a Mystery in the Dark

The day It happened started completely normal, but that would change fast. It all started when I went into the fresh bean cafe on a calm Saturday evening. Being the socially anxious person I am, I quickly ordered my usual dark chocolate mocha with cinnamon, and quickly sat down before I had to talk to anyone.  

I didn't even wave when the barista who always takes my order yelled out "Hey Max, nice to see you again."

She didn't like that but It's just too hard... I was halfway through my coffee when suddenly it happened. Everything went dark, the sun had already set so I could not see anything. I heard cups clattering on the ground. 

Out of nowhere, the owner, Alex, called out "Everybody Okay?"

When they could tell no one was hurt they called out again, "I'm going to get a flashlight and see what the problem is"

I felt frozen, I hated the dark. from somewhere in the back of the store we heard a loud gasp. everyone ran towards the sound. Of course, I bump into every other thing on the way through the store. When we got there we immediately knew the problem. Someone had clearly cut all of the cords to the electricity.

"Woah," I said, astonished.  

"who did this?" the barista asked angrily. 

everyone looked at one another, we knew it had to be one of us. It was the only possibility. 

"We can work together, we'll figure out... what happened" the stranger standing next to me proposed. 

there were 7 of us in total, so we decided to break into 4 teams to search the cafe for clues. I ended up with Alex. We started searching the kitchen which smelled of perfect pastries. while we searched we chatted. 

"I'm so sorry this happened" I muttered awkwardly.  

"it's not your fault but I really hope we get this sorted out soon," they said with a worried tone, "If the power is still out tomorrow it will be a huge problem."

after a few moments of searching, we heard a loud crash and then a scream out in the main room. Without thinking we both took off running toward the noise. What I saw in that room has changed me forever. When I got into the room I saw the barista dead on the ground, blood pouring out of her and knife in her chest. Everyone else came running in after us but stopped in their trakes. 

"No.. Julia!" Alex exclaimed 

It was then I realized I never knew the barista's name. I need to work on that, I thought. 

"Ok we need to figure out who did this," someone demanded. 

everyone stood quietly, unsure of what they should do. I looked around for something to say. 

"Well, maybe I can go get help, there is a police station just around the corner." I offered. 

Everyone nodded in agreement. I walked over to the door, but it would not open no matter what I did. I looked back at the others. 

"Well shit! one of the other costumers blurted. 

We all realized we were alone in solving this. We went back to searching and promised to regroup in an hour. I was looking in the back room where they kept files. I found all the old worker files. one caught my eye, the name on it was Jackson Hyde. I put it back as it did not give me any hints. As I continued searching I found An employee card splattered with blood. It was Julia's. I remember how happy she looked in the picture. When I saw the time and knew one hour had gone by I grabbed the card and went to the main room. Everyone trickled in one by one. 

'This is all I found" I said once everyone came in. 

I showed the card. everyone else showed what they had found. Once everyone had shared we looked at what everyone had gathered. we had Julia's card, another old worker's card, The knife that was used to kill Julia, wire cutter's that were not claimed by anyone, and some computer files that showed someone was trying to find when Julia was hired in the last 2 hours. None of the pieces seemed to fit together until I saw something. I grabbed the unknown worker's card and wiped the drops of blood on it, much to everyone's surprise. 

"Jackson Hyde" I read. I knew I recognized the name on the card. 

"One second" I yelled as I ran back to the other room to grab the old worker files. 

once I went back to the others, I started shuffling through the huge stack of papers. I grabbed the one I needed and started reading. 

"It says here Jackson was fired for bringing a knife into work" I explained. 

"oh I remember him," Alex said, "he was not happy about it but we can't have people bringing weapons in here. He would have gotten fired soon enough anyway. he was kind of creepy."

I continued reading and almost fainted. I looked back and forth from the paper to the body. 

"The knife... The knife he brought into work was that one," I motioned toward the blade in Julia's chest. 

Everyone's jaws dropped. I swiftly put the file down on a table as if it were evil. Then It seemed someone next to me had figured something out. He grabbed the computer files. 

"Kye, what are you doing?" someone else asked. 

he didn't look up from the files or respond at all. 

"Kate, tell me when Jackson was fired?" Kye directed.

A girl, who I assumed was Kate, Quickly grabbed Jackson's and quickly looked through the information. 

"January 7th, 2019." kate stated. 

Kye started looking worried. I was too scared to ask why so I was relieved when someone else did. 

"what's wrong?" they questioned

"huh.. well, according to this it is very clear to me that Julia was Jackson's replacement as she was hired the day after he was fired," he explained.

Everyone went silent. You could see the gears working in their heads. Abruptly hit The back of Alex's head and she spun around In one swift movement. She picked up a paper by her feet. 

"You will all regret what you did to me!" she read. 

We stared at one another. It was as if we could read each other's minds. We all knew what we were thinking. We found our killer. In the middle of trying to figure out what to do something behind us clanged to the floor. Before we knew it, A killer was among us and he had a gun. I still remember the chill in my spine. 

"So I see you solved my little mystery. Too bad you won't be able to tell anyone about it," Jackson laughed

I guess he noticed our confused and terrified faces because we didn't dare say anything. 

"Hmm... I guess I can explain everything before killing you all," he decided, "I used to work here, As you figured out, but I got fired for some stupid reason." 

I locked eyes with Alex, and they told me to stay quiet. I moved my eyes forward and kept my mouth shut.

"I could not stand what they had done to me," Jackson continued, "I knew I had to get my revenge. So after a few months of planning, I understood what I had to do. First I snuck in through the back with my old key card and went to the computer. I looked at some files and found my replacement, Julia, still worked here so my plan was a go. I took my wire cutters and cut the electricity. I then quickly went in a vent to wait while you tried to figure out who cut the wires. When you went to search you left Julia alone."

He smiled and looked at Julia's body with the worst look I have ever seen. 

"So I attacked," he went on, " I then went back in the vent to wait some more. After waiting for an eternity, you finally were figuring it out so I gave Alex my nice little message. And not a minute later here I am. Now that is out of the way, time to die!"

He aimed the gun and everyone froze. As I saw him pull the trigger I dived out of the way. Alex wasn't so lucky, that's who the bullet hit. I looked back just in time to watch their body drop to the ground. As Jackson shot again and again I watched Kye, Kate, and the others I didn't know fall to the ground. Finally, my mind sprung to life and I smashed a window and flew out. I could see Jackson behind me but he wasn't following me just staring. 

I ran as fast as I could to the police station. I got in the doors with my heart still pumping. I explained everything to a nice officer. I told him where it happened and together in his car we rode there. I watched as he was brought into custody. To this day I remember his evil face. It fills my nightmares every night and my mind any time I order a dark chocolate mocha with cinnamon. I appreciate life now and make sure to get to know people while I can.