After arriving home, my dad pressed me on where I had been. It wasn't that he was a mean father. It was just that he was worried about me and wanted to know where I was every second of the day. You see, being the mayor's son isn't all it's cracked up to be. My dad worries that some person who hates how the island is run will hurt me or something as part of an act of terror. I'm not so sure something like that would happen, though, but he seems to think so.
"Why are you so worried?" I debated, emphasizing the last word, so that he would know I was irritated with him. I wasn't necessarily irritated with him because he was so worried. I was irritated with him because of how paranoid he was.
"Look, son, I just want to know where you are after school every day. I just worry about you," my dad answered, his voice stretched out in concern.
It was making this whiny, high-pitched sound that sort of hurt my eardrums. I sighed after his reply. I felt bad about making him so worried. The thing was, I didn't want him to be, and maybe that's why I was so irritated.
"I'm sorry, dad. I just wanted to hang out with my friends. I'm sorry I made you so worried," I apologized, my voice sympathetic. It might've have sounded too sympathetic, and my dad might have thought that I was just putting on an act, but I don't think he noticed, because he gave a gesture that implied that I could go inside and go up to my room. I didn't question him, and I pushed open the massive, wooden door that stood at the entrance to the mayor's mansion...also my house.
Once inside, I took a right into the east wing hallway, which lead to the kitchen and the sun room. I was just going to grab a quick bite to eat – preferably yogurt or some other sort of dairy product – because I didn't want to make it seem like I hadn't eaten in the past two days. I mean, I ate maybe a snack or two from Astrid's purse, but not a real meal. But, I stopped right in place when I saw my sister sitting at the kitchen table, shooting an inquisitive glance at me. Now, I wouldn't just be getting a quick bite to eat; I would be getting a quick bite to eat with a long conversation with my sister.
Oh, boy, I thought to myself.
I hesitated to walk further into the kitchen, but Kate was staring at me, and I didn't want to seem suspicious, so I walked into the room, sitting at the table that we ate dinner at. I hadn't been sitting for more than a second, before Kate started to speak. "So, where have you been for the past couple of days?" Kate asked, her eyes narrowed and the whole of her composure condescending.
"With my friends," I replied, careful not to stutter as I spoke and I kept my voice neutral, because then Kate couldn't figure out if I was lying or not.
"You know, I believe you slightly. But what I don't get is why you would have to hang out with them for two nights in a row. Don't you get to see them enough already?" Kate interrogated me, her tone of voice supreme and professional as she spoke. She really knew how to break someone, but I was strong, so maybe she wouldn't get through my lies.
"Look, we just wanted to hang out. The first week of school is the best time to hang out, because you don't have any homework yet, or if you do, it's not that important. We just wanted to take advantage of the "no-homework" week," I replied, my voice powerful and a little high-pitched, so that Kate would know that I just beat her.
Her expression after my argument was something between stunned and baffled, like she was shocked that I had beaten her in an argument, but confused by how I had beaten her. I gave her a smirk, and then stood up, walked around the length of the table to get to the other side, so that I could go get a bite from the fridge. But on my way out, I stopped to whisper something in Kate's ear.
"Beat you," I whispered, before continuing my way to the fridge. I grabbed an apple from one of the top shelves, and then headed up to my room.
I jumped up onto the bed, taking my shoes off and discarding them on the floor afterwards. When I had finally rested my head on my pillow comfortably, I was about to eat a bite out of my apple when my phone buzzed. I reached into my pocket to grab my phone, and then pulled it out, holding it up close to my face, because of the dim lighting in my room.
I turned it on, and the terrifying text was displayed on the home screen. I read it over and over again, making sure to absorb everything from the text. After reading it, I was scared. Not for myself, but for Astrid, Tanner, and Gwen; maybe even David too. The message hadn't been sent to David, but that didn't mean that Anonymous wouldn't harm him also.
I was thinking about calling my friends to make sure they were okay and to see what they thought about the text, but a wave of exhaustion passed over me, and I was barely able to sit up in my bed to put my phone on the nightstand beside my bed. I felt bad about not calling my friends, but I was too tired to really do anything at the moment.
I closed my eyes, the sound of buzzing texts from my phone putting me asleep within moments. No dreams came my way, but nightmares were a different story.
* * *
I woke up to my phone making a symphony of noises. At first, it was just buzzing with new texts – probably from my friends or from my teammates from football. I had missed try-outs the other day and they were probably mad as hell. There were two days of try-outs, and today was the second day. If I could make it today, I would still have a shot at getting on the football team. But, then my ringtone kept playing – the sound of fireworks – which meant my friends were calling me. Then, another ringtone played – the sound of a crowd at a football game cheering – which meant my friends were Face-Timing me.
I couldn't put it off any longer, so I reached for my phone, and answered the Face-Time. "Hello," I answered, my voice groggy and shallow from just waking up. Whoever was Face-Timing me would also be answered with a bunch of yawns, so I hope they wouldn't care, whoever it was. But, I was relieved when Astrid's familiar face showed up on the screen. I smiled, and Astrid smiled back at me. I hoped she was okay. Her hair was puffed out in little strands here and there that signified she had just woken up also. Some of her hair, though, was wet and the color of gold. The wet parts were plastered to her neck. I guess she hadn't slept that well. Welcome to the party, I thought to myself.
"Hey," Astrid groggily spoke, wiping her eyes with her hands to rub the sleep out of her eyes. Well, that's what I guessed she was doing, but she looked so tired that maybe she didn't even know she was doing it.
"Hey," I replied back, pausing to look her over, "You don't look so good. You sure you're okay. I mean, I shouldn't be speaking since I probably look horrible too, but I think I had to kind of point that out."
Astrid laughed at that, and sighed. She pushed some of her hair apart from her neck, clear lines of strain visible on her face. It looked almost as if she were still exhausted, but I knew that she was just frustrated – maybe with the text Anonymous had sent us or maybe she was frustrated about something else. Or someone else, I thought dreadfully.
"So, about the text Anonymous sent us last night...What do you think about it?" I asked, trying to take my mind off of other matters that didn't have to do with the situation at hand.
Astrid hadn't seemed to be listening to what I was saying, because when she was done unplastering her hair from her neck, she looked up at me and her expression turned from a frustrated one to a shocked one, and then she said, "Oh! Were you talking to me?"
I laughed at her, and she laughed awkwardly back, as if she didn't know why I was laughing. "Yeah, I was, but it's okay. You seem stressed enough. It's only like 5:00 in the morning. You need some rest before school. I guess I'll see you there?" I replied, giving her an air kiss after I was done saying goodbye.
"Yeah, see you at school," Astrid said goodbye, giving me an air kiss back. I turned the Face-Time off at that moment, and rubbed more sleep out of my eyes. I was pretty tired, but I didn't want to go back to sleep. I could just go to bed earlier than I usually did tonight. It wasn't like I would be doing anything, since I had been "out" the past two nights. There was no way my dad would let me go out with my friends tonight. I would do just have to tell them I couldn't help solve the mystery tonight with them. They might not be able to go out either, though, since their parents were probably mad as hell at them also.
I stood up on my bed, sliding my legs over the edge, and then reluctantly stood up, causing a head rush, which momentarily subsided. I started to walk across the cold hardwood floor, the icy wood burning my skin. When I reached the door to my bathroom – white and angular, like a waterfall made of frozen water flowing through the entrance to my bathroom – I opened it, the squeak of the hinges evident in the process.
I hurriedly cleaned myself up in the bathroom, making sure to splash water on my face. Since I hadn't taken a shower last night or the night before it for that matter, I turned the water on in the shower and waited for the whole room to steam up – just the way I liked it – before taking my clothes off and stepping inside. I had literally burned up waiting for my bathroom to steam up, but my mind had been in a faraway place at the time. The expanse of my shower was now a hot, steaming cloud of mist. When I stepped in, it grew arms and spread out throughout the bathroom. I took all the time I needed to bask in the hot, steamy shower, since I had all the time in the world. I didn't need to even go downstairs for breakfast for another three hours, since it was 5:00 at the moment.
Eventually, the idea of conserving water reached my mind and I knew it was time to turn the water off. I reached with my hand to grab the knob that turned the water on and off, but I hesitated. This would mean that my time of peace in the shower would be over, and I still had about two and a half hours before I would even go downstairs. But, my dad would be up pretty soon, knowing him, so he would definitely hear the shower running. That very particular idea was the one thing that got me to turn the water off.
I turned the knob, and the water made a downward, dwindling movement that dribbled across the small of my back before the water was turned off completely. I stepped out of the shower, a towel meeting my feet. Another towel was waiting for me on the towel-holder connected to the wall when I stepped out. I used it to dry myself off, and then I opened the door, a waft of steam escaping through the open space into my bedroom. I didn't want my bedroom to heat up, so I closed the door immediately after stepping out. I grabbed a fresh set of clothes from the dresser in front of my bed, and changed into them.
Now, I had about two, maybe two and a half hours to kill before I would even go downstairs, so I turned the T.V. on and played a rerun of NCIS, one of my favorite shows, as well as my friends' favorite show. We used to always hang out at my place and watch it. Now, things were different, and there was no time for relaxing. Memories of the "old days" surrounded me for the next two and a half hours as I watched reruns of NCIS.
* * *
After watching NCIS for two and a half hours, I rushed downstairs to eat breakfast. But the weird thing was that when I walked into the kitchen, my dad wasn't making breakfast. I was used to my dad always cooking at the stove in the morning, since I hadn't grown up with a mother, so this was weird for me.
Kate, though, was of course sitting at the table, a bowl of cereal filled with milk in front of her, a spoon suspended into it. She was in the middle of taking a mouthful of cereal into her mouth when I entered the room. She stopped mid-bite, though, when she caught sight of me.
"Where's Dad," I asked curiously, adding feebleness to my voice to express my curiosity towards the subject.
Kate finished chewing her mouthful of cereal – which I can see are Cheerios, now that I'm closer to her – and replied to me, her voice neutral, "Oh, he's talking to someone outside. Probably a police officer, from what I heard."
"Wait, what do you mean 'from what you heard'?" I asked, my face contorting a little as my perplexity deepened.
Kate sighed, probably because she didn't want the hassle of having to answer all my questions. I mean, I knew she was trying to eat breakfast without having to pause between mouthfuls to answer my questions, but it wasn't every day that Dad wasn't in the kitchen cooking breakfast for Kate and I. After eating another bite of her cereal, she started to speak again, though, "I was eavesdropping on their conversation. That's why I think he's a police officer. And, I know what you're going to ask next, so let me just answer it for you. I think he's a police officer, because I heard him talking to Dad about the Howard Finchman case. It seems they have a new lead."
"Okay, I know you're going to be mad, but I have another question," I said carefully, hoping that Kate wouldn't get really mad this time and assert that she wouldn't answer any more of my questions...for good.
"Uhh, fine. But this is the last question. I'm not answering any more questions, so ask any questions you have at once. Got that?" Kate asked, a fiery tone hidden in between her words. Her face was almost literally distorted by annoyance and I'm sure her replies would get even more vituperative and get filled with a lot more vehemence.
"Yeah, I got it," I said, knowing that I was probably going to mess this up.
"Okay, then. Ask away," Kate allowed, her voice careless and fearless, as if it was leaving her and drifting off across the room. I could somehow feel the energy of her voice against me. It was weird, but I knew I had to start asking my questions before Kate didn't let me.
"Okay, here I go," I said mainly to myself, but the new annoyed look on Kate's face told me that she heard and that she was about to get mad again, so I asked my questions.
"What's the new lead in the Howard Finchman case? What's the name of the officer out there? Is he just a police officer or is he a detective? And, if so, what's the name of the detective? And...Last question! Will you make me some breakfast? I don't really know how to cook," I asked, out of breath by the end.
"Wow! You sure ask a lot of questions. But I will answer them. The new lead in the Howard Finchman case is that the police actually have a lead, which they haven't had since they found his body. They found a phone in the woods just a quarter of a mile from the place where they found his body. It could either be Howard's phone or the murderer's phone. If it's Howard's phone, then it might lead to other leads, but if it's the murderer's phone, they could have an arrest by the end of the week," Kate said, hurtling through her words, probably knowing that this was only the answer to my first question. She had a few other questions to answer and I wasn't going to stop asking, until they were all answered.
"Hmm, wow. Well, what about my other questions? Aren't you going to answer them?" I asked, starting to get irritated like Kate.
"Well, the thing is, I didn't turn around to see who Dad was talking to, but he definitely was a detective, or at least of high ranking at the DFPD, which is the Dark Falls Police Department, in case you didn't know. And, to answer your last question, I won't make breakfast for you," Kate finished, her voice filled with fierceness. Kate stood up from her chair at the dining table, and put her bowl in the sink. I mean, Kate wasn't a very affectionate person, but I'd never seen her like this.
"Well, okay. But, Kate, I just have one last question. And before you even say something, let me just say this. I'll know you're up to something if you don't answer my question," I said, which stopped Kate in her tracks. Kate had been about to exit the kitchen, but now she had turned around.
"Well, then. What's your question, Sam?" Kate replied, her eyes narrowed and snake-like, like two diamonds suspended into milky water. I guess that meant she didn't like to be played with. She liked playing with others, but not the other way around. That was for sure.
"How do you know all this stuff? I mean, the front door is closed. You wouldn't be able to hear them from in here if they're talking outside. So, what's your secret," I said, my accusations like a bullet to the heart for her.
Kate looked taken aback. I mean, literally shocked. Her face was the color of rubies. She was red-hot with anger. I was almost scared of her when she took a step forward, slowly closing the gap between us. Her eyes were now darkened somehow, like pits of coals with shiny, blue diamonds on the outskirts of her irises.
"I guess I just have good hearing," she replied lightly, her face softening and the color slowly draining.
"I guess you're right. I'm just being paranoid. I've watched a lot of NCIS shows with my friends and maybe it gets to my head sometimes," I said back to her, hoping that my voice sounded genuine and not fake.
Kate nodded and took off from the kitchen, never looking back. I could hear her footsteps echo off the steps and travel to the kitchen, like music roaring at a rock concert. It was about time to go meet up at Astrid's house, so I exited the house through the backdoor, so that I didn't have to make contact with the detective and my dad outside. As I started the walk to Astrid's house, I thought about how Kate had known all that stuff.
That was the first time I knew Kate was up to something. Something bad.
* * *
When I arrived at Astrid's house, everyone was already gathered on her porch. As I approached, Astrid caught sight of me and ran over to me. She embraced me in a hug, which was enough to almost push me over. She kissed me a few times on the cheeks, but I returned the favor with a smooth kiss on her lips. It was nice to see her, to smell her hair, to hold her in my arms. I had seen her via FaceTime earlier this morning, but it wasn't the same as being with her in person.
"I'm so glad to see you," I finally spoke, my breath caressing her forehead as I spoke. I noticed this because her forehead twitched a little as I spoke. I guess we weren't that used to holding each other like this. We haven't held each other like this for at least a week. This is good, I thought. This is good.
After about a minute of just holding each other like this, I could hear footsteps travel from the porch over to where we were standing on the sidewalk. I let go of Astrid, both of us turning, so we could see the person in front of us. It was Gwen, her dark, silky hair tied into a lengthy ponytail that rested at her elbows.
"Hey, Gwen," I spoke softly, the awkwardness that surrounded my friends and I – excluding Tanner, since he was sitting on the porch – almost too hard to speak through.
"Hey, Sam. I'm sorry I had to interrupt your moment with Astrid, but we have a lot to talk about. Plus, we should probably walk to school while we're talking, that way we're not late. We already missed a day and a half of school. No need to make them even more suspicious," Gwen said, her head tilted, and her hip jutted to the right, as if she were signaling for us to go back to the porch. Whether or not it was a signal, we all walked back to the porch, nevertheless.
I greeted Tanner with a clap of my hand on his back and then we headed to school. For a few minutes, no one spoke. But, I knew we had to talk about what happened last night, and I didn't think anyone else was willing to break the silence, so I started the talking. "So, guys. What are we going to do about what happened last night?" I asked, my voice calm and neutral.
"I don't know," Astrid spoke next, her face hardened with fear. Maybe she feared Anonymous. I mean, we all did, but maybe her more than us; or maybe she was scared of something else?
"Well, we have to figure something out. I mean, we're definitely not going to let Anonymous hurt us. I'm definitely not going to let Anonymous hurt us," Tanner spoke, his voice strong with determination and confidence. This was a tinge weird, though, because it just wasn't like him to be this confident.
Well, that might not be the best way to express it. What I mean to say is that Tanner is usually very calm and easy-going, but now he's acting strong and maybe a little more up-tight, even. I guess this mystery has changed us all, in more ways than one.
"Tanner's right. Anonymous can't give us threats like that and get away with it. Maybe we should tell the police," Gwen approved Tanner's statement, her lips pursed with stress and irritation, all because of Anonymous. That mysterious, unknown bastard messed with our lives too much, and if we found out who it was, I might not mind taking it to the police. But, we couldn't really do that just yet.
"No offense, Gwen, but we can't go to the police," Astrid said, breathing heavily, but not as if she had been running and had to catch a breath, but more like how your chest tightens when you're anxious and stressed and it's hard to breathe.
"Why?" Gwen asked, obviously shocked. I looked over at Tanner and he looked a little shocked too. I guess they had been ready to go to the police. Maybe they had called each other last night and decided on it. I pushed that thought to the back of my mind, though, because I didn't want to think that something could be going on between them, when there probably wasn't anything going on between them.
"We can't risk the police – or anyone for that matter – finding out about the Death Disc. They wouldn't believe us and they wouldn't help us. Plus, we don't have a very good reputation with the police," Astrid replied to Gwen, small wrinkles forming at the edges of Astrid's eyes. Astrid was really worried that something might happen. I was a good boyfriend, so I did the thing that made the most sense to my "boyfriend instinct": I hugged her. She let out a deep breath and seemed to be doing a little better now that she was leaning against my chest.
"Yeah, she's right. Even though we probably should go to the police, the police can't know about the Death Disc. And since we would have to tell them why Anonymous has been giving us threats, we'd have to tell them if we went to the police," I said, backing up Astrid.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. But, I don't want to just not tell anyone. As long as we're still solving the mystery of the Death Disc, Anonymous is going to keep giving us threats," Gwen admitted. Her eyes were huge at this point. She was obviously scared of Anonymous, as we all were. Her eyes almost begged us to give her permission to tell someone.
"Gwen, you can't tell anyone! But the last thing you said gives me an idea. You said that 'as long as we're still solving the mystery of the Death Disc, Anonymous is going to keep giving us threats'," Astrid said, the gears in her brain moving as she spoke.
"Yeah, Gwen said that, but what idea does it give you?" Tanner asked curiously. I could tell that his voice sounded just a bit protective, but I don't think anyone else noticed.
"It gives me the following idea. Anonymous is only giving us texts because we're solving the Death Disc mystery. Right? So, if we don't solve the mystery, then Anonymous will leave us alone. But, to test this, we could just have a normal week. No mystery solving, and hopefully no texts from Anonymous. If Anonymous doesn't give us any threats, then we know that if we stop solving the mystery for good, he'll also stop giving us threats for good. The thing is, though, if he does give us a threat, then we know this a game. It would mean that Anonymous isn't doing this because we're solving the mystery of the Death Disc, and it also means we could go to the police. We wouldn't have to include the Death Disc in what we would say to the police, because it wouldn't have anything to do with why Anonymous is doing this," Astrid explained her idea thoroughly.
"Wow," Gwen said, "that is some idea. Maybe, we should just forget about the mystery this week. It couldn't hurt us. Who knows? It could actually be good for us."
"Gwen's right. It would be good for all of us just to forget about the mystery until the end of the week. It would give us time to focus on school more, and our other interests," I said, "like watching NCIS at my place."
Everyone cracked up at that. And, just like that, the stress had been lifted from us.
After a few minutes of laughter, Astrid tensed up and started to speak again, "I hate to be the one to end our stress-free moment, but there's something else I need to tell you. Remember that locket? The one that activated the journal?"
"Yeah," the rest of us answered in unison.
"Well, after I Face-Timed Sam this morning, I was bored and I still had a lot of time to kill before I would even get dressed, so I did some research, and found something," Astrid said, her voice suspenseful.
"What did you find?" I asked, taking a step closer to her. When we had been laughing, I had stopped hugging her, but now I felt like hugging her again.
"I found someone who can help us find out more about the locket, which in turn would help us figure out the mystery. His name is Ricardo Gonzalez. He's a ragtag archaeologist and he's willing to help us...for a hundred dollars, but still," Astrid told us, her voice soft and sweet, like it usually was when she spoke.
"What about not solving the mystery this week? You came up with that idea yourself," Gwen shot accusations at me.
"I know, but Anonymous doesn't have to know about this. Ricardo said it would take at least three or four days for him to –"
"You talked to him! How could you do that, Astrid. He could be dangerous," I said, cutting her off mid-sentence.
"Yeah, you know Sam has a good point. You could've gotten hurt," Gwen agreed, her expression back to the way it had been before we had that stress-free moment.
"Look, guys. Relax. I talked to him on the phone. Not in real person. I'm not stupid enough to do something like that. And, as you didn't let me finish, I'm going to say the rest of what I had to say," Astrid said, which relieved us all, pausing before she spoke again, "It's going to take three or four days for Ricardo to inspect the locket. He's going to pick it up at some place he tells me to meet him at, I'll give him the locket, and then we'll get it back in three to four days...with a hell of a lot new information. That way, we won't have to do any solving for the rest of this week. Ricardo will do it all for us. Anonymous won't even know."
"Huh. I guess that is a good plan," I admitted, moving another step towards Astrid. I was close enough to her this time, so I hugged her. She hugged me back also.
When we ended the hug, I could see a glimpse of our school in the distance. We were almost to school. I sighed, not because I was irritated about going to school, but because I wanted this plan to work. It was almost like not doing something, but actually doing it at the same time. I just hoped that it would work.
"So, you guys ready for three days of not solving the mystery of the Death Disc? And no texts from Anonymous?" Astrid asks, smirking. I almost dozed off because of her grin. It made me happy to see her so happy. I almost didn't reply to her question, but I came out of it and smiled back at her. Astrid saw my smile and grinned even bigger at me.
"We sure are," the rest of us replied. And with that, we walked the rest of the way to school. We walked through the halls together, except it was different this time. We were walking as friends, not just a team of amateur detectives.
* * *
My week of no mystery solving went great. After football tryouts, I had gone with Astrid to a secret location to exchange the locket with Ricardo. Ricardo had accepted it and Astrid had paid him the money. After that, I walked home with Astrid and we watched reruns of NCIS in my bed, and maybe had a few make-out sessions. So far, no mystery solving seemed like a good feeling.
The next day after school, I watched reruns of NCIS with all my friends, including David, who we had invited to Tanner's house with us. Tanner's parents were working late, so no one would know David had been over. David was really becoming part of the gang. And, we did the same thing the following night, except Tanner's parents were back, so we thought it would be better to do it at my house, and we obviously couldn't invite David. David understood, though. He probably knew that the Team Of Mystery was only friends with him, not best friends, like they were with each other.
But, when Saturday came, things got bad again quick. It was a relatively warm, windy day in the town of Dark Falls and everything was as calm as could be. Astrid had stayed over at my house when everyone else had left, and no one really asked why Astrid was staying. They probably figured that we needed "time alone". I woke up with Astrid sleeping by my side, her bare back just inches away from my chest. I pulled back a little, but only to give her room. I slid out of bed, the light coming through the curtains blinding my eyes. I looked over at the clock. It was 8:00 in the morning.
Too early, I thought. We have been free from Anonymous for three days, and I wake up at 8:00? I really need to get a reality check.
Before I knew it, though, Astrid was stirring in bed. I looked over at her, and she woke up with a kiss to the lips. Astrid didn't squirm or anything, almost like she had been expecting it. I pulled away after about thirty seconds. I didn't want to overwhelm Astrid. Plus, she needed to breathe, and I wanted to let her sit up.
Astrid sat up, and I put an arm around her shoulder. "What do you want to do today?" I asked, kissing her on the forehead.
Astrid squirmed in my grasp and turned to face me. Her face looked grave and pale. "We have to meet that guy today. He said it could be three days. It's been three days. We just have to wait for him to text me where to meet him and then we can go," Astrid replied, her face filling with color after being pale just a moment ago. I wonder how her face changed color so fast.
"Oh, right," I said back, my state of calm for the past three days officially gone.
"You know what? We shouldn't let this ruin our fun. After we get the locket back, we can decide whether we want to solve the mystery or stop solving it for good," Astrid reassured me, her voice sweet as chocolate.
I kissed her again, and again, and again. It felt good...to feel free and as if you're floating in mid-air. Astrid made me feel like that. She made me feel good. I couldn't thank her enough for being my girlfriend. I needed someone like that at this stage of my life. I mean, with developing powers, it wasn't easy living life.
Astrid helped, though. She helped me relieve some of the stress and pain. I was lucky to have Astrid in my life, and even luckier that she was my girlfriend. I loved Astrid, and Astrid loved me back. We could never tell her parents, though. It would ruin everything. Astrid would have to break up with me and her parents might not even want her being friends with me after the fact.
It would be horrible if that happened, I thought.
"We should probably get some breakfast," Astrid said, stopping the kissing session, as if she had been reading my mind. Astrid obviously wouldn't want me thinking about those things, especially not while we were kissing.
Astrid and I walked downstairs to find my dad cooking breakfast. Astrid sat down at the kitchen table, patiently waiting for breakfast, while I walked over to my dad and started talking to him.
"You're up early. You usually get down at around 9:00 on a Saturday. What changed?" I asked, curious again. I wonder why his schedule was so mixed up lately.
"Oh, I have a meeting to go to in Capital City. It's at 10:30, so I thought I'd make you guys breakfast and then go. Capital City is at least an hour away," my dad answered, flipping a pancake in the pan as he spoke.
I knew that was all I was going to get out of him, so I walked around the kitchen table to where Astrid was sitting and sat in the chair beside her. That's when I heard Astrid's phone buzz. She looked at her phone and a shocked expression momentarily spread across her face before she turned the phone my way, so that I could see the text she had been sent. It was from Ricardo. It said that he was done with the locket and she could come alone to pick it up at some place in the poor part of town, based upon the address.
I looked up at her and we both sighed. Our day was about to get stressful and we both knew it. I wanted to get this exchange over, so I could have my relaxing weekend. I wasn't even sure the rest of the gang and I would even want to use the information given by Ricardo. We might just not even solve the mystery after this. I mean, it's been a heck of a lot of fun just doing nothing and living out life as a random teenager. Maybe we would give up mystery solving for good, not just the Death Disc mystery, but every other mystery we might come upon.
"Astrid," I whispered to her, my voice incredibly low, "Maybe we should skip breakfast. Would make the exchange occur earlier, and then we would have more time later to relax."
Astrid nodded. I turned towards my dad. I hesitated to speak, though. I was starving – I could feel my stomach twisting in knots from the hunger – and I needed some food. My dad was making food right here...it would be so easy just to dig into those pancakes...but no! I had to be true to Astrid and my friends.
"Dad, I'm going to eat breakfast at...Tanner's place," I came up with on the spot, "We're all meeting up there. I'll see you later. I might not be back until later this afternoon. Okay?"
My dad didn't even have time to react as Astrid and I stood up, already on our way out the door before my dad could even say okay back to me. Astrid pulled the door open and I held it open while she walked through and then I walked through the door behind her.
"I'll call Tanner," I said, taking my phone out of my pocket and dialing Tanner's number.
"I'll call Gwen," Astrid said as a way of reply.
* * *
Gwen and Tanner met up with Astrid and I a few blocks away from where Ricardo said to meet him. He said that she had to come alone, but the rest of the gang wasn't going to let her do that. It was too risky, and we didn't really know anything about Ricardo. For all we knew, he could be working for Anonymous, or even Anonymous himself. That thought sent an icy pulse down my spine and it made me shiver. The hair on my arm even stuck up because of the thought.
"So, are we ready to do this?" Astrid asked, her hands shaking a little bit when she placed them on her lap, standing up against the whitewashed-brick building to our right. It was almost dilapidated: the roof was slanted, nothing was keeping it up on one side, and the windows were shattered, glass chips littering the ground in the alley that separated this building from the next.
We all shared glances before saying it out loud. That was our way of non-verbally talking to each other. "Yeah," we all said, giving Astrid the answer she needed.
She took a deep breath, her lips wobbling with fear. She turned around to walk out of the dark alley that gave us cover, but before she took even one step out of the alley, I turned her around and surprised her with a kiss to her lips. I could feel her smile as we kissed. I took it as a good sign. Maybe some of her stress had even been releived? I knew that this was hard for her and that there was nothing I could do to make her feel anything but scared and stressful, but I still had to try. Knowing that it wasn't going to work, I still had to try to make her feel better.
I stopped my embrace with Astrid after about forty-five seconds. It felt like much more time had passed, though. Astrid hugged me one last time before walking off. I sighed, and looked up to meet Gwen and Tanner's glances on me. They smiled, their sympathy towards me a cup of hot chocolate on a cold day.
I smiled back, and we stepped to the edge of the alley, peeking out from behind the whitewashed brick. The many cracks that branched out across the brick wall reminded me of how friendship was so fragile. You could be friends with someone one day and then something so small could ruin your friendship, just like how fragile the wall was. If you banged on it with your fists, I'm pretty sure the whole wall would collapse. This would, in turn, make us lose our cover. I don't think that would happen, though.
When I peeked out from the edge of the alleyway, I could see Astrid coming back already. I stepped out of the alleyway and by the expression on her face, I knew something was wrong. "What's wrong?" I said, asking the obvious as Gwen and Tanner stepped out of the alley as well.
"Ricardo isn't here. He said to meet him just at the alleyway off the intersection of Barry's Street and Otterman Avenue, but he's not there. I think something's wrong. I don't think he'd be the type of person to blow something off like this," Astrid told us, her expression worrisome. Her eyes darted nervously around Barry's Street, almost like she was scared that Ricardo was hiding somewhere. Barry's Street and Otterman Avenue were two out of maybe a dozen streets in the poor part of town. Barry's Street was named for Barry's Hardware Factory – the dilapidated building Astrid had been leaning on earlier – and Otterman Avenue was named for the Otterman River, just five miles south of the street.
"Astrid, calm down. It's going to be okay. I'm sure that Ricardo will be here shortly," Gwen said, stepping closer to Astrid, so that she could put her arm on Astrid's shoulder for support.
"Look, maybe we just need to wait. If Ricardo's not here yet, I'm sure he'll be here soon. We just need to wait in the alley for him. Let's get a little farther into the alley, though. That way if he comes, he won't see us with you," Tanner reassured Astrid.
Astrid nodded, and I think it even calmed her down to the point where she was thinking rationally again. I gave Tanner a curt nod, and he smiled back at me. We took Tanner's advice and waited for Ricardo to arrive. Astrid walked over to me and rested her head on my shoulder. I leaned against the brick wall, Gwen sat on the ground, careful to kick any trash away from her as she sat down, and Tanner did the same thing, sitting right beside her. Their thighs were touching, they were so close together.
After about thirty minutes of waiting, we knew Ricardo wasn't coming. Astrid seemed pissed as hell and I bet her face would be the color of scarlet if she didn't have the shade of the alley to cover it up. "I'm sorry, Astrid. I know you want to stay to see if he comes, but I don't think he will," I said, trying to be as gentle as I could, but I don't think Astrid was in a good enough mood to care.
"No, you're right. Ricardo isn't coming and we all know it. Let's go hang out at Tanner's house or something," Astrid said mournfully, her head down as she walked out of the alley. The rest of us walked out of the alley behind her. Just as we were about to cross the street, all of our phones buzzed. Astrid's facial expression turned from sad to fearful as she reached in her pocket to grab her phone. We all did the same, and read the text. I knew what I was going to see, but I still had hope. I turned my phone on, and read the text.
From: Anonymous
To: Sam, Astrid, Tanner, & Gwen
Just as I said before, I told you to stop solving the mystery. And what do you do? You call on an archaeologist to do the solving for you. Nice try, but you're not going to get past me that easily. I sent that message for Astrid to come pick up the locket. I knew that if I said for her to come alone, all of you would come. I needed to get you all in one place, so I could send you this text. If you don't call off the archaeologist, he dies. That's a promise I'll be glad to keep. Don't underestimate me. Remember, I'll send you all to hell.
By the time everyone had finished reading the text from Anonymous, we all had shocked and horrified looks on our faces. Tanner and I were tough and all, but Anonymous was an exception to that. As I said before, I'm not scared for myself. I'm scared for my friends. I don't want to see them get hurt and it would kill me from the inside out if I knew I could've done something to stop them from getting hurt.
"Well, I guess there's no getting past Anonymous," Gwen said, breaking the silence that had come upon us.
"Yeah, you could say that again," Tanner said jokingly, but this wasn't a situation to joke about.
"Well, I guess we should go hang out at Tanner's place. I don't think we should go to Sam's. His dad will wonder why Sam and I went out so early. It's just better to go to Tanner's. Plus, we have to talk about what just happened. We need to make the ultimate decision," Astrid said to us, gesturing for us to follow her as we exited the poor part of town and walked to Tanner's house.
* * *
"How could we have been so stupid?" Astrid spoke out loud, anger evident in her voice, as well as her facial expression. After we had climbed the flight of stairs in Tanner's house to his room and settled, the conversation had officially started. Astrid hadn't even waited for us to sit down.
"Astrid, it's okay. We can still call off the archaeologist. Everything's going to be okay," I reassured Astrid, my voice not exactly reassuring. It sounded unsure, to be exact.
"It's not going to be okay. If we call off the archaeologist, we won't get the information we need about the locket. The archaeologist isn't going to give us back the locket, either. He'll probably keep it for himself, knowing how people have acted towards this treasure in the past," Astrid exclaimed, her face still red and knotted with anger.
"Astrid's right. We can't just call him off. I mean, Astrid gave him a hundred dollars in cash for him to find stuff out about the locket. You don't want that to have been for nothing, Sam, do you?" Gwen asked, her comment intended for me. It wasn't like Gwen to be this outspoken. I was starting to have second thoughts about keeping that piece of the Death Disc in our possession. Maybe it was changing us somehow.
"No, I don't. But we can't just let Anonymous hurt Ricardo. I mean, Ricardo isn't even done with the locket yet. Anonymous might get to him before we even get the information. It's just better for us to call him off. That way, no one gets hurt," I argued, trying to put some sense into my friends' minds.
"Well, are you just going to listen to Anonymous. I don't want him to take advantage of us. He might kill Ricardo, regardless. Even if we call him off, someone might still get hurt. You can't take what Anonymous says as the truth. You can never be sure what he's going to do," Tanner cut into the conversation, the first thing he'd actually said since we'd started the argument.
"So, you're all against me on this?" I asked my friends, my voice harsh. I could see Astrid flinch as my voice cut across the room. Astrid had never seen me use that voice.
"I'm sorry, Sam. But I think we should get the information. We can't listen to Anonymous. Whatever we do, we can't do that," Astrid apologized, tears slightly lining the edges of her eyes.
"It's fine. Maybe it's for the best. I guess we shouldn't call off Ricardo. We still need that information about the locket, and obviously we need the locket along with it. I'm okay with not calling off Ricardo," I finished speaking, dizzy and nauseous all of a sudden. Maybe it was just from disappointment at my friends. I was about to lose my balance, so I sat down on Tanner's bed. No need to worry my friends with my health.
"Thank you, Sam. Trust me. Either way, something bad could happen to Ricardo. At least this way, we'll get our information and the locket back," Astrid said, walking across the room to sit beside me on Tanner's bed and kissing me. I welcomed the kiss. I needed that sort of thing right now. I didn't exactly feel good and I wasn't sure why. Maybe it was just better to think about something else.
"Okay, well, we'll just wait for Ricardo to contact Astrid with the meeting place. Then, we'll all meet up there. Until then, I think it would be good for us all to get some rest. It's been a stressful day," Gwen said, saying goodbye to Tanner, Astrid, and I before exiting Tanner's room. I looked out the window across Tanner's bed. I could see Gwen getting into her car and driving off. Anything to take my mind off the dizziness and nausea, I thought.
After that, Astrid and I left Tanner's house. I drove Astrid back to my house and we ate breakfast there. My dad didn't ask any questions about where we had run off to so early in the morning. He would probably ask questions later, when Astrid wasn't here to witness it. After a delicious breakfast, Astrid and I headed upstairs to my room, where we watched T.V. and laid down next to each other, welcoming the alone time we had together. It was good to feel relaxed and to not have a care in the world. But, at about 2:00, Astrid's phone buzzed. It was time to meet Ricardo.
* * *
It turned out that Ricardo wanted us to meet him at the same place as before. This made me think that it was another trick, but hopefully it wasn't. Maybe Anonymous had spied on Ricardo and found out where he was going to meet us at when he was done with the locket? Or maybe it was just a coincidence? No, I don't think so. Anonymous didn't trick people based on coincidences. Something was wrong. I knew it.
We all hid in the same alleyway as before, now more illuminated with golden light, since it was the afternoon, not morning like before. After hugging me one last time before getting the locket, Astrid was on her way out of the alleyway. I did a silent prayer after she left. I just had a bad feeling about this. Something was definitely wrong. Why would Ricardo have said to meet him at the same place Anonymous had told them to meet up at? Ricardo and Anonymous had to be connected somehow.
That's when I hear Astrid scream a high-pitched wail. I didn't care about keeping myself hidden at this point. I pushed my way out of the alley – almost pushing Gwen and Tanner into the brick wall, but they seemed fine – and rushed over to Astrid. Astrid had doubled over on the ground, tears streaming down her face. Her hands were bloody and she looked hysterical. Ricardo must have done this. He must be working for Anonymous, I thought.
I closed the gap between me and her and pulled her close to me, wrapping my arms around her. "Who did this?" I asked. I couldn't see anyone out of the corner of my eye, so I had guessed that Ricardo had run off, but when I turned, I gasped. I almost dropped Astrid, I was so surprised. Lying on the ground at the place Ricardo had said to meet him, was a dead body.
As I looked closer, I could see that the victim had been hit on the head many times with a hard object, because a patch of scarlet fluid had formed on the side of their head and their head looked indented on the side. Their eyes were open, once blue, but now a reddish color because of the blood running down into it. Blood welled up against the victim's neck, like red yarn had been wrapped around it. His neck had been slit. Based upon the face, I could see it was a man. I moved closer to the body, inspecting it further, but careful not to touch it. His hands were ringed with red across the wrists, and stabbing wounds were evident across his stomach.
"Ricardo's dead," Astrid said matter-of-factly after a few seconds. I knew she hadn't tried to say it like that, but with her crying, it sounded a lot like she was just stating a fact.
Gwen and Tanner had now come over to see what was wrong and they too gasped. Gwen almost collapsed, but Tanner held her up. And, that's how our Saturday turned out so horrible. What had started as a sunny morning had ended up as a bloody afternoon. I walked back to Astrid, and the whole gang just stood there, looking at the body, nothing more. I guess it was all we could do at the moment. We were all shocked, stressed, emotionally strung-out.
After about ten minutes, though, I broke the silence, "Guys, we should probably leave. We can't risk being seen here if a police car shows up. We'll all get arrested. It's just better to let the police do their job on this one." No one argued with that. Astrid didn't even seem to acknowledge I said anything. I walked back to Ricardo's beaten-up corpse and looked in his pocket. I found what I was looking for: a white piece of paper with a bunch of notes about the locket scribbled onto it. I checked in his other pocket, and found the locket.
I walked away from his corpse at that point, and the rest of the gang walked out of the poor part of town with me. We all went to our separate homes. I guess no one wanted to talk about it.
Later that evening, news of Ricardo's death had spread all over the island. Ricardo's body was in police custody and they were working on figuring out who killed them. The news reporter even said that Ricardo's and Howard's deaths might be connected. Of course, I already knew that. Anonymous had obviously been the one to murder Ricardo, along with Howard – which my friends and I already knew.
After having a quiet dinner, I went upstairs to watch T.V., but was stopped by an incoming text on my phone from Astrid.
From: Astrid
To: Sam, Gwen, Tanner, & David
I know a way we can stop Anonymous – by trapping him! Meet up at Tanner's house. His parents are working late tonight.
I read the text a few times before rushing downstairs. I told my dad I was hanging out at Tanner's house. Just in case, I told him I might be staying the night. After that, I was out.
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