Gabby slipped on her hat and gloves before putting on her black wonder coat. She stepped out of the bookstore where she worked and onto the busy downtown. She stopped by the coffee shop where her friend since childhood, Carter, worked.
"Did you get off early?" He handed a cup to his last costumer and then turned to give Gabby his full attention.
"Yeah, slow day."
"No kidding, I have 5 more hours before I'm off." He rolled his eyes. School had just started back up and the tourist had cleared out. They chitchatted for a little while before Gabby had to get home for dinner.
She was walking behind an older man on the narrow sidewalk, using him to block off the cold wind. As the stood waiting at the cross walk a boy on a bicycle rode to close to them and bumped into the old man. Gabby heard a thumb and looked down to see the man had dropped his wallet. She bent down and picked it up right when the light changed saying the could cross. He took off towards the right, the wrong direction for Gabby, so she tried yelling to get his attention but he didn't seem to hear. She took off after the man but got lost in a giant crowd of people leaving a sporting event. She decided to open the wallet and see if the man had an ID, or something with his address, when she noticed the picture.
She shoved the wallet into her pocket and ran back to the coffee shop. Three people were in line and she bounced up and down while she waited. It seemed like an eternity when by and he had only served one costumer.
"It takes time to make coffee you know?" Carter said when Gabby went behind the counter.
"I know, I know, but this is important."
"So is my job so would you get back in line and act like you want to order something so I don't get fired!?" He whisper yelled and she obeyed. Finally everyone was cleared out and Gabby was in front of the cash register. "Okay, now what is so important?"
"You're grandparents are dead right?"
Carter stared blankly at her. "You came all the way back here for this?"
"Just stay with me."
"Okay fine, yes, they're dead."
"And so are mine."
"Glad that's cleared up."
"Then explain this." She laid down the watch so it revealed the picture. His jaw dropped open and he grabbed it and gave it a closer look.
"Where did this come from?"
"I don't know! I was walking to the bus stop and this old man dropped his wallet and I tried to give it back but we got separated and when I opened it I saw this!" She said it all in one breath and was getting light headed.
"Okay calm down," Carter said.
"It wasn't either of our parents and it couldn't be a grandparent. We don't know anyone else."
The picture was of them. Gabby and Carter when they were little kids. They were playing out in the woods by their houses. The picture was of them playing, alone. No one else had been in the woods that day.
"Someone was watching us."
