𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 | dead boy detectives

1.2| jenny

the song 'i'm telling your mum' is blasting loudly when the group enter the tail & tongue butcher shop. the bell dings as crystal stop in front of the door to take in the interior of the shop. this place smells awful. crystal scrunch her nose. winnie stands besides charles with a cheeky smile as she look around.

crystal clears her throat "uh excuse me? you have a room to rent?" she ask the woman behind the counter, who stops chopping the red meat when she heard her voice. she glance to look at crystal before walking towards her. she has a black hair that is tied in a bun and the smoky eyeshadow around her eyes gives her the goth girl vibe. but what makes our eyes widen is that she is carrying the large cleaver in her hands.

"why is she bringing the cleaver over? edwin, this woman has a big cleaver." charles said to edwin who is staring at a neon cow on the wall. "i'm busy right now." edwin is very entranced with the bright cow-shaped light.

winnie snickered "relax. she's nice. she isn't going to like, kill a person with that sharp thing or something." i say as i nudge charles. crystal glance nervously at winnie before facing back to the scary woman in front of her.

the woman, jenny, eyed the girl up and down "you wanna rent it?" she ask looking straight at her. meanwhile winnie's eyes are drawn to the butterfly tattoo on her throat. crystal nodded at the question "how old are you?"

"twenty two." charles snicker silently while winnie look at edwin who is still staring at the lights. jenny roll her eyes before turning around to continue her work. "unlikely."

"sorry to ask. everyone is still on edge with the whole becky aspen thing.. and you're a stranger." winnie agrees with her. after the dissapearance of the little girl, it looks like everyone in town cannot stand still. police couldn't find any trace of her.

crystal lets out a nervous laugh before going to the other side of the counter. "yeah.. i- i saw the flyer. sad." jenny just give a strained smile at crystal before chopping the meat. crystal flinch in surprise before regaining her composure again.

"look. you're the only one with an open room in town that i can maybe afford so.. please say yes?" the girl say with a hopeful tone. she really doesn't have anywhere to go.

jenny close her eyes sigh tiredly "you have the rent on you?" crystal nod. "fine. come with me." she put the cleaver down and walk to the back of the shop.

edwin appears at the spot where jenny once were and give a mocking smile to crystal. "go on. follow her." winnie laugh at the exchange before looking at charles. "they really despise each other." charles can only nod in amusement. "nah. they'll warm up to each other eventually."

✧⁠*⁠。

jenny unlock the door to a room and crystal slowly step in. its a nice room to say the least. it's already good enough for a few days stay.

"rents weekly. there's only two rooms here. niko's your only neighbour. she always keeps to herself." crystal eyes widen as she saw edwin and charles go through the opposite room with an anime poster stuck to the door. "you seem nice. don't vandalize anything." jenny threw the keys to crystal and she caught it with one hand.

"see? i told you she's nice." winnie said with a smile as she look around the spacious room. "i don't understand your concept of nice." crystal roll her eyes as she now know that the girl ghost only want to mess with her.

she turn around to come face to face with the other two dead boys. "that girl's room is wallpapered with animes and loads of pictures of guys." charles said with amused expression. looks like crystal's new neighbour is also weird person. what's new in port townsend?

"you shouldn't go in there." crystal scolded the two guys and winnie agrees. "yeah. that's quite perverted isn't it? guys entering a girl's room without permission?" she may be a ghost but she was also once a girl and she wouldn't be happy if boys entering her safe place without her knowing.

"we're ensuring that your neighbour is not a serial killer. do you think its wise to have a landlord with a meat cleaver and a potential murderer where we're living?" edwin said with a cocky expression as he look at both winnie and crystal.

"we're not living anywhere. because you're not living." crystal give a mocking smile while winnie chuckled. "now come on. we have a missing scout to find."

✧⁠*⁠。