1.

Flashback,

The sky is bright. No clouds are there. She wears a simple plain black shirt and jeans with a jacket, tied quite tightly on her waist. She's just sitting on a bench, waiting for the signal.

A big road on the front and in front of it, a small street. One, two... only ten citizens on sight. 3 cars, 2 on left, 1 on right. She looks on front, left side... a graffiti, with bright colors, saying 'F*CK ALL COPS'. It's just words, but why does it kinda hurts?

2 strangers suddenly sit besides her, looking neat... from their uniforms, they look like reporters. "Do you know? The case of Bailey Henderson, that killer?!" one person says.

"yeah... what about it?" the other says, with a slight irritated tone, like she doesn't wanna even hear about it.

"He was finally caught, yesterday... I'm gonna report it tonight..."

"About time!" the 'irritated' one spats.

"yeah... took them about 5 months , do they even work?" the man spats, finally revealing his true feelings about the case.

Gretel raises her brows, sarcastically and fidgets her fingers. All of her instincts, guts, and feelings know that this is gonna hurt her.. everything, neither she wants it or not.

"They do nothing at all... I bet they don't even care about it," the woman says, smirking sarcastically.

"Yeah... just like every other cases... local cops, IBC cops, are all the same."

"Bunch of corruptors. Why do we even expect something?"

See? Already broken.

Gretel is an IBC cop, by the way. IBC stands for International bureau of Cops... So, if you're an IBC cop, it's possible if you'll get assigned to another country to help that country. Usually, it's because, there's a lot of criminal in that place... so many that the local cops can't handle it anymore... OR the place is just chaotic and uncontrollable... OR both... like this city. So, stress is like a daily food.

She sighs, quietly. Like... Do they know how many nights of no sleep that I have felt? And how depressed and in need of therapy we were, searching for Bailey Henderson?! We had like literally no clues about him at first, just the name and the dead bodies... no fingerprints, no footprints.

"I know... I really wish our country is like Chérloinéa, why can't our security system, be like theirs?! Why can't our country have a little more brain and not hire those useless cops?!"

Well, why can't you shut up? ... oh how she wants to spat back, but, rule number one in IBC : NEVER, repeat... NEVER fight back the non-criminal citizens! whatever , wherever they do or say. Well, now it's tempting to murder them.

Another thing they said, hits her, a little bit different than the rest... Cherloinea.. It kinda breaks her heart hearing that word, she doesn't clearly knows why... Is it because of the memories? Or it just got mentioned a lot of times by those judgmental citizens in those thousand overheard gossips about cops?

.

"Grets... go to the small street in front. Wait there." Her friend says on phone. She shakes off her thoughts then, immediately crosses the street and hides on that small quiet street or lane... Whatever.

The thieves must be near... She wears her cop hat and starts to flex her muscles. No... she's not nervous or scared of the thieves who will might kill her... this is kinda normal, she's calm like the comforting breeze of wind.

She spots three panicked, kinda noob thieves running away from her friends. Two of them has a knife and a pistol, the other just carrying a sack of nothing... They robbed nothing, they're too late.

They're not too dangerous. She makes 2 clones, then gets out from her hideout. With guns, pointing to the thieves, and clones with knifes, she says a famous quote from the movies "freeze,".

In fear looking to the clones and a realization that they wouldn't even survive, it's 5 vs 3. The thieves surrender. Her friends immediately capture the thieves (with handcuffs... duh) and lock them in the police car. As she goes out from the small street, disappearing her clones, an unknown woman spots her and slaps her hard on the face. Her heart skips a beat.

"You cops are too late! Those thieves ruined my house already!" She shouts. Gretel looks at her with widened eyes, so is everyone. She can't feel anything but shock. Like, what the heck??!

She calms down, and wants to slap the woman back. But... all that she can do is saying "Umm... We're so so sorry mam." It's killing her to say those words but, cops just have to surrender.

"Sorry doesn't change a sh*t, you idiot! Why can't you be faster?! My house is ruined because you can't do your job right!" the woman shouts. Everyone near keeps looking and glares at Gretel as a sign of blaming her. The thing is, Grets didn't even see her house, she's just a backup to help her friends catching them.

This is not the first time... this happens almost all the times. The stories of ungrateful citizens and powerless cops. Normal, but still hurts every time, and the hurt keeps growing, not fading.

the woman slaps her hard again. This time, she can feel the bruise. "YOU ARE SO USELESS. DO YOU GUYS KNOW HOW MUCH WILL I SPEND TO FIX MY HOUSE?!!!!"

She can hear their whisper... Gossips are everywhere. She becomes nervous, and scared... and more in rage. She's not physically broken, but mentally. The woman slaps her other cheek, way harder until her friends can hear it from afar. Am I a slapping bag?! She balls her fists, wanting to punch that feeling-less woman... and oh how she can easily do that, way harder than the slaps she received. She can break bones, but she doesn't have the rights to do so, but that woman has.

"Answer me! are you mute?!"

Though she's in rage, on other side, fears. On the other side, she feels that she should do more. On another side, that woman doesn't deserve anything but punches or even better, death.

She doesn't know what to say, other than "I'm so sorry." Sadness, anger, fear, regret, powerlessness, helplessness mixed into one.

Luckily, after dealing with the thieves, one of her friends, Jose, immediately steps up. "Mam, please, be understandable to us. Our service is limited." He says, defending Gretel and stopping her from sinking into her emotions, like she always did. "Besides, she's just a backup...It's not her fault,".

•×•

Name : José Rickson

Occupation : a cop

Attributes : strawberry blonde hair and dark brown eyes

•×•

"Okay..." the woman chuckles and rolls her eyes. "First, you guys are supposed to protect this city. Just this small city... yet, what did you guys do? Unfair things, and sometimes, even if there's a really really bad guy out there, you guys just... do nothing, and even if there's an urgent call... you guys always come late. Second, even if she's just a backup, she should do way better so that my house wouldn't be damaged." She lectures them with harsh tone. The lecture doesn't even relate to her own situation. Grets just wants to kill that woman, shred her into pieces, break her bones... Did the woman just forget what the cops did for her? It could go way worse than having her house broken. She wants to scream her way out of this hell.

"Mam... I know you're upset..." Jose tries to calm her down and gives her realization.

"Blah blah... just go to hell," She spats, crossing her arms. "I NEED THE MONEY TO FIX MY HOUSE!" she shouts, hurting Grets' ears.

"Well, technically, w-we..." Grets tries to answer. The truth is : they can't just pay her all the bills... It's not their job nor their bussiness. "We can't... Sorry mam... If you want money... Please, call our leader for it." José says casually, secretly hoping that the woman with the heart of stone will understand.

"YOU GUYS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DAMAGE!" She shouts again. "Tch... useless cops."

Then, Their other friend, Nick steps up. "Okay. I'll pay the bills..."

•×•

Name : Nickolas Myer Pierceson

Occupation : a cop

Attributes : Chestnut brown hair and light blue eyes

•×•

"Here's my credit card, this is the password," He says as he gives that woman his credit card and the password in a small piece of paper, making Grets' eyes widen. Now, the real guilt appears... she already feels so down and this sinks her more in the pool of rage.

"What the heck?" She whispers to him.

"Shut up.." Nick whispers quietly.

"Satisfied?" He asks with no manners because of anger. The woman just glares then goes away.

.

They go to the police car and as Jose drives, "I guess, IBC cop aren't skilled in communications with those kinds of citizens, huh?" he says, to cheer Grets up.

She smirks, looking at the car window and says "Well, IBC cops are half investigators... so, we're taught to find and fight criminals, not communications."

"Well, you should've learned it from us by now, you've been here for years," Jose adds. She's been through like that and many other, more severe cases a lot. But, still becomes emotional in every of them and still doesn't have the heart to spat back.

She chuckles, "I guess, I'm a slow learner then," she says.

Jose sighs. "Don't be upset. Ignore them."

"Well, it's hard to ignore. By the way, how about your money?" She answers and asks as her eyes are getting redder, holding the tears. Just look at how unfair this is... isn't this robbery? Why is this even legal?

"It's fine... Since I have a lot of credit cards. That one just have 100 dollars," Nick answers, neither calming everyone or making everyone feel so poor, including the thieves on the back.

.

Office,

"Cops aren't supposed to be late." The chief says with deep voice. (in this country, they call their leader chiefs).

"the traffic was jammed." Jose spats.

"Let them hear the sirens then..." The chief spats back.

"We already did, but, they wouldn't make a way," Nick says back, in a are-you-surprised tone

"take a shortcut then." He spats again.

"There's no shortcut to the victim's house." Gretel answers, softly.

"You... shut up," the chief says to Gretel, pointing to her. Gretel just looks down. Half angry half broken, wanna punch, but scared to get fired. She's always been treated so badly by the chief. Maybe, it's because she's an IBC cop... or she's just a female...? You know, who always assumed to be so weak and un-trustable but, actually could and already did so much more than them.

"She's right. There's none." Nick says.

"Well, I don't wanna know... Next time, DON'T BE LATE... OR ELSE YOU'RE ALL FIRED. I won't take any excuses." The chief says his last spat then goes to his own room.

"tch." Nick goes to his own place with anger.

"I'll be on my apartment." Gretel says.

"Ok." Jose answers, worrying about his friend. "Be careful."

.

.

.

Apartment,

She opens her room, slams it back really hard. She throws away her cap, sits on her own bed and screams "ARGHHHH". She holds her hair tight as she starts to cry. Does my life have to be this way? What kind of sin did I do?!

This is just like high-schools. The bullies are citizens and their favorite preys are cops. It's better to be the thieves or the killer or the robber, they never got blamed, most of them live their lifes peacefully in jail, being forgiven from their actions.

Yet cops...? They... look at them as if they're the criminals, forgotten in the good things they do, remembered in the bad things/ wrong decisions they make. Words can't describe her brokenness and her grudge.

This life is a joke. She laughs in the middle of her cry, laughing at her stupid pathetic life. She doesn't know what to do... She doesn't want her heart to be broken. Yet she can't ignore. Death seems better at this point. Should I just end my life here and now?

She grabs her rope that she bought in case she made up her mind to... Commit suicide. She tights her rope, getting ready to do it without any hesitation. The faster, the better. Her hands are trembling, as if something inside her is preventing her to do it.

As she's making sure that it's tight enough, a sudden flashback occurs. She drops down the rope and her heart aches. She remembers that time, when everything's heaven on earth. Right, I still have 'them', my friends... So, I should survive, right? Until I meet them again... at least once.

She takes the bottle of pills on her desk, and drinks the pills to calm down. It's anti-depressants and she can't survive this hell without it. None of them know about this, though. She lost contact with them, when she moved to this country.

Dear you, b*tch, I wish you're here now.

To think of it, where are they now? How are they? I hope they're doing better than me... Cause I'm just trash in here.

She grabs the photo of her and her friends and grips it tight. Their smiles on the photo, the memories inside this,... She sees tears dropping down on the photo, making her realize, she's crying. Even poetries can't describe how much she misses them and how much they mean to her. Guess, they're the reason she's alive here and now.