LOVESICK

Chapter One: Handsome Devil

"Irene, please go clean that table" Jackson's voice echoed from the kitchen, he was tired and it showed in his tired orders, it was clear that he so desperately wanted to get today over with and go home just as much as I did. without any hesitation, "sure" I replied with a tired smile.

I work in a café as a part-time job, it wasn't all I did as I'd like to believe that I wasn't completely jobless in life, I live with my older sister Alice,
When I first came here to this huge crowded city I had my apartment, but naturally no different than any other blaring city the rent was too much to pay working as a barista and going to college at the same time,

So my kind sister offered me to stay with her until I finish college and find a place or At least a good paying job, that could pay enough for a place.
Although it is a big expensive city, it's full of life and I love being here.
I didn't let the thoughts consume me and hurried to clean the last table before I got to go home,
As I made my way to the table and started picking up all the cups and dishes left by the customers, I took a quick look at my hand watch, and its roughly past closing time, today was never getting over with.

"Hey Irene-" I heard Jackson's voice muffled from the staff room calling me again,
Jackson, my co-worker, was a friend as well, despite his strict professionalism we managed to become good friends last year when I started working here,
His father owned this cafeteria with a bunch of other restaurants as well, my manager actually, is his older brother.

I made my way to the employee's rest area, sighing I walked in on Jackson wondering what else he was going to order me to do,
"take a look at this" He reached for the remote control to raise the volume on the TV,
It was on the news channel, I was confused, as I stared at the lady on the TV sitting behind a screen of a murder scene, blood was blurred as it was sensitive to some people watching, the words BREAKING written in bold upper case letters snatched my attention, what the hell was happening?

Breaking news: three bodies were discovered yesterday around 7-8 pm each in different locations within the city.
Reports of three bodies being discovered with the cases being perfectly identical,
one of the bodies was identified to be a twenty-nine-year-old college professor, Olivia Doyle.

the other two victims are still being investigated.
The bodies were disturbed to the point that some are lacking body parts but all three victims were lacking their teeth.
They seem to have been sitting in their locations for a while since all of them were beginning to show signs of decomposition.

Due to the different locations but the similarities between the murders police think that we might be dealing with a serial killer rather than a hit-and-run type of case.
The police were unable to catch or link anyone to the crimes, and a lot of security will stay alert in different parts of the city.
The investigation is still ongoing, and police advise them to stay inside and be careful of the surrounding until it's guaranteed to be safe outside.

"What the hell?" Jackson exclaimed in a confused tone,
"why would they take out the teeth though?" I mumbled to myself like its the only important thing right now,
"Is this really what caught your attention? Are you not scared or anything?" Jackson shot me a stare, he folded his arms together and faced me,

"Of course I'm scared, but I'm sure they will probably get caught and arrested. In this day and age, you can't find a serial killer that won't get busted you know" I spoke trying to calm down both Him and me,
"I guess you're right" He sighed rubbing the back of his neck, it was a short silence between us before it started raining outside which isn't a surprise at all given the fact that it's November.
It was clear that he wasn't so comfortable at the moment, with a case so unusual to hear about, the city was always loud but it seemed that with this fear everyone was silently looking out, after all, whoever was doing this sick twisted shit, was walking among us.

Silence took over for a minute until I heard the café's door open, without a second thought, I hurried outside to greet the customer, I was immediately taken back by the tall man dressed in all black with pitch-black wet, middle-parted hair.
He was breathing heavily as if he had just run a marathon and holding a backpack that he had dropped on the ground, his clothes were lightly damped from the rain.
He looked like he was troubled so I hurried to help him,