[BOOK 1] The Adamahns and the Star Child 🏳️🌈 [boxboy][original]

32. Déjà vu

"I'm Thorn."

The coffee shop owner said as he offered his right hand to Ajax. Ajax paused. He looked at the man's face.

Thorn's face seemed familiar as if he had met him before, Ajax thought.

"Oh, I am sorry. My name is Ajax." Ajax said as he shook Thorn's hand.

"Drink up." Thorn said. "Your tea is getting cold."

Ajax looked at the cup of tea before him and it was steaming hot. He looked at his watch and it was almost midnight.

"I'm sorry but I have to go." Ajax said as he stood up. He was reaching for his wallet inside his pants when Thorn spoke.

"Hey, it's on the house."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Thanks."

Ajax, then, turned around and headed to the door. He grabbed the doorknob and then he paused.

He turned around before he spoke. "Have we met before?"

"I don't think so." Thorn said. "If we have, I would remember it. I fairly have good memory."

Ajax just stared at him for a bit.

"Bye." Ajax said before he stepped out of the shop.

Thorn walked to the door and locked it.

"Interesting." Thorn began to say. "I gave him a powerful potion to erase his memory. Yet, somehow he still have a lingering memory of me."

Thorn closed the lights and headed to the kitchen. Inside the kitchen, a woman laid on the floor unconscious. Her mouth was gagged by an illuminous patch and her wrists and ankles were bound by an illuminous rope.

Thorn looked at her unconscious face. Then, he hovered his right hand with palm facing down from the woman's face to her ankles. The illuminous patch and rope that bound the woman disappeared.

He, then, stood up and snapped his fingers. In a blink of an eye, he was gone.

Meanwhile, Ajax could see a bit of crowd at the foot of the stairs leading to his apartment. There were police cars on their street. He could see police going and out of his apartment.

--- end of chapter ---