Sundown

[S.W.A.T.K.]

"...Do you know what to do?"

The words fade into your consciousness slowly, but they are fuzzy. Your vision begins to clear up, and you see a man staring at you intently with his two gray eyes. Glancing around, you see that you are at a table in a coffee shop. There five other customers besides you. One picks up his laptop and walk to the door, leaving an untouched napkin on his table. He checks his watch before exiting.

The man sitting across from you asks again. "Do you know what to do?"

Silently, you shake your head. He seems to recognize the confusion on your face. He even smiles a bit. He is wearing a dark-gray flat cap, an almost fancy black jacket, a gray shirt, brown slacks, brown shoes -- nice shoes -- and two wristwatches.

"I'm hiring you to catch a murderer," he says. "You won't be able to remember anything about today, so stop trying. All you need to know is that you died later this afternoon, and you are at a small, fairly obscure coffee shop. The rest will come to you in time. . . so to speak." He shrugs his shoulders. "Well, you're running out of time. Get to work." He slides you one of his wristwatches, and rises from his chair to exit coffee shop.

[Griffin2448]

Put on the watch, and set it to an hour before the correct time. Then call the waiter, and order a doughnut and a black coffee.

[S.W.A.T.K.]

You wrap the watch around your wrist. You really don't feel like taking anything seriously today, because you're a big useless ninnyhammer, so you set the watch an hour before the correct time. You then proceed to call the waitress with the intention of ordering a doughnut and some coffee. But no one responds.

You twist around in your seat to find her chatting with an athletic-looking man at the register. She is also a cashier, apparently.

As you open your mouth to call the waitress again, a lady in a green dress walks by and accidentally spills some coffee on your exposed right shoe. She apologizes quietly and goes on her way.

[Griffin2448]

Angry, grab napkins from the table and walk out of the shop. Look around for a nearby Starbucks and go there instead.

[S.W.A.T.K.]

Angrily, you rise to your feet and make your way for the door. As you step through the door, you bump into a middle-aged man with a briefcase. You apologize, but he simply shoots a look at you and leaves.

People shuffle busily along the sidewalk, and you feel as though you are dodging traffic as you try to squeeze past them. Incidentally, there is a Starbucks just across the street. You step out onto the pavement---

---and get hit by a bus. You're dead.

. . .

"...Do you know what to do?"

The words fade into your consciousness slowly, but they are fuzzy. Your vision begins to clear up, and you see a man staring at you intently with his two gray eyes. Glancing around, you see that you are at a table in a coffee shop. There five other customers besides you. One picks up his laptop and walk to the door, leaving an untouched napkin on his table. He checks his watch before exiting.

The man sitting across from you asks again. "Do you know what to do?"

[Griffin2448]

"No, tell me what to do." Then take the napkin and wipe your face.

[S.W.A.T.K.]

"I'm hiring you to catch a murderer," he says. "You won't be able to remember anything about today, so stop trying. All you need to know is that you died later this afternoon, and you are at a small, fairly obscure coffee shop. The rest will come to you in time. . . so to speak." He shrugs his shoulders. "Well, you're running out of time. Get to work." He slides you one of his wristwatches, and rises from his chair to exit coffee shop.

You glance at your wrist to find that the watch from earlier is no longer there. It is in front of you, sitting on the table, where the man left it.

[Griffin2448]

Put the watch on your right arm. Then set the time about half an hour before the actual time. Then take a look around the shop.

[S.W.A.T.K.]

You place the watch back on your right wrist and, for whatever reason, set it back thirty minutes. You then turn your attention to the coffee shop. Nine small, round tables sit about, and you see twelve booths, four lining each wall, save the wall opposite the front door.

There are four other customers in the shop. You didn't get a good look at the guy who left with his laptop, but the other four seem sufficiently wrapped up in their own business to observe closely.

The first person you notice is a lady wearing a green dress. She spills coffee on your shoe as she walks by, apologizing softly before going on her merry way. She smells nice. Her green dress has a floral design, and she wears topaz earrings with little hoops, some slightly smudged dark green eye shadow, some mascara, and two pretty brown high-heels with matching brown bracelets. She is a little over average height, with green eyes and flowing long red hair with a dainty little flower stuck in it. She is messing with her engagement ring, milling about around the window, probably waiting for somebody.

The second is a college student. By the sound of it, he is flipping through textbooks, probably cramming for college. It is hard to see him, because he is at a window booth behind you, so only the back of his head is visible to you from your seat.

Hands in your pockets, you begin to wander about the coffee shop as though bored. Now you can see his blue, long-sleeved, button-up shirt, his loose gray-black striped tie, his khaki slacks, and his blue and grey tennis shoes with two white socks showing. He has a lanky build, is of average height, has mole under left eye, and possesses a large nose, a black head of hair, and a pair of hazel eyes. There is a pen and a small piece of paper in his front shirt pocket, and a red stain on the hem of his left sleeve. That strikes you as suspicious, but you continue looking around.

The third customer you see is an old man with gray hair and a matching beard. He is pretty fat and is of average height. There are circles under his light-blue eyes, and callouses on his hands. He clearly has a wedding ring and is wearing a weather-beaten gray windbreaker with blue designs over a darker gray T-shirt that says "Air Force" on the top-right portion of it. He is also wearing blue jeans, black socks, black tennis shoes with white stripe on bottom, and an old-looking watch. He is sitting by a window in one of the shop's left-hand side booths, as opposed to college student, who sits on the right. By the look on the old man's face, you can safely assume he is probably floating down memory lane.

And finally, there is the fourth customer. He is tall and has an average build, brown eyes, sandy brown hair, and a decent tan. He wears a blue t-shirt, black sports jeans, black toe-shoes, a red watch; and there is a Nike swoosh on all of it. It would appear that he is ordering coffee, but he is clearly flirting with cashier-lady, who was kind enough to not take your order before you got hit by a bus. Already, you don't like this guy, and you haven't even met him.

The man with the flat cap has told you, twice now, that he has hired you to catch a murderer, and you figure now would be a good time to start eliminating suspects. You look at the lady in the green dress just in time to see a bus drive by. The same one that killed you.

You shake your head. This is all so confusing.

[Griffin2448]

Go to the lady in the green dress and ask her about her day and continue conversing.

[S.W.A.T.K.]

You casually approach the greenly-dressed lady. "How was your day?" you ask.

She seems to take this as some sort of pick-up line and simply gives you a disgusted look before returning her gaze to the window.

"A-are, youuu waiting for someone?" you ask.

She barely offers you a glance. "Yes, now, if you don't mind. . ." She makes a shooing motion with her hand.

You turn around an walk away. That could have gone better.

[Griffin2448]

(wow..lol)

Go interrupt the waiter and the nike guy and ask them what they had done that day. Tell them you're a cop if you have to.

[S.W.A.T.K.]

You approach Nike. He glances briefly at you as you interrupt on his doubtlessly deep and meaningful conversation with the waitress. "So," you start, "What have you two been up to today?" You try a firm, suspicious tone, thinking you might have to pull the "I'm a cop" card.

But, to your surprise, Nike grins and glances at Miss Waitress. "Well, I was just runnin' a few miles -- I'm trainin' fur a marathon."

The waitress giggles. You throw up in your mouth a little. Nike seems to forget you are there and continues his conversation with Giggles. This guy is definitely a dead end.

[Griffin2448]

Pull out your wallet, say you're FBI, then put it away before they notice there is no badge on it.

[S.W.A.T.K.]

You pull out your wallet, say you're FBI, then put it away before either can notice the lack of a badge.

Nike just stares at you. ". . . Right." And he continues his conversation with Giggles. He clearly doesn't believe you at all. Giggles glances at you nervously, but goes along with it.