“We don’t even know where to start to look for him though,” Victor stopped him. “It’s bad enough that he quit, but finding him again isn’t going to happen.”
“Do you have any ideas then?” Tony asked.
Victor reluctantly told him he didn’t, and they both continued to walk toward the Winchester Enterprises building.
---*---
2:46 PM
Lake Forest Park, Washington
Nick rushed through the rain on his motorcycle, cautiously taking each and every turn with care. He wore a jet black helmet with a tinted visor, his loose-fit jeans which were plastered to his legs due to the rain, and his black leather jacket, which water streamed down as he sped down Bothell Way and entered the Lake Forest Park Mall parking lot.
He signaled a quick right that may have been too soon for him, as he nearly took himself out trying to make the turn into the parking lot. Nick found a parking space, parked, and walked into the mall. Nick kept his helmet on until he was safely inside the building and out of the rain’s barrage. His dark brown hair and the rest of his head were the only parts of his entire being he managed to keep dry.
He wandered to the second floor where he found his destination, a small deli called ‘Crystal’s’ that was right outside of a bookstore. The deli itself was relatively small, but had enough room to allow for several tables and booths for customers. A warm atmosphere mixed with the enthralling aroma of freshly baked breads beckoned all to enter. Nick imagined even if he wasn’t there for a specific purpose he would have had a difficult time in passing by the deli without grabbing a bite to eat first.
When Nick entered it was deserted, which Nick gathered was normal when the girl behind the counter seemed surprised to find a customer. She asked, “Is there anything I can get for you?”
“Actually,” he checked her name tag, “Amy, I-I was wondering if Jordan w-was in.”
“Oh, yeah let me get him for you.” She ran into the back and brought out a boy with long black hair he wore slicked down. His uniform was mainly a viridian polo shirt, but underneath he wore a long-sleeved black shirt. An apron covered his tight black jeans. He normally wore earrings, but due to store policy he removed them.
“Hey is it raining out there Nick?” the boy joked.
Nick forced a laugh, and then retorted, “Hey Jordan i-isn’t green a bit b-bright f-for your eyes?”
“Ha ha, what do you want?”
“A s-sandwich,” Jordan gave him a look, “Fine! Turkey, ham, b-bacon, w-w-whatever cheese you have, the green stuff…”
“Lettuce?”
“Yeah, then to-tomatoes…and some m-mustard.”
Jordan finished making it, rang it up, and joined Nick at a table. He sat across from Nick, with his back to his work. “So why are you drenched?”
“I’ve b-been out on m-my motorcycle all day.”
“You’re an idiot Nick,” he bluntly told him.
“Why?” Nick said as he became agitated.
“Riding around in the rain is dangerous for you for three reasons; first off, you could get sick…”
“Aw… that’s s-sweet.” Nick joked.
“Bite me. Second, roads are slicker so you could easily get killed. And last you suck at riding that thing.”
“Thanks.”
“Seriously. You’ve only had it for a few weeks. You’re usually not this reckless, why are you being so stupid?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I thought that your dad–”
“Stepdad.”
“Stepdad, whatever, told you he didn’t want you to buy one.”
“He didn’t.”
“So this must be your form of continued retaliation. Y’know that most people just get a tattoo or a lip or nose piercing when their parents don’t want them too. But no, Nick has to get a motorcycle when his stepdad didn’t want him to.”
Nick sighed, “Whatever,” which ended the conversation there. Nick took a bite of his sandwich, “So who’s this girl?”
“Rachel. She’s a junior, freakin’ gorgeous. She’s not my usual type, but hey, she’s hot, so who cares?”
Nick swallowed his bite, and asked, “I heard s-she’s Drake’s c-cousin or s-s-something?”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t care.”
“Still,” Nick ripped off another hunk of the sandwich, “I have to meet her.”
“Fine with me.” Jordan cracked his neck, something he did habitually. He continued, “Meet her sometime next week though.”
“Alright,” he struggled to say through his food. He swallowed and changed the subject, “D’you r-really think Ian’s gonna m-move to London?”
“I think so. Nothing important is holding him here. And just because he may still have friends here doesn’t mean we’re holding him back from doing what he wants.”
“You’ve got a p-point.”
A woman with fiery hair, an angry glare, and a name tag that commemorated her as the manager walked out from the back of the store. She spotted Jordan near the back with Nick and barked, “Jordan I told you to take out the trash before the dinner rush, so get to it.”
“Alright ma’am,” he said through gritted teeth and suppressed his remarks. Once she had left he let out a sigh and muttered under his breath, “It’s not like we get a dinner rush…” as he left Nick and disappeared into the back of the store.
Nick glanced around the room and only found Amy, who wiped down tables near him. He leaned toward her and asked, “Wh-what’s the d-deal with her?”
She looked at him, and for a moment Nick thought his heart stopped. She answered him, “That’s Crystal. She owns the store and is very protective of this business.”
“Hmm…I g-guess that’s understandable,” Nick admitted.
Jordan made his way to the door with four large gray garbage bags. He cursed under his breath and tried to make his way outside. Amy smirked alongside Nick as they watched Jordan struggle to get through the door.
Nick tried to ignore Amy afterwards as his heart raced. He wasn’t sure whether it was her eyes that made him shake or her confidence in contrast to his naturally timid self.
“How do you know Jordan?” she asked to break the silence.
“We’ve known each other s-since elementary school. I guess you could s-say we’re pretty g-good friends.”
“That’s nice.”
“So…How do y-you know Jordan?” he asked though he quickly realized his question was foolish.
She only smiled, “Crystal’s my friend Denise’s aunt, so Denise was able to get me a job. Jordan just walked in the door one day and I handed him an application,” She paused, and then asked, “So do you work?”
“No.”
“Then how did you pay for the motorcycle?”
“M-My friend got me a dis-a discount, and m-my older brother h-helped me buy it and gives me money f-for gas,” he paused, and then continued, “I-I am l-looking f-for a job though…”
“We aren’t hiring right now.”
“No, I-I didn’t mean here,” he said almost alarmed.
She laughed, “I was kidding…But it’s good that you want to work.”
“Yeah…” Nick stared at her, and then quickly looked to the door, to find Jordan who returned a bit wetter and far more irritable than when he’d left. He struggled to think of a topic, noted Jordan’s layered shirts, and asked, “S-So long sleeved sh-shirts are allowed with your work uniform?”
“Yep. There aren’t any rules against it, as long as the uniform’s over it,” she indicated to the sleeves of her uniform, as the viridian overlapped the terracotta sleeves. Nick reddened. “Do you always have a hard time with small talk?”
Nick gave a weak smile, “Yeah…I’m n-not the best at it…”
Amy smiled and asked, “Do you always ride around in the rain?”
“N-No, it’s just…I-I didn’t see any r-reason not to.”
“You could get sick,” she told him, “And isn’t it irritating? The rain
must feel terrible as you fly down the road.”
He shrugged, “I-I don’t really n-notice it,”
She smiled, and stood, “Well I do need to get back to work, but it was nice talking with you…”
“N-Nick, Nick Jacobs,” he filled in.
“Amy Roberts,” she waved, “Well I’ve gotta go, but maybe we’ll talk again sometime,” she retreated into the back just as Jordan escaped.
He wandered toward Nick, “You two talked?” Nick nodded. “Huh…She usually has good taste in guys.”
It took him a moment to react, as he was still transfixed in the conversation he had with her, but once he realized he’d been insulted. He slugged Jordan in the arm, “Jerk.” He gathered his trash, handed it to Jordan, and grabbed his helmet, “I’ve g-gotta go though, don’t want to b-be out in the rain t-t-too long.”
“Now you agree with me?”
“Call it a s-second opinion.”
Jordan shook his head, “Whatever. See you later.”
---*---
3:15 PM
Bothell, Washington
Drake Winchester sat behind his desk in the Bothell office of Winchester Enterprises. The cubicles and bland gray walls made him feel like a prisoner. His coworkers decorated the walls of their cells with photos of family members and personal items; Drake didn’t bother and left his as he’d found it. Many of the other employees found their jobs enjoyable; Drake was not a fan of his father’s company, or at least where he was at that time.
He wore tan slacks he never intended on ironing, a sky blue dress shirt he only bought for the job, and an attitude which told everyone there that he wanted to be anywhere but there.
The office was relatively plain (as Drake would often describe it) as it only had a few indoor plants dispersed throughout the building, water coolers nobody used, and other office necessities such as trash bins. Personal items aside, the office was bland.
A coworker of his joined him and began in Japanese, “
“” answered Drake as he set his head against the back of his cubicle.
“
“
“” Sho sat forward and locked eyes with Drake, “
Drake stopped him, “”
Sho placed his head in his hands and released a large sigh, “
Drake stretched a bit, then told him, “
Sho grinned, “
Creeping Darkness was a video game series produced by their company. The game was a widely popular horror/survival game that included many elements of blood and violence. The main character of the first game used a variety of weapons to fight his opponents from sawed-off shotguns and pistols to crowbars and home-made explosives. The first Creeping Darkness title received a nomination for the game of the year award in twenty-twenty-seven.
“
His eyes widened. “
“” Drake pulled another copy of the figure out from his desk and handed it to Sho, “
“
Drake laughed, “
“” he told Drake without moving his eyes off the figure.
Someone nearby cleared their throat to catch Drake and Sho’s attention. A curly haired, portly man stood a few feet from them with a disapproving look upon his face. His eyes darted from Sho and then to Drake. “Is it safe to assume you two weren’t discussing work related things, right?”
“Actually–”
“It was rhetorical, Winchester.”
“Sorry Barry.”
“It’s Mister Sanderson.”
“Sure.”
“Now, would you both please get back to work? Or am I going to need to confiscate…whatever that is,” he said with a wag of his finger at the statuette. “What is it?”
“It’s a model going out to anyone who buys the deluxe version of Creeping Darkness 2. Sho is going to forward photos of this figure to different companies to inform their branches to start advertising about the new, more expensive version that this figure comes with,” Drake explained.
“Right…well, that’s fine, but let’s skip the chatter and try to stay on task.”
“No problem Barry…” Drake muttered while his manager left them “
Sho chuckled and agreed. “
Drake watched Sho leave and then immediately set his head in his arms on his desk. Business related items mainly covered his desk, from his computer and phone to a stapler and various documents. The only things on it that were not standard issue were his Creeping Darkness 2 figure and a small hourglass. The hourglass consisted of two glass chambers, the inside contained fine sand that drained down into the lower half of the object the outer was a cylinder that protected the inner chamber. The top and bottom of the item were made of wood; the two ends were connected and held in place by four long shafts of wood. Drake checked the time, 3:25 pm, and he flipped the hourglass.
His phone rang once before he answered, “Drake Winchester.”
“Drake you have a visitor.”
“You don’t have to call me for this, y’know? You can just send them over okay?”
“Oh, sorry Drake,” the secretary apologized.
“It’s fine. Just send them down.” He hung up, counted to twelve and pointed at the opening in his c
ubicle, where his unscheduled appointment arrived.
The young man had dark shoulder length hair and brown eyes. He wore jeans, a loose shirt from their high school, and loosely tied black tennis shoes. He was a bit taller than Drake, but not physically larger.
“Ian, take a seat.” Drake told his friend as he rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.
“Didn’t get much sleep?” asked Ian.
“No…” He replied, and looked past Ian to find Sanderson scurrying toward them, “Great…one moment.”
Drake rose from his seat to intercept Sanderson, but to his surprise a lanky bespectacled coworker stopped Sanderson and turned him away from Drake and Ian. Taken aback, Drake returned to his conference with his friend, “Never mind. We’ll have to make this quick though. When are you planning on moving to London?”
“The twenty-sixth.”
Drake nodded. “Alright, then that means we need to throw a farewell party,” Drake told him.
“No. Not after the Fourth of July fiasco.”
“Nick and Jordan put the fires out.”
“Yeah, well I sprained my wrist and you guys pissed off about half of the town because of what happened to the football field.”
“Hey, a replacement was donated by an anonymous group concerned about the well-being of our great football team,” Drake reminded him with a wry smile.
“Which consisted of the three idiots who burned the first field down, three idiots who were only trying to spare themselves the wrath of an angered city,” Ian said.
Drake set his head on his desk and added, with a yawn, “The explosion was worth the money if you ask me.”
“Why are you so tired?” Ian questioned him, as Drake’s behavior began to wear on him.
He groaned, “I was up ‘til around three watching a colony of bats flying through the night sky.”
“Didn’t it rain last night?”
“Not until two,” yawned Drake.
“Why didn’t you go inside?”
“Bridget Williams was keeping me up.” Drake grinned.
“You were busy I take it?”
Drake only smiled. “I’ll let you know more about the details once I know more about the party,” he looked out and felt that his coworker wouldn’t be able to hold Sanderson off much longer. He turned back to Ian, “I’ll call you later, but you need to go.”
Regenesis (Book 1): Impact Page 2