A Key of Blood

Chapter 7

Later that night, he bath and put on a change of clothes, quite surprise that nothing weird happened again, for now. He was wearing a navy blue khaki pants with a black hoodie over his plain grey t-shirt. 

It began raining around five o'clock, when he was hard at work, digging through the internet for anything and everything that he can find. It was only drizzling now as he left the inn, his research was far from done, most of the things he had found was utterly useless, only a few related article piqued his interest.

He was going to meet with the rest at the same place which they had been earlier in the morning, it was a block away so Daniel decided to walk over. 

His hoodie shielded his head from the rain all along the walk, when he arrived at the diner his hoodie was slightly wet. The rest had already arrived, their drinks on the table.

"Took you long enough!" Serena said teasingly. 

Daniel shrugged casually, as he sat down, he said. "Guys, I have something to tell."

The attention of all three of them fell on Daniel as he began telling his encounter. Empty glasses lay across the table when Daniel finished telling his story. Teresa was the only one who seemed happy after hearing what Daniel had said, Sean and Serena were silently sipping on their second or third cup of drinks.

"It's er, a bit hard to digest. I mean I've stayed here for years and I have never seen such a thing." Serena said, "Ask Sean."

"Nothing like this happened to me." 

It was barely a whisper and Daniel could hardly hear what he said, he shake his head dismissing their answer.

"Look, I knew what I saw and felt, it was real."

"But why is it only you who sees it, why not me?" Teresa countered, fingers pointing at Daniel. At that moment, she began jotting down what Daniel had said, when she was done, she asked.

"Anything else?"

Daniel shrugged in reply, he mentioned that was all he can remember, perhaps he might have left out something but there was no way of knowing it. Sean nods in agreement, if what Daniel said was indeed true, there was just no way of remembering every detail, especially when the mind was being played with.

"Give me a moment." Daniel excused himself, stood up and went out the diner for a smoke. If someone doesn't know him, they would actually think of him as a thug because he looked like one.

"I thought you quit smoking." 

He found Teresa looking at him as he turn around, he shrugged it off casually, tossing the remaining of the cigarette onto the ground. He step on it, and turn towards the street. "Tell the others that I'm not feeling well, we'll meet up for breakfast tomorrow."

Before Teresa can reply, Daniel had already took off, walking under the night sky. He wander into a pastry shop which was closing but he managed to charm his way into buying a muffin before it closes. He ate his muffin in silence while sitting at the park near the inn.

When he was done eating, he went straight back into his room, resolved to find out the history behind the town and the strange events happening recently. Anything and everything that he can get his hands on, he would dig through the internet first before the start with the local library.

He had the feeling that he will be able to get something useful from all these researching. 

The next day when Helena knock on his room's door, it was opened only to find him working an all-nighter with cans of coffee scattered around the floor near the table where he sat.

"Oh my God!"