Kruel reached the restaurant quietly, the bell above the glass door chiming as he pulled it open.
The smell hit him first...warm dough, faint garlic, the lingering tang of melted cheese. Devin's Pizza Place was dim and half-empty at this hour, the sort of silence restaurants had when lunch had long passed and dinner was still hours away. A few people sat scattered around, hunched over phones or half-finished plates, the quiet hum of the AC filling in the spaces where conversation should be.
Kruel's eyes swept across the room, and then paused.
There...at the farthest booth, almost tucked into the wall, sat a familiar face. Jessica.
She was leaning against the cushioned seat, her legs crossed, a phone held upright between her fingers. Her brow furrowed in faint concentration, thumbs flicking fast. It looked like she was playing a game, though Kruel couldn't quite tell. The blue light of the screen lit up her face in sharp lines.
For a moment, he just stood there, hesitating.
He hadn't planned on this.
When he'd left Mike and Nira earlier, his head had been set on getting home, maybe drawing a bit before dinner. He'd barely made it halfway down the street when his phone buzzed..a message from an unknown number.
Meet me at Devin's pizza place.
That was all it had said.
No name. No reason.
Kruel hadn't replied. He hadn't even thought about replying. He'd just stared at the screen for a second, and then slipped the phone back into his pocket and started walking.
He knew the place well enough. Devin's was where his family usually had those forced cheerful dinners with Mike's family, back when things were simpler, before people stared at him in the hallways, before his name passed in whispers.
He hadn't tried guessing whose number it was either. Lately, it felt like everyone knew who he was, or at least thought they did. Being watched had started to feel normal, like background noise. A part of him had half expected Grayt to show up. Or Ted. Or someone else with eyes too sharp and questions too heavy.
But it was Jessica.
How did she get my number? He wondered as he stepped deeper into the restaurant, the soles of his shoes making soft squeaks on the clean tile.
She glanced up just then, as if she'd sensed him. Her face lit up slightly. She raised one hand, curling her fingers in a beckoning gesture.
Kruel walked over. His steps felt too loud, too heavy.
"Hey," Jessica said as he reached the booth. Her voice was light, casual, like they were just two old classmates running into each other. "How are you today?"
"I'm fine," Kruel replied, his tone flat. He slid into the seat opposite her, setting his bag beside him. "Where's your partner?"
The brightness in her face faltered just a bit. She lowered the phone.
"He got injured. Real bad." She gave him a pointed look. "Thanks a lot."
Kruel looked away. He had no answer for that. He defended himself silently with the only thing that made sense, he hadn't been thinking straight that day. The fight had been hot and fast.
"Why did you call me here?" he asked finally, cutting through the silence, his eyes steady on hers.
Jessica hesitated, then exhaled, tapping her phone screen dark before setting it face-down on the table.
"Well… I want to get something straight," she said. Her voice was quieter now, steadier. "You don't get hurt at all. You've noticed, haven't you? And you didn't think it would be wise to do some research or something?"
Kruel shrugged.
Jessica leaned forward slightly. "Drey and I are trying to uncover something big," she admitted. "I met him back in our old school. He was… a really strange kid. No real friends. Always by himself. Got angry at the smallest things, and he'd get into fights often. That part's normal, I guess."
She paused, her eyes unfocused for a moment, like she was replaying old scenes in her head.
"But I also figured out something else…" she said slowly. "…He could wither...um...plants. And… life forces around him."
Kruel blinked at her. Then, unexpectedly, he almost laughed.
He hadn't expected that.
Theat could explain the presence he felt from him. He thought it was something else, but he never imagined that. The image of plants curling and dying as he walked past them felt too surreal.
"How did you know?" Kruel asked, curious despite himself.
"Observations," she said simply, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "If he walked past plants, they would die instantly. I've also seen a few small rats or squirrels die when I followed him."
Kruel raised an eyebrow. A stalker. That would explain how she knows about me too, he thought.
"One day, I asked him about it," she continued. "And as usual, he got irritated. Tried to brush me off. It took a while to build his trust. But eventually, since he saw he couldn't shake me, he told me."
"What did he say?" Kruel asked.
"That it was normal," she said, almost too casually.
Kruel frowned.
"I got really curious," Jessica said, her fingers fiddling with the edge of a napkin now. "Confused why he'd think it was normal. Or why he wouldn't try to find out why it happens. Just like how I don't understand why you haven't done the same either."
Kruel just shrugged again.
Jessica sighed. "We got a few leads from some website saying it was some kind of superpower… but those were just fiction forums, random theories." She glanced around briefly, lowering her voice. "But what we found in his parents' room made us realize it was more than that."
Kruel leaned in slightly despite himself. "What did you see?"
"Nothing much," she said.
It made Kruel's jaw tighten. She kept doing that, raising tension, then giving flat answers.
Jessica didn't seem to notice his irritation. She continued, her voice low. "We found some old files and documents stored deep in a cabinet after hours of searching. And… an old box. It had more files inside. Old newspapers. Some letters. And photos."
That caught him.
Something shifted faintly inside Kruel's chest, though he couldn't name it.
His phone buzzed then, cutting through the moment.
Mike.
The name lit up the screen.
Kruel stared at it for half a second. Then pressed the side button and let it stop.
It buzzed again almost immediately. He turned the phone off.
When he looked back up, Jessica was watching him silently, her elbows on the table, her chin resting on her knuckles. There was something sharp behind her eyes now, hidden behind the calm, like she was weighing him. Measuring him.
The restaurant stayed quiet around them. A couple at the other end laughed faintly over something on their phone. A waiter moved past with a tray of empty plates.
And for a moment, it felt like the whole room had narrowed to just this table.