Chapter Ten Page Eleven, Will, The Warehouse on North Street

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The warehouse was empty, but only the middle row of lights were on. There was just darkness on either side. As Will stepped to the center of the lights, he saw a desk on the far end. “Hello?” He called out.

            There was no reply.

            The air smelled faintly of blood and death. There was a thin layer of dust on the floor, here and there disturbed by scuff marks. He walked up to the desk and laid the briefcase on it. He checked his phone and saw that it wasn’t even six yet. He wondered if she was even there.

            He sent her number a text message, The briefcase is on the table.

            He turned around, heard something shift in the dark. “Hello?” He called out, again. His voice had squeaked. It had been involuntary. He cleared his throat, attempted a manlier, “Hullo?”

            He didn’t hear anything else. There was a faint glint that appeared, something like a pair of eyes, that vanished like smoke. Will found the door he’d entered through and left.

            He walked through Downtown to get home, staying on the busy streets. He kept expecting to see the crimson haired pyreweavers, all dressed in grey.

            Will returned home slightly after six fifteen, feeling tired. There was a familiar pair of shoes by the front door. “Dani,” he said, “You home?”

            “Yeah,” she said, looking up from the living room couch. “You look a little like a used napkin right about now. Where’s your jacket? Did you drop it somewhere?”

            “I lost it,” he said, “Set it down at the mall and forgot to go back for it.”

            “You get anything cool at the mall?” She asked, “Like, a pack of condoms or something stupid?”

            “No,” he said, “Why would you even ask me that? I got a stupid briefcase for some girl somewhere and delivered it for her.”

            “Some girl?” Dani asked, “Someone catch the apple of your eye?”

            “Not really,” Will said, “She threatened to kill you, mom, and dad, if I didn’t do the delivery for her. So I did it. Ran into some pyreweavers. Had to fight them off. And then I jumped into a speeding car and dropped it off at an empty warehouse that smelled like a slaughterhouse.”

            “Ha ha,” she said, “What did you really do?”

            “That,” he said, “Everything I just said.”

            “That is way too heroic for you,” Dani said, “You’d probably just tell the girl that you were busy. She’d have to pull you by the shirt collar to make you do anything.”

            “No,” Will said, “She threatened you guys and I jumped on the opportunity. Maybe you should try believing that I that I might actually be hero material.”

            “Hah,” Dani said, “I’ll believe that when… uh… something really improbable happens.”

            Later that night, as Will tried to sleep, he heard a rock bounce off of his window. He looked out and saw a girl standing in his yard, looking up at him. She wore a hooded sweatshirt that covered half her face, but he could see that she was giving him a thumbs up. He waved at her, and she left. He thought she’d been smiling ever so slightly. But he couldn’t see any teeth or anything. There hadn’t been an appropriate light source for that.


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