Chapter 5 Sleep with Me
In the dim light, I could hear my own heart pounding.
My hand, gripping the doorknob, was trembling a bit. After a few seconds of thought, I decided to close the door and find Alicia.
So, I pulled the door, which was slightly ajar, back with force, intending to shut it.
But to my surprise, when I pulled hard, it felt like someone inside was holding the doorknob too. I pulled twice but couldn't budge it at all!
Gritting my teeth, I turned and bolted towards Alicia's room.
"Hey, where are you going?" Alicia's voice suddenly sounded behind me. I spun around and saw her walking out of my room slowly with a cup of coffee, looking at me with a hint of amusement.
Seeing her come out of my room, I let out a sigh of relief. "Alicia, what are you doing in my room in the dead of night, trying to give me a fright?"
"I'm not trying to scare you!" Alicia gave me an eye roll. "I kindly brewed you a cup of coffee and brought it up for you to taste."
I then remembered that Alicia had indeed made two cups of coffee downstairs earlier. I was only focused on the white jade cup.
"Oh." I scratched my head awkwardly. "I misunderstood you. Thanks for the coffee."
Gratefully, I accepted the coffee Alicia offered and expressed my gratitude.
She didn't say anything else and turned back to her room.
I also went back to my room, closed the door, and drank the Blue Mountain Coffee. For someone like me, who hasn't had much coffee, the bitterness and aroma of Blue Mountain Coffee were just right.
Reflecting on the events earlier, I suddenly realized that the white snake I saw tonight looked very similar to the legendary Quetzalcoatl, both having a snake head and wings.
Lorenzo had also told me that there was a stone statue with a snake head and wings flickering near my mother's grave, resembling Quetzalcoatl.
Maybe there's a secret hidden in that stone statue.
After all this commotion, I couldn't sleep.
Looking at the open door of the utility cabinet, I saw that Alicia had rummaged through it, making it a bit messy.
As I began sorting through the items, my eyes were drawn to an old leather-bound book.
In the lower left corner of the leather book, there was a slightly blurred image of a snake head with wings.
I picked up my phone from the bed and searched for images of Quetzalcoatl. Sure enough, it looked very similar to the one on the leather book.
Why did I keep seeing Quetzalcoatl?
Quetzalcoatl came from an ancient deity of Central America, with beautiful wings and adorned with splendid feathers, once holding the esteemed position of the Sun God.
If I get the chance, I need to find that Quetzalcoatl statue at my mom's grave!
With that thought, I opened the leather book in my hand.
Inside, there were drawings of various objects. There were uniquely shaped coffee cups, brightly colored hairpins, square wooden boxes, and so on.
What were these?
Flipping through a few pages, I found that some items had small words written underneath, like "Malifact" and "Beneware."
And I quickly noticed that the white jade cup in Alicia's hand was also in this book, with the word "Beneware" written underneath.
So that was actually a treasure?
After reading a few pages, I yawned. It was already 3 a.m.
I put the leather book back, tidied up the utility cabinet, and went to rest.
Nothing else happened that night.
The next day was Monday. Alicia didn't come downstairs, and we ordered takeout for lunch.
There were no customers all day. By 3 p.m., I couldn't fight off sleep any longer and dozed off on the bar counter.
I had no idea how long I had been asleep when I was startled awake by three distinct knocks on the counter.
I woke up immediately, rubbed my eyes, and saw four people of varying heights and builds, with peculiar appearances, standing in front of the bar, staring at me.
"H..Hello!" I quickly stood up. "What can I get for you?"
A tall, nearly 6-foot woman pointed at the calendar behind me. "Hey, it's Monday. We're here for coffee."
A man who barely reached the height of the bar counter said in a deep voice, "Are you new? Lorenzo mentioned you."
I nodded, but before I could reply, the woman with a waist as thick as a barrel said, "The usual, four cups of coffee in order."
A man as thin as a rail added, "Since it's your first time serving us, I'll teach you, open the safe behind the counter, and you'll know what to do."
After saying that, the four of them simultaneously closed their mouths and stared at me.
I smiled wryly and nodded at them, then turned to find the small safe. At that moment, the clock struck, it was 6 p.m.
As I was fumbling for the key, a strong hand pressed on my shoulder. I turned around to see the woman who stood nearly 6 feet tall. "Anything else you need?" I asked nervously.
The woman looked down at my 5'6" frame. "I need you."
"Need me?" I didn't understand for a moment. "What do you mean?"
"I need you to sleep with me!"