Chapter 1- Eric Jarl

King County, Georgia, a beautiful small town with not so many exciting things to do for someone that's in high school and while it wasn't a place where thugs and gangs rule, it wasn't really a peaceful place either. One part-time job to another made Eric realize that more things were happening behind the scenes, which by luck made it possible for Eric to meet the famous god cop and bad cop duo.

One day, as Eric was walking towards his house, he heard a police cruiser pulled up behind him. When he turned to look behind, Eric knew that with how shitty everything was lately, he might be in trouble. Soon enough, from the police car two men stepped out and made their way to Eric.

"What do we have here?"

"Hello there, officers. What can I do for you?"

"First things first, why aren't you at school? After all, it's barely 11 am and unless the school moved somewhere else, this street isn't it."

"I felt sick and didn't want to go and make my classmates sick too." Eric replied smoothly, though his nonchalant grin didn't exactly help his case.

Shane chuckled when he saw Eric lying so badly. "Don't even try it, kid. We know you were at your girlfriend's house. You're a lucky bastard, you know that?"

"Phew, and I thought, I would have to bullshit my way out once again. Wait, what do you mean by that?"

Rick rolled his eyes, at his partner's words.

"Don't encourage him, Shane. As for what he meant, back in high school, Shane here thought he was hot stuff too. Dated your girlfriend's mom for a while."

Eric blinked, clearly not expecting Officer Welsh to have dated his girlfriend's mom. "Wait, seriously?"

Shane laughed in response. "Damn right I did. She was something else back then. Smart, funny, and could handle herself better than most of the guys we knew. Hell, I was a lucky bastard too."

Rick sighed, shaking his head. "Yeah, until you screwed it up." His tone was matter-of-fact, devoid of malice.

Eric's grin widened as he glanced between the two men. "Wait, wait, wait. Are you telling me you two were like… a thing? What happened?"

Shane shrugged. "Ah, you know how it is, kid. High school relationships don't always last. Especially when one of us—" he gestured to himself, "—was too busy acting like a big shot to realize what he had. We broke up after senior year. She went off to college, I went off to screw up some more. Life goes on."

Rick snorted softly. "And now here we are, talking to her kid's boyfriend like some weird full-circle moment."

Eric rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Uh… This might sound weird, but like, does she talk to you now?"

Shane burst out laughing again, this time leaning forward to brace his hands on his knees. "Oh, man, that's a dangerous question, kid. Do yourself a favor—don't bring me up at the dinner table, especially not when her asshole of a husband is around. Believe, you don't want to see the outcome of that argument."

Rick's lips twitched into a faint smirk. "Good advice. Trust me, your girlfriend's mom would probably kill you for asking. Now, speaking of good decisions…" Rick's expression grew serious. "Why don't you tell us why you're really not at school?"

Eric hesitated for a moment, but no matter how much he thought about it, he knew he couldn't dodge Rick's scrutiny as easily as Shane's teasing. "I was at Sarah's home and I hope to God I won't have to give you two a detailed report of what I was doing at my girlfriend's house.

Rick and Shane shared a hearty laugh at Eric's flustered response. "Kid's got guts, I'll give him that."

Rick shook his head, thought he didn't even try to hid his smile. " All right, Eric, you've got your fun. You better go home, you hear me? Last thing we want its to see someone as young as you get hurt."

Hearing the sudden change in tone, Eric glanced in the distance at a pair of police cars driving away ,before turning his attention back to Rick and Shane. "What's with all the running around? Feels like half the department's out today."

The officers exchanged a quick look, and before long, Rick let out a sigh, looking a bit more worried than he had been a few seconds ago. "Hard to say. But we've been getting some strange reports lately."

Eric raised an eyebrow. "Strange how? Like some big drug bust or something?"

Shane's grin turned wry. "If only it were that simple. Let's just say folks have been seeing things. Weird things. And that's all you need to know to keep yourself safe."

Rick nodded, his tone firm. "You see anything that feels off, you let us know. Got it?"

"Yeah. Sure thing, officers."

The two men turned to head back to their cruiser, but before climbing in, Shane leaned out the window to add one final remark. "And hey, kid. Keep your head down. Trouble's only fun when it doesn't bite you back."

Once the two officers drove away, leaving Eric to return home, Shane turned towards his partner.

"He's quite something, right? Sadly, he's basically an orphan and he's living alone, that ain't that good for a young man like him."

Rick knew better than most how much pain Eric had to deal with not long ago.

"He takes it better than most would do. His mother was an excellent officer. As for his dad, I can't say much about him as he left the town after college and we barely even talked."

"Enough of the sad drama, do you want to eat some donuts?"

"Sure, thing partner, lights?"

Meanwhile back to Eric, the boy in question just arrived at his house, feeling quite restless for some reason. Well, for some reason is little said, as he knew exactly why he was like that, just before he and Sarah could take things to the next step, his girlfriend's mother shouted from downstairs forcing Eric to leave Sarah's room through the window. With nothing better to do and more than enough energy to spend, he decided on a ride, and so he donned his motorcycle suit and took a moment to look at himself in the mirror. At sixteen, nearly seventeen, Eric was tall for his age, standing at 1.75 meters. While not a bodybuilder, his body was far from being chubby, though he did have some fat here and there, something that never really bothered Eric. By some miracle he didn't took after his mother's look, instead from what she had told him, he did resemble his late grandfather: tall, a rather dirty blonde colored hair and with a smile that as his mother kept teasing, capable of melting even the ices of hearts.

Thinking back to those times when he would play various board games with his mom, brought a smile on his face before a sad look took over his face. This house had been his home for as long as he remember, but only five years ago did he started to live alone, ever since his mother had passed away. It was the house she had left to him before her untimely death in the line of duty, struck by a bullet during a mission that had gone wrong. As for his father, Eric could barely remember him. The man had left for Sweden when Eric was just a year old leaving his son and wife all alone. Truth be told, while he had tried to ask his mother about him time and time again, Eric knew little about his father other than they share the same name and the occasional child support payment of $1,500 a month. However, on Eric's sixteenth birthday, his father had sent him more money than he would have expected, hell it was enough for Eric to buy his prized possession: a Honda Gold Wing.

Frankly, he got enough "bullying" from many bikers when he rode his bike, mostly cause of how quiet it was compared to most other bikes, but Eric didn't mind it at all, after all, the quieter his bike was, the better, especially when he had to sneak in Sarah's room

After gearing up and opening the garage, Eric mounted his bike and rode out of town, seeking the open road where hopefully he wouldn't run into any sheriffs , that and how free he felt on the open road.

His life hadn't been a quiet one, especially after being left alone, which in turn kind of forced Eric too often skip school and take odd jobs here and there. At some point he even distanced himself from his girlfriend which almost ended up badly when he heard she would barely eat or talk with her family or friends. That was the last straw for him, when he finally realized that his dumb ass was actually hurting those who care about him, and while he did continue to take part time jobs, Eric didn't forgot about one of the few people who still care about him, and would almost every other day take Sarah out for a ride. Speaking of his girlfriend, because he choosed to spend more time with her, Eric had by some godly miracle, managed to save his girlfriend when a teacher tried to assault her. If not for some other teachers dragging him away, Eric would have beaten the man to death, not that he wasn't close. That incident nearly landed himself in juvenile detention. If not for Officer Shane Welsh stepping in and of course the rather substantial amount of proof that the teacher was in fact trying to take advantage of Sarah, Eric's life might have taken a very different turn.

Ten minutes into his ride, Eric slowed down as the wail of sirens forced him to pause the music that was playing in his headphone. Thankfully he pulled to the side of the road just before three cars passed him at high speed, two being similar to those Rick and Shane drove while the first one was just your normal looking car. Thought when the cars passed him, he swore he noticed the flash of gun being aimed at the police cars, though before whoever was in the back seat could fire, the lead car's tires exploded sending the car tumbling onto the nearby field.

Startled and scared for his life, Eric decided it was best to leave. The situation reeked of trouble, and he had no desire to get caught up in whatever was going to happen.

A few minutes later, he passed an ambulance speeding toward the scene, which did made him wanna pat himself on the back for choosing to leave rather than watch like your normal Joe would do.

"Something must have happened there," Eric muttered to himself before dismissing the thought. "Well, not my problem."

Half an hour later, Eric returned to town, the incident still lingering in the back of his mind as a vague unease settled over him.

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