouldn't accidentally brush against Sutton's clothes.
"Arthur, I heard you had a daughter. When are you going to bring her over for me to see?" Sutton sat down with a smile, handed me his glass of wine, and clinked it against mine.
I stared at Sutton with a blank, uncomprehending expression, and just as I was about to open my mouth, Gibbs spoke up first. "Sutton! How can you say something like that?!" His voice wasn't quiet, but it was swallowed up by the noisy clamor of the tavern.
"What is it, what is it? Now, now, Mr. Gibbs, why are you getting so angry? Let's all stay calm, everyone calm down." Betty, the receptionist, sensed that the atmosphere was wrong and hurriedly jumped in to smooth things over.
"What's going on, Gibbs? Who could possibly make you fly into such a rage?" White also strolled over drunkenly, clutching a wine bottle, reeking heavily of alcohol.
Gibbs ignored White, keeping his eyes locked fiercely on Sutton. The wine bottle gripped in his hand emitted a grinding squeak.
Sutton didn't even look at Gibbs; he simply gazed at me with a relaxed expression, awaiting my reply, and spoke again. "What's wrong, Arthur? Don't you want me to meet your daughter? What was her name again... I heard it was Alice, right?"
His tone was completely casual, and that trademark smile still hung on his face, yet I inexplicably sensed something malicious behind it.
A wave of foreboding rose in my mind. The atmosphere plunged to freezing point in an instant, as if in the next second the previously cordial scene would erupt into open hostility...
"Enough, Sutton!!" Gibbs slammed his wine bottle heavily onto the table and stood up in agitation.
"I am talking to Arthur. Interrupting is very bad manners. Surely I don't need to remind you who you are talking to, Mr. Gi, bbs?" Sutton's tone was dripping with threat.
I sat frozen in place, unable to make sense of everyone's bizarre behavior. Why were they reacting so strongly just at the mention of Alice? Wasn't Alice sitting right here on my lap?
I looked down at Alice sitting on my lap, and suddenly my eyes widened in shock. There was no trace of Alice on my lap at all! The space before me was completely empty—Alice had vanished!
Cold sweat broke out across my body in an instant. A fierce, inexplicable terror and anxiety clutched at my heart. I slammed my hands on the table, stood up, and shouted Alice's name at the top of my lungs.
"Alice! Alice! Where did you go?"
The tavern fell instantly silent, quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Everyone stared straight at me, but I had no mind to pay attention to them as I continued anxiously searching for any sign of Alice.
Gibbs, Sutton, and White gazed at me in astonishment, startled by my sudden outburst.
"Hey! Arthur... calm down!" White reacted first, grabbing me by the shoulder. "Hey! What on earth is wrong with you? Are you still half-asleep or something?" White brought his face right up to mine and shook my shoulders hard.
The crowd muttered among themselves in whispers. In a daze, I heard someone softly remarking to the person beside them:
"What's wrong with this guy?"
"No idea. Acting like a lunatic."
"Who is this guy anyway?"
"I know him, I know him, that's Arthur. I heard he went crazy, apparently because his wife and kid died of some illness. How pitiful. I remember he used to have such a happy family, how did he end up like this... Tsk tsk, how tragic!"
...
My mind was a complete blank. My hearing was so muffled I could barely make out any sound at all; the world was spinning, and the sights before my eyes gradually grew distorted, as if I were plunging into a bottomless abyss, shivering uncontrollably all over.
With a vacant, lifeless gaze, I asked White mechanically, "White, have you seen... Alice? I can't find her... I can't find her anymore. If I lose her, Clara is going to... be angry with me. Please, help me, can you help me find Alice?"
"Are you out of your fucking mind?! Alice... Alice is already dead!" White lowered his head as well, squeezing the words out from between his teeth. His tone was chillingly low, yet to me, those words struck my heart like a thunderbolt...
My mind was in total chaos, my emotions collapsing suddenly like a breached dam. In a frenzy, I grabbed White by the collar and roared, almost screaming, "You're full of shit! My daughter isn't dead! White, stop fucking lying to me!" Given the proper upbringing I had received since childhood, I rarely cursed. But now, having lost my sanity to extreme rage, I broke into rare, violent profanity.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Arthur, calm down!"
"Hold him back! Quick, hold him!""
I don't know where I found the strength, but I broke free from the grip of four or five people and slammed White against the wall. White crashed heavily into the wooden paneling with a dull thud. I drove my left elbow into White's chest and swung my right arm around, delivering a vicious blow straight to his face. White was knocked off balance and tumbled to the floor, even coughing up a splash of alcohol. Having lost all reason, I rained a flurry of fierce punches down on White as he lay on the ground. Before long, his face was bruised and bloodied. He spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm, suddenly threw a punch that caught me square on the nose, and followed up with another strike to my eye socket.
The blow sent the world spinning around me, yet the force behind my own punches did not wane at all, falling upon White like raindrops. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder followed by a sensation of weightlessness as Sutton yanked me back from behind and threw me.
I smashed headfirst into the corner of a wooden table, shattering it entirely, and the unfinished drinks splashed all over me. Sutton stared down coldly at me as I lay on the floor, the corners of his mouth lifting into a contemptuous sneer. That smile was utterly mocking, and a moment later he spoke again: "Arthur, if you want to throw a drunken tantrum, go outside. We don't welcome madmen here!" With that, he kicked me right in the chest as I struggled to get up, knocking me flat onto the ground once more as my vision slowly faded into darkness...
"This is Daddy, Daddy is so tall, just like a little mountain. Alice loves Daddy, just like Daddy loves Alice..." Alice's childish voice rang out beside my ear...
My memories gradually grew clear; the violent pain in my head vanished, and the recollections became distinct once more...
"Da... da..."
That was the first time Alice called me Daddy... Although the pronunciation was muffled and unclear, it made me happy for a very, very long time.
"Daddy! Up!"
"Daddy is a dummy~"
"Daddy, I made this for you!"
My Alice, my little sunshine, my precious darling... Don't leave me... I cried out silently in my heart, but my throat felt too raw and choked to produce any sound at all.
"Daddy... Alice hurts so much... Alice is... Alice is so scared, Daddy." Lying on the bed, Alice trembled, her tiny frame appearing exceptionally frail and thin...
"Alice... misses Mommy. Alice is so cold, Daddy. Didn't Daddy say... Mommy is coming back soon? ...It seems like... Alice won't have a chance to see Mommy anymore." Ash-gray spots spread across Alice's little face at a visible rate, and a bright red blossom bloomed at the corner of her lips, making her complexion look all the more deathly pale.
Dazed and heartbroken, I stood stiffly by the bedside, watching my angel. Her cheeks were stark white, as pale as a sheet of paper, gripping my heart with a pain as sharp as a knife wound.
"Daddy... why isn't... Mommy back yet...?"