I accidentally published this when it was still unfinished and now I feel like an idiot ("-v-)
~*Ω*~
"Shirley, please grab my coffee from the kitchen."
The lady with the dark up-do in the corner nodded. "Yes, sir." She briskly skittered to another room and came back holding a cup of coffee on a small plate, gingerly placing it down on his desk.
"Thank you." The man took a sip from the cup before violently rotating his head to the side and spitting it out.
He wiped his mouth. "Uh, Shirley... What is in this coffee?"
She twiddled her thumbs nervously. "You asked for black. Am I mistaken, sir?"
He shook his head and put the cup down on the petite plate. "No, you're correct, but I'm asking what is in it."
"I used your own ground mix, two teaspoons of vanilla, a touch of sugar, a tablespoon of milk, and a tablespoon of cream."
"But... that's not black. Hmm. Milk- a tablespoon of— Oh dear, oh, throw this away instantly, Shirley, get rid of this immediately!" He stood up and handed the cup and plate to her.
"U-uh, yes sir, but may I ask what was in it?"
"It was my blasted– agh, you don't need to know. Just throw it away!"
Instead of waiting for her to respond, the man walked to the bathroom and grabbed a toothbrush, fiercely washing away his sin on his tongue.
Swirling some water in his mouth, he spat it out. "Damn it, Gabriel..."
He stood there, leaning against the sink, and stared at himself in the mirror before listening to the light rain outside.
Leaving the bathroom, he looked out a nearby window.
"Hm. It's letting up. It should be gone by nine at this rate. So, that's in..." he checked his watch, "fifteen minutes."
Gabriel returned to his desk, searching for something. "Where is that cursed-" he was interrupted by Shirley coming in.
"Sir, as today is Sunday, September 4th, it seems we have an unexpected man by the name of Mr. Orvi visiting at noon. We must clean up your desk before any exposed documents are revealed."
"Yes, we must, although I don't understand how he found us here. Take this pile and throw them in the trash." Then he pointed at another stack. "Come back and throw that pile away as well. Be careful with what you grab, however. I'm looking for something in this mess and don't want to lose it."
"Yes, sir." She attempted to turn around but almost toppled over had it not been for a nearby table. Recomposing herself, she walked to the garbage chute and tossed them down the almost seemingly infinite drop.
Walking back, she grabbed the next stack of papers but did not bother checking them. She assumed that whatever he was looking for could not have been in what she was carrying. After all, it looked simply like a stack of papers.
She dumped it down the garbage chute as well before a loud clank caught her attention. And then another. And another. This worried her and she returned to Gabriel with broken nails and a chipped tooth.
"Sir... Was the item you were looking for metallic?"
Gabriel was putting papers away neatly in their respective cabinets. He turned in his chair and nodded. "Why, yes, Shirley. Have you seen it?"
"Not- not exactly, sir, but I think I may have accidentally dropped it down the garbage chute."
"You- YOU WHAT?!"
The sudden outburst surprised Shirley and she fidgeted with her hands.
She fidgeted with them the same way when the pink slip was in them.
"Anne! Anne, wherever you are, come down to the dumpsters immediately!" Gabriel shouted, running towards the elevator.
"Right behind you, sir! Please leave it open!" the woman named Anne shouted. She panted and entered the elevator before the doors closed. "What are we doing in the rubbish?"
"One of the younger assistants threw away something very important in the garbage channel."
"May I ask what it is?"
Gabriel whispered in her ear and the redhead gasped. "We can go retrieve it, right, sir?"
"Today's Saturday! They're going to pick up all the waste and take it to the landfills! If we don't hurry now, we may never find it again!"
~*Ω*~
"Come on, Jess! Why won't you tell me?"
The sniffling wreck of emotion shook her head forcefully. "You don't need to know, Jay, I've already told you that!"
Jesse grabbed her by the wrists and stopped her smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk. "I'm smart enough to know that you're not okay and you need someone, so just tell me! I don't know why you're keeping this from me and why Lukas only told you, but if it's bad enough to make you cry, then I want to know so you don't have to cry again!"
"Jay, you're acting like you're the older brother," she said in a futile attempt to lighten the mood. He didn't get the hint.
"But I am your brother! And you're my sister!"
"Jay, I'll tell you this one last time," she whispered as she reverted back to her previous demeanor, "You don't need to know and I don't have to tell you. This is between Lukas and me."
"But I–"
"Drop it."
He hung his head and let go of her wrists with a sigh. "Alright."
They continued awkwardly walking down the street, Jess puffy-eyed and Jay stiffly strolling, when suddenly, loud clanging noises of metal on metal started ringing in the alleyway they passed by.
"What was that?" said Jesse. Jess shrugged and both of them walked backward to sneak a peek of the dark alley, being cautious in case it was some drug dealer or similar.
Then, Jess started poking her brother's shoulder. "Hey, look at it," she said quietly, pointing at the chute that connected to the very top floor. It had outward dents and something seemed to be protruding from the very bottom.
Both of them stealthily crept up to the chute, ignoring the putrid smell of the garbage in front of them, and looked up the metal channel. Some broken tube of a glass or plastic was lodged in the side of it. Without thinking, Jesse wrapped his hands around it and tried to pull it out. Shrugging, Jess decided to help.
"RUFF!"
"AHHHH!"
The twins frantically let go of the tube and hid behind the dumpster faster than they could blink before realizing it was just a stray dog that had passed through. Jess let out a large sigh. "Why are we doing this?"
Jesse stuck his bottom lip out, not knowing why himself. So, they continued.
They actually didn't have to continue as, in their panic, they managed to pull out the tube. However, it had dropped into the dumpster.
Jess leaned on her tippy-toes to see inside the large dumpster. Jesse stood on top of a large wooden box. "Wait- Jess, do you see that?" Jesse winced as he tried to focus his sight.
She sniffled, still a little shaken by yesterday's events, making it slightly harder to see. "What are you talking about?"
"That- that thing, right there," he said, pointing.
Jess wiped her eyes and winced as well, adjusting her angle. Sure enough, there was the random tube they pulled out from the chute... as well as what it had broken off of.
It was a circular-shaped– thing, with the circles made out of alloyed gold and the center sphere a translucent, dark blue jewel. Connecting the center circle and sphere to the outer circle were four black, slate-like reinforcers with space between it and the outer circle.
The strangest things about the strange item were the lights in between the black reinforcers. They were in the shape of tubes and made out of jewels, one of the lights being the one they pulled out of the chute. Although they were glowing, with the exception of the broken one, none of them were brighter than Olivia's optimism. Which was pretty dark, to clarify.
"Damn, it's in the back of the dumpster. We'll have to get it from the wall," Jesse frowned. He stepped down and picked up the box he was standing on, bringing it to the other side of the brick wall. Jess followed right behind him.
"Is this illegal?" she coughed, looking at him through her swollen eyelids. He didn't say anything and simply thinned his lips into a line.
As he stepped up on the box, he looked down at her. "Now that I think about it, it shouldn't be. After all, one man's trash is another man's treasure."
"Yes, I definitely want last week's curdled milk," she deadpanned, climbing up the box anyway.
They both grabbed the strange ornament and held it up in the sunlight. The golden parts glimmered and the lustrous jewels shone brightly.
"It's kinda pretty," he commented. They stepped down from the box and put it in Jess's bag. Then she sniffled, unable to control her nose, and sneezed loudly, causing all the commotion to turn silent.
"Bless you," said a man passing by.
"Thank you," she replied out of courtesy, yelping when her sibling pulled her down.
"Jay, what was th–"
"Shhhh! Jess, that was the guy that cheated Petra out of her deal!"
She pulled out a tissue and blew her nose, looking up to inspect the features of the guy that walked by. His long, shiny strands of hair blew behind, imitating the wave of his long, oriental-style robe.
"... He's the guy?"
Jesse nodded furiously.
"So I'm guessing you want to follow him?"
He nodded again with more vigor.
She sighed. "I'm not going with you."
He whined. "Why not?"
"I wanna go home for a bit and take a short nap. I could probably wash the thing we just found, too. Maybe even try to fix it."
"Well– can I at least ask a favor from you?"
Jess rolled her eyes and swatted at the air to brush a fruit fly away. "What is it now?"
"If I call you and you can't hear me or there's random grunting and screaming, call 911."
"I think I got that even before I asked if he was the guy."
"See you at home, then." Jesse slunk away like a praying mantis and turned the corner, leaving her line of sight.
She looked up and stared at the blue sky, wondering where all the clouds had gone. "... I guess it's time to visit Petra."
~*Ω*~
I have no idea why, but it was kind of difficult explaining what the item they found looked like. I know people in the fandom already know what it is but?????
Also rip Shirley she was only an assistant for four days before getting fired
Also, have you guys realized what I've been doing with the days? It follows an actual timeline :D