Chapter 2: 2: The Case
Years passed since that nightmare, I finally grew up and got myself out of the police academy. I got myself a job as an investigator in the police department in which my grandfather is an inspector - a soon to retire inspector. It wasn't the life I imagined myself to have since I really had big dreams - being a rock star is a good dream don't you think, but it wasn't mine, just trying to make a point. Nonetheless I'm a police officer now. I don't really hate it but I'm not loving it either. That's life I guess, we can't always have what we want, especially if you have no clue what you want in the first place.
On the night before my grandfather retired I saw a folder sitting on his desk at home, I slowly picked it up and read the file, it was the case of Annie Villafuerte. I stared at the picture of an angelic little girl as she smiled back at me. Out of the blue, I heard a voice whisper in my ear, "What took you so long?", I looked back and only saw the door.
"What are you doing with that Robin?", my grandfather was suddenly behind me.
"Nothing grandpa, just looking through", I replied, placing the folder back on the table.
"Her family is still pestering me every other week about any leads on where she is", he said as he sat down on a chair.
I just smiled at him. "It's normal. It's their little girl after all", I said as I patted my grandfather's shoulder. I was about to walk towards the sofa when my grandfather said something that stopped me dead on my tracks.
"I'm assigning you to this case Robin."
I looked back at him with a blank expression. "I'm turning this case over to you", he repeated.
"No." I said to him, "NO, I'm sorry but I can't take this case" I repeated just in case my grandfather didn't hear it the first time and for emphasis.
"Why not?"
I paused. He was right, why not? Why do I not want to take this case, my very first case.
"For starters, it's cold and the girl's probably dead anyway. Second, my personal history with this family specifically with this girl will jeopardize my judgement. Lastly, why me of all people? No one wants to have a cold case as their first one", I said as I stared at my grandfather. I thought my justifications were clear enough for him to reconsider, I was dead wrong.
"I have already filed it and they'll be announcing it come Monday. Everything you need for this case is on storage, you just have to look through it." replied my grandfather with finality.
I slumped on the sofa disappointed. It wasn't something I want, I don't want anything to do with this case, this family, and especially this girl. I closed my eyes for a brief moment as I tried to take in what just happened and without me noticing, I fell asleep on the sofa.
I was floating. The air was dense and suffocating, my body felt like oil on water. I looked below and saw a familiar scene, the endless fiery pit and the leagues of people pushed into the fire. I was no longer afraid, this was the dream I have almost every night ever since the Villafuerte incident - the dream of Hell.
"Why do you keep on returning to this place Robin?" said a soft voice. I looked back, but saw no one except for the flames that seem to stretch endlessly from the pit.
"It's getting tiring Robin. You know you don't belong here."
I was silent. This was the voice that usually speaks to me. "You can't stay here. I know that you don't want to."
"I know. But my life is hell as it is already." I replied, feeling a bit foolish as I seem to be talking to the flames themselves.
"I'm waiting for you."
Surprised with what I heard, I looked back once more and I woke up.
Sometimes I really want to see that dream on purpose just to hear that voice. It was my little piece of heaven in that hell, I know it's weird but so is reality. I went to the office unsure of what to feel that day as the case will be mine to handle starting today, it wasn't what I want.
As I took the folder containing Annie's files, a voice whispered to me, "Please come and see me soon." I looked beside me and only saw my buddy Chris, the top of our class. He was assigned to handle the big drug case that I really was hoping to get but my grandpa had his way and made me inherit this dumb missing persons case.
"Let's go get our stuff Rob", he called out to me, gesturing for me to get the materials in the evidence storage. I hollered back and followed.
The evidence storage was a dark, dusty, cold place - the perfect conditions for preserving whatever it is we need to preserve. My box was among the dusty ones in the far corner of the room. As I was pulling it out, I heard laughter, it was lively and a bit shrilly, it was the laughter of a child. I looked at the end of the corridor and what I saw almost made me jump. Standing at the end of the corridor was a little girl, she was dressed in a frilly white dress and her hair tied back into two goldilocks pigtails. She was staring right at me, her expression questioning, then she laughed and ran. I ran after her, worried that someone's kid might have got lost and wound up in this dark place. As I turned around the corner, she was gone, but then I heard a laugh behind me. I looked back and saw her standing right behind me. I was about to say something when she grabbed my right arm. My body shook, her hand was ice cold, her grip was firm, and the once angelic face was now darkened, her pupils were reduced to slits like that of a snake, they were burning in anger and exudes a killing intent. "Do not interfere with me Traveler. You cannot do anything to save her! She is mine!", the voice was deep and it was shattering my very spirit. My arm started to feel like it was being burned as the little girl started to twist it.
"Who are you?", I manage to squeeze out my voice as I felt my arm being slowly broken by the little girl's grip.
"Someone who will kill you if interfered with me!" replied the girl as she stared at me with her snake-like eyes.
I felt her anger seething through. I couldn't move and before she could snapped my arm in two, a light of some sort suddenly shined through the whole room slowly I felt my consciousness slip away. "My my Robin... How could you have lived a life without me?" I heard once more that sweet voice speak through my ear, carrying me away to unconsciousness.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone