February 15th, 2008

“Well now, isn’t this interesting.” the woman was lying against a tree, watching the scene unfold before her. Her light skin and blue uniform stood out against the oak tree, which had yellow tape wrapped around it. Despite the cold air, she didn’t shiver. People often called her cold blooded because of it. The Cold Blooded Woman. She chuckled at the name. “Rachel!” she looked to her left and grinned at the goofball running toward her. His skinny physique was riding the line between fine and concerning, and appeared to be carrying much less than the other officers on the scene. “Jacobs, I’m gonna sock ya next time you try bein late.” “Hehe, yes ma'am~” her grin turned to a concerned look. “Don’t call me ma’am. I’m not your mother, or your superior, so just Rachel is fine.” he tips his hat, and with a stutter, “Y-y-yes ma-I-I mean Rachel! Sorry ma-ga, dammit!” he shakes his head and clears his throat. “Already have the details?” she sighs. “Just tell me.” the man pulls out his notepad. “At 3:25 P.M on the date of February 14th, 2008, a man was taking his afternoon hike when he came across a boy on his knees, staring at a wooden shack, balling his eyes out. When the man went to investigate, he found a young girl dead, her body slumped in a wooden chair. Death was caused by a shot to the head. The girl has been Identified as Sarah Tet. That’s all we have for now.” The woman raises an eyebrow. “And the boy?” the woman turns to her right. A boy was simply sitting there, staring at the wooden shack with a dead gaze. The man bites his lip. “Well...” she pushes off the tree and crosses her arms. “What’s the problem?” “The boy won’t talk to us. We asked where his parents are, what his name is, everything, but he simply keeps staring.” she goes silent, deep in thought. “Can I talk to him?” Jacobs shrugs his shoulders. “Shouldn’t be a problem…maybe.” the woman rolls her eyes and makes her way over to the boy. As she gets closer to the boy, she feels something odd. Like a fuzzy feeling spreading lightly through her body. She ignores this, sitting down next to the boy. The two stare at the wooden shack, surrounded by police. She asks him, “You want anything?” the boy shakes his head. “Hey, what’s your name kid?” the boy doesn’t respond.

“I know what it’s like to lose a friend too. I was around the same age as you.” the boy turns to look at her. “We were walking home from the old candy shop and my friend said she wanted to stop somewhere and use the restroom. So, we stopped at this cafe. I waited a little while, but she never came out. When I went in to look for her, she was gone. I never saw her again.” the two were again in silence. “I’m sorry about your friend, ma’m.” the two looked at each other. “Thank you. It wasn’t easy moving on. I spent every day feeling guilty, wishing I knew what happened to her, where she went. Then, I found this.” she reached into her uniform’s pocket and pulled out a little wooden pegasus. “When I look at it, It reminds me of all the good times we had together, and it hurts a little less. Now, I think of her, but I’m never sad.” she holds the pegasus out to him. “I think you need it more than I do.” the boy reaches out his hand and grips the pegasus. “Maybe you’ll hurt less with it.” the boy looked at the wooden figure and smiles. “Thank you ma’am.” she smiles down at him. “Please. Call me Rachel. What do I call you?” the boy opens his mouth. “Ralph, what the hell are you doing?!” a lady walks up behind the boy and pulls him of the ground. “Come on, we’re going home!” the pegasus drops on the ground. “M-mom wait!” the lady doesn’t say another word. Police come up to her, asking her questions, but she ignores all of them. She opens the back passenger door and forces him in, slamming the door shut before getting into the driver's seat and driving off. Rachel grabs the pegasus off the ground and holds it in her hands. “Ralph...Jacobs, follow me.” the man had been sitting under a tree, close to dozing off before jumping up and running over to the woman. “What’s up?” the two hop in Rachel’s cruiser. “We’re gonna get some answers.” the two drive off.

P.P.F re

Chapter 2: Enter the Conspiracy Club

February 14th, 2012

Two mugs are placed on the oak wood table. The man who had brought these mugs over had a muscular physique, hidden behind jeans, a red sweater and a white apron. The man’s face demonstrated a tenderness reserved for the kids and those close to him, but was most often hidden behind a cold, business like stare. His dark skin and grey eyes differentiated him from the two customers sitting in from of him,one of which was thanking him with a kind face and the other giving this usual dead smile and thank you before turning to his laptop. “Damien, close that damn thing.” Damien immediately does as he’s told, shutting the laptop with a quickness, while also making sure not to slam it.

“Thank you for agreeing to meet with my kid. It’s a pleasure to have you here.” Chloe, the girl who had been thanking him, smiled at this. “Actually, it was his idea.” the man’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, before composing himself. “I-I’ll leave you two be.” the man walks to the back of the cafe and out of sight.

“Sooo…” Chloe drags out her o’s while Damien stares at his coffee. “Is that your dad?” Damien shakes his head. “No, he’s my uncle.” he sips the hot liquid, and sighs as he feels his body warm on the inside. “Well, I guess I’ll take a sip too.” she brings the mug to her mouth and takes a sip. Her eyes widen in surprise before drooping as she let's out an “ahhhhh.” She slumps into her seat, her life clearly complete. “I can die happy.” the boy rolls his eyes as he takes another sip. It was definitely good, but he was clearly playing to the basics. That’s how it always worked. A slow game, learning a customer’s taste and forming a special cup of joe designed just for them. It’s so intimate, so special, you could tell despite his no nonsense gaze he puts his soul into every pot. “Oh, don’t worry about trying to make me look good. He’s used to me staying pretty stagnant.” she escapes her coffee induced trance to give him a look like he just escaped from a mental hospital. “That’s a really dumb excuse for not bothering with trying to evolve.” he returns her look. “Huh?” she takes another sip of coffee, puts down her mug, and clears her throat.

“Damien, expectations aren’t supposed to be met, they’re meant to be exceeded. If someone expects a low-quality result from you, then maybe you should start trying to change that and stop trying to accept how you are. Nobody should be low quality if they can help it.” Damien blinks. And again. And again. “H-huh?” she’d gone back to her coffee wonderland before he could question what the hell just happened. While she’s enjoying herself, Damien grabs his phone out and types verbatim what she’d just said to him in his memo app. Once he put his phone away, he found Chloe on her own. “Oh, just my bro.” she types something and puts her phone away. “So, I’m guessing you’re a big fan of sci-fi?” He shrugs his shoulders. “I’m at the library whenever I’m not in school, so I’m pretty sure I’d know if you were in any other aisle.” he sips his coffee. “Really? Stalkerish, much?” she grins. “Ah, that’d make ya happy, wouldn’t it?” he rolls his eyes, cracking a small grin. “Well, It looks to me you’re quite a big fan of fantasy.” she gasps. “How did you know?” both of them point to her shirt. “Well shucks, ya got me!” she raises her hands in the air. “I’m a fan of the hobbits, the magic trees, and the savior swans.” the two laugh before turning attention to their coffee once more.

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“Hey, wanna go somewhere? Do something?” he bites his lip, narrowing his eyes. His gaze softens, and he nods his head. “Whatcha have in mind?”

…

“R-really?” the two had made their way over to the mall, entering at the far left entrance, where the Chuk-Chuk-Donald was along with multiple smaller shopping departments lining the walls. They passed multiple stores filled with books, shoes, dvd’s and movies, and, most notably, stores containing clothes, one of which they were currently in front of. The name of the shop was Union Shop, written in a really artsy font with characters from multiple recognizable franchises surrounding the words. The name was even a reference to Rising of the Serpent, something that made Damien crack a small grin. “What? Is it weird?” Damien shrugs his shoulders. “I just wasn’t expecting to go to a Hot Topic rip off is all.” The two walk inside. The smell of the place knocked Damien off guard. It smelled like someone was burning lavender and cinnamon candles, creating a nauseating combination. “Oh, over here!” the two spent their time walking down the many racks of clothes, referencing different shows, books, movies, that Damien thought he saw a shirt with a golden mouse on it. He was able to ignore the smell thanks to all the jokes Chloe was cracking. “Beep beep, Dame!” “Dang it, that isn’t funny!” the girl was wearing a cardboard mask of Pennywise that looked like it had been cut off a movie poster, which, admittedly, was pretty affective on a pantsy like Damien. “We all float down here!” her impressions where pretty good, which was starting to make the whole ordeal a lot worse. “Alright, this is pretty cool!” she finally took the mask off, making the boy sigh with relief. “So, ya gonna get that?” she shakes her head. “Don’t have the cash to spend on something like that.” she places it back on the shelf. “Well, I’m sure you’ll get It one day.” she grins.

“Please, I’m scary enough to be my own Halloween costume!” “I concur.” “Excuse me?” “Nothing.” the boy’s face goes red as he buries it into his jacket. “Hey, thanks for hanging out with me.” After the two had walked around some more, they were once again in the mall walkway, sitting in the center area. “No problem. Thanks for not jumping me.” she rolls her eyes. “Why would I do that?” Damien seems to go into thought before shaking his head. “Nevermind, forget I said anything.” she looks at him for a second with a weird sort of look that made him shiver before she collapsed onto the bench arm. “Hey, want something to eat?” she shakes her head. “Its okay, you don't have to do that.” “No trouble.” she looks at him again with the same look. One worry. “You okay?” she snaps out of it. “Yeah. Thank you, that would be nice.” her face returns to its normal smiley self. He nods his head, getting up off the bench and walking over to the nearby Ice cream stand. “Ah yes, hello dear sir. What would you like?” “Two ice cream sandwiches.” the man nods and bends down. He grabs the two wrapped goodies and walks off, feeling as though he could recognize the old man. “Wait. That guy in the office.” he turns around and sees the man was gone. He turns back to the bench and sees some boy was sitting where he had been, chatting up the girl he’d been spending the day with. He walks a little faster. “...screw it.” the boy turns and sees Damien as he arrives. “Ah, Damien Gerdo, correct?” Damien looks over at Chloe, who appeared to be staring off in a daze. “Why are you asking?” the boy sitting there was wearing black khakis and a red t-shirt. His skin was about as dark as Chloe’s, a light brown color, and the boys hair was black, much like Damien’s, except this new boy’s hair was finely trimmed and brushed, and an unconvincing smile is plastered on his face. The new boy raises a hand. “The name’s Chris. A pleasure.” Damien stares at Chris, trying to pry intentions out of his features. He looks over at Chloe and decides to shake his hand. “Damien.” Chris stands up. “So, Damien, I have a small request of you, if you wouldn’t mind hearing me out.” Damien crosses his arms. “What is it?” The request that had been asked of him made him freeze up. “Join my Conspiracy Club.”

“...”

“...”

“Hahahhahahahahahha! Hahhahahahhahha!” Damien burst out laughing, holding his stomach in his hands. Chris’s face went from a smile to a confused gaze, and then to agitation. “What the hell’s so funny?” Damien tried answering but kept interrupting himself with more laughter. “I-I just-thought th-that I heard you-you say you wanted to-to have me work with you!” Damien, slowly, began to realize this wasn’t a joke, and his laughter was beginning to subside. “Your-you're being serious?” Damien shook his head. “Apologies. I’m not joining.” Damien backed up. “Well, while I admit your manners need some work, I’ll look past it to get to the point. You see, I don’t want you in my club. In fact, I wouldn't mind not seeing you ever again. It’s just, I think you may be the only one who could help me.” Chris reaches into a laptop bag that had been slung across his neck and pulls out a green notebook. It looks old, with yellowed pages and spots where water had dried. He grabs it out of Chris’s grip, mumbling under his breath, and opens it. “What the hell?” the pages where littered with circles, each page having exactly 20 circles, and each circle had a different amount of dots in them.

“This means nothing. Just get to the point or I’m out of here.” Chloe finally broke her trance and looked at Damien. Her look was one guilt. Damien clenched his teeth, and felt his lip twitch. “Well, actually, your more of a point of reference if anything. We have it mostly translated, but it references stuff we don’t get, but, well, we’re pretty sure you do. After all, your name is the first thing we translated.” the boy handed over another, newer looking notebook. It actually had words written inside it. He scanned through the first page. He closed the notebook, looking absolutely horrified. “Ah, was I right?” Damien shook his head no. “Do you know who wrote this?” Chris nods his head. “Then you know this isn’t worth looking into.” Sarah Tet is dead, Ralph Fredricks may as well be dead, and I’ve already moved past it. Now, If you’ll excuse me-” he throws one of the sandwiches to Chloe, who let's it hit her arm and fall In to her lap. He turns and walks away. He feels himself choking up, and tries to push it down with his characteristic thoughts of indifference. “Really? What am I gonna tell her now?” Damien stops. Time felt as though it was slowing as he turned his head to look at the boy who was now many feet behind him. “What? Who’s her?” Chris makes his way up to the boy, Chloe getting up from the bench to follow him. Once the two boys were standing right in front of each other, Damien felt as though Chris was thousands of feet tower than him, looming over like a cloud of sick dread, ready to devour him with an impossible truth. Chris leans in, until his lips are just next to the frozen boy’s right ear.

“Ralph Fredricks, Sarah Tet isn’t dead.”