Nothing surprises me anymore

"Oh Stu, I wouldn't do that! You were the one who got knocked out when you got in a fight with me—and I fight like shit, mind it! I mean, look at her. She looks way stronger than me in combat—so you can just write my name in your will right now if you're so keen on dying." Zinbad wasn't shy to reveal the fact that he was really weak… because he simply was weak. "And by the way, I know where you keep that big old book with all the information. So, I could just take it anytime I want. But since we're like family and all, I thought of asking your permission."

"You knew?" Both Stu and Tanya roared at him. It seemed like all their efforts were useless.

"Of course!" He jumped to the other side of the cabin and quickly got hold of the book and showed it off. "Here it is."

"Well then, fuck it. There you go, kid. You got the thing you needed." Stu didn't give a shit anymore as he threw his hands up in frustration.

Tanya looked furious as she took the book from Zinbad. He didn't know what he did wrong. She started reading it. "So, who organized it?" She asked, after reading all of the information on that day.

"Are you blind? The one whose name is on the top did it." Stu couldn't believe how stupid Tanya was. Even Zinbad was quick to jump on that bandwagon.

Upon knowing the information on the person who organized it, Tanya felt like her job there was done. "Thank you. I'll be going."

"Wait a minute, kid. You might need this." Stu stopped her and threw a flash drive to her.

"What's this?" She looked at it from all sides.

"I made a copy of the CCTV footage of that day. Thought it might be useful someday—and I guess today's that day." Stu gave a thumbs up.

"Thanks, Stu." Tanya gave out a smile and hurried towards the exit.

"Hey, wait for me." Zinbad hurried behind her.

#

After exiting the club, Tanya picked up her speed. Zinbad somehow caught hold of her hand and stopped her. "Tanya, where are you going?"

"Billy—I'm going to his house. He's the one who organized this shit. He might be knowing something about it." She was adamant about her decision.

"Wait a minute. Not that fast!" Zinbad swapped out the book with the flash drive in an instant.

This pissed Tanya off. "What are you doing?" She tried to get the book off of his hand. "Give me the book. I'll look at the tape later."

"Tanya, it's evening already. I don't think we could get anything out of him tonight. So, I'll take hold of the book and get some info on him. Meanwhile, you check the footage and look at what happened, okay? We'll meet tomorrow morning and then we'll head over to him. Trust me, it is better this way." Zinbad placed his hand over Tanya's, which felt odd but comforting to her for some reason. She felt disgusted by herself for having felt that. "Okay then, let's meet tomorrow." He shook her hand and walked away from her. After the internal disgust that she felt, Tanya regained her consciousness and stopped him in his tracks.

"Wait, give me your phone number." Tanya took out her phone and waited on him. Zinbad smiled and they exchanged numbers. Little did he know that it was because she didn't trust him with the book so that she could trace out his location if he's about to escape with it.

#

Early morning and Tanya was already up. This was a rare occurrence in Chuck's eyes because normally, she never wakes up this early. Before he could even process what was happening, Tanya was already at the door. "Wait, you're going already?" Chuck asked.

"Yea, he did say that he'd swing by here in the morning," Zinbad called Tanya at the stroke of midnight saying that he'd be there in the early morning, due to which she couldn't even sleep for a single minute.

"And how do you think he knows this place?" Suspicious as ever, Chuck put forth his doubts on the man named Zinbad.

Tanya was quick on clearing them. "He's a private detective like me. It won't be a surprise if he knows about this place."

"Or if he's a freaking stalker…" Chuck immediately gave another bone of doubt to the hungry dog that is Tanya.

"That too wouldn't surprise me. Honestly, though, nothing surprises me these days." The past few days had been crazy from Tanya's perspective, from missing sister to meeting a weird guy, so she had no time to be surprised or dazed at stuff.

"What do you think of that man?" Chuck, instead of questioning Zinbad's intentions as before, began to doubt the man himself.

"What do you mean? A liability, maybe? But he might think the same of me. He's a bit weird, but as long as he does the job, I'm fine with it." Tanya answered with a straight face. "Anyway, aren't you coming, Chuck?" She asked.

"Nah, I'll probably stay here and rest." Chuck acted as if he was feeling uneasy. The ball of gas placed itself in the armrest of one of the sofas.

"Huh, since when did spirits require rest? Whatever, it's your choice." Tanya saw the guilt in his eyes and chose not to dwell further on this. So, she changed the subject. "Where the hell is this guy? Good thing I got his number. Let me just track him."

"Hey, wouldn't it be better if you just call him?" Chuck was a common ghost with common questions to ask.

"No, we have not reached that level of friendship yet. So, I guess it'd be weird." Tanya replied as she continued on with her phone.

"And tracking a person's phone isn't weird at all. But, who am I to say? Just have a safe trip." Chuck chose not to give a damn about Tanya's absurdity and waved goodbye.

"Sure, thanks, man!" Tanya closed the door behind her. She was startled when she was met up with an obstacle right in front.

#