THE KILLER

Wait a minute

Sofia then pulled Julias over. 

"Hey, isn't that the guy you sit next to in Biology? What's his name, Jake or something? What do you think he's doing here?" She asked, eyeing him up and down out of the corner of her eye.

"He's Jonas. And who knows? Maybe he just came here to get medicine or something." Julias shrugged and walked over to a row full of vitamins. "Whoa! Check these out! I didn't buy them for so long, I should get one."

Both girls rolled their eyes. He was no help.

Aemilia tiptoed towards Jonas who seemed to be going in no particular direction. 

"Hey Aemilia! get back here! You're gonna get caught!" Sofia hissed at her. 

"If you keep hissing like that of course I will!" Aemilia whispered back. "Now shush! Something's amiss. Why is he even dressed like that? Last we saw him was in school and I'm pretty sure I saw him in a different outfit."

The two girls casually walked up to the aisle of the "suspicious-looking" (according to Sofia) guy.

Aemilia glanced at the rows and rows of medicine, having no idea whatsoever why in the world would Jonas come to a place like this, especially when the police and ambulance were outside just a few streets down inspecting the attack. Did Jonas need to get meds for someone injured?

While Aemilia was pondering all of this, Sofia had tailed Jonas until she was basically next to him. Apparently Jonas did not like her company, so he grabbed a items off the shelves and left the aisle.

Seeing all this, Aemilia walked up to Sofia. "Seems like he doesn't like you much," she said. "Or it could be something suspicious he doesn't want you to know. I'm going with the second one." Aemilia stared at his retreating back. "Maybe...if we follow him, we might know a thing or two..." Aemilia quickly got cut off by Marco, who shouted at them from the other end of the pharmacy that they had gotten the needed items and they had to leave already.

"Scrap the idea, Aemilia. I'm pretty sure Jonas has no malicious intent. You're overthinking, like most of our readers here tend to do."

Aemilia shrugged. "Who says we're in a story? I was just concerned, that's all." Sofia shrugged and walked off, leaving Aemilia to gather her thoughts.

The friends stepped out of the dim pharmacy, and went their respective ways. However, when Sofia was about to walk off, Aemilia grabbed her wrist. "Please, stay here for a while. I need to talk." Sofia apparently didn't think much of it and stayed. Aemilia released the grip on her arm. 

"And now, we wait."

The two girls crouched down behind a wooden fence next to the pharmacy, and waited. They overlooked people going into the store and instead focused on the ones coming out.

For a while, nothing happened. No one came out. 

After a few minutes of waiting, Sofia got impatient. "What did you need to talk about, Aemilia? Can you say it now?"

Aemilia looked confused. "I thought that Jonas might come out, and we could follow him to see if he's doing anything suspicious. You cannot trust anyone easily these days, you know. Might become your own downfall." 

Sofia rolled her eyes. "Well, apparently, your instincts aren't working so well today, seeing as Jonas did not come out and we're out here waiting pointlessly. In fact, he probably already left, and we just didn't see it!" 

"Well, if that's what you mean, then let's go inside and see! He could still be inside, taking his own sweet time, while plotting!"

"Or MAYBE, he isn't even connected to this whole case! I have no idea how just one murder case has escalated to this point, but it is what it is, so fine, let's go in and call it your bluff."

The two girls got up and swung open the door to the pharmacy. Just then, Jonas walked out of the store, and quickly disappeared down the lane.

"See, told you Jonas could be up to something! Why else would he be walking so fast?"

"I don't know, maybe because he's in a rush to go feed that medicine to a sick person or something? That doesn't make him guilty! Let's just leave already." Sofia gestured to her friend and the both of them left the store.

On the way out, Aemilia spotted something. She stopped in her tracks and stared. Sofia, noticing this, stopped too. "What's the problem now?" She sighed exasperatedly.

She glanced towards Aemilia and saw her looking at something on the ground, and followed her gaze. As soon as she saw it, she froze, and a shadow crossed her face.

Aemilia looked up and saw her expression. It mirrored her look of terror. 

On the ground, in front of them, was a Queen Of Diamonds playing card.