The sun was brilliant in the cornflower-blue sky, as if it intended to brighten the boy's gloomy thoughts by wrapping him in its warm and brilliant rays. That's summer. It's the time when all worries seem a little less serious, giving way to a reassuring sense of hope. As Jake skated through the streets of the warm city, he began to dream of new graffiti, new vibrant mosaics to bring the subway station to a higher rhythm, an exuberance for which it was born.
At some point he saw his friends resting under the trees of the public park, their leaves dark green and full, open to the sunlight, breathing in the hot, aromatic air.
"Hey guys."
"Hey, Jake!"
As soon as Yutani saw him, he ran up to the boy. "Jake, I'm glad you came. I was talking to the others about something important."
Oh no. Oh no. I hope they don't want to kick me out of the group. Thought Jake, but tried to keep calm.
"Hm? What is it?" Jake got off the skateboard and placed it under his arm. He nervously drummed his fingers on the edge of the skateboard as he looked anxiously at his friends' faces.
"Yutani pointed out something important that I think needs to be checked before we go to the police," Fresh adjusted his glasses on his nose.
"If the inspector can always see us through the cameras, it means that maybe the camera also caught the mysterious man that you and the inspector saw." Tricky added with a smile.
"So we thought we'd go and see if the inspector's computer has the footage! Like real secret agents!" exclaimed King enthusiastically, waving his hands in the air in triumph.
Jake looked at them in surprise for a few seconds. "Are you sure? I don't want to get you in trouble again," he felt worried, but at the same time he couldn't help but smile. It felt good that his friends were finally taking him seriously, it felt nice to be heard.
"Well, it's an important thing. I want to explore all the possibilities before we send an innocent man to jail." Fresh shrugged. "If the stranger is actually in the video, it's a concrete proof that the inspector wasn't hallucinating and that what he told to the police is true." The young man began to absentmindedly caress his boombox.
"Alright, squad. Let's go to the inspector's house." Jake nodded with a big smile on his face.
"I am sure that the inspector will cooperate with us if we explain what we need right away." Commented Tricky, as they began skate (And for those who could not, run) in the same direction.
~
The kids knocked on the old door for several minutes, but with no response from the house.
"Where did that idiot go?!" Jake exclaimed nervously.
"Do you guys think he ran away?" Tricky frowned.
"That's pretty sus, not gonna lie" giggled King.
"Stop knocking on the door, Jake. He isn't at home. We would hear his dog barking." Fresh gave Jake an annoyed look.
"Hey guys, come here!" Yutani called them from the left side of the house. As they reached her, they saw her pointing her finger at some deep cuts in the wall near the kitchen window. It looked slightly open, as if broken.
"Someone tried to break into this house." Stated Yutani.
"The killer?" King raised his eyebrows. "Maybe that's how the poison ended up in our tea!"
"Maybe." Commented Fresh.
"Well. Let's get in then. I doubt if there is an alarm, it would have already gone off with this window open." Tricky pushed the window and jumped inside the kitchen. The others exchanged uncertain glances, but decided to follow her.
Once inside, they immediately set about finding some computers. Since the inspector lived near the railway, he could work from home. They fanned out around the house, rummaging everywhere, trying not to leave too many things lying around. They did not want the inspector to come home and find the house in disarray, thinking it had been a burglar or even worse, the police.
"Guys! I think I found it!" Fresh called the others, who immediately rushed to see what he had found.
The kids found themselves in a small room with several screens on the walls. Each screen framed a different area of the railroad. The only thing breaking the silence was a constant, low static noise coming from the computer located in the middle of the screens.
"Holy shit, no wonder why he can always catch us." Jake glanced around the room and let out a sarcastic chuckle.
"Let's see." Yutani sat down in the chair in front of the computer. She raised an eyebrow as she removed a yellow post-it note from the edge of the screen. "Wow, that old fart must not be a computer genius. He left his password on this note."
"Better for us, at least we don't have to go crazy hacking into his computer." Tricky leaned on the chair, staring at the screen from behind Yutani.
"Indeed." Yutani began to rummage in the old computer. After less than a minute, she clicked on a file. "This looks like one of the most recent recordings. This computer is super slow, but I am not surprised. I doubt that the inspector cleans up files or has an antivirus."
An area of the railroad appeared on the computer screen. Jake appeared on the screen for a brief moment as he rode the turbine. A few seconds later, Jake became visible again on the screen to crash into a striped metal object and then slump to the ground.
"Pfft! That's pure gold man!"
"Hahaha, oh my God!"
"Fuck, what a fail!"
"We have to keep this recording, this is too funny!"
They all laughed, except for Jake who nervously looked away from the screen and crossed his arms.
"Hey! It's not that funny!"
"Wait..." Fresh stopped laughing and widened his eyes. "What's THAT?" He pointed to the corner of the screen, but in his eagerness he touched the screen, leaving a visible fingerprint.
In the upper corner of the screen, a splint could be seen. Behind it, two rabbit ears poked out. Moments after Jake crashed, the ears moved to the right, revealing the back of a head as a mysterious person walked away from the framing.
Jake let out a high pitched scream, he couldn't contain his excitement. "IT'S HIM! Holy shit guys, we got him!"
"Wow." Tricky raised her eyebrows. "Fuck, Jake. That's so creepy. That dude was really stalking us."
"You were right, bro." Fresh slowly turned his head to look at his friend. "Sorry."
"The bunny man! He is after us!" Exclaimed King, oddly excited. He probably had not yet fully realized how serious the situation was.
"Hmm.." Yutani's body tensed visibly. The video suddenly disappeared, leaving the screen completely black. "We have a problem." Her voice was low, slightly shaky. She moved her head to the side so the others could see the screen.
[ERROR. CORRUPTED FILE. THE MEDIA COULD NOT BE LOADED.]
"What?!"
"Yutani, what did you do?"
"I didn't do anything! I just tried to select the file!" Exclaimed Yutani, visibly frustrated. The computer screen suddenly froze, before showing a blue screen with a lot of unintelligible numbers and writing. The computer made a loud sound, like a long beep before shutting down completely.
"What was that??? Yutani???"
The girl widened her eyes. "Is this... a cyberattack!" She turned her head to look at her friends, visibly scared.
"All of you! Leave your phones here!"
"What?" They all look confused. "Why?"
"Just do what I say!" She slammed her own phone in the desk and stood up. "Quick! There is no time to explain! Come on guys, please trust me!"
They exchanged worried looks as they slowly obeyed.
"Yutani, what's going on?" Jake asked, feeling a lump in his throat.
"Your stalker," Yutani began, walking quickly back to the kitchen. "Is probably a hacker. He probably knows we are here. He can hear us, he can see us. We have to leave now."
Yutani turned to see if her friends were following. At her revelation, their faces silently communicated clear fear.
"It's not safe here. Let's go."
