Sweet Spices

Chapter 8

Chance walked up the stairs as he heard the cafe accepting more costumer. From the kitchen, he can hear his cousin turning up the stove and prepared the pans for the cafe patron. It was a strange feeling for Chance to see these people starting to work like it was nothing even though they knew there are dangerous monsters, or spirits as they called, roaming around the city.

Chance almost at the 2nd floor before he remembered one crucial information that everyone in this world needs. "Hey, Roderick. What's the WiFi password?" he asked while he still on the stairs.

"I do not know!!" His cousin replied from inside the kitchen.

"Dude, you own this place," Roderick replied by peeking his head from the kitchen with one eyebrow raised as if he wants to say 'You know what I mean'.

The rabbit confused for a good couple seconds before he realized it, "Ah. Right... Thanks." He typed the password as continued to walk upstairs.

"All lowercase!" Roderick's faint voice added as Chance climbed the stairs to the apartment room. Right after the rabbit opened up the front door, he went straight to the brown velvet sofa in the middle of the living room and throw himself right on top of it. He reached for his phone and browsed some videos on the internet to spend some time until his cousin has time to give him more detailed explanation of the whole situation and especially... how he will live from now on.

Chance took a couple seconds to see what the living room looked like. Right in front of the sofa is a pretty big flat-mounted LCD TV with 2 standing speakers, it stood there like 2 palace guard guarding either side of the TV. The downside of having an apartment right above a cafe is that you can hear all the commotion downstairs AND they could hear you blasting off your speaker. So Chance was a bit anxious of turning his speaker when the cafe still opens.

Then, he looked over the direction of the door. He saw a small kitchen set with island counter where he ate breakfast this morning. The style is more like minimalist modern with a lot of wooden texture rather than metallic plate that he imagined. On the opposite of that, away from the door, he found a big glass sliding door with a curtain that leads to a small balcony. The balcony is filled with a lot of greenery, Chance was impressed by the hydroponic set up that his cousin has. It is a pretty sight and quite distinct from the busting street below. The railings made from red bricks which really compliment the overall design of the whole building from outside.

His room is right behind where he was sitting. Next to it is his cousin room, the door is free from any stickers or posters. Chance laughed a little and he was pretty sure that his own door will be filled with a lot of sticker and posters soon, he hoped that Roderick will allow it.

The rest of the room is pretty much it. It was not heavily decorated even the coffee table in front of him is just a simple glass table with nothing on top of it or beneath it. The aquarium near the balcony could count as decoration, if he ignored the fact it only contain mostly aquatic plants. He guessed he saw couple fishes there, but how could he see it among those hydrilla plant. It's more like a miniature of an kelp forest.

"Ah, the bathroom..." Chance snapped his finger as he looked around to see if they have any bathroom on the 2nd floor.

'Please don't tell me I have to walk down the stairs only to take number 1 or 2,' He thought as he looked around and see a door just behind the kitchen. There it is, a small door that leads to the bathroom, right beside a large black statue with creepy mask that blocked the front door...

Wait...

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"Here you go ma'am, French omelette and a cup of tea," Roderick smiled as he served it in front of a nice old lady.

"Oooh... smells wonderful darling. I wish my son's cooking is as good as yours... I usually cook for my self, but sometimes... I want someone to cook for me in the morning, you see...," the old lady replied.

"You are always welcome here Mrs. Dolores, ah, would you like some milk for your tea?"

UAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

Mrs. Dolores didn't have time to reply as a huge scream coming from the 2nd floor. It immediately stopped everyone movement and all of them looking up, except for Elise who still calmly making a beautiful latte art. "O..oh dear, Is something wrong?" she asked at Roderick.

"Excuse me for a minute ma'am, looks like my cousin sees a horror movie upstairs. Let me talk to him for a minute," he smiled and quickly ran upstairs.

Roderick opened the door right away as soon as he arrived. "Dude, can you calm down a bit... you almost made a nice old lady have a heart attack.. OH SHOOT," the wolf cursed when he saw the creepy looking shadow figure standing right in front of the door. Without skipping a beat, he pulled out a retractable baton from inside his hoodie and swung it right towards the shadow figure.

The baton immediately created a spark of electricity and when it hit the shadow, it made a loud zapping noise that made the figure let out a faint shrieking before disappearing. The mask however still persist and fell to the floor with a small 'Thud'.

"How ... how did that get here?" Roderick asked.

"You tell me!! Is that one of the spirits?" Chance asked back with face of pure shock.

Roderick nodded weakly as he kneeled down and took the creepy mask. He turned it around and inspected it for a bit before Elise called him from behind.

"Hey, Roderick. HQ calls. They want you in the office in 60 mins," Elise said with her usual calm face and phone on her right hand.

"Haah... tell them i'll be there...," Roderick paused and looked at Chance then said, "C'mon, i'll show you what Aegis looks like"