Duskwood: And Beyond

4. Small Talk

ORYN

Well, that was unpleasant. After doing some deciphering, my phone buzzed. Naturally, I thought it was Anabelle or Cleo. It was Cleo. But she was not talking to me. This stalking thing was going to take some time. I wonder if he is also reading my text. I assume he does. Well if that's the case I hope he likes to hear about Mrs. Dora's new car. My life wasn't too interesting. At least until this whole situation. He seems to care about his privacy. It is natural for him to check my messages. I didn't mind. A heads up might have been nice.

Cleo and Richy apparently didn't trust me. They had a point, I was a stranger. A stranger, whose number was sent from a missing girl's phone... It was creepy, I had to change my number once this is all over. Cleo and Richy thought that if I am the culprit, I would eventually slip. That also made sense. It was still unpleasant seeing strangers talk about you like you are some kind of criminal.

After reading their messages, I made myself some coffee, put on some comfy clothes, and turned on some music. Wires by The Neighbourhood. It was upbeat enough to keep me awake but not too much that I wanted to dance. It was perfect. After another hour of deciphering, I found my first photo. It didn't seem important but I was excited. I succeeded. I found something. Intuitively I sent it to the hacker. And oh boy, he really sucks at communication. It was funny and awkward at the same time.

JAKE

She texted. I had to make sure this was not a trap so I turned on her camera. She was sitting in front of her laptop. I was not expecting her to be this close. She is listening to The Neighbourhood. I liked that. She was sitting at her desk but she was more focused on her phone. Why am I excited? She sent me a photo of Hannah. It didn't seem like a clue. But I appreciated her sending it anyway. I was happy that she kept her word and decided to help me. She told it would be more helpful if she knew what she was looking for. I agreed with her but I also didn't know what we were looking for. I told her every little detail could be important and just as I was ending the conversation she did something. She wanted to talk to me. Talk? About what?

She asked me if I was getting nervous. Was she messing with me? She was using a lot of emojis. I wasn't usually a big fan of emojis but for some reason, they felt intimate, almost familiar, and comforting. I told her that I wasn't prepared for the sudden interrogation and that I was not going to tell her anything. Well, I didn't exactly put it like that but I think she got the message.

No, she didn't. She told me it would be our secret. We were starting to have quite a lot of "our secret". I don't know why I made that decision but I decided to allow her one question. I wasn'T sure if it was because I actually missed human communication or because I was curious about her. More specifically her question.

What color was my hair? Why would she want to know that? And, I was the one that is weird in communications? At least I wasn't asking strangers their hair color. Well, she wouldn't have asked if you were more open to her. I had to hide my personality. Yet, I still answered. Then she asked me to pick a topic. Are we having small talk? Weather really? Let's go with the classics. Desert island. She said tools. Practical. She also guessed my computer. That one was pretty obvious.

"Count me in"... It had been too long to have any human contact that even this little thing excited me. I had told her a lot already. She now knew my hair color and the fact that I didn't go out much. It wasn't a big piece of information on its own but if it was about me then that was already too much information. I told her I had things to do. She was very understanding. Why is she so understanding? I realized I was occupying my mind too much with her. That was no health or safe. I had to find Hannah. That was the only thing that mattered. Yet for some reason, my mind wandered off to Oryn more than I wanted it to. I kept thinking about her. Who was she? Why was she involved? Why was I opening up to her this quickly? I wondered what she was doing until she texted me again. I couldn't help it. She was my only human connection.