She was at the side walk walking towards home, the night sky felt peaceful and there was a bit of a cool breeze in the air, the stars shined bright and made the dark sky absolutely glamorous, the sounds of distant traffic hummed in the background, she took out her air pods from her purse and played some music from her phone as she walked, she listened to some heavy metal music in a loud volume and it felt like the world around her was on mute, unfortunately there was a serial killer who had just escaped police custody and he had been spotted by a detective around the same streets, the serial killer was on the run trying to escape the detective and he was running along the same road as the lady, he was coming from behind her and she couldn't hear him coming cause she had the music volume all the way up, the serial killer saw that the detective was almost catching up to him so he decided to use the lady as leverage, he grabbed her by the neck and put a gun on her face next to her left eye, he then turned around to face the running detective while holding the lady hostage, the detective stumbled upon his feet till he eventually stopped in front of them, he was only a few steps away from them staring at the serial killer with his eyes full of rage, he quickly took out his gun and pointed it at the serial killer, the lady's was completely trembling and looked frightened, the detective grip tightened on his gun and his eyes were locked onto the serial killer's. he knew he had to think fast and find a way to save the lady without putting her in further danger, the tension in the air was palpable as the standoff continued,
"put it down, or i blow her brains out" said the serial killer, the lady was breathing heavily and her eyes were getting watery by the second,
"you're bluffing" said the detective with a firm grip on his gun,
"i guess we're about to find out" he replied, he then pushed the gun further into the lady's head, she cried out in agony with her eyes closed and tears flowing down her cheeks,
"okay, okay,okay" said the detective with his arms raised high and the gun pointing up in the sky, he then threw the gun to the ground "let her go" added the detective pleading for the lady's life,
"push it to me" said the killer, he quickly pointed at the gun on the ground with his gun and then quickly returned it to the lady's face, the detective with his foot slid the gun towards the killer and he also stopped it with his foot,
"you're forgetting one thing detective, am a criminal" he then shot the lady straight in the head and to her everything suddenly went dark.
she was sleeping in a subway train with her head laid against the handrail of her seat, "oh shit" she said out loud as she quickly woke up and sat upright in her seat, she was startled by the conductor's voice who was just announcing the next station that the train was going to stop,she looked over to her right and there was a woman sitting with a little girl on her laps giving her the stink eye, "am sorry" she said with a faint smile, apologizing to the woman after realizing that she had just cursed in front of her little girl, after a few minutes the train stopped and she had to get off, on her way out she bumped into a guy who was in a hurry to get into train, the bump was too hard that the phone in her hands almost fell but she was able to catch it before it hit the ground, she stood at the platform while looking at the time in her phone and it was October Thursday the 13th four o'clock in the evening, there were also a couple of missed calls from her mother, she put the phone in her pocket and started walking away from the train that hadn't left yet, just a couple of steps forward and she met a creepy old lady with a dog on leash, the old lady was also in a rush to get to the train but as they were about to cross each other the old lady's dog started viciously barking at her, she quickly jumped out of the way afraid that the dog might bite her, the dog was stiffen and angrily growling at her like it had seen a random cat loitering, if it wasn't for the old lady hanging tight to the leash on the dog it would've bitten her, "sorry she's not good with strangers" said the old lady with a faint smile on her face while pulling the dog away from her, she walked a couple of steps forward and turned around only to see that the old lady and her dog were still looking at her as she walked away, she walked even quicker this time cause the way the old lady was staring at her was creeping her out and when she saw the door to the public bathroom she went for it, just when she was about to touch the door knob the door opened and two ladies giggling came out of the bathroom, she first let them pass and then she went in, in there she stood in front of the mirror with her hands leaning on the sink below the mirror, the bathroom light was a bit dim and the light above the mirror was constantly flickering, as she was staring at her reflection in the mirror she was interrupted by a ding sound from her phone inside her pockets, when she took it out she saw it was a text from her mother that had just popped in, 'am so disappointed in you May' said the text "what else is new" she said in her mind, she put the phone on the edge of the sink and the purse on the other edge opposite to the phone, she reached her hands in the purse for a few seconds and she pulled out a bottle of ibuprofen pills, she opened the bottled and spilled two pills in the palm of her hand, she looked at the pills like she was going to throw up and then took them instantly, she then quickly opened the tap on the sink and then drank water from it, she was holding her hair up using her left hand as she drank the water, after she was done drinking she raised her head again looking at her face in the mirror and what she saw was quite shocking that she was left utterly confused, her hand was still holding her hair and she leaned closer to the mirror to confirm what she was seeing, it was a strange scar on the left side of her left eye, with her fingers she slowly reached for her face and touched the scar, the pain she felt was quite excruciating that she tightly closed her eyes trying to endure the pain, the scar was a phenomenon she didn't understand cause she didn't remember having any scar on her face ever since she was born, using her reflection in the mirror she covered the scar with her hair making sure it wouldn't be seen, after she was done she grabbed her phone and her bag and off the subway she left.
May walked till she reached to a part where she had to crossover to head to the other side of the road, the moment she stepped her foot on the crosswalk a car came out of nowhere and almost crushed her, luckily she was able to jump away from the road and avoid the over speeding car, she angrily looked at the car and then raised her hand in the air with middle finger as the car went away, she looked at the traffic lights and they weren't lighting green so she had to wait for them to go green before she could crossover, as she was waiting she was accompanied by a weird looking woman who seemed to be in a rush to go somewhere,the weird woman was constantly looking at the road checking if they weren't any cars so she could crossover and for some reason she couldn't get her eyes off her watch, she seemed impatient cause she was constantly tapping her foot, May gave a little glance at the weird woman and they had a bit of an eye contact "I left my son at home alone, its his first time" said the woman, May replied with a smile like she was interested with the conversation but clearly her mind was elsewhere, "get a baby sitter then" , said May in her head as they waited for the lights to go green, soon as they went green they both crossed over and walked separate ways, May was heading to a coffee shop and the moment she entered the shop she found her friend who worked in there as waiter waiting for her with a cup cake in her hands, "happy birthday baby" she said with a smile on her face, May sighed a little and started walking away heading towards a table further away from the entrance, "Hope, you know me enough to know that I hate my birthday" May replied,
"and you still never tell me why"said Hope as she walked right behind her,
"cause that's for me to know, and for you to dot, dot,dot" May replied as she landed her purse on the table she had picked,
"well at least blow out the candle"
"no thank you, now be a good doll and fetch me a milkshake will you" said May as she took a seat at the table,
"fine" she angrily replied and started walking away,
"oh honey I think you are forgetting something" said May pointing at the cupcake at her table, Hope turned around and saw her pointing at the cup cake,
"nope, the cupcake stays till the candle is blown out"
"fine suit yourself" said May, Hope turned around and went to get May's order, May waited for her order while going through her texts in her phone, she didn't notice that there was a guy was in the coffee shop at a table that was further to the right from her's, the guy looked so depressed and out of mood, he was looking outside the window the whole time since May showed up, he had nothing but a cup of coffee in his wandering hands, on the table there was a small tissue paper with some writings on it, it looked like he was writing something on it, Hope had already prepared the milkshake and was bringing it to May, "you haven't blown out candle the candle yet" said Hope to May as she landed the milkshake on the table and took a seat at another empty chair on the table,
"i wouldn't blow out that candle even if my life depended on it"
"really,you hate your birthday that much"said Hope, May was checking out her phone for a text that had just got in, it was from her mother again
"you have no idea" said May as she read the text, 'why aren't you picking up my calls' said the text
"at least don't let the cupcake go to waste"
"no thanks, I've got my milkshake for that" May replied as she lifted the glass from the table and returned the phone in her pocket,
"but that's not fair I had five more of these prepared for you"
"oh pity, now we'll never know how good they tested" replied May as she took sip of her milkshake with a straw, as she took a sip of her milkshake, she couldn't help but be captivated by the rich, a creamy flavor of the salted caramel that created a delightful sensation on her taste buds, as she was having the first sip of her milkshake there was guy who was passing behind her heading to another table,he accidentally tripped and bumped into her chair making the glass to slip from her hands and she ended spilling most of the milkshake on her shirt, "oh shit, I just bought this" she said as the milkshake kept dripping down her shirt
"i will go get the wipes" said Hope and got off the chair, May was looking at her ruined shirt as Hope was leaving the table, on the table next to her's was guy who was getting a call from the hospital that his wife was having a baby,
"She's having a baby now, what hospital....,am on my way" said the guy and then got off the table leaving the coffee shop, he accidentally pumped into May as she was headed to the bathroom to clean the milkshake off her shirt, the milkshake spread all over his shirt too, as they bumped on each other there was a woman in a red blouse who was coming out of the bathroom and sat at an empty table that was a few meters away from them, the table was already set and the woman's order was already on the table, since the guy was in a hurry to get to the hospital he left without saying anything to her,and May kept walking to the bathroom, on her way there she passed a TV and on the TV was the news about about a serial killer who had just escaped police custody, they were also showing the photo of the serial killer, May was too much of in hurry to get to the bathroom to notice the news on the TV, when she got to the bathroom she went straight to the sink and opened the tap, she was busy cleaning her shirt that she didn't even notice the mirror in front of the sink, but when she did she was so confused and scared of her own reflection in the mirror, the scar on her face next to her left eye had completely disappeared, she leaned closer to the mirror to get a closer look of her skin while pushing her hair away from her face, she didn't believe what was happening, she tried touching the area but felt nothing other than her own fresh smooth skin like the rest of her face, May just stood there frozen before the mirror where the flickering light above cast an eerie shadow that added to the mysterious atmosphere, she still couldn't believe her eyes as her fingers traced the smooth skin where the scar had once been, her mind raced as she tried to make sense of this miraculous disappearance, fear and awe mingled within her as she stumbled back a few steps away from the mirror, as she was still amazed by the disappearance of the scar she was suddenly interrupted by her phone ringing from inside her pocket, when she took it out it was a phone call from her sister April, she let it rang for a few seconds and then answered it,
"May, what did you do" said April soon as she answered the phone, her voice was too loud and angry
"yeah am fine too thanks asking" she replied her was that of confused person
"hey don't sarcasm me"
"just say what you want April, am kind of busy here"
"too busy to pick up mom's calls"
"apparently yeah, is that why you called"
"yeah, she called me and she sounded pretty disappointed" said April, May took the phone away from her ear and hung up the phone, April called her back the second time but she didn't pick up, she was done cleaning her shirt and when she got out of the bathroom the depressed guy was already gone, there was a new milkshake on her table and the table was already wiped cleaned, the cupcake was still on the table "she just won't give up won't she" , she went back and sat down at her table and finished her drink, after she was done with her drink she put the money under glass for Hope to find it and then left the coffee shop, she stood in front of the coffee shop while she looked at the time on her phone, it was almost nine o'clock and it was already dark skies, judging from her face she looked like she was having a bad, terrible, horrible, not very good day, and she wanted to get it out of her head, she decided to go to her dad's favourite bar to have drink cause she was feeling nostalgic, the bar was just a few blocks away so it was just a couple of minutes walk.
The moment she walked into the bar she saw two bar tenders behind the counter exchanging shifts, she looked on her phone and saw it was five minutes past nine, she went straight to the counter and then took a seat,
"what can I get you,….oh wait, let me guess, a Negroni" asked the bar tender behind the counter,
"no, a martini" she replied with a faint smile on her face,
"a Martini, come on, its my first drink of the night test me a little" he replied as he put a small table cloth on the table in front of May,
"i dunno uh....., Piña colada"
"a Pa…what" he quickly replied in a shock, "am just kidding" he added and chuckled a little, he then slid a glass filled with ice cubes across the table and it stopped in front of May, May looked at the glass filled with ice cubes that the bartender had slid across the table. She couldn't help but smile at the playful bartender, "the Piña colada, first invented in 1462 by Steven Piña" continued the bar tender while swinging a large bottle of drink over his shoulders, "am just joking I don't really know who invented the drink" he added as kept mixing different ingredients to the concoction,
"its Ramon Monschito" said May as she watched him play with the drinks,
"huh"
"Ramon Monschito, the man who invented the drink, 1954, he was working as the bar tender at Hilton hotel" May continued,
"wow someone knows their history" replied the bar tender as he pushed the drink the woman, "where did you learn that from" he asked,
"my dad is a cured drink enthusiast" she replied as raised a glass to take a sip of her drink,
"you look familiar have I seen you before" he asked,
"probably, I do drink here a lot" she replied, as they kept having a conversation a man approached the counter and took a seat next May, he had a drink on his hand and he seemed eager to strike up a conversation. May looked at the guy with a mischievous gaze and said "beat it, looser" before he could say a word, without saying anything the guy picked up his drink and left the counter in disappointment, May 's confident response left the bar tender impressed and intrigued as the atmosphere in bar grew more electric,
"ooh, that was harsh" said the bar tender,
"i've had a pretty long terrible day, so excuse me if am not in the mood to flirt" replied May
"hey, is that Four the bar tender" a voice was heard amongst the crowd in the bar, when Four raised his head to look around he saw it was his friend approaching the counter,
"in the flesh" he replied his arms spread in the air, he then took a step to the left to talk to his friend
"long time no see my man" he said, "oh and am sorry about Maria man she....."
"hey,hey,hey, not now, am working here remember" Four interrupted him in very low soft voice it almost sounded like he was whispering, "so what can I get you" continued Four,
"a vodka tonic" he replied, and Four went on ahead and started preparing his drink, Four's friend went through his pockets searching for the money to pay for the drink, it took him a some time but he eventually found a couple of dollars in his back pocket, he put them on the table as Four prepared the drink, as he was still doing so his friend also pulled out a strange object from his backpack, "so, I was going through some old stuff of my dad and I found this" he said as he pushed it towards him, "do you know what it is" he asked, May could hear them talk cause she wasn't that far away and they were being too loud, she looked at the object that the bar tender's friend pulled out and it was a metal cylinder surrounded by a series of rotating disks engraved with random letters on them,
"yeah its cryptex" replied the bar tender to his friend and he then pushed the glass of vodka to his friend,
"a what now….." asked his friend so shocked,
"a cryptext, its got a hidden message inside" said the bar tender, May was already done with her drink and she was ready to go home, so she put the money under the glass, she stretched out her arm to grab a piece of paper that was behind the counter and on it she wrote "keep the change its your tip", she then left the bar to go home
she took out her air pods from her purse and played some music from her phone, she walked alongside the road while listening to heavy metal music, unfortunately the serial killer had been spotted by a detective and the detective was on the chase for him, the serial killer was running along the same road as May and he was coming from behind her, she couldn't hear him coming cause she had the music volume all the way up, the serial killer saw that the detective was almost catching up to him so he decided to use May as leverage, he grabbed her by the neck and put a gun on her face next to her left eye, he then turned around to face the running detective while holding May hostage, the detective stumbled upon his feet till he eventually stopped in front of them, he was only a few steps away from them staring at the serial killer with his eyes full of rage, he quickly took out his gun and pointed it at the serial killer,
"put it down, or i blow her brains out" said the serial killer, May was breathing heavily and her eyes were getting watery by the second,
"you're bluffing" said the detective with a firm grip on his gun and his eyes burning with determination.
"i guess we're about to find out" he replied, he then pushed the gun further into May's head, she cried out in agony with her eyes closed and tears flowing down her cheeks,
"okay, okay,okay" said the detective with his arms raised high and the gun pointing up in the sky, he then threw the gun to the ground "let her go" added the detective pleading for May's life,
"push it to me" said the killer, he quickly pointed at the gun on the ground with his gun and then quickly returned it to May's face, the detective with his foot slid the gun towards the killer and he also stopped it with his foot,
"you're forgetting one thing detective, am a criminal" he then shot May straight in the head and to her everything suddenly went dark.