Man in the Woods

As soon as the sun rose above the horizon, Noel rushed to the police department. He hadn't slept a wink the previous night, causing him to look like a dead man. His eyes were a shade of light red at the corners and dark circles formed under his eyes from lack of sleep.

He walked into the department with anxious steps and called for Prosecutor Elisa. After waiting for a few long minutes, Elisa finally showed up. As soon as she saw him, her eyes widened. She hadn't seen Noel ever look so...dishelved. The man she was looking at wasn't the calm and collected prodigy she had known. He looked the opposite— irritated, anxious and tired.

From the corner of her eyes, she could see the others eyeing his appearance uncomfortably.

She approached Noel and placed a hand over his shoulder. "I told you to rest, didn't I?"

Noel brushed off her hand dismissively.

"Did you talk to the Chief?" He asked, a hint of nervousness in his voice.

She sighed, realizing that he was too stubborn to listen to any of her persuasions.

"Let's talk somewhere more private." She said, glancing around her. "There are many people here."

They walked out and sat on a bench just outside the department. Elisa went over to a vending machine and returned with a couple of drinks.

"Here." She handed one over to Noel and sat down.

"Thanks." His lips slightly twitched upwards in a weak smile as he sipped his drink.

They sat quietly for a moment, sipping their drinks and gazing at the cars speeding away and people walking by, glancing at them every now and then with swift disinterest.

"How long had it been since I actually took time out for myself?" He thought, a bitter smile stretching across his face. Suddenly, those fleeting thoughts faded when he realized what he'd actually come there for.

Noel kept his drink aside and turned to look at her.

"So, what did he say anyway?" He asked again.

Elisa lowered the drink from her lips and looked at him apologetically. "He ordered to dismiss the case."

Noel paused, trying to process what he had just heard.

"WHAT?!" His eyes widened.

"Close your mouth if you don't want a fly to enter." She chuckled awkwardly, trying to lighten up the mood. But it was obviously not helping one bit.

She sighed. "I tried— I really tried my best to come to an agreement with him. But he wouldn't—"

"Why would he listen?" Noel interrupted.

"What?"

"They fear Ryan Smith. He has connections with all the high ranking officers. They must've been bribed." He laughed bitterly, "So, the so-called 'pillars of justice' or whatever are nothing but a bunch of gold diggers."

Elisa sighed, massaging her temples. The amount of paperwork as well as managing the other cases all on her own really took a huge toll on her. She was suffering through a throbbing headache since the previous night.

The public pressure for attaining justice for the victims was increasing every day. All that could be said to the news reporters were bland and unimpressive words like, "We are doing our best." or, "We are getting closer to the criminal."

Although they did their best to cope up with the pace of the crimes reported to them everyday, a few other cases related to burglary, theft and accidents that were supposed to be looked into by Elisa and Noel still kept getting postponed. Rumours about the police department in Blueburn being inefficient had spread throughout the other cities as well.

That very morning in the office, the Chief had given Elisa a sharp warning to dismiss the case as soon as possible and get back to solving other cases unless they didn't care about losing their jobs.

Elisa forced a smile and patted his back reassuringly. "Don't worry. We'll find a way."

Noel chuckled, leaning back on the bench. "Easier said than done."

.....

The sun peeked through sets of branches hovering above us. The birds chirped, occasionally sneeking past us, and a cool breeze blew over our body.— Alright, let me get back to reality.

The scratching of our tired feet dragging across the ground, our ragged breathing and the crows cawing every now and then were the only sounds Lily and I could hear. The more we walked, the more the sun's heat felt unbearable.

Suddenly, there was a big thud on the ground behind me, as if something heavy had fallen. I turned around and found Lily breathing heavily on the ground.

"Rai, please, let's... let's take a break. I think I'm about...to die." She begged, gasping for breath after every few words.

I shot her a glare. "We took a break 15 minutes ago!"

"This will be the last time, I promise!" She stared at me with teary eyes.

I opened my lips to refuse but shut them again when I saw her dramatically choking and coughing. I walked over to her, shaking my head in defeat. "You're unbelievable."

Her face brightened up and she jumped up almost immediately. "Thank you!"

She adjusted her oversized round glasses, flashing the cheekiest smile I'd ever seen.

"If anyone actually saw us right now, they'd think I'm enslaving you or something." I mumbled under my breath as we sat under a tree.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"I said we'll continue walking after 5 minutes." I replied.

She groaned, munching down on a plum. "Fine.."

It was only a day and we'd already adapted ourselves to the surroundings quite a bit. There were around 3 guards that I was forced to shoot down in just a day.

During my time in the forest, I couldn't get Ryan's words out of my mind. It all sounded unbelievable even in my head. Irene Garcia— that was supposedly the name of my biological mother—the woman from my memories. No matter how hard I thought about it, something still felt off about the story.

After a few moments, I suddenly jumped to my feet defensively. Lily looked up at me from her food in surprise. "It's already time to leave?"

"No, I... heard something." I whispered to her before gesturing her to be quite. I clutched the gun that I'd gotten from one of Ryan's soldiers earlier, and waited anxiously. At first, it sounded like rustling in the distance, but then there was a big thud. I waited for any further movements.

Silence.

"That's... strange. Why's no one coming after us? Perhaps, a surprise attack?" I thought. I spun around in every direction but there was no one.

"A-Are we safe?" Lily asked nervously.

"I don't know. Something's not right." I frowned. "Wait here, I'll go check."

I walked a few steps forward but stopped when I felt a pull. I turned around to see Lily tugging at the hem of my shirt.

"I-Isn't two better than one? Besides, I'm scared to be left alone." She gulped, glancing at the quite and eerie forest.

It was at that time that I realized it wouldn't actually be a wise decision to leave her behind. If this was indeed a trap, she would be kidnapped without me even being there to save her.

"Alright." I held her hand, pulling her behind me. "Make sure to not make any noise."

She grinned, nodding gratefully.

We quietly advanced forward while keeping an eye on our surroundings. As we walked forward, I could make out the shape of something that looked like a mass of...clothes.

I squinted my eyes as I approached it.

When I was close enough to finally have a clear look at it, my eyes widened.

It was a man laying on the ground. He was wearing a long, dark robe with a hood covering his head. His body was limp, indicating that he was either dead or unconscious. A loose hand plopped over a wound on his stomach. Crimson blood seeped through his shirt, trickling down from between his fingers and pooling beside him.

Seeing that he looked harmless, I went forward and crouched beside him to check his pulse. A slight relief washed over me.

"He's not dead."

"Yet." Lily remarked.

She was right. Although the wound wasn't too deep, if we didn't help him, he wouldn't breathe for long.

I carefully removed his robe and was taken aback by what he carried. He had a set of knives tucked neatly under a belt and a handgun in its sheath. A few of the knives were bloodied but it was hard to tell if it was someone else's blood or the blood from his wound.

After the hood was off, I could finally see his face. He looked young— probably around Noel's age or even a year or two older. He had dishelved dark hair and sharp features.

"Looks like he is dangerous, after all." I eyed him suspiciously. But I wasn't ready to leave him behind— I might get information regarding what place we were at. Besides, I couldn't help but be curious as to why he was here in such a state.

I lifted his upper body and made him lean against a tree. I wrapped the long robe around his waist to stop the bleeding and then wrapped it around his wrists tightly in case he decided to choose violence the moment he regained consciousness.

And then, we waited.

"Are we going to wait until he wakes up?" Lily asked, crouching beside the man and poking his face.

I nodded.

Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind — "If he really doesn't have anything useful to say when he wakes up, I'll just shoot him."

I paused, surprised at myself. "What did I just...?"

The thought of killing someone had crossed my mind so easily that it made me feel guilty.

I glanced over at the man's unconscious body.

"If I can't get anything out of him, I'll just..find another way to deal with him." I thought, correcting myself this time.