《Death's Aid》


 The cat and the kid

    The year is 2035 It¡¯s a nice quiet afternoon as I sit on my desk with a cup of coffee. Doing absolutely nothing, it''s a good day to do work and trust me I would love to but it¡¯s difficult to work when you don¡¯t have any.


    ¡±Man can¡¯t I get a case, any case?¡± I murmur to myself but as luck would have it I hear the doorbell ring.


    ¡±Come on in¡± I say.


    ¡°Hey detective, you mind looking for my cat?¡± I hear a man say as he enters my humble chamber


    ¡°I am a crime detective, I don¡¯t deal with these case¡± I reply as the middle aged man sits down on my chair. I know I said I would be fine with any case but really? Finding a cat?


    ¡°I thought you might have nothing better to do, the other detective chambers I had been to required reservations and had a big waiting list but yours seems to be dry as a bone¡± he replies


    Rude but he isn¡¯t wrong I think to myself, in this crime filled day and age, surprisingly few to come to me. Just my Ill fortune, or maybe good fortune that I don¡¯t meet unfortunate things happening often?


    ¡°Well¡­¡­.. sure I can at least hear you out¡±


    ¡°Last time I saw him he was chasing a mice right on my Main door, went through it chasing it and hasn¡¯t been seen since¡±


    ¡°And how long has it been since then?¡±


    ¡°About 5 hours?¡±


    ¡°Nice hearing you, the door is right there¡±


    ¡°Hey come on man, he has never been out that long! Found him when he was a stray, has been mighty attached to my daughter and me ever since¡± He cries. I can feel his desperation, wouldn¡¯t be surprised if I wasn¡¯t the first detective he sought out.


    ¡°5 hours is way too short to declare him missing, at least wait a day¡±


    ¡°He has never been out for more than an hour!¡±


    That¡¯s one lazy feline. Well I can at least hear him out, maybe goodwill will give me some luck to work with. I can¡¯t really afford to go without any work for this month and well I am not missing out on anything anywaysThis tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°Well I can at least check out the ¡®crime site¡¯, what¡¯s your name by the way?¡± I ask as I point to the door. There is plenty of crime to go around but barely anyone comes through my door. The tech filled world of today is also a tech crime filled one. There are crimes that I bet even she*lock and po*rot would have difficulties understanding.


    ¡°The name is Keto. I can give you a drive, its parked right outside the gate¡±


    ¡°Appreciate it¡± I don¡¯t have a car anyways. Public transport is commonplace and has gotten smart. It makes perfect sense to not own a car these days ok? It¡¯s definitely not because I am too broke to own one!


    I follow him to his car, it was parked a little haphazardly. He signaled me to get in and I did so quietly. The traffic at this time of the day isn¡¯t that bad and enough to get us hassle free through the suburbs. Ev are all the rage these days and with auto piloting features being commonplace, traffic has really improved a lot. As he got on the highway I started to ask him a few questions.


    ¡±So you said you last saw your cat going through the door? I am guessing you at least asked your neighbours about your cat¡±


    ¡±His name is Muffles and yes I did ask my neighbours if they saw him roam around. Strangely none of them seem to have seen him even though it was in the morning when nearly everyone is out of their house for their commute to office and stuff¡±


    ¡°And where do you live? Is it a quiet neighbourhood or more of an urban area?¡±


    ¡±it¡¯s quiet enough, most of the houses are one or two floor at most¡±


    ¡±Well then the cat must have had a lot of space to roam around with little traffic then. Does your cat frequently leave the house to roam around?¡±


    ¡°Never, he is a lazy lil¡¯ guy and fat has a truck. He wouldn''t even have been chasing that rat around if it didn¡¯t start eating his food. And I especially wouldn¡¯t have been worried about him disappearing if he actually went out once in a while¡±


    ¡±well is there a restaurant or any place that can smell of food around your house?¡±


    ¡±There is a coffee shop but it¡¯s pretty sealed off and you can¡¯t really smell of food around it¡±


    ¡±hmm I see¡­¡­¡­¡± I was just thinking of a couple other possibilities when something caught the corner of my eye when the car passed an alleyway.


    ¡±Hey stop here for a minute¡± I said to keto.


    ¡°Well sure but why?¡± I hear him say as I rush out the door, to check out what I just saw. A man in a dark grey suit seemed to have been leading off a child to the alleyway. The child was wearing rags, seemed to have been homeless and there have been some really gruesome cases recently that¡¯s been happening to orphans with no where to call their home


    I rush to the alleyway, my heart started pacing as I smelled something foul in the air that got my brain firing a myriad of bad premonitions of what might have happened. I smelled blood.


    As I rush in the first thing I see is a limp body, it lies on the ground with its head split open. Blood spilling out and covering the ground in a gruesome scene. The clothes dyed a deep red as the other figure lies motionless next to it. To my surprise though the one lying dead wasn¡¯t the child.


    ¡±WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE!¡± I shouted to the kid next to the man, The kid was scrawny as all and was wearing rags. He seemed to be about 12 or so and was just staring at the limp man below him deep in thought.


    ¡±hmmm oh who is that?¡± He asks me with apparent curiosity


    ¡±What happened here kid?¡± I say as I pull out my phone to make a voice note just in case something bad happens.


    ¡°Ah mister, this gentleman just wanted to give me something to eat but unfortunately he slipped on that rock over there and fell¡± He points to a rather large rock near the man.


    I should wait for the police to arrive and not disturb the scene but I do have a license to deal with this. I should at least verify that the man is dead. I think to myself as I walk near the body.


    ¡±Don¡¯t move kid, stay where you are and look away¡± I Look at the scene and everything he said does line up. I moved the body and indeed the wound seems to have been caused by falling face flat on the road. There aren''t any signs of external attacks or anything. The wound wasn¡¯t deep but was just enough to bleed out a lot of blood. I check him for breathing and well unfortunately he seemed to have died on the spot.


    ¡°Ok kid I will need you to wait here till the police and medics arrive.¡± I say as I look up to a him chuckling to himself


    ¡±Oh mister that¡¯s not happening¡± He says with a huge grin as he starts to step towards me

 Reasoning

    My body freezes up, I try my best to breathe but it''s pointless. Every cell in my body is on high alert. Why? Because of his creepy smile? Because of how unfazed he seemed looking at a dead man? Because of how suspicious the situation is in the first place? No, I froze up because I could feel a presence. A presence I had felt before, a ghastly and disturbing presence I was familiar with.


    ¡°Who¡­¡­.are you?¡± I manage to squeak out


    ¡°Oh what could you mean mister?¡± He replies his face unchanged


    ¡°I have seen¡­.no felt you before. You were there weren''t you? 4 years ago at orston when that train derailed?¡± I couldn''t have been wrong. I have been carrying this since that day. I have been keeping this to myself since that tragic day, unable to explain it to anyone. I don''t know who he is, I don''t know what he is but I know where he was


    ¡°TELL ME, WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?¡±


    ¡°.........ha¡±


    ¡°........hahaha¡±


    ¡°............HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA¡± he burst out laughing, his voice no longer carries that phoney child like innocence. His voice seemed cold, hard and real somehow.


    ¡°You bastard, you can feel us? Ah I never thought this had any chance of happening this millenia!¡±


    ¡°Huh¡± what was he talking about? ¡®Us¡¯? ¡®Millenia¡¯?


    ¡°Orivon favours me today I see, such luck!¡± he starts to step towards me. I try to back off. I was now sure he was not a child by any means. I did not know what he was and I did not know what he could do. I had to think of a way to get out of this right now, but a part of me wanted answers. Answers I had been seeking since that day 4 years ago


    ¡°You are a detective aren''t you Boy? How about you help me and I will help you.¡±


    ¡°Help how?¡± I should run, I should punch him. I should do anything but ask him questions right now. There is a dead man in front of me and I don''t know if he really died by falling on that rock anymore. But this morbid curiosity of mine just can''t help it


    ¡°You can feel me can''t you? That can only mean one thing since I am-¡±This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°HEY DETECTIVE YOU OKAY?¡± I heard a voice shout behind me shout


    ¡°Tch, I will see you later¡± The boy says as he turns away


    ¡°Wait-¡± before I can say anything he just disappears, like he wasn''t there a second ago. No trace no nothing, he seemed to have just popped out of existence.


    ¡°Hey detective I heard some noise from here so¡­¡­¡­.¡± Keto just started to say something when he laid his eyes on the dead corpse. Now creating a pool of blood.


    ¡°Wha¡­¡­¡­¡¯ He was been at a loss for words. I try to gather my thoughts and start thinking about what to tell him.


    ¡°He seemed to have tripped on that rock over there and fell. I checked him for breathing or a pulse but he seems to be dead. Can you call the police for me? I was trying to but my phone isn''t getting a strong connection here¡±


    ¡°Ye-yeah I will do that¡± he says and turns away and slowly walks out. His face was pale and he was definitely very startled.


    ¡°Hello? Police? A man is lying dead here¨C¡± his voice trails off as he walks away. I start thinking back to the kid.


    <i>Who was he? Was he there back then? No that''s a stupid question, he was there back then. I can never forget that presence even if I wanted to. What should I do now? Should I hide the fact that the kid was here? Is he even a kid in the first place? No, there is no way he was. He said he will see me later? What should he mean by that?</i>


    My mind started racing to make sense of this bizarre situation. Nothing made sense. The only thing I knew for sure now was that I HAD to meet him again no matter what.


    <i>But how do I meet him again? Maybe he will come back here tomorrow at the same time? Should I wait here till the place gets cleared out? Or maybe I should-</i>


    ¡°Hey detective I called the police and the ambulance over. They should be here in a short while¡± I hear keto say. He was visibly less disgruntled now.


    ¡±Thanks, I will stay here. You can go ahead if you want. I have my detective permit and I will explain the situation to them¡±


    ¡±Thanks detective, I don¡¯t want to be here for much longer to be honest with you¡±


    ¡±Also about your cat, give me your number and we can start looking for him tomorrow¡±


    ¡±Hmm appreciate it¡± he smiles wryly as we exchange contacts.


    ¡°Well I will be off then¡± He waves as he walks out of the alleyway


    ¡±Now then, how do I explain this situation¡± I couldn¡¯t rule out the possibility that this man was killed by that ¡®thing¡¯. But mentioning it to the police would just make me seem insane and suspicious. On the other hand if the police find out about that kid here I might be in trouble for withholding evidence¡­¡­


    ¡±Ah I know, there is one way out of this luckily¡± I realised. In this world full of crime detectives are more important than ever. Crimes have become discrete and hard to uncover. And so it vastly increases the needs for us private detectives. So that concerned parties can investigate on their own without police intervention. No one could rule out the possibility of foul play if only the police had the right to investigate such crime. And so us detectives have a special right. A right to take up any crime that we specialise in as a ¡®case¡¯. Without the intervention of the police or any other agency.


    ¡°I will just take this up as a case, that way I have at least an excuse in case they find some footage of the kid and me. That way I can even get access to informations related to this like security footage if any and maybe find out where they kid lives¡±


    Us detectives have a right for information to uncover the case. Especially for criminal detectives like me, evidence is everything. To find out the truth we need evidence beyond reasonable doubt and so our permits allow us to gain access to a lot that we otherwise wouldn¡¯t.


    As I was planning on how I says deal with this I heard a police siren nearby


    ¡±Ah they are here, man this is going to be a pain though¡± I think to myself, but as annoying as this was going to be I couldn¡¯t help but be excited. I finally found a lead to that incident years ago. I might finally have an answer to <b>it.</b>