Beneath The Blackwood Sky | ✓

Chapter Twenty-Eight: In The Computer

Her mother looked at her with a sad smile, "Alright, both of us love the job and the company we work for, but this is too much. We are journalists, and we need to report everything going on in this city. And right now, too many serious things are going on. All these suicides, the kidnappings, it all comes and falls on the shoulders of journalists. Since all these things started happening, all the journalists had to work even harder than ever, for more hours too."

She played with the ends of Shay's hair absent-mindedly, "As our company is a very small one with fewer people in it, we've been working non-stop to make up for the absence of more workers. Our company even made all its employees stay in a common hotel located in the outskirts of the city so that the employees work more, and it would be easier for us to report and write articles together. We stopped spending time with you because of that."

"That doesn't mean you quit your job!" Will said and when Nick opened his mouth to speak something, Will held up his hand, "Both of you love your work, and it's a way to cope with your sadness. You kept apologizing before you went to the hotel, while you were in the hotel, and after you came back home, but you don't have to apologize. You don't have to feel bad that you aren't spending your time with us. I know that you love us even though you aren't with us. That's for sure. It's your job, and you don't have to quit your job for us. We are alright, you know." He said, looking at Shay. Shay nodded. Jessica looked at Shay for a few seconds and smiled, "Let's talk about that later. Aren't you hungry?"

After a very silent dinner, they called it a night and retired to their rooms. "Come with me, now," Shay said strictly and dragged him by his collar. He resisted but Shay was stronger. Giving him a stern look that effectively stopped his struggling, she dragged him away from all the commotion into my room.

"Sit."

Leo followed her orders as he knew Shay hated to be strict with him and as this drama repeated every week. Will and Shay took turns to groom him and bathe him every week. As his turn was up last week, this week it was Shay. She dried Leo with a towel and brought him into her room so that she could use a hairdryer on him. That was the worst part. He would struggle and squirm every second, refusing to let the hot air blow him dry. But today he was surprisingly still, looking at Shay with his brown eyes and waiting for the wrath of the hairdryer.

After ten minutes and a dry Leo, Shay placed the hairdryer back in its place and collapsed back into her bed. She buried her face in the pillow and breathed in the familiar scent of sandalwood. Leo placed his head on the crook of Shay's knee and sighed contentedly.

Will and Shay spoke with her mom and Nick, convincing them to go back to their jobs but both of them remained stubborn. Shay knew that both of them love their job and the company they work in. Jessica loved the job of journalism, it even helped her mom to distract herself from her sadness, helped her cope with the losses of her parents, her husband, and her best friend. It was bad enough to lose one person whom you loved, but they lost four people in the same year.

Shay wasn't aware of the fact that she had tears streaming down my cheeks until she sensed that her pillow no longer smelled of sandalwood but of tears and saltiness. Shay touched the wet fabric of the pillow and frowned, then touched her cheek which was very wet.

Leo's face was in front of hers, and he licked her cheek gently. Shay hugged Leo to herself, his fur tickling her skin and his warm breath fanning her hand. Exhaustion caught up with her and her eyelids felt very heavy. Shay closed her eyes and welcomed the dark and blank world of dreams.

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The cold wind outside felt like Shay had icy cold water plunged onto her face which effectively washed away all traces of her sleepiness. Why is it this cold when summer just started? Shay thought, frowning. The weather in Blackwood was moodier than cats.

Shay settled herself in the sand and others followed suit. No one spoke anything, and they let the sound of the waves consume us. Her mother and Nick finally agreed to return to work, it was more like Shay and Will forcing them to go back to work. Shay had glared daggers at her mom until she sighed and called her supervisor and told him that she would return to work after two days. Nick did the same thing after receiving Will's silent treatment.

One might think that Shay was forcing her ideas onto her mother, but she knew her mother. Jessica loved her profession, loved being a journalist and Shay refused to be the reason due to which she loses her job. She refused to be a burden to her and wanted to support her instead.

Rose broke the silence and the train of Shay's thoughts, "You know, I've been thinking lately," Rose said, pausing and all of them looked at her, indicating her to continue speaking.

"The last conversation we had with George keeps coming back to me and I realized something. Remember how he said he was jotting down all the points in the computer?" Rose asked. They nodded.

"Well, I find that a bit weird. If he was writing it all down 'in the computer' then he would've said that he was typing it all in the computer. He kept saying that he must've made a slip up somewhere and don't you find it weird? He said that he wrote things down in the computer and the computer was completely destroyed? I think the person who released the aerosol suicide solution in his house listened to the conversation and destroyed the computer. So that spy from Vyper, if what George said was right, not only killed George but even destroyed the evidence. They don't know who George was on phone with but as we don't have the evidence with us, we are no threat to them," Rose said slowly, her voice wavering when she spoke the sentence about George being killed.

She took another deep breath and continued, "I remember spotting a book called 'In The Computer' in his library. When he said 'I am jotting down all the points in the computer' I think he meant it literally."

Shay's eyes widened, "So what you are telling is-"

"Yes. I think he was talking about that book. I think he wrote all the details and shreds of evidence in that book."

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