forum Project “30” [Beta 2.0] (Mature / Closed)

Started December 27, 2020 by @CasiCasino group

tune

“Of course sweetheart! My son doesn’t need it anymore. Please, it’d be my pleasure if you bought it,” the owner spoke with a bright grin on his face. “Let me go bag it for you yeah?”

“Uh… Sure.” Her voice was hesitant but after lightly shaking her head she cleared her throat. Surely there could be no harm in asking a question or two— not that she really gave two shits but for some reason it was polite. “What’s your son like, if I may ask?”

“Hm? Oh him? God, I don’t even remember anymore,” the owner claimed with a small shake of his head. “He’s a treat, that was all I remembered. He used to play around a lot, never actually paying attention to his education or whatever. Not that I care anyways. If anything, he’d be running this tailor shop if he was still around,” the owner said with a rather sad smile. “Would you like anything else?” He had bagged the shirt for Iris already.

“I’d like to see a picture of your son, if you have one? And to know his name.” Iris asked rather genuinely, before covering her mouth. “Pardon if I’m touching on a sensitive topic, I know talking about the departed can be emotional for some.”

The owner of the shop thought for a bit before going over to his working desk and getting out a photograph which he handed to Iris. The photo showed a university graduate taking a picture at his graduation. He was smiling at the camera, his hair a silky and nice reddish color. “His name was Gavin. I suppose he’s a nice kid, despite his aggression from time to time,”

“I suppose he looks like a mischievous boy.” Iris noted, smiling a little at the photo. She suddenly remembered the tag on the shirt… The shirt had belonged to Gavin, Gavin was dead… The father killed him. What would drive someone to kill their own child? Iris took a deep breath and faked a very convincing sympathetic expression. “What happened to him, if I may ask?”

“Ah, a drink and drive situation,” the father answered, sighing softly. “It’s rather unfortunate how he died of such a bad cause,” he added. “Anyways, thank you for your purchase,” the owner of the shop shook his head before nodding and handing Iris the paper bag.

The woman took the bag with a deep breath, smiling softly to the man before making her way to the door. Upon opening it, she turned to look at him, and smiled a rather grim grin. “Killing your own son… Humans are such nasty creatures.”
On that final word, she left the shop and strolled down the street, praying to the devil that he wouldn’t come after her for making such a bold statement. “I swear if I get into trouble Aki I’m blaming you for leaving me alone.”

After a moment of silence, another email came. Of course, from that person. Once again, it was a voice file.

“I swear, I’m not the one who told you to say that but oh well. Anyways, let’s head somewhere a bit more safe. That place being the local school not too far away. Not the university, the school. Today the kids shouldn’t be there, at least not so many of them. Head there and I’ll tell you again what you’re looking for,”

“The infant school, middle school or the junior school?” Iris asked in a bored tone, meaning it as a joke. Not that she ever made jokes. She walked rather leisurely down the street and sighed. “Why aren’t many of the kids going to be there?”

“Today there’s an activity there and not all students have to go and, more likely than not, the buildings are majorly empty,” a new file had said. “We’re investigating the disappearance of a certain biology teacher there, starting from the science office,”

“Why am I doing this and not you then?” Iris asked, her tone sounding slightly disgusted. “I’m not the science one.”
This, unbeknownst to Iris, had two meanings, though at this current moment she wasn’t thinking of ’her’.

Almost reluctantly, she reached the school and managed to slip through the gates without being seen. “Right, so what am I looking for?” She asked in a hushed tone.

“Up on the fourth floor of the largest building, that’s where the science office in question is,” a new voice file had said. It would seem like he was talking about the building where most of the students were gathered yet most were playing sports and enjoying themselves in front of the building.

“They just had to be at this building, typical.” Iris sighed as she quickly made her way to a side of the building where she was less likely to be seen. Her eyes darted around as her gaze travelled upwards, and found an open window on the fourth floor. Scaling the building appeared to be out of the question, but it wasn’t like she could just walk through the front door, right?

After weighing her options, Iris crept her way around to the front of the building, keeping an eye and ear out for the children. This is stupid… Why am I going to a school in broad daylight when I’m more likely to be caught?!

As she made her way up the building, it was really clear that no one else was inside the building. Soon enough, she would find the office and when she arrived, another email came— another voice file.
“There should be a table with the name tag ‘Mr. Connor Lewis’ on it. Look at the things on his desk, there should be hints as to who he was and all of that,”

When Iris found the room, she was somewhat delighted to find that it was the one with the open window. She let out a soft sigh and started looking around the room before opening the voice file. “It’s a pleasant environment I suppose, though it’s lacking something.”
She made her way over to the desk and started inspecting the few items that were there. “He disappeared huh?”

As Iris would start to look through the many things on the table, one thing might’ve stood out; an open checkbook. On it, there were many notes written here and there, some were green and had pluses, but most were red and had minuses all over. It would seem like whatever business this man was doing outside school wasn’t exactly at its best.
Moreover, the calendar set on his desk and a date highlighted; twelve days ago. It was highlighted in red and there was no clear indication as to what it could’ve met. The last time he was seen was ten days ago when he showed up for one period and disappeared. There was more, clearly… but the things on his table—the biology books, the pens, the notebook, the tablet—all could’ve meant something.

Iris looked around the room before quickly gathering the items on the desk and putting them in the same bag as the shirt. She didn’t have the time to inspect everything there and she was sure that someone was going to find her sooner or later, so now was her time to leave.

After gathering the belongings from the desk, including the calendar, the woman took a deep breath and moved towards the door.

Opening the door, she would immediately be met with a fairly aged man, perhaps in his fifties or nearly sixty. His hair was grey, having a neatly done mustache and beard. He looked Iris up and down before looking over at the now nearly cleaned table of Connor’s. His eyes returned to the girl and sighed. “A relative of Connor wanting to find him I suppose…?”

“Yes.” Iris responded immediately. Her heart had started violently thumping when she’d come face to face with the man, sure that he would have immediately called the police on her for trespassing. “I’m trying to find any lead I can that could point me on the right path. Do you know anything at all?”

The man walked passed her and to his own desk which had the name tag of ‘Arledge Esmond’ on it. “Can not say I have. There’s been no communication between us lately and that’s surely nothing to be surprised about. Before he disappeared, Mr. Lewis mentioned something about a family business problem then poof… he was gone just like that,” the man spoke, sighing as he glanced over at the photo of the two together. “You can leave, you won’t get anything from me. If you want information, you might want to go ask the ice cream shop he visits which is just down the road, next to the bar,” he said, looking out the window and up into the sky.

Why did the man look so sad, and why did Iris feel his pain? It wasn’t like her to empathise with others, in fact she couldn’t remember a time when she did do that. After internally fighting with herself, she gently placed her hand on his shoulder. “You should go home, rest.”
She pulled away from him and sighed, making her way to the door. Without looking back, she thanked the man and left.

An uncomfortable feeling spread through her chest as she walked towards the parlour, causing her to stop for a moment and lean against the wall beside her as she tried to breathe. Seeing the man so down had obviously triggered something, and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling. After a moment of her just leaning, she stood back up straight and continued her way to the parlour while trying her best to forget the elderly man from the school. She opened the door and took a deep breath before entering.

The bell by the door rang as Iris came in the shop, the employees in the shop turned to her and smiled. “Good day to you! How may we serve you today dear lady?” One of the male employees spoke, smiling brightly at her although he definitely saw the pain in her eyes. “If you’re interested, right now the strawberry sherbet and black forest are selling like crazy,”

Iris shook her head and smiled weakly. “Thank you, but I’m not hungry. I was wondering what you could tell me about Connor Lewis.” Her eyes wandered around the room as she spoke, trying to feel comfortable in such an atmosphere and failing to see how she could ever be comfortable in a public setting anyway. “I’m trying to find him…”

“Connor?” The employee asked. “Ah, him!” Eventually, they remembered the man. “What do you want to know about him miss?” He smiled politely, both of his arms behind his back.

“When did you last see him?” She asked, her eyes still wandering around the room. “Did he say anything to you that might have sounded off?”

“The last time I saw him? Hm… about ten days ago I think. He came in and ordered the usual but he stayed a lot longer than usual. He was on his phone, staring at it without scrolling at all. It looked like he was just staring at a photo or something,” the man claimed. “Oh, he also didn’t bring his side bag which was really weird,”

“He usually kept a bag?” She questioned, taking out her phone and making a general note. “Also did you happen to see what exactly he was looking at?”

The employee shook his head. “I don’t have the slightest idea,” he claimed with a small sigh. “Why? Did something happen to him?” He asked with a rather worried expression.

Iris gestured for the employee to sit down, her expression rather calm. “This may not be easy to hear, but he has been missing for ten days. The last place he was seen, apparently, was here. I’m a relative of his trying to figure out what happened to him, and potentially find him.”