The day it all started (I)

Monday, August 23rd, 11:30 am.

*RING RING*

Rose suddenly wakes up from the sound of her alarm clock ringing loudly in her ear.

"W-what time is it?" She mumbles while looking around the room for a small amount of time. Fixing her glare to the time which was shown on the alarm clock.

"O-oh my god. I need to get ready, and get dressed. It's already 11??? I'm supposed to be at the library by 1:00 pm… I'm going to be late. This day can't possibly get worse than it already is."

She says to herself while getting out of bed, walking over to her door with a clean floor, a recently cleaned table in her bedroom, and a newly purchased closet for her clothes in the corner of her room.

"S-should I take a shower before leaving? It is just the library, but it's still a public place!"

She thinks to herself for a moment before deciding that she will take a shower. She grabs a towel from her desk she had laid out the previous night, a new pair of clothes, and went inside of her bathroom, turning on the shower.

After 40 minutes in the shower, she gets out and does her makeup, hair, and puts on her new set of clothes she bought just a few weeks ago.

She rushed out of the bathroom, ran down the stairs, and said bye to both her mother, and her father. "I need to get the top spot for the grades again this time…but can I really do it?"

She thinks to herself while not having a lot of confidence to back up her words. She opens the only book she has with her, and begins to read.

After a while of walking, she arrives at the library. She walks inside and shows the librarian her library card.

"Now…what kind of book should I start off with? I want something that's new to me, exciting, but also educational, and easy to understand."

She mumbled to herself while looking at different books, and then she found one she wanted to read.

"Ah, perfect, this is precisely what I need. The book about the history of Greek mythology, I know it's not exactly school related or anything… but it is entertaining to me, nonetheless, so why not?"

She picks up the book, and she begins to walk away from the shelves, and noticed a book that fell out off the shelf.

"Huh? That's weird, I didn't see this earlier when I walked by… maybe I was too focused on finding a book to actually pay attention?"

She thought to herself while picking up the dropped book from the ground. An envelope falls out of the book and due to curiosity, she opens it.

"W-w….what the hell is this?"

She says quietly while also shaking a little. She takes out money from the envelope and begins to count it.

"All of these…it's all hundreds…"

She counts the money, leading to a total of $4,500

"What the hell, this is so much money just in an envelope in a random book?.. maybe it's a sign from God? This is what I needed."

She smiled softly but brightly, while thinking of her parents, which could use the money badly.

"What the hell am I doing right now?"

She thinks while slowly putting the money she found into her bag while maintaining a straight face. She walks out of the library and starts to walk home while still thinking.

"What just happened in there? What did I find? I'm still confused about it all, but I'll take it as a sign from God to bless our family."

She sighs and she starts to feel guilty for taking the money as it was there for an obvious reason, yet she took it, and walked out without thinking too much about it.

She went home, and gave the money to her parents and told them she earned it after working for a while at a local coffee shop.

"Listen Rose, You don't just come home one day with this much money and honestly want us to believe you do you?"

Said her father while he was looking at her with curiously, confusion, and also a worried expression.

"I ...I'm not sure what to say right now rose... just go up stairs and let me at least want to believe you."

Said her mother with an extremely worried face, and not wanting to believe it.

Rose, who stood there for a few moments in confusion as to why they didn't believe her, went up stairs to her room.

"D-did I do something that was honesty that bad?... I just had good intentions I swear."

Rose looked down at the floor of her room for a moment, being upset about the current situation that somehow accrued.

"Boss, the money, It's gone. Someone must've stole it or is planning to use it against us. How should I go about this?"

"...Just shut up, find the cameras, and see who the fuck dares to mess with me. After that, I want you to kill that bastard. Under fucking stand?"

..after a moment of hesitation

"Yes sir, I understand."

He walks around the library, and finds the security room being slightly opened. He walked inside

"W-who is that?" A security guard turns around and pulls his weapon out.

"Stop right there unless you want me to shoot."

The guy pulled out a glock that was kept in his waistband, and shoots the guard directly in the skull.

"Sorry, it was me or you. I rather it be you than me."

He sits down at the desk and rewinds the footage and watches the recordings for the rest of the night.

"Boss-"

"I swear to god Eric if you haven't found the damn bastard who stole from us after hours of making me wait, I will fucking kill you and your family starting with your son."

He says while shooting a bullet from a high powered rifle.

Eric gulps, hesitates for a spilt second and responds

"I found the one who stole it. It's a girl, she seems to be in high school."

"...Did you just say a high schooler? A SCHOOLER? A fucking high schooler stole my money? Is that what you're telling me?"

"Y-yes sir."

The boss picks up a rag and wipes his face and breaks glass out of his window.

"You best get that money back within a week. Do you understand me? If it's not back within a week I will be killing you, and making your family suffer for as long as they will live."

He says calmly, in a calm tone of voice, while also being completely pissed off.

"Y-yes sir. I'll get you the money within a week, no! 5 days is all I need to completely understand her schedule sir."

"That's why I like you Eric. If you do well, I'll give you a promotion."

"Yes sir. I won't fail you sir!"

Eric walks off in a rush, running outside of the library. He gets into his car and waits a few hours to see if Rose walks by the library within the first day of his investigation.

A few hours has passed by since Eric had ran out of the library to get into his car.

In the morning of the next day.

Tuesday, August 24th at 9:45 am.

Rose walks down the stairs after contemplating the entire night about what happened the previous day.

She sighed, looked at her parents, gulped, and opened her mouth to speak.

"I have given it some thought, and I just want to say I apologize for lying to you both yesterday. The truth is, I found the money yesterday at the library that I like going to whenever I have the chance."

Rose said while looking at her parents with her eyes being semi closed due to lack of sleep.

They both sighed and looked at Rose. Her father then turned to her and spoke.

"This isn't exactly what I wanted to hear within the first few hours of being awake… but it's fine, I do know where you're coming from but promise me not to do such a thing again. Return the money next time you go to the library, okay? That's all I ask of you."

Rose sparked up, hearing that she won't be in any more trouble than that. She spoke up with her eyes fully opened while sparkling a little.

"Okay, I promise, I'll return it tomorrow since I need to go there tomorrow to meet a friend for the new homework assignment. I promised her I'll be there."

She walks outside, down the steps in front of her house, and begins to walk towards the library.

30 minutes later, she arrives at the library and begins to walk past it to go into the city. Eric notices her, and contacts the person he works for.

"Boss, I got her. I'm going to tail her now. I'll get the money back within a period of 72 hours at most. I swear by my name."

The boss chuckles a bit at the tone of the boy, who sounds extremely serious about this.

"Very well, I'll see what you can do. Remember, this is for a promotion as well, but remember this one thing. If you do not get me my money within that period, you said "72 hours". Your life will come to an end. That goes for your family as well. Understand me?"

He proclaimed it loudly yet calmly. It was like the saying "the calm before the storm" in a way. Eric began to gulp and start his engine.

"Yes sir. I won't fail you!"

Eric then pulled out of his parking spot, which he had been in for hours by this point. He begins to follow Rose slowly and from quite a distance, so she wouldn't spot him.

20 minutes of walking later, Rose finally makes it into town and walks down the sidewalk to her favorite coffee shop, which she visits twice a week.

"Hmmm, I wonder what I should get today to drink? There are so many options I have yet to try. Like the new "mango, peach" combination they just added last weekend.'

She thought to herself while smiling, thinking about all of the different options she had to choose from, and walking into "Laz's Coffee Shop.".

Eric sees her going inside the coffee shop.

"This is perfect. I need just some more information about her routes that she takes and then I can get the money for the boss instantly, and get myself a promotion. This is the easiest thing ever!"

Eric says while being a bit hype from how easy this job is going to be. He then grabbed his notepad and his favorite pen with a small cat icon on it, which he kept in his jacket pocket, and began to write about everything he had caught up to now.

meanwhile, with Rose and the cashier taking her order.

"Hi ma'am, what can I get you today? If i may make a suggestion, we just added a new combination drink last weekend, "mango, peach. " It's a mango-original drink mixed with peaches."

Rose smiled brightly at hearing that, as mango was her favorite drink from this place.

"Hm... I'll take the new drink, and I'll also take a doughnut to go."

"Yes, ma'am, your total is $7.99."

"Hm, it's a lot cheaper than I thought it would've been."

Rose thought to herself while also being happy that she doesn't have to waste any extra money on it. She takes out the money she has been saving and pays for the food and the drink.

"Please do come again, ma'am. Have a wonderful day!"

"You too, have an amazing day."

Rose begins to walk home, thinking about what subjects she should study today.

"What type of subject should I study for exactly? I have a total of three exams coming up. I guess I could just study every subject today and then decide on which one I need the most help on and go from there."

She walks home, walks upstairs to her room, enters her bedroom, and then sighs for a moment, looking at the skylight leaking into her room through her window at her desk.

"Well, I guess it's time to start studying for the upcoming exams."

Rose puts down her bag, takes out her textbooks on every subject she has, and begins to study at her desk.

"Boss, I found where she lives. She lives on xx St. That's all for now. I'm also studying her routes, which she takes every day."

The boss says nothing for a moment and then responds.

"Very good. That promotion is sounding more and more like yours. Continue your work. Remember, you don't have long until it all ends for you."

He suddenly gets up from his chair and walks towards his window.

"Eric, you know I really don't want to lose such an amazing person like you who does everything without fail, right? But if I must, I can always find someone else to take your spot. I hope you do know that as well."

Eric took a moment, started to breathe normally after a moment, and responded with a simple

"Yes sir."

Eric hangs up and continues to watch her everyday routine while taking notes to remember.