World of Darkness World of Darkness: Attrition - "As if I know"

[Gary B]

From the blog of James Wright (Part 1)

So I get this kid in the store. Some sort of sociology major or some such. Guess he wants to know more about people. I say, if you want to know more about people; know more about money. Thats the key I think. Money drives people INSANE.

Anyway. This kid, well...Should I use kid? I'm not much older than him. I'm pretty fresh out of the oven myself. But, he's still baking. Probably literally. This guy comes in and starts sniffing around my store. Doesn't ask any questions, barely picks anything up. I think he may have looked at some Tarot Cards, and some pretty stones. But that was it. But he keeps coming back, doing the same thing each day.

I don't have a busy store. Mainly I trade obscurities and oddities with knowledge hounds. I scour a bit on a book here, or learn a bit about objects from different time periods. That sort of thing. But he's become a regular.

It didn't occur to me until I had other customers in the store. He had been waiting to meet them. No one specific, just people who came into the store. Thats when I figured out he was a sociology major. He introduced himself as Nathan Quan. Korean I believe. He told my customers he was a sociology major and then started asking them questions about what they were looking for in my store and why.

That drove off some customers. So I kicked him out. He left without much fuss. But he didn't go anywhere. Instead he lurked outside, like a vulture.

That went on for a few weeks. Until he invited me for coffee one night. I sighed and agreed. Well. I learned he was gay, and apparently haunted. His dorm was anyway. He had just been too afraid to directly ask about it. I wondered if he was being preyed on by bigots really. Pranks and the like. Until he showed me some startling things.

First was the alien marks on his arm. I wouldn't say it was wrighting, but he was branded for sure. I don't really have much of an eye for medical things but it didn't look burned in, but it was definately pressed in, red and irritated. The lines made no sense. So I took some pictures of it. He mentioned also that friends of his would often catch him standing in place muttering in some strange 'babbley' language. If they nudged him, he would snap out.

He had already been to a doctor, who thought it was some college prank - as far as the brand went. He was taken through CT and MRI scans and they concluded: Nothing is wrong with you. The marks will go away.

Well they didn't. They stayed as I did my research. In fact as I had more coffee trips with him, the brand seemed to be growing. Ugh. The kid looked like he hadn't slept in all this time. He was haggard and falling apart. Even offered me sex if I could some how 'fix' him. But, I don't swing that way.

Then he was found dead a few days later. I didn't get the full report, but hearsay and rumor flooded his dorm building. The room was sealed off. But I had heard that some students had seen blood everywhere. Another saw Quan's body. It had been erupted or some such. Something came out is what another student said reporting to me when I asked; "I heard the screams. Then it ended. Then the thumping. Like bass drums. I called the police."

That was just the beginning...