I was in the middle of studying when a call rang from my cell phone, my music pausing momentarily and catching my attention. I checked the paper pinned to my dorm wall, the stranger’s phone number matching with the one lighting up my phone. After the two rings I quickly answered it and put up to my ear, glancing towards Holly who was fast asleep in her loft bed behind me.

“Hello?” I answered meekly, my heart racing. It felt like a moment from a spy movie or something with the secrecy and anticipation, when I finally heard a deep voice from the other line, a sigh starting their sentence. “Good, you follow instructions well.” The person I assumed was the stranger from the cafe rasped. His voice was deeper than I remembered, but it was early in the morning so he might’ve recently woken up. His words made my face flush, my eyebrows knitted in concentration.

“I know we just recently met, but do you want to help me with something later tonight?” Emilio offered to me, a lump of anxiety forming in my throat. “Uhh sure, may I ask what we’ll be doing?” I asked hesitantly. I only just met this guy, like he stated, so doing something ominous at night had my gut feeling shouting at me to be careful. I know he said he was a tattoo artist but what kind of help do they need at night? I shook my head to clear my assumptions, clearing my throat when the other line was silent for a moment too long. “Emilio?” I whispered questioningly, no answer to my question about details.

There was some movement heard on his end before it was his turn to clear his throat. “I’ll explain that when we meet up. It’s nothing too crazy, just need an extra hand with something and you seem very handy.” I smiled at the compliment and took a deep breath to relax my heart rate. Nothing too crazy. That was a major relief. I confirmed again that I was free to join him after I checked to make sure I didn’t have any night classes that night.

We said our goodbyes and goodnights, a moment of silence between us before I was the first to hang up and get back to studying. I needed to get a nap later or I wouldn’t be as much help as Emilio wanted.

— —

I decided to wear my letterman jacket and jeans combo so none of my nicer outfits got dirty, still unsure what his ‘needing an extra hand’ pretailed. I checked the GPS location he sent me for the hundredth time to check I was in the right place, the more run down area of Gansworth City surrounding me. I was raised in the lower middle class and had moved from one rundown apartment to the next for the majority of my childhood, but we never were too far in debt to end up where I was standing right now. I had to weave through the crowded streets, watching out for people’s feet who were sitting on either side of the tight crowds. The streets were pungent with the smell of decay and need, a sorrowful frown etched heavily on my face.

I heard it was bad in these parts but not this bad. There were flickering neon lights hanging above shops and restaurants, all packed together side by side like canned sardines, even a similar smell with so many types of foods mixing and rotting in overflowing trash cans.

One last glance, and the confirmation of a bent street sign, and I finally reached the location. I hurried up the narrow staircase after glancing around. He said to make sure no one followed me which made my stomach churn at that information. Why did I have to be extra careful like I’m doing something illegal? He said it wasn’t gonna be that risky. I landed on the top stair and took a breather before heading in further. 

The apartment number was being held on the door with one nail, the numbers fallen vertically. I knocked on the door and looked around me, suddenly feeling like someone was watching me. I gulped and waited patiently for Emilio to open the door, fingers drumming on my thighs to get out my nerves. 

The door opened and a disgruntled Emilio popped his head out, his long auburn hair out of his ponytail and draping past his shoulders and around his face. He grunted to grab my attention away from his casual black tank top and gray sweatpants, my eyes not stopping from glancing down the hallway. “I didn’t feel followed until I got up here. I think someone is watching us from down the hall.” I whispered, darting my eyes in the direction I felt the stare. Emilio grabbed my bicep and pulled me into the apartment.

The door shut with a slam and the inside was more clean than my dorm room back at the university. I gapped at the spacious area, the room in a loft layout with his bedroom up the stairs past the kitchen island to our left, his bed visible from the door. The living room was to the right of us, the couch and TV new looking. The whole place felt out of place with the outside. “Wow this was not what I expected, I’m not gonna lie.” I told him as I took in the environment.

“This is one of the properties I own. It’s more of a place to crash between..errands.” he explained vaguely, hesitating on the word errands. “Oh that’s cool!” I smiled at him, my hands clasped together in front of me. “So was I followed or was I being paranoid?” my smile turned into a frown quickly after silence set between us. He shook his head and I let out a sigh of relief. “Ok I got lucky this time.” That saying has basically become my catchphrase with how much I’ve said it.

Emilio gestured for me to go further into his home, taking my shoes off to be polite. His floors were too pristine for my shoes to ruin them. I followed him into the hallway that was across from the door, an office and bathroom back there. We walked into the office and he got straight into the business of why I was summoned here. “I can’t give you a lot of information about the task I need you to help me with, but it is very important that this stays between us and no one else, okay?” he looked me dead in the eyes, leaning his head down a bit to connect sights. I nodded quickly, his aura intimidating. “Understood.” I said with a serious face, all pleasantries left at the entrance of the hallway. He nodded back at me in an understanding way, turning to one of the many monitors on the desk we were standing at. He gestured for me to sit in the office chair, obliging quickly with how far the trip was to here.

“We have to get back something that was stolen from me. It’s a gem that is going to be illegally auctioned next week at an underground rich man’s club. All the pimps and higher ups will be there because this is as rare as gems get. I inherited it from my family a couple years ago, but a month ago it was stolen from my home. I’ve been tracking its whereabouts since. Now I finally can grab it back from those who stole it.” He explained, pulling up images and documents as he spoke. It was a light greenish uncut gem, stone from where it was recovered still attached.

“Wait, why do you need me? How do I fit in all of this?” I quickly asked as he pulled up the last image of where the auction was supposedly being held. I didn’t understand why he needed a mythology and linguistics student to help him steal back a family heirloom.

He sighed and let go of the computer mouse, fully standing up from the hunched position he was in a moment ago. “You know multiple languages, don’t you?” He looked at me with a raised brow, frown prevalent on his face. “Well, yes, but—” He cut me off before I could continue my confusion. “I need you as an interpreter. If you’re capable of it, I was going to make you into an undercover customer. Dress you up all nice and be the eyes in the crowd. Converse and distract when you have to with whom you have to. Understand?” I nodded, his plan now making sense. “Good.” He muttered, going back to the computer screen, hand on the mouse again.