Meet me at the Gap Shop

That was what was written on the note, once decoded. AJ was at the Gap Shop at Mid Valley, assuming that since the note was found in the supermarket there then it'll have to be at the same one. Problem was the note hadn't written any specific time, so she might have been too late. Or too early. You never know.

While waiting for whoever it was she was waiting for, AJ looked around the shop. There were loads of things that she wished she could buy, such as the brown capri pants and that red top. But there was no point in buying some expensive clothes if you died of starvation and thirst now, is there?

AJ wasn't really the sort of girl who loved shopping though. The only reason she liked that capri and red top was because she was comparing it to her tattered jeans, her one-sleeved football jersey, (no it wasn't style, the other sleeve had been ripped off) the knee length black and white striped socks and the black cap on her head with BREAKING POINT sewed on with on it with silver thread. You don't need to see AJ to tell her clothes aren't exactly fashionable. But it wasn't her sense of fashion, she had limited money and that was all that was selling that could actually fit her in a local garage sale.

Ten minutes passed. Twenty passed. People come and go. It was altogether possible that the person could have already arrived but didn't notice her.

At exactly 12.12 in the afternoon, a teenage boy entered the store. He had bruises on his arms and there was a long scar running across his deeply tanned face. His hair which was the colour of ebony was spiked up with gel and his eyes were impossible to see-it was covered with a pair of sunglasses. He was holding a Reebok plastic bag.

He seemed to be just like any other customer. He looked like one. He acted like one. The only thing that he did that normal customers wouldn't do was talked to a pathetic looking girl like AJ. The minute he spotted her, his face lighted up with pleasure but it was soon replaced by distaste.

"You the girl who I'll lose my job if you ain't alive?" he asked rudely in broken English

"Maybe you should have checked the other side to see if she's dead before looking for her here," AJ replied. Maybe that would teach the guy some manners.

"I ain't got time for games little girl," he growled.

"And I don't have time to give you English lessons,"

"Look here missy, if you are who I think you are then you should be sitting around moping instead of being rude to me. You ever heard of respecting your elders?"

"You ever heard of being nice to younger people?"

"Indeed I haven't. Now look here. I ain't got no time to spare. I wanna just collect the cash I'll get after passing this to you," he stops to shake the Reebok plastic bag. "And get outta here,"

"I'm sure I can get sneakers elsewhere, besides I'm not supposed to accept things from strangers,"

"Me no stranger girl,"

"I don't even know your name or your age,"

"Aiman. Me 16. Now, me no stranger,"

"Well then Aiman, I suppose you better pass me that pair of sneakers and then we can both get out of here,"

Aiman passed the plastic bag to AJ. It was slightly heavy. AJ had a feeling it wasn't sneakers in there.

"I also suppose give you message,"

"Well I suppose you better say it quickly so that I can start trying to decipher your horrid English to something more understandable earlier,"

"Help in papers. Paper will say what need to know-,"

"Now Aiman, we aren't in Wonderland. Papers don't talk,"

Aiman glared at AJ. She smirked at him. This was amusing.

"Paper is what you need. Also trust no-"

There was a loud bang. Screams everywhere. Everyone was running. AJ wasn't sure why.

What was going on?

Confused, AJ looked down on the floor. She let out a soft gasp.

Below her, was Aiman, with a bloody hole where his heart was. His eyes were wide open with horror, as if he had seen himself die. Blood was pouring on the floor. Some of it had flowed to where she was standing. Her black and white socks were stained with blood. She shuddered.

"Are you all right Miss?" she heard someone ask behind. AJ turned around. There was a policeman standing there.

"Y-y-yes," she stammered.

"Was that your brother?"

"No,"

"Do you know him?"

AJ kept silent. In her mind, dozens of thoughts were running. If she said yes, the policeman would continue questioning her.

"No, he was just beside me. May I go to the toilet?"

"Sure. Be sure to come back,"

Hah. What sort of line is that? Be sure to come back? AJ laughed in her head. If she was a criminal, that would be definitely the last thing she'd do.

AJ frowned, her forehead creased with wrinkles.

Coming back was the last thing she was doing now. But she was no criminal. Was she? Who knows?

AJ made her way out of the mall. It was obvious what Aiman had meant to say.

Trust no one.

Thinking of Aiman hurt. True, she hated him with all of her heart. And he was a stuck-up idiot. But he was innocent, in a twisted sort of way. A sixteen year old that would never see seventeen.

A ten year old who would never see eleven.

AJ tried to compare which was better. She wasn't sure. She wasn't even sure how she had gotten caught up in this mess. She felt like a fly, trapped by the silvery strings of a spider web, a spider slowly crawling up to her, its free dinner. Somehow, AJ knew that the real spider hadn't even shown up yet.

She sat down against a tree and took out the contents of the plastic bag. There were a lot of papers and there was a thick book-Cat Royal: The Diamond of Drury Lane-in it. No wonder it was so heavy. She ignored the book-even though she loved reading she decided that the papers were more important. One paper was marked with a gigantic 1. She picked that paper up.

GAOKEHTNAET

OGTDS2OTUGA G

TKHKFEOFHSO5

AJ groaned. She had never seen this sort of code, never. If it was what she thought it was, then it was a word puzzle, maybe even an anagram. How was she supposed to do that? It was impossible to her.

AJ's eyes darted around the paper, desperately searching for something that might help her. Wait, what was that? A clue?

Right at the bottom, in tiny writing was something written, along with an apple icon that looked strangely familiar to her. Where had she seen it before?

AJ squinted her eyes, and tried to make out what the clue was.

Ask MASK J

Not a very helpful clue obviously. Though there was something about those letters and that icon. How they seemed to make sense yet she didn't understand. She knew it…yet she didn't.

AJ's eyes bore at the puzzle. After awhile, she looked away, in fear that all that staring would burn holes in the paper. But she had gotten what she needed to know. An idea slowly formed in her mind, a plan in making.

While waiting for the plan to develop, AJ began to read the book in the bag…only to find that there was a secret opening at the cover that revealed a large wad of cash. And that every other chapter was replaced by something else. Something that was definitely not a story.