|Eight|

•Week Two• (2)

I stared at the police station, fidgeting with my shirt that Jack picked out for me. I was incredibly anxious, and hoped we wouldn't get caught.

Jack looked me and Ryan up and down. "I think I did a good job disguising you guys!" He said. "I mean, I barely recognize you myself." He smiled proudly and gave us a thumbs up.

I nervously smiled, and Ryan just nodded a little.

"Well, where are we going to start when we get in there?" I asked.

Jack shrugged. "Uh, well, we can look in the head detective's office again while Ryan distracts people for us."

Ryan looked confused. "Look in the head detective's office? Again?"

Jack waved him off. "It's nothing."

"Yeah, we can talk about all that later," I said. "But anyway, how is Ryan supposed to distract people for us?"

"I don't know. He can make something up." Jack turned to Ryan. "Right? You have an imagination, so you can use that."

Ryan looked scared. "Guys, I'm not so sure I can do-"

"TOO LATE!" Jack said, grabbing both of our arms and dragging us into the police station. "Let's do this!"

~

No one paid us any attention. No one batted an eye.
I smiled to myself, Jack's disguises worked.

Ryan waved goodbye to us and wished us luck before going to the front desk to cause a ruckus and hopefully a good distraction.

Jack didn't waste any time and immediately went to the head detective's office. Of course, the detective wasn't there, and I quietly followed Jack in.

He carefully looked through files and reports, searching for anything on Jasper. I joined him in looking through the cabinets.

Jack sighed a little and sat down at the desk, turning the computer on. "What do you think detective jerkface's password is?"

I shrugged. "Something like 'Password' probably," I replied, still digging through piles of paper work.

"Eh, worth a shot." Jack typed on the keys, small clicking noises sounding.

"No, that's not it," he said a moment later.

I hummed in response. "Maybe try his name?"

"I don't even know his name," Jack said, turning to look at me.

I rolled my eyes at him. "There's a plaque with his name on it right in front of you."

Jack sighed again and looked at the plaque, and then began to type it down. There was a pause before his face lit up.

"Hey, getting into Aaron Kuett' computer wasn't hard at all!" He said, rather loudly.

"Be quiet," I said. "We don't want anyone coming in here."

"I know, I know." His fingers moved over the keyboard. "Sorry, it's just, who the hell makes their password their name?"

I shook my head. "A stupid detective."

Jack giggled a little, but his laughter immediately died when he clicked on a private file. "Hey, uh..... Adam?"

"Hm?"

"What's 7 Crows?"

I turned to look at Jack. "Huh?"

He pointed to the computer screen. "There's a list of 7 names, one of which has the word 'deceased' under them."

I looked at the screen, my eyes darting down the list of names.

Samuel Johnson (1st Crow)
(Deceased)
Annie Miller (2nd Crow)
Jason Ignite (3rd Crow)
Mark Sally (4rth Crow)
Nova Lilen (5th Crow)
Kyle Jet (6th Crow)
Ryan Metzger (7th Crow)

I let out a shaky breath. "What do you think this means?"

"I don't know, but why the hell is Ryan's name on there?" Jack asked, gazing at the names.

"I have no idea, but I don't think that's a good thing."

There was a pause as Jack scrolled deeper into the computer file. I watched, my eyes moving to the door every now and then.

"There's nothing else here, just a few children rhymes," he said, leaning back in the seat.

I tore my eyes from the door and looked back down at the computer.

One for sorrow, two for mirth.
Three for a wedding, four for a birth.
Five for silver, six for gold.
Seven for a secret.... Never to be told.

One for sorrow, two for mirth.
Three for a wedding, four for birth.
Five for rich, six for poor.
Seven for a witch, I can tell you no more.

One crow sorrow, two crows mirth.
Three crows a wedding, four crows a birth.
Five brings silver, six takes wealth.
Seven crows a secret, I cannot tell.

One for sadness, two for mirth.
Three for marriage, four for birth.
Five for laughing, six for crying.
Seven for sickness, eight for dying.

I didn't know what any of the words meant at all, and I gave Jack a worried look. "None of this makes sense."

He nodded. "I know! Why does Kuett even have this on his computer?"

I shrugged and pulled out my phone, taking a picture of it. "It may be useful. We can look it up at the library."

Jack shivered. "This is creepy."

The room seemed to get colder, and I stared at the bright screen. I wondered why Ryan's name was on the list, and what the rhymes meant. Surely they had something to do with the list of names? But what did the list of names even mean?

A loud noise sounded from outside the office. Jack's eyes darted to the door. Voices rose and I could hear Ryan among others.

"Uh, I saw someone get murdered," Ryan nervously said.

I told Jack to keep quiet so we could hear the conversation.

"Where did you see this happen?" Someone asked.

There was a pause. Ryan was probably panicking.

"I don't know, I'm blind," was his response.

I facepalmed. "Okay, I think we need to get out of here. Ryan isn't doing so good out there," I said, cleaning up the mess of papers I made.

Jack nodded and quickly closed the computer file, and signed out.

We snuck out of the detective's office, and I went to the front desk where Ryan was.

"I'm so sorry for my brother," I said, pulling Ryan away a little. Ryan jumped when I touched him, but relaxed when he realized it was me.

"He's...... Um, he forgot to take his meds. Have a good day!" I dragged Ryan out the door as fast as I could.

Ryan let out a sigh of relief when we stepped outside.

"Please don't make me do that ever again."