TW: Alcoholism

The door to the diner opened wide, creaking loudly. A strong odor of fried food was pervading the area, to the point where Jake could almost feel the grease in his nostrils from that cooking oil that hadn't been changed for decades. The robot waiter passed in front of him at moderate speed, squeaking more than usual. Whoops- Probably it didn't get fully fixed yet after last accident.

[Why don't you get make everyone a favor and get out of the way? If you're trying to get hired as a restaurant decoration, I'm sorry but you are way too ugly for that.]

Jake couldn't help but smirk at the sassy observation, glad that the bot's spicy personality didn't get lost. He looked around the room until his eyes focused on a table full of well known faces. As he stepped closer, he started to hear some bits of the conversation.

"Poor dude. He always looked frustrated, but I didn't know he had a problem like that." Fresh shook his head and crossed his arms in clear disbelief.

"Sup! What are you guys talking about?" Sitting down next to them, Jake interrupted the conversation.

The rest of the group greeted him briefly in unison, mixing "hi, sup, hello Jake".

"You are just in time to hear some juicy news." Fresh smiled mischievously.

"The old fart, the inspector with his obnoxious dog, was found unconscious in front of the police station this morning" Yutani stated in a neutral tone, almost as if she was a journalist reporting the daily news. "He smelled like alcohol. "

Jake's eyes widened and looked at their faces, trying to understand if they were kidding or not. "What?"

"Yeah! My uncle is a policeman, he told me that they found him on the floor, stinking and delirious. He was talking a lot of nonsense." Fresh shrugged. "He probably got so pissed off by your graffiti that he decided to drown his frustration in alcohol."

"Gluck gluck" King made some exaggerated faces, imitating the gesture of drinking from a bottle.

"Hey, King, no. Alcoholism is a serious issue, it's not funny." Tricky took a sip from her strawberry milkshake with a disgruntled expression on her face.

"One moment, guys. The guard caught me last night and brought me back to my place. I mean, when-?"

Tricky interrupted him. "He could have gotten drunk after he left your home."

"No, I mean- come on guys! He doesn't look like a person who would do that at all! He is like an old gentleman-"

"Since when you like him, bro?" Fresh raised an eyebrow "You always hated him. You are the one who gave him the "old fart" nickname, remember?"

"Yesterday he was particularly nice with me and my mom. I don't know. It sounds weird that he would do something like that."

"Jake, sorry to break it to you but not all people with an addiction look like the stereotypical junkies you see on TV." Tricky gave him an annoyed look, her voice sounded suddenly harsh and stern. "Open your eyes and mind a little."

"Jeez, sorry little miss perfect!" Jake replied bitterly.

"What's the matter, Tricky?" Yutani looked at her in confusion. "Why are you so mad?"

"Because," The girl punctuated her words slowly, with clear frustration. "I know what I am talking about." She sighed. She looked down at the dirty table, as if the ketchup stain in front of her could give her some good advice. "My mom... I think she has a problem. This morning I found a bottle of Vodka inside her bathroom disguised as water. She always enjoyed drinking, but this is the first time I see something like this. Sometimes she smells funnily and... only seems to genuinely smile when she's having a drink. I don't even bother to ask her if she is okay because she will never tell me what's going on in her mind. She always want to be seen as... Perfect. The perfect wife, the perfect rich woman, the perfect mother with a perfect daughter. But reality is often uglier as it seems."

A deep silence fell between them. They looked at each other in a mixture of embarrassment and concern, unsure of what to say. Jake broke the silence first. "Shit" he exclaimed in a worried tone. "My bad, Tricky. I had no idea. I am so sorry."

"It's okay." The girl replied in a calm voice before giving Jake a sweet but sad smile "You didn't know. Sorry for being bitchy. I am just very worried."

"Of course, Tricky." Fresh gently patted her back.

"Please tell us if there is something we can do for you." Yutani nodded and smiled back.

"Do you want my fries?" Offered King, unsure about what to do.

"I am fine, guys, really. Sorry for the outburst. You being here with me is already enough." Tricky slowly looked at each one of them. Her smile grew a little. "You are the best squad ever." She looked back at Jake. "But yes, I understand what you mean. The old guardian is a person that is part of your life. It's hard to accept something like that."

Jake smiled back and nodded. "Indeed." He glanced at Fresh. "You said before that he was talking nonsense. Did your uncle tell you what he said exactly?"

"He said..." The young man's face wrinkled into a thoughtful expression. "Something about a guy doing weird things... like making a train made of light appear out of thin air, some things floating... he said that this guy wore a creepy bunny mask." Fresh shook his head. "Poor bastard. It must suck to hallucinate like that."

"Hey, wait a second!" Jake stood up, slapping the table in front of him with both hands. "I saw some things floating too! I saw a man too! He is not lying!"

The expression of surprise on his friend's face slowly turned into an embarrassed disbelief. Except for King, that immediately took the occasion for promoting his beliefs. "So aliens exist!" He waved his chubby hand in a motion of victory. "I kneeew it!"

"You saw some things floating?" Yutani raised an eyebrow, unsure what to think. "Does someone else have a turbine like ours?"

Fresh frowned. "Wait a second, guys. Let's think about this whole thing a bit better. If a guy would go around wearing a creepy mask, wouldn't it be obvious that they are the bad guy? I mean, it's like wearing a big, neon arrow pointing at you with the caption "villain". The guy walked in the city, how come nobody else noticed a suspicious looking guy like that?" He crossed his arms. "Bro, just to be clear, I am not saying that you are lying. But-"

"But what?" Jake snapped. "I saw a person walking away in the distance some moments before the guard caught me! He looked like he was wearing something on his face!"

"Yutani" Tricky glanced at her eccentric looking friend. "Do you think that our turbine might have influenced some stuff that was distant from us? I mean, maybe some stuff started to float and the inspector started to freak out and see things."

Yutani looked away from her. "I don't know. Maybe?"

"He wasn't drunk! I am sure! Guys, how can you not see it? It's exactly what that shady guy wants! He probably... planned all this to make the old fart look like a delusional man! I remember he told my mom and I the same things- well except for the train thing- he already wanted to tell everything to the police! I clearly remember that he wanted to report this man and track him down!"

Fresh sighed deeply. "I don't know man. I mean, doesn't it sound like a bit of a stretch? Often the simplest explanation is the correct one. We aren't in a TV series. Plus-"

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Jake noticed a figure walking outside the restaurant right behind his friend. Even though the restaurant window was all full of fingerprints and gravy stains left by some unruly child, Jake could clearly see the outside world. Or rather, the man.

For a moment, Jake felt as if his blood was freezing in his veins. A tall man dressed like a bank clerk stopped in front of the window to observe him. A sharply contoured rabbit mask was positioned over his face, with two marks under his eyes that resembled both a smile and a mustache. His ruby-colored eyes were dull, without any emotion and as cold as two cameras. However, despite being a mask, the pupils moved to meet the boy's gaze directly.

Jake felt a deep ancestral terror within him, as if he had suddenly found himself in a forest being hunted by a predator. Although the eye contact lasted for only an instant, it seemed like an eternity. In fact, it took him a few seconds to realize that the man had already walked past.

"IT'S HIM! GUYS, IT'S HIM!" He shrieked and pointed at the window. The boy jumped to his feet as if he had been spring-loaded, and under the incredulous eyes of his friends and other clients of the restaurant , he ran outside.

"Jake! Wait!" Yutani stood up and ran after him.

"What the fuck?" Fresh exclaimed, Leaning toward the window to follow his friend's movements with his gaze.

"Damn kids, always messing around and yelling for nothing." Commented a grumpy old man that was sitting two tables away from them.

On the street, Jake ran and looked around frantically, searching for the mysterious stranger. He stopped occasionally to glance at the city's back streets, then set off again in a desperate rush.

"Jake! ... wait for me! ... " Yutani shouted at him almost breathlessly, running after him. She hated running immediately after eating, it always made her feel heavy and slow.

Finally, the boy stopped. He leaned on his own knees panting, keeping his gaze fixed on the floor. "I lost... him."

Yutani made a worried expression and gently stopped beside the boy to stroke his back.

"Jake, are you sure you're okay?"

He shook his head. "I don't know."