Arthur pushed Mother Lucy away instantly and leapt backwards into his room.
His foot landed on the clothes he'd left to dry on the floor, making him slip and crash onto his backside.
Mother Lucy stared down at him, the smile never once leaving her face.
"Do not be afraid, my child."
She gently closed the door behind her, trapping them together in the room.
Arthur slowly pushed himself to his feet, eyes scanning for anything that could be used as a weapon.
Kill her… I'm going to have to kill her. My secret can't get out!
But Mother Lucy shook her head, a strand of her blonde hair falling across her beautiful face.
Something was terrifying about her now, despite her looks.
Arthur had never seen her like this before.
"You're looking at this all wrong, Arthur. Have I taught you nothing?" she said, still with that familiar, cheerful tone.
"W-what do you mean?"
"You think I'm here to have you punished for what you've done? Perhaps you were too caught up in the fear of being caught… you forgot the very first word I spoke to you."
The first word?
Arthur thought back to when she first opened the door.
…
It suddenly clicked.
"You congratulated me…"
Mother Lucy's smile stretched wider as she slowly circled the room. After a few steps, she sat on Arthur's bed and lightly patted the space beside her. "Sit."
Arthur's stomach twisted. Something was wrong. Deeply wrong.
She knew. She knew what he'd done, and yet, she was acting like it didn't matter at all.
He hesitated, then sat. The moment he did, she slid closer, pressing against his arm so that he could feel the warmth of her body against his.
"You and I are the same, Arthur."
The words made his insides churn.
The same…
It couldn't be.
He turned his head to look at her. The woman who had cared for him like a mother for half a decade. Always smiling. Always soft, delicate and kind.
There was no way she could be like him.
"You couldn't be… you live in Hendonshire. The town where no…"
The words stuck in his throat. Mother Lucy finished them for him.
"The town where no murders have happened?" she whispered sweetly.
Arthur nodded, swallowing hard.
His murder would've been the first in living memory. Word would spread through the country of Ingland that Hendonshire was now just like everywhere else.
Dangerous.
But the woman beside him just shook her head softly, like a mother correcting her naive child.
And in a sense, that's exactly what she was doing.
"Have you ever heard the expression 'do not defile the ground that sustains you'? It's a rule I've followed ever since He visited me. Hendonshire is a lovely town… I'd hate to see its people suffer."
Arthur felt like a fool.
He'd always thought Hendonshire was safe because of its low crime rate. He'd never considered that killers could travel for their work.
"Then where? You're here every single day. There's no time to leave town and… kill."
The word felt foreign in his mouth. Especially around her. It should never be mentioned so casually.
"Not every day," she corrected, amused. "Think, my child. It's the first lesson to becoming a good killer."
Not every day…
Arthur sifted through his memories, digging through the routine of orphanage life.
Then it clicked.
That's it!
"The holidays... Christmas, Easter, New Year's… you always said you were visiting your parents, returning after a week or so."
Mother Lucy beamed, proud. She patted his blonde hair gently, like rewarding a clever student.
"Well done, Arthur. You see, my parents died many years ago. I was an orphan too, just like you."
"So you've never been visiting them…"
"Not once. The holidays are my cover. I use them to travel to kill zones. To complete my duties."
Kill zones?
The term sat heavy in his mind. But there was a greater question now burning inside him.
"Why are you telling me all this? Why… why help me?"
Revealing her secrets would surely put herself at risk.
Mother Lucy gave him a playful, mock-offended glance.
"Why? Because that's what mothers are supposed to do… are they not?"
"…"
Even now, especially now, she acted like a true mother. And somehow, that only made their connection feel… stronger.
Ten other children in this orphanage, and yet only they knew the truth of the world.
Only they knew about the dark entity known as The Judge, and the deadly game he made his chosen vessels play.
Arthur felt himself warming to her despite the horror of it all. Her smile, twisted though it was, brought him a strange comfort, and she knew it.
But the questions kept coming.
"What now?" he asked, confused. "Not only am I at risk of being caught, but I don't even know what I'm supposed to do next. Do i just... keep killing?"
Mother Lucy rose from the bed and brushed off her pencil skirt with care. She walked towards the door.
"You won't be caught. I've already cleaned up your mess. For now, you lay low. And then… we hunt."
Hunt… to what end? There must be more to this.
Arthur understood what she must mean, but his mind stuck on her earlier words.
"Wait, what do you mean cleaned up? In fact, how did you even know what I'd done?"
Mother Lucy paused at the door and turned, flashing him one final, dazzling smile.
"Oh, sweet child… can't a mother keep at least some of her secrets?"