Psychotic lover

Chapter 1

The sound of footsteps and chattering were blocked out by the music playing on the female's headphones. Her tied-up bun bouncing lightly with every soundless step she took as her curious eyes darted from one blurry figure to another behind her glasses. Her right hand held onto the bag strap that held her sketchbook, laptop and other necessities.

She was dressed in the same outfit from the previous day, too unbothered to dig out a new one. She followed her Sunday routine, on her way to contact her partners through the created network they'd set up.

She slowed down in front of a small cafe in the middle of the bustling road before shuffling her way through the moving crowd, constantly apologising every time she had accidentally nudged or knocked into someone. Finally, with a sigh of relief, she pushed the glass door open, causing a breeze of cool air to blow into her face as a familiar chime of a bell rang through the silent cafe.

"Ah, Gwen! You're early today" The barista behind the counter greeted with a toothy grin as she walked around to check that everything was in place, using her fake name to address the thief. The said female paused her music momentarily before taking it off and hanging it on her neck.

"Yup, I have more schoolwork and other stuff to complete by tomorrow so I thought it was a good idea to get off my lazy ass and give myself a head start" she explained, smiling as she settled down at the seat in the corner of the cafe, giving her a full view of the entire cafe.

"That's a good idea. Would you like a coffee to go with that head start?" The barista asked, already preparing the ingredients without having to hear her answer.

"I'm sure we're both clear as to what my answer will be" the brunette chuckled as she took out her laptop, sketchbook, stationaries and some pieces of paper before settling down on the seat and arranging everything on the table.

"One cold chocolate chip mocha with whipped cream and extra chocolate, large" The raven-haired barista listed as she held the cold beverage in her hand, walking to the brunette and placing it on her table.

"Impressive," The female joked as she gave the barista the money before sipping on her drink.

"Well, It's rather hard to forget someone's order, especially if they come here every time I'm on my shift" The other female laughed as she walked back behind the counter.

Finally, in a conducive environment, she breathed as she flipped open her laptop and proceeded to enter the passcode and break through the firewalls she had set up. She had her headphones back up and her music continued to play whilst she spent the rest of her day busy.

After a good 10 minutes, she was on her computer home screen and had her network set up. Now all she had to do was entertain herself before the other duos graced her with their virtual presences.

She laid a piece of worksheet in front of her and began to breeze through the first few pages of her homework, her pen scribbling through the questions. She eventually slowed down when the questions required some drawings, to which she was too lazy to do at the time and decided it was time for a well-deserved break.

She was midway through scrolling her phone to keep up with social media until a white rectangular box popped up on the screen of her computer.

'G! I saw the news, and look at you, stirring up the media yet once again' was written in the suspicious white box.

Clicking on an empty space to reveal that it was simply an invisible icon, an empty white box, identical to the one she received, appeared onto her screen as well, ready for a text input.

'Splendid. Word travels fast, doesn't it' she typed, her fingers dancing on the keyboard.

Not a second had passed as she hit send as the text in the box she received backspaced before new words began to type out in front of her, letter by letter.

'Sure does. Now, what in heaven's name could you be doing in an art museum in the middle of the night?' The words had spelt out.

Backspacing her own text, she typed, 'what? Can't I admire the art on display? It is up for public admission'

The conversation went back and forth for quite some time as people slowly began to pour into her once quiet haven. However, she had blocked out the noise from the outer world with the aid of her headphones.

Finally, another identical white box was added onto her screen with the written message, 'Hey, sorry I'm late again'

'About time Al, I was beginning to think you were murdered' was the reply of the other party.

'No, I was just busy doing some research' the addition to the party defended.

'At Britain, a new museum just opened up, and I heard there were lots of valuable artifacts held in there' The person explained.

'Can't exceed the hack value of Trump's personal data though, can it?' Was the sarcastic response the other two party member received.

'We wish. Having that much people on his head, the information's worth billions' they agreed.

'However, among the many artifacts that museum holds, lies the queen's crown' the text revealed

The brunette's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before a mischievous smirk crept up her lips.

'I'm interested' she typed quickly.

'I know. It's in Britain, quite the place. The museum's pretty grand, equipped with loads of security cameras,  alarms and a hefty number of armed guards'

She silently went deep into thought, her mind sifting through the many plans she had formulated for her break-in. Hacking, laser traps, bulletproof glass, gunfire, all those she could almost confirm would be involved.

'You have the information?' She enquired.

'Sending' came the reply.

At that, she knew it was her cue to quit the conversation. She deleted the box, clearing any evidence of it ever being there before a small folder labelled 'crown' appeared on her screen.

She couldn't help but chuckle at the uncanny name allocated to the file, knowing it's purpose. She dragged her mouse until the cursor hovered above the file. Promptly, she double clicked, opening the file. The screen flashed a link to the official webpage of the museum, along with several other private pages they made with all the information she required.

Her eyes scanned through the words, her mind processing the tight security she'd have to pass through in order to achieve her objective. She began browsing through the personal webpage, before coming across a map of the museum.

She carefully observed every nook and cranny of the map, mentally memorising the camera, guards and the crown's locations. Apparently, the crown was kept in a 'bulletproof' glass container.

She mentally laughed at the prospect of bulletproof glass, knowing that there wasn't such a thing as 'bulletproof' known to man. Even graphene, the strongest material on earth fails hold against too many bullets.

She continued browsing through the information, never once allowing herself to take a break. Before she knew it, it was already near 6pm and the initial crowd of people had already taken their leave.

Packing her items, she hollered "I'm leaving" to the supposedly empty shop.

"See you!" Came a reply from the back kitchen.

She grinned at the all too familiar exchange of dialogue before finally leaving the cafe and making her way back to her abode.