Chapter 4

My older brother, Blake, was murdered one year ago.

The memory of those torturous moments was still fresh in my mind.

Night had just fallen, and we were taking a walk around our neighborhood, enjoying the cool breeze, and talking about our day. Our joy was, however, short-lived.

Out of the blue, two people jumped on our path, blocking our way. They were dressed in black from head to toe and even wore black masks to conceal their faces.

They demanded that we handover every valuable thing we had on us. They did not shy away from pointing their sharp bladed knifes at us.

Blake and I were scared. We complied immediately.

But things soon took a wrong turn. The locking mechanism of my wristwatch was stuck. No matter how hard I tried, it did not come off. My struggle made the muggers' attention linger on me for a few seconds longer. And then their intention changed.

One of them came towards me and tried to grope me. He attempted to touch me inappropriately.

Blake pulled him off of me and punched him in the jaw. Struggle ensued and one of them stabbed Blake in the chest.

The rest was a blur.

Blake collapsed with the knife sticking out of his chest. He struggled to breathe and then closed his eyes.

I lost consciousness because of shock. But before my eyes closed, I saw his face. The face of one of the assailants. The face that refused to let me sleep at night even today. The face that I had seen at the cafe just hours ago.

I turned on my other side, wide awake even at three in the morning.

"Only one of them is dead. The other one is still roaming around freely, spending his time at Coffee Tales," I murmured. "Once he gets arrested, Blake will truly get justice."

But I knew that I could not report him to the police. If word got out that I had come forward to identify the other accomplice, my family would pay dearly for it.

He and his partner had already tried to murder me once when I had tried to help the police. They had also vandalised our home as a warning.

We knew that they wouldn't just stop at that. Therefore, we had wrapped up our lives and changed town as well as our identities.

"I will make you pay," I said, closing my eyes, "I promise."

***

The next morning, he walked into the cafe again, making me wonder if this was going to become a routine now.

He deposited his belongings on the same table as he had chosen yesterday and came over to the billing counter.

"One cappuccino and a chocolate walnut brownie, please," he said, handing over the money.

"Sure." I billed his items and started to take out the change from the drawer.

"Oh, don't worry about it," he said, smiling.

"If you'd earned it yourself, you wouldn't have refused to take back the change that literally is as much as how much your order cost," I muttered under my breath, keeping the money back in the drawer.

"Did you say something?" He frowned.

I shook my head. "No."

With the frown still on his forehead, he headed back to his table. But not before I heard him mumble that I was rude.

Clenching my jaw, I began to put his order together.

Once the cappuccino was done, my eyes lingered on it for a long time. I had the perfect opportunity to tamper with it. No one would know.

What on earth, Zuri? Of course, everybody will know.

I sighed and placed his tray over the counter. Even though we did have table service, I was going to try and not give him the benefit of it.

"Your order is ready," I said, bringing his attention to the tray.

He stared at it and then at me. "Oh."

With a confused look, he came over and took his tray.

And as soon as he had turned his back to me, I smiled with spite. This was childish but still satisfying.

As he sat down, he raised an eyebrow at me questioningly. "Why are you this cold towards me?"

"Huh?" I stopped what I was doing and matched his gaze.

"You're not like this towards the other customers. I see you laughing and joking around with them. But you treat me like some, I don't know, a criminal who has harmed you?" he said.

My blood ran cold.

He was not implying anything, was he? Was this a mind game or a harmless observation?

I flashed him a bright smile. "I'm sorry if I made you feel like that. But I'm sure you're just mistaken. It's nothing like that."

He seemed disappointed. "If you say so."

Weird.

It was still early in the morning and the customers were few. There was not much that needed to be done and I had the time to myself.

Taking the book that I had been currently reading out of my bag, I made my way to the couches in the books section of the cafe.

I had not been much of a reader. But in the past year, reading had become my solace, my comfort space. Losing myself in the pages of another person's story had helped me cope up with the grief and emptiness within me. And now, I was an avid reader. Not a single day passed without me having read some pages, at least.

Within a few minutes, I was deeply engrossed in the pages. I had left behind all my worry, my anxiousness, and the what ifs.

About half an hour later, the glass doors opened.

I looked up to see a customer come in.

Time to get back to work.

As I closed the book and stood up, I saw the demon staring at me.

I frowned. "What?"

"Nothing." He shook his head. "Are you liking that book?"

"How does it matter to you?" I asked.

"Geez, I was just asking," he said, hurt flashing across his eyes.

I went behind the counter and sighed. "I love that book."

"Nice," he said, his lips curling up into a smile. "Very nice."

Creep.

I ignored him and turned my attention to the customer who had just walked in.

He is such a great actor. Who can guess that he is truly a monster hiding behind that innocent face?