Frozen to Death

They looked into each other's eyes for a long time. Then Aleyah held Jeremy's face with both hands so that he looked her in the eyes.

"What are you doing?" asked Jeremy, shocked and nervous. Aleyah smiled then flicked Jeremy's forehead as hard as she could. "Ow, why would you do that?" Jeremy complained while holding his forehead. 

"You're wrong. I dress up for myself. You clearly misunderstood me." Aleyah said without feeling guilty. Typical of Aleyah, the woman hasn't changed since then. Her self-confidence, self-esteem and belief in herself could always amaze him.

"Yes I know. I just hope maybe you did it to impress someone." said Jeremy, still not wanting to lose.

Aleyah's focus was diverted to the view outside the window. There was a crowd on the street corner and they sounded very excited. "It looks like something happened," said Jeremy as he slowed the car and pulled over to the side of the highway.

"You don't mind if I check things out for a bit, right?" Jeremy asked, after all he worked as a police officer whose job was to maintain order.

"Yes, that's okay."

Someone knocked on their car window, "Argh!" Aleyah shouted because the person surprised her. The person shouted at them while banging on the window, who wouldn't be surprised.

Jeremy took off his seat belt, opened the left window of the car and dealt with the person who startled Aleyah. It turned out to be Justin, the policeman who was said to be on guard at night.

"I knew it was you. Come down, we need you." Justin said hastily.

"Why? What is it?" Jeremy asked before his co-worker left their sight.

"We found a dead body. People are starting to gather, we need your help." Justin answered from a distance. This explanation made Jeremy immediately get down and follow his friend.

Aleyah was left behind. She was confused about whether to stay around the car or come with Jeremy and stay close to him. Aleyah looked around, the air was very cold tonight so she wore the jacket her father had given her.

The crowd was right in front of her. She can't stand the sight of blood, especially a dead human body. She can see those people screaming and covering their mouths in disbelief. It seems something really bad happened there. Aleyah didn't want to go even a little closer. When everyone was racing to see the dead body, Aleyah was still there, standing without any desire to know anything about it.

That's when she saw a strange man around the corner of the building, like a hiding mouse with his face covered in a black mask. She wasn't sure who it was so she followed the man's steps to make sure of her vision. She is surprisingly brave. And then she made eye contact with that man from a distance. Her eyes widened when the man twitched the corners of his lips like a psychopath.

Aleyah immediately returned to where she had been standing. She was not curious at all and felt it was better to stay at a distance from the crowd. But the fear of being alone around the car was bigger than anything else. Especially after she met the suspicious person's eyes. So she decided to run quickly towards Jeremy who was busy ordering the residents around the scene.

"Jer, I saw somebody coming out from that building."

Jeremy held Aleyah's arm and covered the woman's view from the terrible thing behind him. "Not now. Get inside the car. You're safer there." he ordered.

"No, I want to be here." said Aleyah, then Jeremy didn't add to the debate any more. He knew how stubborn she was so he quickly gave in.

Aleyah didn't dare open her eyes and she kept holding on to Jeremy's arm. So he heard the entire conversation of several police officers there. A policeman who appeared to have a high rank arrived at the scene.

"I need a report." said the head police officer to his subordinates, including Jeremy and Justin. Then Justin explained their discovery, remembering that he was the first to attend the scene.

"We found a dead body sir. Rigid with a missing little finger. We suspect this was an act of murder." Justin reported to the police chief. He explained all their discoveries in detail.

"Is it a real human?" whispered Aleyah to Jeremy. The sweet man with a round face tightened the jacket that hugged Aleyah's body. "It's better for you not to get curious and yes, it's a real human 'cause I know who he is. " he said, full of worry.

"That's Mr Spencer, the mayor." Jeremy continued. Aleyah immediately covered her mouth in disbelief. How could the mayor's dead body be in the middle of the road like this? Who would dare kill a person of such a high rank?

The body has been moved. Aleyah accidentally passed by the corpse and she clearly accidentally saw the side of the corpse face which was covered in blood with bulging eyes. Aleyah immediately closed her eyes and pulled Jeremy's arm, "Let's go home. I do not like this." she muttered with teary eyes.

Jeremy held Aleyah's shoulder and accompanied her on the way to where his car was parked. It turned out that there was Smith walking towards them from the same road. They also can see Lucy waiting for them from inside the car.

"I called your father, I'm sorry I made you witness all this." Jeremy said softly.

"It's not your fault—" Aleyah's words were cut off by the arrival of Smith, who immediately hugged his daughter and led her to get into the car. The old man didn't even take the time to say a word to Jeremy. He continued to pull Aleyah's hand and lead her into the car as fast as possible.

"Papa, they found a frozen dead body." Aleyah reported when she got into the car.

Smith tightened his jaw. He ignored Aleyah's words and drove his car very fast like a racer who had lost his mind. Lucy, who was afraid, came closer to Aleyah and hugged her sister tightly. Smith took the car quite quickly and could almost be called a race with the other cars on a quiet road.

"Papa?" Lucy asked fearfully.

Smith glanced at his two daughters in the rearview mirror. Seeing their worried expressions made him calm again until he slowed down the car. "From now on, there will be no going out at night anymore. It's too dangerous, I will take you to the capital the day after tomorrow so tonight prepare your things."

Aleyah was about to open her mouth but Smith immediately glared at her from the reflection in the car rearview mirror. "There is no rejection. So obey your father's words."

"Yes papa." said Aleyah while hugging Lucy who looked very scared.