"Not at all," he says. "I don't give a Jub Jub about the world." He summons a buff man walking by, trying to shade himself from the rain. "Do I look like I give a Jub Jub about the world?"
"Jub Jub this." The man shows him the finger and walks.
"You asked me about the Muffin Man and why he kills. I am just telling you, Alice." The Pillar turns to me, his eyes catching too many people staring at their phones at the same time. The activity makes me suspicious as well. But I have a conversation to finish.
"Prove it, then." I step forward. "Prove that all you just told me is true!"
"I don't need to," the Pillar says as he pulls his phone from his pocket. At the same time, my phone buzzes.
What's going on?
I click a link sent to me in a message. I am transferred to a video. I click it to open it. It's a live-stream, the same one everyone else, including the Pillar, is watching now.
It's the Muffin Man, aka the cook, aka the watermelon killer is live online, talking to the world.
"Pretty noble demands from a man who stuffs children's heads in watermelons," the Pillar muses. "Would he be kind enough to show us how he actually stuffs heads in watermelons?"
The Pillar is mostly talking to himself.
"If these demands aren't met by five o'clock tomorrow," the Muffin Man announces, "I will poison most of Britain's children with the same candy that made them fat." This time his pause is longer, as if he is contemplating what he is going to say next.
I look around me. Everyone is holding their breath. They know they are about to see something they aren't ready for, but are forced to experience.