Search : Faceless Killer

*Beep* *Beep*

Opening his eyes, Shade looks at the source of the sound that woke him up.

[7:30 a.m.]

[26 April, 2021]

[Today's checklist - …]

Seven… thirty?

He looks at the time in confusion, it was his third alarm he used for exercise rather than waking up.

Confusion stirs up in his mind.

Did I sleep through my alarms, what did I do last night…

"?!"

Remembering the events of last night he quickly checks on his body's conditions.

There was no hint of pain and his breathing and pulse were normal.

Yet the surreal memory lingered as if it was something more than a dream, an experience.

"Oh, you're up already?"

Turning his head he sees Irina poking her head through the opened door.

"You!"

He stands up in guard.

"You drugged me last night!"

"No, remember that we did not eat dinner together? And there was no other possible time when I could have drugged you."

"Then what did you do?!"

"Let's just say that was my supernatural ability. Like you asked, I gave you a rough demonstration that such a thing does exists."

He gulps nervously.

Even though he was the one that brought it up first, it felt really hard to accept it as the norm.

"Since Chandler sent you to me, I think he wanted me to hand this over to you."

She reaches out for something in her pocket and then hands him a business card.

With the recollection of last night's events, he grabs it hesitantly.

"And this is?"

"I don't know, Chandler gave it to me in case of his death. Judging how you are the one who delivered the news to me, he probably wanted me to give it to you."

"About last night, can you tell me more about your supernatural power?"

"I can but then you don't have anything to tell me, correct? One question and one answer."

She leaves the room saying that.

"Damn it."

It feels weird.

Yesterday was like a dream for him or more specifically a nightmare that he wished to forget but the existence of Irina and a day passing by could not be denied. 

Chandler's death, the existence of Irina and the involvement of supernatural powers. 

Recently he had kept on complaining about his uneventful life but he didn't expect such a scale shattering event to suddenly flip his life around.

Chandler was extremely weird to begin with but he thought that was just his own way of expressing things.

But now Shade blamed his past self for ignoring suspicious behaviour of his friend.

With a defeated sigh he turns off the fancy lamp and leaves his room. 

Ah! Goddamnit…

But as soon as he walked out he was greeted by Noelle who was waiting in ambush outside of his room. 

"Hey Shade, I happen to meet a very interesting person now and heard an even more interesting story. Why didn't you ever say anything about having a hot girlfriend."

Mostly because I learned that fact last afternoon as well. 

"Yeah, good morning to you too."

"Don't change the subject!"

It looks like she was introduced to Irina this morning and now wanted to satisfy her curiosity directly from him.

"Aside from changing the subject, the "Hot" part was unnecessary, don't you think?"

"But she is."

"She sure is."

Indeed Irina was pretty, she also acted mature, she was even taller than average boys and even her voice felt seductive to him, perfectly fitting for the attractive category.

So much to the point that comparing her to normal girls would seem disrespectful towards Irina.

Thus he did not deny it at all…

At least the outside is good.

"So every time you asked me about any ongoing events it was because you went there with her?"

He thinks back on their previous conversations. 

Afterall he did regularly ask her about events and their locations regularly so that he would know which places and routes will be crowded on that day or week beforehand but telling her that was subject to humiliation so he chooses to lie proudly instead.

"Of course!"

"I really thought you were a loser who asked those places to avoid those routes but I guess you weren't that low."

Even the criminals are executed cleanly without continuous verbal abuse.

Some time after that surprise encounter, all of his family sat down to have breakfast.

First of which were Shade, Noelle and their father when a conversation started. 

"Noelle, you skipped your dinner so you wouldn't know, the girl in our house is named Irina."

"Of course I know! I even knew that she and Shade have been dating for 4 months."

"Is that so?" Their father replied halfheartedly.

From where? I didn't even know that. Wait, I guess I know where.

"So when will she be returning?" Noelle asked. 

"Well she will be staying here from now on because of some family complications."

What?!! 

"What?!!"

"You don't like her?" 

Their father, surprised by Noelle's unexpected reaction, asked her. 

Meanwhile, taking this distasteful conversation as an endurance test, Shade slightly squints his eyes and keeps a straight face without showing a hint of surprise.

"No it's just... dad, you don't know what could happen when two teenage couples live in the same house nowadays."

"Irina is mature minded, and I trust your brother to know what's right and wrong."

This situation doesn't seem right to me.

The rest of breakfast went on without any other issues except from when his family members catch and in an unsubtle way revealed both Shade and Irina glancing at each other from time to time.

After the breakfast ended the topic simply shifted towards Irina and her personal life.

She talked about her family and past experiences without any struggle as if they were authentic.

And when she spoke about her relationship with Shade, he even forgot a few times that they weren't actually together.

This cheerful atmosphere remained in the room until Shade told his family about Chandler's death.

Delaying it further would only be irresponsible for him so didn't hide it any further.

Hearing about the dreadful news, his family members sympathized for Chandler's family and especially Camille. 

In the end Shade's mother decides to visit their home to send their heartfelt condolences.

Of course none of them suspected that something was odd or Chandler may have been killed in truth.

Nobody, nobody knew it.

With a heavy mind Shade went to his room and locked himself in as usual. 

Since the morning his mind was constantly thinking about the card Irina had handed him. 

========================

R - - - d e s

[23 / 7 / 21] 

========================

23 / 7 / 21. The date was written crudely on the card with a ballpoint pen. 

Other than the card being awfully old there was nothing much notable about it. 

The name of the business also sounded pretty normal.

With a quick search on the internet, he could see where the business was located. It wasn't very far away from his house but for someone like him, leaving the house was the biggest step. 

"And then our teach came and their faces turned completely twisted."

Outside his room, he finds a weird sight happening.

On one side was Noelle joyfully telling the story and on the other side was Irina smiling innocently while listening to this kid's stupid story. 

"Also a few days ago-" She stops and look towards Shade speaking in a rough tone.

"What?"

"Your tone change hurts, you know."

"Why are you out of your den? Finally craving a social interaction or something?"

"Is that supposed to hurt me? If so, then unfortunately that's too weak."

"Huh."

"Nothing, I'm just going to meet with one of my friends."

"I thought all the time you went out was with Irina, don't tell me you are cheating on an angel like her."

Angel? 

He could even see Irina barely holding back her embarrassment with that statement. 

"I- had something- to do." He says while pretending to hold in his laughter. 

"With a friend?"

"Yeah, you remember that one annoying guy?"

"Oh the loud one." And Noelle walks past him. 

She quickly lost interest when I actually mentioned a friend. She may have been hoping for something interesting instead of a usual hang out. 

As Irina passes by him, she lightly taps on his shoulder and whispers - "Goodbye and good luck." 

"Ok angel."

After the reply he feels a sharp bump at the back of his head but ignores it and walk ahead.