Chapter 2 (K)

A petite girl comes over wearing a purple shirt with bunnies on it. “Hey guys. What are you up to?” Her voice is so soft you can barely hear it even though the library is quiet.

“Aw, come on Nella. Practice your public speaking skills!” Lae exclaims. Several people turn around and shush her.

“Oh just leave her be, would you? It’s only been a month since she started speaking. And even then she used the thought-voice transfer machine half of the time,” I drawled, and turned on my tablet again.

I was researching the victims. It’s quite fascinating actually. None of the victims have anything in common, and the identity of victim number one was never released. Each of the victims fell into a coma for a few months and then die suddenly. It’s all so bizarre that I just have to investigate it.

“Ah, Kaya?” breathed a voice into my ear.

“Ack!” I turned, startled to find myself face-to-face with Nella.

“Oh my god. You scared the hell out of me!” I grinned, but that was quickly wiped off as I saw her serious expression. “Hey, where’s Lae?”

“Over at the manga section right now. I thought I’d discuss this with you now.” Her voice is much quieter than normal.

Normally I’d question how serious this discussion would be, but coming from a girl who usually has a grin on her face, I decided not to say anything.

“I found out who victim number one is. It’s Maury Spiel from our French class.”

I jerk back in my chair. “Maury? You mean ‘Hacker’ Maury?” Nella nods, and I close my eyes. “How did you figure that out?”

“Overheard my mom talking to Maury’s mom awhile back before they knew about the virus. Didn’t make sense then, but now it does.”

“Thanks Nella.” A headache was creeping up on me and I massaged my temples. “Could you tell Lae I’m leaving without her? I need to do some stuff at home.” I quickly pack up my bag and rush out of the library.

On my 20 minutes walk home, I thought about this new and very important fact. Who would’ve thought it was Maury? We were told that he was sick and would be living out in the country until his condition improved. None of us gave any thought to that. But now that I know he’s victim number one, it made my life so much easier. He lived only a few blocks away from me, making investigating not as difficult.

“Ok Hacker Maury. Let’s see what type of clues you left for me.”

“What the heck are talking about?” asks a familiar voice.

“Wha-? Oh it’s you Drew.”

I'm taking a break tomorrow. It's Christmas for goodness sake! So I introduced Nella and Drew into the picture. And also revealed a bit of how Kaya acts... a bit of an exaggerated version of myself. I do really like mysteries like that, although I'm not that dedicated to them

Merry Christmas!