Neckbeard Vampire: Nightbeard Rising
Page 18
Chapter 11
He was losing his best friend to a mysterious--and kinda creepy—new girl. His crush was being overcome with some kind of sickness, one of the biggest douches in school mysteriously disappeared, and Chad was convinced that Dasha was behind all of it. He needed time to think—and something to think on.
He pulled into the lot of the comic book store but was met by an unexpected scene. A group of the regulars had crowded around the front door—a sea of trilbys and bald spots shuffling in a herd--there was a great deal of commotion, and police cars were near the entrance.
Chad parked his car and approached the group.
“What’s going on?” He asked everyone and no one in particular amidst the raised smart phones recording the police proceedings and snapping pictures of the mess.
“Break-in” one of the beards said.
“Actually it was a robbery,” another one corrected him.
“No—nothing’s been proven yet.” The first one shot back, “We only know it’s been a break-in.”
The other beard wouldn’t be one-upped, “Well actually, all we know is that the doors and windows have been smashed.”
Chad got the hint; he wouldn’t get far with this crowd.
In the corner, while the beards were focusing on the aftermath of the destruction, Mickey—the owner—was talking to the police officer, giving a report. He moved closer to try and find out what he could.
“—a few shipments—the total value was approximately $3000.00. They were imported from Japan.” Mickey said. “Those are the only things missing, as far as I know right now.”
“Ok—does the shop have any known enemies?” The officer inquired.
“Not that I know of.”
“—Any suspicious activity recently? New faces that struck you the wrong way?”
“I really can’t think of anyone that seemed particularly out of the ordinary,” Mickey answered.
But Chad could. Dasha. She was at the shop—she was staring at him. He knew that she had something to do with Kara’s sickness; she had something to do with the break-in; and she had everything to do with Paxton getting weird. All he had to do was prove it.
Chad decided that he had to do something. He couldn’t just let some heartless friend zoning slut walk into his town and take over his life just to tear it apart. But he needed help.