Heat bounced off the parking lot of the abandoned shopping mall. Not even 7 am, yet the day was scorching—forecasts predicted 100 degrees F that day.
Cord sat in his car with the AC blasting cold air and the radio tuned to some generic “hits of the 80s, 90s, and today” station.
The text he received earlier said he was to meet the delivery guy at 7 am. He was five minutes early.
He witnessed a crow flying into the lone remaining tree by the lot. He remembered when he used to come here as a boy.
In earlier times, the lot was akin to a small jungle where he and his friends played and constructed a clubhouse. No one bothered them there.
Additional crows joined the initial one, and their numbers continued to increase until their squawking became audible over the closed window, playing radio, and blasting AC.
Distracted, he failed to see the motorcycle pulling in behind his car and its rider walking up to the driver’s side window until he sensed the guy’s pres…