if you’re going to be obvious about it...

Jamie walked down the same staircase he'd entered a year or so ago, at the cliffhanger of book one, and true to his unfailingly solid character traits, groaned at the impending seven-floor ascent. His plastic-soled sneakers didn't produce any menacing, vibrating echoes, unlike his overactive imagination fueled by an innate flare for dramatism. No matter how dire the situation, Jamie would never fail to conjure up an accompaniment, as if teasing himself with the prospect of following his true calling, his ultimate purpose - music.

And so he travelled in semi-silence, partially conscious of the figment of his mind that was the atmosphere of utter dread that filled him even as he successfully completed his first major character arc. I'm sure you haven't forgotten that he made this monumental decision all by his lonesome, casting away all the prodding advice of his friends, enemies, acquaintances and family members with no small difficulty. The effects were plainly visible to more than just the security guard blearily staring at the general direction of the camera feed; the effects were action as opposed to inaction; drive as opposed to lethargy; determination as opposed to resignation. Visible on his pale, worry-stricken face even to a myope's naked eyes.

Deliberation followed Jamie, falling in step with him, though rather cheekily refusing to match the rhythm of his footfalls. And so, every step met Jamie with tremendous effort needed not only to bend another knee, but also to keep at bay the flood of doubts and fears that came neatly packaged up to the door of his mind, with the sender written neatly in indecipherable cursive: J. M. Overthinking.

Walking up that old staircase to his grandfather's apartment and envisioning telling him that had, in fact, never been interested in chess and playing more and more tournaments only made him miserable, he thought to himself, this is also going to make me miserable, isn't it?

And so begins another story, another character arc, another age of teenage struggle and life-altering altercations, so strap in, dear reader, for this prologue is over, and the time has come to enter apartment 703, where dwells a certain Hugh McCloughan.