Friends at night

Chapter 16, Following the feathers

" Crow Crew."

I felt like my anxiety suddenly hit me like a pile of bricks, making me want to puke for a second. Why would they do something like this? I received another text from Jackson as my thoughts were harassing me.

"Let's meet up tomorrow at your cafe. We need to talk about this whole thing. I'll delete the text conversation after you received the message." I read out loud yet again, mere seconds later, the conversation bubbles disappearing. I felt overly dizzy from everything and just wanted to sleep. For safety measures, I made sure my window was locked and closed my curtain. I also locked my room door before going in my bunk bed and curling into the safety of my blankets.

I woke up the next morning, completely out of it. Everything went by in a blurry, even the flavourful Thai food I had for lunch. When Sherly asked, I just said I didn't sleep enough and the coffee wasn't helping so much. She nodded and didn't push the subject, leaving me to my thoughts. Even though everything seemed to be a blur, I know the day went by slowly. Everyone was on edge and dark humour for the news. Some started to try and find a reason for the last death, to no avail.

When class was over, I took out a blank notebook and a few pens with me to the cafe, knowing we would need them. I could see Jackson from a far distance and decided that keeping the rather large amount of space between us was the best option to not get caught on fishy business.

I placed my earbuds in my ears, listening to pop music to brighten my mood. I cranked up the volume to the max, what many students liked to call the 'ear rape level'. I thought the term used for that was quite funny, and it isn't false. Most of the time, after listening to music for too long with this volume hight could result in hearing a small ringing sound afterwards.

I walked slowly down my usual path, exiting the school grounds as I always did at this time. I raised the hood of the wine red hoodie I was wearing and started to hum along with the songs I was listening to. I slowly saw the many houses around the school turn into small boutiques, restaurants and cafes, a grocery store and a gas station. We had quite a few merchant places for our town, but that's what makes it so nice to live here. 

I could see the sign to the cafe in the distance and knew that Jackson was already waiting there. I let out a sigh and turned down the sound in my micro speakers, picking up the pace. As I passed by the window, I didn't see Jackson at the usual spot. I raised a brow but went inside anyway. I stood awkwardly in the doorway as I looked around to find Jackson. 

The usual woman came up to me and smiled." Hello, miss. Follow me." She motioned to follow her and I nodded. I walked slowly behind her as she brought me to the back. We had to go through the kitchen and I smiled awkwardly to the bakers. When we were out, there was a breakroom and a private room. She opened the door to the private room with a smile and let me in.

I walked in and saw a table for two, a plate of cheese croissants, berries and finger sandwiches. There was a mug of french vanilla and one of espresso, still some steam pooling over the mug, indicating that they were freshly made. I looked to the other person at the table to see the familiar black-haired boy. I rolled my eyes at him as he let out a cheeky grin. I took a seat and the woman left, that's also when our little 'happy love land' act fell. 

We both had dead serious looks on our faces as I placed the notebook on the table. "Shall we start right away?" I asked him, he nodded as soon as the question slipped my lips. I cleared my throat before picking up my pen to write as I talked. " So we know it was the Crow Crew. That is already a good start." I said as I noted the name in big bold letters.

Jackson continued after I said that. " And their leader is nicknamed Dio, which stands for god in Italian," I noted everything he said. We fell silent and both stared and the almost blank page in front of us, not fully knowing what to write. I lifted the end of the pen to my lips, nibbling on it lightly.