Bridge Of Solitude - Volume 1 Chapter 3 The Infamous Arthur Bridge Iii

Margaret collected the schedule of her classes before she stopped at her locker. She deposited few books inside and kept the necessary ones with her as she slowly made her way to the first class of the day.

The large room was almost empty, with only a few students here and there. It’s still ten minutes early so it was to be expected. Margaret entered the room and quietly settled in a random desk and began to review her schedule.

A few desks across Margaret, there were three guys chatting amongst themselves. They weren’t speaking quietly and the room was mostly empty so their conversations clearly floated into Margaret’s ear.

“Did you hear? Tyler and Paul were assaulted by Arthur and his gang.”

“Yeah, Bobby’s arm was fractured and Jimmy broke his leg. Even Tyler and Paul suffered some minor injuries.”

“I don’t think Arthur can get away easily this time. He’ll be lucky if he is only suspended. I heard Coach Jeff is really angry over Paul’s injury before the first game of the season.”

“Arthur is truly insane. I can’t believe he would dare to attack Tyler and Paul without any fear.”

“He should be arrested before he does anything more dangerous.”

“Do you think he cares? I heard he was arrested many times before.”

“Yeah, I heard those rumors too. They say”

Margaret shook her head in disapproval and tuned them out. She never really understood how rumors work but she knew not to believe them. And when she heard nonsense like these, she only realized how stupid people could be to believe them.

Firstly, there was no ‘gang’ and secondly, Arthur didn’t even touch them, let alone fracture their limbs. They did it all by themselves. As hard as that was to believe.

– –

Margaret was in town square, visiting her regular bookshop to get a few books. She was about to head home when she saw Arthur with a group of familiar faces. She recognized a few of them from university and realized something was wrong with the situation.

Tyler and his beefed up football friends were leading Arthur somewhere. Despite the warnings from the reasonable part of her brain, telling her to get as far away as possible; Margaret followed them. It was not hard to figure out what was about to happen and she subconsciously prayed she would be wrong.

They were a total of six guys including Arthur, as they entered a narrow alleyway. Margaret carefully hid herself behind an old building across the alley. As she glanced around at the surroundings, her heart started to beat faster and louder. The place looked abandoned and it was eerily quiet as there seems to be no presence of anyone else in the vicinity.

A faint sense of helplessness welled up inside her.

The whole university saw Arthur as an unfeeling villain and Margaret herself doesn’t have any sort of opinion on him. But, she was able to get out of tough situations more than once, due to his presence. Although it was just a coincidence and an accident, it was a fact that Margaret owe Arthur a thanks or two.

And besides, Arthur was one of the few who never ‘bothered’ her. So when Margaret realized what was about to happen, she just couldn’t turn around and walk away despite her inability to help. She was just a cute little cat and the most she could do was scream for help, though she doubted that would change anything.

The five guys backed Arthur into the alley and stood in front, blocking his escape route. One of the guys grabbed Arthur’s collar and started swearing and yelling until his throat ran dry.

And Arthur, he just stood there without a hint of panic on his face. His eyes were as relaxed as ever and he didn’t even twitch when they were literally screaming in his face.

Margaret was a fair distance away from the alley, so she couldn’t make out what they were yelling, but she found herself smiling at the scene. Even as five huge guys were seriously trying to intimidate him, Arthur wasn’t paying them the slightest attention. He stood there like a statue, with a calm face and a bored look.

When they shouted enough and didn’t get any response, they took action. Tyler was the first to throw a punch, but he missed wildly as Arthur sidestepped him with ease. He tried again, and once again only to fail miserably. Then, Paul stepped in and tried his luck. But even after several attempts he couldn’t land a hit either. The rest of the three, who were waiting and watching, jumped in together and tried to gang up on Arthur. But in the end, they ended up hitting themselves and each other.

They were staggering as they hit the walls and fell over the trash cans and accidentally ended up hitting their friends, while Arthur effortlessly dodged their attacks with perfection. They were at it until they collapsed from exhaustion after a few more attempts.

Even when all five of them tried together, they couldn’t even land a single hit on Arthur. He on the other hand, yawned, scratched his head and walked away as if he didn’t defeat five guys without raising a finger.

Margaret was shocked and surprised as she saw everything unfold in front of her eyes. She was dumbstruck as she didn’t know whether she was afraid or impressed by Arthur.

– –

Bell rang, professors came in, classes went by and Margaret busily finished half a day without much hassle.

At lunch, in the cafeteria, Margaret was on her way to a table when a short skinny guy bumped into her, spilling his fresh drink on her. The poor guy apologized profusely for a long time despite Margaret telling him it was not his fault.

It was indeed not his fault as Margaret saw the jerks at the side table laughing and high-fiving each other for their achievement. Such an old-school trick and they are proud of themselves. Actually, their target was only the skinny guy. Unfortunately, Margaret was collateral damage, so they were more than pleased with themselves.

The ‘accident’ made a purple blotch on her rock-star shirt and left her cardigan smelling like gr.a.p.es. She rushed to the restroom to wash herself and get rid of the smell. After washing off the stain-well most of it anyway, Margaret felt hungry and ended up eating her lunch in an empty classroom. Quietly, and peacefully.

With 10 more minutes left in the lunch break, she once again stopped at her locker to grab the books for the last three periods, but she found it empty with only a note stuck to the door. She closed her eyes in annoyance and plopped her head onto the locker, feeling a deep regret.

She finally let out a sigh and looked at the note.

Game Time : Search and Find

If you want your stuff, solve the riddles to find the location with your things and the next clue pointing to the rest of your belongings. We wish you all the best in your endeavors. Not

-You know who we are