14. The Eerie Woman

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"You haven't told us your name though," Hannah said to the lady.

"Oh. I'm Skylar."

Hannah and Emily had asked Skylar to show them the thrift store where she saw the stone after they had dropped John home as he passed out. John insisted to come anyway as he was feeling a little better but the girls thought it'd be good if he rests.

"So, is this the store?" Hannah asked Skylar pointing towards the store.

The exterior of the store had full-length glass windows and wall lights above. In front of the store, some furniture and clothes on the rack were displayed. Medium length trees were planted on one side of the store. Some cars and scooters were also parked in front of it and a sign hung above in the center of the building that read 'Thrift Store' in bold.

The bell rang as the three of them opened the door. Inside the store, there were many items that were displayed on shelves and on racks. There were even labels above each shelf telling the category of the items people would find there. It felt like the store had everything - books, clothes, comics and magazines, toys, jewelry, and more. The scent of a fresh wet soil after the rain lingered the store. Being Sunday, it was packed with people.

Hannah took a deep breath. The wet soil after the rain was her favorite scent. Nothing was as freshening as it.

"Come," Skylar gestured to Hannah and Emily to the counter.

Behind the register was an old man in his 50s. He was wearing spectacles and a cable knit whitish cream sweater.

"Mr. William, remember me?" Skylar asked the old man.

"Skylar. How can I forget you? Why are you here? Don't tell me you're in trouble and told my name." He said, fearing the cops came to know about his illegal copying.

"No. No. Don't worry about that. This is Hannah and this is Emily." Skylar introduced the two girls to Mr. William. " They wanted to ask you about the stone. Don't worry you can trust them. They won't tell anyone."

Then, Skylar's phone rang. She picked it up and after a few moments of talking on the phone, she sounded worried.

"You guys continue. I got some work." Saying this, she went outside.

"Hello, Mr. William," Hannah said politely. " We wanted to know if you remember the man who left the stone."

Mr. William closed his eyes and furrowed his brow. His wrinkles can be seen more clearly on his forehead now as he was thinking hard to remember.

"Oh yes. I remember now. It wasn't a man. It was a woman. Maybe Skylar got confused. But she was a weird looking lady though. I think she would be approx. in her late 20s. She had medium length auburn hair with colored strands of hair to the left and eerie tattoos all over her arms."

"What kind of tattoos?" Emily asked. She thought knowing about the kind of tattoos would help them to find the lady fast.

"Oh, I don't remember that much detail. This growing age doesn't help me remember a lot of things."

"It's ok Mr. William," Hannah said to not push the old man more.

"But I do remember a bat earring which she had worn on only one side of her ear." He added.

"Can you tell us when the lady came to your store?" Emily asked her last question.

"I think it would be around a month before."

"That's when the stone went missing," Emily whispered to Hannah.

They thanked Mr. William and walked out of the store.

"But you said that the stone which is in the church was the one that the museum was going to display," Hannah said.

"I know but I don't know. Now, the only person from whom we can get the answers from is this woman."

"But where will we look? She can be anywhere."

"I don't think to find an eerie woman with weird tattoos and one earring would be hard."

"But where will we start?"

Hannah then felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and rolled her eyes.

"Hmm... a woman with weird tattoos and one earring? Lucky for you, I know where we can start." It was John. Tom was also with him.

*woof*

"What do you think you are doing? You were supposed to rest." Hannah said while petting Tom.

"I know. But it was so boring. So, I thought to join you guys. Besides, I'm feeling much better now." And to prove it, he started doing jumping jacks.

"Alright, brother! Lead the way."

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"What do you think? Can you help us?" John asked Henry. Henry was in the same school as John's but had different classes. Henry was only a few inches shorter than John and had a few tattoos on his hand.

John thought that only those can tell them correctly about tattoos who had them.

"Let me think," Henry said and began stroking his chin as if it was a part of his thinking process. " Well, if it's a weird tattoo, it means someone who deals with or is good at special and unique tattoos is the one that can help you."

"Do you know anyone?" Emily asked.

"Hmm...try 'Star tattoos'. Take the third right and then a left from the thrift store. You'll reach there. Jacob's the owner."

"Thanks, Henry," John said.

"But be careful. Jacob has a temper." Henry warned them as the trio began to leave with Tom running in front of them.

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'Star Tattoos - Tattoos with the perfection that you won't regret.' Hannah read out loud the board as they stood in front of the tattoo shop.

The shop had loud decorations on the inside. On the walls, there were paintings of various kinds of unique designs of tattoos. In front of the paintings was a leather chair in which a man was getting a tattoo. Near the chair, a man was sitting with a tattoo machine.

"Excuse me, we are looking for Jacob," John asked the man giving a tattoo.

"I'm Jacob. What kind of tattoo do you want?" He was a bald man with a sleeveless shirt that had ' Rock On ' printed on it. He had many tattoos on his body - some common and some unique designs.

"We're not here for a tattoo. We want to ask you something." Hannah said coming towards him.

"Wait for a few minutes. I'll come after finishing this tattoo." Jacob said and continued with his work.

After waiting for a few minutes, Jacob came to them. They told him what they came to him for, that they are looking for a woman with weird tattoos and that if he knew anything about her.

"Oh yes. Last year the same woman came to me just like you guys have described. She had the most unusual design that she wanted to get tattooed on her arms. It was the most unique and weird design I've ever seen."

"Do you know where we can find her?" Emily asked.

"Well, she usually comes to this part of the town every day in the evening. If you are lucky, maybe you can see her."

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"So, what happened to you in Skylar's house after which you passed out?" Hannah asked John as they were sitting on a bench waiting for the woman.

"Nothing. Maybe I was tired that's why." John still didn't want to tell anyone about any of the uncanny situations that he was experiencing.

Hannah was getting a feeling that there's more to it than what his brother was telling. She was about to ask him but she heard Emily's voice.

"Guys! I think we have found what we've been looking for." Emily pointed towards a woman that perfectly matched the description given by Mr. William - auburn hair of medium length with colored strands on left, weird tattoos on her arms, and only one bat earing.

Excuse me!" Emily yelled.

The woman turned and asked, "Yes?"

Hannah had to pull Tom's leash as he began barking and lunging forward towards the woman. It confused her as Tom never greeted anyone like that.

"Ma'am, we would like to know about the stone. Is it the one from the museum?" John asked directly.

The woman looked at John, gave her a crooked smile, and said, "You poor boy. You don't know what you have gotten yourself into."

Tom kept barking louder.

"I know all about what happened to you." She continued leaning close to John's face. "You even tried to destroy the stone. Didn't you? She won't leave you. The stones are indestructible. You all will die!"

Saying this she disappeared into the darkness of the night.

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