S.P.Y.

Chapter 20: PACK

In the next week, Sylis would revive a phone call.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Sylis." It was a vaguely familiar voice. Maybe one that he heard resenting once or twice. It belonged to an older male. Probably around the age of seventy or eighty.

"If I may ask, who is this?"

"Oliver, from the peanut shoppe." Ah, that man... "I was wondering if you would be interested in buying a pack of peanuts?"

"A pack of peanuts?" Confusion was evident in his tone.

"Yes, a—pack—of peanuts." He seemed to insistent that it was only a pack of peanuts and nothing more or less. Sylis couldn't care more about the different size names Oliver would use the categorize them.

"Sure, I guess I will buy a pack."

"Oh, sorry, I have to go."

The line disconnected and Sylis just listened to the deadline for a bit before placing his home phone back on its case. "That was...peculiar." He looked down at his phone. "Wait, how did he know my phone number?" He looked away. "Lilin?"

"Mama?"

Sylis took a deep breath full of annoyance. "Piper, how many times do I have to tell you? Go away."

He felt a wave of sadness come over him, but he knew it wasn't his. "Piper, I know that you're sad, but stop giving it to me."

"But—"

"Just go!"

The silence was all that was left, but the sadness persisted like a nasty hangover. "Ugh..."

Sylis loved the peanut of a girl, and it ached him to leave them both. It was like a nasty girl breakup and every time the girl would look at something the boy gave her she would be reminded of him and she would cry, but he was a man and had a telepath as the 'boy' or 'boyfriend' in this weird illustration.

Confusing, right?

Over the past few days, Sylis Penn Youngblood has gotten some more information on Shadow. Recently the enigma had been in the same city that Sylis was in and a few murders have already taken place, though as with any murder that dealt with the shadow, no one was completely sure if it was Shadow's doing or someone who looked like them. As far as they knew the others could be copycats or other murderers who wear black.

Wearing black at night, who could have thought of that?

Sylis sighed at his desk. His hands at supported his head loosened, letting his head slip through his digits, mussing up his blond hair. He wasn't getting anywhere with the shadow case and his personal problems were always getting in his way. He snipped the string between Lilin and him for many reasons: she lied, yes this was true, but Shadow's letter to him made her a target on his radar, so if he distanced himself from the serial killer then the black-haired lady and her daughter would be okay. But there was that ex too...

Sylis stood up not wanting to think about anything anymore, but as he rose something hurt him. "Ow." The word was instinctive, yet a mumble. He looked around but didn't see anything that could have hurt him, then he noticed his hand, or more importantly, his fourth finger.

The ring.

He looked at it, flipping his hand back and forth to get a better look at it. Eventually, he slid the small promise off his finger and looked at the three small gemstones. The past, the present, and the future. He didn't count as any of them. He would barely be considered 'past'.

Maybe I should get some fresh air. I can return the ring as well.

Sylis slowly walked to his car. Everything seemed to be going slowly in his life. His happiness was slow to come and so was his smile, though both were rare at this point. The wet grass clung to Sylis' pants as he walked through 'Piper's shortcut'. He opened the door of his car and drove off.

For some reason, there was a long line of cars parked in the way of the jewelry store, so Sylis had to park behind them and closer to Lilin's apartment. He looked up at the apartment building (which was on the other side of the street.) He knew that Piper could feel how close he was to them, and thanked the little girl that she didn't talk to him. He looked up at their balcony and swore that he saw the little girl, but instead, the balcony was all empty.

He couldn't plod forward to the jewelry store. He no longer wore the ring instead it was in his pocket. As his foot was about to enter the store he heard a commotion from the other side of the street. It came from the Peanut Shoppe.

Sylis let go of the door and transected the road. It wasn't a normal commotion (like arguing), no, this was different because he heard a gunshot. Sylis pulled the gun he had hidden and held it out as if he were the police. He scanned the area with his gun as soon as he opened the door. Everything looked the same, but Oliver wasn't there.

Sylis placed the gun back in his hiding spot and walked to the counter. There was a small bell that he quickly tapped. "Be there in a second!" called Oliver from the back room. Youngblood waited at the counter as he tapped his shoe. Finally, Oliver came out of the backroom.

Since he was already here he might as well ask. "Why did you call me?"

Oliver looked at the man, raising an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? I didn't call you."

"Then who did?"

Sylis left the store buying a bag of peanuts, confused and complying forgetting why he came into town in the first place. He never saw Piper or Lilin that day.