A thin sunbeam shined into the clenched eyes of X. X rolls over to check his phone now that he's awake.
9 am, and let's see... yup still there. Hoping the texts from 1056 last night was just a nightmare, X looked over his text messages only to be wholly disappointed. Lying back down, he set down his phone on his nightstand. Just as he does so, a raucous vibrating disrupts the tranquility of the morn.
Huh? Another text from 1056? X worries. However, upon inspection, Adonis?
"We were supposed to meet at the heritage coffee shop today, remember?"
"Yea, I'm coming right now, LOL, gimme like 20 min." Obviously lying, X kicks his covers clean off his body and sprang up to get dressed.
Meanwhile, at the Heritage Coffee Shop, Adonis, Diane, Ryan, and Cody sat in wait for X's arrival.
"Why do we have to be here?" Questioned Cody.
"1056 texted you too," Adonis answers.
"So what? We don't even know you guys. We're not connected in any way." Cody rebuts.
"Yea, we're not connected!" adds Ryan.
"Shut up, Ryan." Cody retorts.
"Anyway, it means you're apart of this now. " Adonis responds. Just then, Xavier enters the coffee shop. The coffee shop has a quaint feel. There is no wallpaper on the walls, only rough, wooden walnut boards for walls. At the far end of the room are the checkout and order counters. In the middle of the room is a charging station for people to charge their laptops. Adonis, Diane, Cody, and Ryan, all sat around a little coffee table on four two-person sofas to the far right of the room. The room is flooded with sunlight because the entire north-facing wall is made of glass. From the inside, you can clearly see all the people and cars passing by the coffee shop.
"Hey, X over here!" Adonis calls to X.
"Hey, guys," X replies flatly. "What the hell are these guys doing here?" X asks, gesturing to the twins.
"Be nice, X. Adonis made them come because they can be potential clues to finding the real identity of 1056." Diane scolds X lightly. X turns to the twins and nods slightly. Taking a seat in the space beside Diane, he doesn't even have a chance to say anything before a waiter comes to the table and intrudes.
" Good morning, how is everyone today?!" The waiter energetically asks.
"Were fine, we'll all just have water, thanks," Diane said a bit annoyed.
"Okay, perfect, five glasses of water, ill be right back with your orders!" The waiter speed-walked off back to the counter.
"Okay, so, lets recap and go over our main objective," X says, seriously leaning forward and putting his elbows on his knees.
" Well, we know the beginning of this mess started four years ago," Diane states.
"Wait a minute, it has?" Cody intervenes.
" Four years ago, my older brother ran away from home after getting a cryptic text from a four-digit number, 1056," X explains.
"Damn for real?!" Ryan hollers.
"I remember reading something about that, I think. The papers said a young man named Ben king was abducted, though. It didn't say he ran away, and unless I am mistaken, your last name is Jett." Cody rambles, looking at X.
" Yeah, you right, big bro, his last name is Jett!" Ryan Exclaims.
"Shut up, Ryan." Cody snaps again.
" You guys look similar, but you're very different." Diane points out.
"Yeah, I'm more handsome," Ryan says proudly.
"You're definitely more of something." X snorts. Everyone laughs aloud. As the laughing dies down, they feel it was nice to have this laugh. It felts as if they weren't going to laughing again for awhile. Now they're all just staring at the ground in silence.
"So, I have five glasses of water for the lot of you!" The waiter blatantly returns. He slams them down, quickly splashing the water out of the cups, sprinkling the table.
SLAM!, SLAM!, SLAM!, SLAM!, SLAM! The waiter storms off. Everyone looks up to Diane.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
"What!? I was NOT that rude, okay!" She debates the stares. "He was rude first." She mumbles, turning away.
"Back to the topic at hand," Cody says, bring his attention back to X. " Your story doesn't line up with the news X." Cody accuses.
"What are you trying to say!?" Diane yells, coming to X's rescue.
"The answer is obvious, isn't it." Adonis defends as well.
"What's so obvious about it?" Cody retorts.
"Well, it's not my place to say anything," Adonis says looking to X
"I modified my last name when I moved to this town, and I assume that Ben ran away and was not seized." X answers.
"Whats make you say that?" Cody continues.
"His texts with 1056." X replies. "At first it seems that Ben doesn't know who 1056 is, but when 1056 sends him an obscure message, Ben grasps it easily," X explains. " Granted, he was valedictorian, but even the detectives were stumped," X reveals.
"Do you mind telling me the texts verbatim, or do you perhaps have a screenshot," Cody asks politely. X pulls out his phone from in his pocket. He taps and swipes for a moment and then hands his phone over to Cody. Ryan slowly creeps his head over his brother's shoulder to take a peek. Then Dian and then Adonis following her, to steal a glance at X's phone. All four were now gawking at X's cellphone.
" meet me three miles north of the sun?" Cody finally says aloud bewildered.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ryan blurts out.
"It's the cryptic message, Ryan," Cody explains.
"Like a graveyard beneath a church??" Ryan asks.
"Man, What?!" Adonis exclaims.
"Cryptic means to have an obscure meaning." Explains Diane to Ryan.
"But that's not the bewildering part. The confusing part is that Ben immediately knew what it meant." Cody inputs. Everyone falls silent once again at the realization of the futility of their situation.
"Our main objective is to find out who 1056 is and get him to tell us where Ben is, but with what we have now were not getting any closer." X thinks out loud.
"That's your goal," Ryan says suddenly.
"Hmm?" X looks up at Ryan.
"He means we have no incentive to help you people." Cody interprets. " We have no desire to know 1056 or get Ben either, besides I believe the news, your brother was kidnapped. Chances are he's been long dead." Cody continues.
"Hey, man, show some respect! That his brother!" Adonis shouts at Cody.
" No, he's right. If they don't want to help, they don't have to." X agrees. X's phone face down on the table now starts to vibrate. He's got a text. Everyone looks at the phone uneasily. X can feel his hands begin to tremble. His palms were filling with pools of sweat. The words 1056 texted yesterday kept flashing in his mind. If you wish to achieve that which you seek, you must heed my word and follow them to a T.
What does 1056 want from us? X reaches his hand out and grabs his phone. He turns it over and reveals a multimedia message from 1056.
"It's a picture from 1056," X announces. " It's a picture taken on Snapchat, of a house. The caption reads; Here's your incentive." X shows the others, and the twins look on in horror.
"That's our fucking house, dude!" Ryan sounds out, elbowing Cody.
"I can see that," Cody says, annoyed, rubbing his arm. "That son of a bitch." He continues. X's phone vibrates again.
Let's play a game now that you all want something from me, with the addition of the twins, because I won't stop tormenting them or their family until you guys can stop me.
"What should I say, guys?" X asks
"Just ask this sicko what game he wants to play," Adonis suggests.
What kind of game?
Every time you guys complete a challenge, I will give you a single clue.
What kind of challenges?
Challenge number 1: Theft. You must steal a PlayBoy3000, and the game Remember the Alamo.
"He wants us to steal a PlayBoy3000 and Remember the Alamo," X proclaims to the others. "Once we do that, he'll give us a clue," X reveals.
"Why does he want us to commit a crime?" Cody thought aloud.
"It doesn't matter. We have to take advantage of this game." Adonis cuts in.
"Adonis is right." Diane agrees. "We don't have a choice in the matter." She adds. Everyone agrees in silence. After a brief moment, Cody chimes in.
"I have an idea!"
"What's up?!" X eagerly asks.
" Okay, listen up," Cody demands. Everyone leans forward in their seats. It seems everyone was wracking their brains and trying to think of an efficient way to steal these items and get away scot-free.
" I know a pretty low-risk way of stealing from Super World Mart. Here's the plan." As Cody tells everyone his plan, everyone can agree its a solid idea.
"Okay, so lets recap!" X commands
" This plan only needs three of us, so, me, Cody, and Adonis will be the only ones to go." X starts.
"I alone will go in first. I will go to electronics and ask for the PlayBoy3000 from behind the case. Super World Mart doesn't have its employees take the items to the counter like most superstores. This is the only thing that makes this heist work." Cody announces.
"X and I will go in two minutes later and split up. I will find cameras and distinguish a blind spot as best as possible, as soon as I do this, I will text X and Cody the location. Then ill find a trashcan and bring it to the spot and wait." Adonis explains his role.
"I will do the same as Cody and ask for Remember the Alamo. After I get it, Cody and I continue shopping until we get Adonis' text." X continues. " When we get the text, we go to the location and throw the console and the game in the trash. Most janitors won't check the bag and will just toss the garbage into the dumpster behind the store." Cody states
"We wait until the end of the day when they take the garbage out, take a little dumpster dive, find the right bag, and mission accomplished!" X shouts, slamming his fist onto the table. The rest of the gang agrees to this plan.
"We'll, be waiting here for you guys to come back," Diane says.
"You guys are going today?" Ryan asks.
"Its only 2 pm, we have plenty of time to go home and prepare," Cody explains to his brother.
"Yes, guys we can do this, let's get ready for this shit and get it over with." X declares determined. They all get up and leave the coffee shop to get prepared for their first challenge.