God, or goddess- at this point, I don't care! This is a joke right? I bet you're laughing your ass off right now, you fucking dickfaced asshole! First, you murdered us with a truck, then you sent us to some culty kingdom, then you dropped us in a snowy wasteland, then you flung us into the ocean, almost crashed our ride, and NOW, A FUCKING DEAD BODY on our first day of work!
FUCK! YOU!
I squeeze Minh's hand tighter- oh, wait I can feel his bones. Eh, it's probably fine.
I take a breath in, the smell of rotting flesh in my face, and then out. I'm not scared, I'm mad, yeah, I'm fucking pissed. I opened my eyes and gave Minh's hand a squeeze before letting go, then started stomping towards the bloody trash can.
"What are you doing?!" Minh grabbed my arm, pulling me back.
"Investigating," I shot back, yanking my arm back.
"No, you aren't."
"Why not?!"
"Because once you open that crate, there will be no going back. We've been through enough for today, and the last thing I want is to solve a murder case!"
"And how do you know we're gonna solve it!"
"Because you're you!" Minh shot back, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he took another breath.
"Because you make things like this your problem. Because you can't walk away, then I have to suffer for the shit you do!" he ranted.
Even if I tried, my mouth wouldn't open, I just stood there, nose stinging as my vision started blurring. Tears, I swear to god, don't you fucking dare.
"I just can't understand why you-" he stopped, staring at me for a moment. Then a long pause came, along with my dumb sniffling.
Then after taking a breath, he started again, looking away from me "Just... just go back inside, we'll need to find a place to stay after our shift. We'll talk about this later."
Then he reached out and wiped my face with his sleeve, "Stop crying, it makes you look stupider than you already are."
"I'm not stupid!" I sniffed, rubbing my eyes as I pushed his hand away.
"Don't rub your eyes either," he nagged, before going back inside.
I let my arm fall, taking a last look at the trashcan, then followed after him.
————
I slam a wooden box on the bar counter, staring at the empty bottles inside. I'm still pissed. I look over to Minh sweeping around the tables. I squint my eyes at him for a minute.
"Can you quit glaring at me? It's annoying."
"I'm not glaring, just staring," I say, rolling my eyes.
"Uh huh," he scoffed, turning to stare at me back. "Our shift is ending soon, finish everything up here."
He placed the broom near the counter and headed to the back.
I turned to him, "Where are you going?"
"Just getting stuff."
"What stuff?"
And he's gone.
I hmphed, "Never mind then, jackass."
I bent down to grab another crate of empty bottles, slamming it onto the counter. I'll punch him later.
I stack the crates on top of each other and carry them to the front of the tavern. Opening the door, I drop them next to the entrance before going back inside. I walk around the place, pushing in a few chairs as I did. Seriously people, it's not that hard to push in your chairs, don't know what the big problem is. I peek into the back room, no one's there. Minh said he was getting 'stuff', so where is he? Did that asshole abandon me? That son of a- nope, can't say that. Jacquin isn't here either, maybe she left already.
My eyes move to the back door. Minh's not around to stop me. It's not like anything bad's gonna happen if I just investigate a little bit. I walk towards the door, placing my hand on the door knob.
"What are you doing?"
"AHH!" I scream, turning around, my back against the door as my head slammed against it.
Ow, motherfucker!
I met Minh's suspicious face a foot away from me. Okay Phuong, excuse, make up an excuse. Pull one out of your ass if you have to!
"I said what are you doing," Minh asked again, stepping closer to me.
"I, uh, um, just taking out the trash?"
"We already took out the trash."
"Right, we did do that..."
... fuck me.
He looked at the back door, then at me, giving me the look. Great, now he's pissed. After another moment of silence, he finally said something.
"Seriously Phuong?"
I pressed my lips together and shrugged. He's gonna call bullshit anyways, can't really try.
"... Get over here, we're leaving," he groaned, dragging me out of the back room into the front.
"What? Already?" I asked, looking back and forth between Minh and the back door.
"Yes, Manager recommended a place down the road that we can stay in."
Oh, like an inn or something? Nice. At least we won't have to sleep on the streets on our first night. Wait a minute.
"But what about money?"
"I asked for our paycheck in advance," he answered, pushing me out the tavern door into the street.
He walked past me, walking down the sidewalk to the left. He turned his head, glaring at me.
"Are you going to stand there all night or do you want a roof over your head?"
This fucking- no, Phuong, not in public. I'll kill him when we get to the inn. Then I'll find a trash can to stuff him in after. Who needs an asshole like him anyway? Brother? What brother? All I have is a jackass that has my face and a dick.
I rolled my eyes before following after, easily catching up to him. He really needs to start working out, this is just sad. And he calls me lazy.
We walked down the sidewalk, the sky fading into a pretty red and orange, and then to black. We walked around streets that I will probably never remember, until we stopped at an old-timey-looking building with a heading sign above the door.
The Briar Coffin
I stared at the sign for a while. That's… kinda weird. Before looking at the red door, pushing it open, loud talking coming from inside. I tilted my head towards the inside, letting Minh go first. He did, swinging a small brown bag by its string with his finger. Did he always had that? Wait, never mind, that's probably our payment. We have money now. Yay!
We walked in, the inside looking a lot like the tavern, minus the bar and drunk people. Other than the groups of tables and waiting couches, there was a check-in desk at the front of the room with a flight of stairs covered by a wall behind it, and a woman in a pink uniform. Minh walked to the check-in desk, placing the brown bag. I wandered around the waiting room, slumping down onto one of the couches as I watched the other customers eating at one of the tables. I felt a knot in my stomach, and a low growl came out. I rubbed my tummy as it continued to cry. There there, we can get food later, just wait it out.
Then, Minh came over. Looking up from my poor tummy, he loomed over me, the little bag in his hand and two keys in the other.
"I got us a room, let's go," he explained, walking to the stairs behind the check-in desk.
"'Kay," I smiled, getting up from the couch and followed him upstairs.
When we got upstairs, we saw a bunch of hallways, with rose vines and pink lanterns hanging from the ceiling, and doors with different numbers carved into the red wood. Minh handed me one of the keys and walked down... the leftmost hall? Anyway, I followed after him until I heard something I thought I could only ever read on BL Manhwa.
I bumped my head against the back of Minh's, face sniffing his hair as the noise continued. I step back, he turns around, we stare at each other, and we say nothing as noises that could only come from the devil's tango fills in the silence. I stared at Minh's face, which is making the most disgusted face I've ever seen him make since I forced him to read ABO fanfiction of his favorite show.
The name of this place still doesn't make sense.
After a minute of that, Minh took my hand, putting the other key in it before rushing past me downstairs. It took a moment for my brain to catch up before turning back, and calling out to him.
"Hey! Where are you going?"
"Sleeping outside!" he shouted back, running down the stairs like his life depended on it.
I ran after him, yelling as I fumbled down the stairs.
"Nuh uh, if I'm gonna suffer, you're gonna suffer!"
I grabbed his arm, yanking him back upstairs. Stumbling back, falling onto the floor, dragging Minh with me. Before my head hit the floor, Minh wrapped his arm around it, his forehead against mine.
Ow fucking-!
I rubbed my forehead, tears welling up from the pain. I heard a groan from Minh as he got up, before another unholy sound came from one of the rooms.
...
Hey god, why? Just, why?
"Let's just go sleep outsi-"
"No."
"So this is better?" Minh snapped, pushing me off of him.
"Yes," I snapped back, getting up from the floor, and crossing my arms.
"I'm not sleeping outside."
He rolled his eyes, letting out another groan as he rubbed his forehead. I helped him up before dragging him down the hall. Let's just ignore the noises for now. He stopped in the middle of the hall, holding out his hand to me.
"Give me the key."
I tossed one of the keys in my hand and he led the way to our room. We stopped at a red door, marked with the number forty-seven. Minh took the key in his hand and unlocked the door, pushing it open. I walked in first, looking around the room. The room was small, but it was bigger than the ones on the ship. A single window opposite the door, two beds in the left and right corners, a desk with one chair between them, and a wardrobe against the right wall near the door. I flopped onto one of the beds, my face sinking into the pillow. So soft! I rolled around in the sheets, the blankets smelling like flowers. Or maybe it was the room? Honestly, everything smells like flowers here.
Then, Minh moved a candle near my side of the room.
"Can you light this?"
I turned to my side, staring at the white candle on a small golden plate. I got up, nodding as I began to chant the spell.
"Φ𝕴ρ𝕰."
I snapped my fingers, a small flame sparking to life at the tip of my finger. I moved my finger to the candle, lighting the candle string thingy. After, I blew out the flame on my finger, and the light of the candle lit up the room.
"Thanks," Minh said, before moving the candle near his side of the room, pulling out the chair at the desk, and sitting down.
He leaned back on the wooden chair, making a creaking sound. He just sat there, staring at the candlelight with a blank face in silence. After a while, I sat up from the bed, blanket wrapped around my head with my face peeking out.
"You good?" I asked, leaning over to meet Minh's eyes.
He didn't say anything at first, just staring at the candle before turning his head to me.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you."
.... Huh?
I squinted at Minh, staring at his blank face before assuring, "Nah, it's chill. You weren't wrong."
He turned away, staring back at the candlelight as he sighed, "I could've said it better."
"Nah, it would've been weirder if you were nice about it," I assured, "I have a problem, I know. I get into things that aren't my business, I know. But."
I scooted closer to him, smiling, "That's why I have you to save me."
"Ah, yes, of course," he sneered, pushing my face away from him.
"If I didn't promise Mẹ that I would protect you, I would've abandoned you by the curb and made you an orphan."
I gasped, holding my chest in utter betrayal. I fell back onto the bed, hand over my head as I stretched my face to look like the sad side of the theater mask.
"My brother is a snake!"
I rolled around, peeking at Minh's face. He was looking at me this time, smiling, and I grinned back. I heard him laugh, rolling his eyes, he grabbed a pillow and started whacking me with it. I flailed around, blocking the pillow as I laughed with him.
---------
I poked my head out of the blankets wrapped around me, watching Minh sleeping on the opposite bed. I turned over, facing the ceiling with only my thoughts.
I'm still hungry. We should've eaten something before going to bed. I let out a sigh as I rubbed my crying stomach. Haven't felt like this in a while. It still fucking sucks.
I closed my eyes, moving my thoughts somewhere else. Ignoring my whining tummy, my mind came back to the alley at the back of the tavern. The blood, the body that is definitely in that trash can. Then I remembered what Minh said. I frowned. Great, now I'm pissed again. I pulled the covers over my head, grumbling into the pillow. I know I said it was fine, but I'm still mad.
I rolled around the bed, punching and kicking the air. But then, a growl and a dull pain came from my stomach. I held my stomach and groaned. I turned to the other side, glaring at Minh. It might be the hangry talking, but it doesn't matter! I threw off the covers, getting off the bed.
Making shit my problem, I'll show you a fucking problem!!!
I put my boots on, took one of the keys on the desk, and stuffed it into my pocket. Then walking towards the door, I pushed it open and left the inn.
--------
I ran down the street, looking around to find the tavern. It was down this street, right? I turned the corner, spotting a store with a hiring poster still pasted onto the door. I ran over, peeking through the window. No one here.
I smiled, moving to the side of the tavern, I walked down the alleyway. I poked my head from behind the wall, spotting the blood on the wall, and the trail that led to the bloodied trash can. I stepped forward, stopping at the bloody wall, observing.
I squinted my eyes, staring at the wall. I should've brought a light with me, I can't see shit. I moved closer, looking up and down at the blood stain. Looks like the murder took place a few days ago. I think. I really should've brought something- like a lantern, or maybe a candle? Wait- candle! I raised my hand and chanted under my breath.
"Φ𝕴ρ𝕰."
I snapped my fingers, a tiny flame sparking at my fingertips. I stepped back, pointing my hand towards the wall, the fire growing enough to show the entire wall.
I should use magic more often.
Now that I had light, I scanned the wall. It could be a serial killer. Given that the city takes in almost everyone, I'm not surprised that there are some criminals. But, from the looks of it, the murder was definitely done a few days ago. Jacquin should've found this already. But the blood is still here, plus she didn't say anything about it. Based on everything, Jacquin is most likely the killer. I need to report this to the guards.
I took back my hand and turned around. Suddenly, I saw a knife come at me. I screamed, stepping back, the knife cutting my shoulder. My back hit the wall, a sharp pain in my shoulder as blood gushed out of the cut.
Son of a-!
I looked up, the knife swinging down again. I ran to the side, slamming into the trash can in the corner. And then, I ran. I ran for my fucking life.