Chapter 5 - The Eye

The city streets were damp with the remnants of last night's rain, neon lights flickering in puddles like fractured dreams. The police station buzzed with its usual rhythm—officers shuffling papers, phones ringing, conversations overlapping in a tangled mess of urgency. But within the chaos, two minds worked in silence, their thoughts threading through the strange case that now consumed them.

Emma tapped her pen against the table, frustration evident in her furrowed brow. "This damn case doesn't make sense, Alex," she muttered. "The letter, the weird religious-like message, the symbol. it all feels… bigger than just a murder."

Alex leaned back, exhaling sharply. "And then there's the junkie."

The mention of him shifted the atmosphere. A few months ago, a disheveled man had stumbled into the morgue, raving about "an angel" and a "descent to heaven." At the time, it was dismissed as the ramblings of a drug-addled mind. But now? Now, it felt too relevant to ignore.

Emma snapped her fingers. "We need to find that guy. If he's still alive, he might know something."

Tracking him down wasn't easy. The man, identified as Samuel Gray, was a ghost—no permanent address, moving from shelter to alleyway like a shadow. It took hours, a few bribes, and an exhausted network of informants before they found him in the back of a run-down motel, rocking back and forth on a stained mattress.

The air inside reeked of alcohol, sweat, and something stale—something rotten. His fingers twitched as he looked up at them, wild-eyed, his lips curling into a trembling smile.

"You've come," he whispered.

Emma and Alex exchanged a glance.

"Samuel Gray?" Alex asked.

The man nodded, but his expression darkened. "Are you here because of the angel?"

Emma took a cautious step forward. "Tell us about the angel, Samuel."

His breath hitched, as if remembering something sacred… or horrifying. "He came down. A bright light behind him. I thought—I thought he would save me. But his eyes…" He swallowed hard. "There was nothing human in his eyes."

Alex frowned. "Who are you talking about?"

Samuel let out a weak chuckle. "He didn't just descend to heaven… He brought it with him. Or maybe… maybe it wasn't heaven at all." His voice turned into a whisper. "You saw it, didn't you? The eye."

Emma's blood ran cold. "What eye?"

Samuel's shaky hands reached for something under the mattress. He pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper, smudged and torn. On it was a crude drawing. an eye, eerily similar to the one found on the back of the woman's letter.

Emma clenched her jaw. "Where did you get this?"

Samuel's eyes flickered with something between terror and reverence. "He gave it to me." he rasped before he… smiled.

A long silence followed.

Alex spoke first. "We need to go."

Back at the station, Alex sat at his desk, flipping through old case files. His mind was running in circles, but something told him the answers were right in front of him.

Then he saw it again.

A case from 2021. A missing boy.

There were no photographs—just a description. Male, around sixteen or seventeen years old at the time, fair hair, striking features, intelligent. Something in Alex's gut twisted as he read it.

The description matched Cain.

Emma noticed the way his body tensed. "What is it?"

He turned the file towards her. She scanned it, eyes widening. "This… is Cain."

"No," Alex muttered. "It can't be. This case was over a decade ago. Cain wasn't even born then."

Emma didn't respond. Because she was thinking the same thing.

Alex stood abruptly. "We need to talk to the mother."

Tracking the mother was much easier than they thought. She was a regular person who lived in a quiet neighborhood. They reached her house, it was an old small house but not dirty, they rang the bell then the door creaked open only slightly, revealing a woman with sunken eyes and a face worn by years of grief. She barely had time to react before her expression twisted with fury.

"Police? How dare you show up after all these years?". "GO AWAY," she hissed.

"Ma'am, please," Alex said quickly. "We know the case wasn't solved, but we have new information. Just five minutes."

She hesitated, then finally stepped aside.

Inside, the house was dark, filled with old memories and dust-covered relics of a life that had once been full.

Emma sat down carefully. "You mentioned your son spoke about an angel."

The woman's lips trembled. "He said the angel was coming. That he was going to be taken somewhere better. I thought—I thought it was just a child's imagination."

Alex reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a printed image of Cain. He slid it across the table.

"Does this boy remind you of anyone?"

The mother's breath hitched. Her fingers trembled as they reached for the photo. Then, a sudden, sharp intake of air—her entire body went rigid.

Tears welled in her eyes as she clutched the paper.

"Where did you get this?" Her voice broke. "Where did you get this?! This is my son!"

Alex and Emma shared a look.

Nothing about this case made sense.

And it was only getting worse.

The air in the room was thick, suffocating. Alex and Emma sat frozen as the woman clutched the photograph, her entire body shaking.

"This is my son," she repeated, her voice raw. "Where did you find him?"

Alex hesitated. "His name is Cain. He's currently in our custody."

Her breath hitched, and for a brief second, there was something in her eyes hope? Relief? But it was short-lived. She slammed the photo down.

"You're lying," she whispered. "You're messing with me. My son disappeared thirteen years ago."

Emma leaned forward. "We're not lying. We don't understand this either. But Cain… he looks exactly like the description in your son's file."

The woman covered her mouth, her shoulders trembling. Then, she stood up abruptly and stormed to a cabinet in the corner. Her fingers fumbled with the lock before she yanked it open. Inside were stacks of old files, some yellowed with time.

She pulled out a small sketchbook, flipping through pages until she stopped at one particular drawing. She turned it toward them.

It was the eye. The same symbol they had found on the letter.

Alex exhaled sharply. "Your son drew this?"

She nodded, her voice barely above a whisper. "He said the angel showed it to him. Told him it was a mark of salvation."

Emma and Alex exchanged glances.

The junkie. The letter. The missing boy. Cain.

It was all connected.

Emma tapped the sketchbook. "Do you have anything else? Notes, drawings, anything that might help us understand what your son was involved in?"

The mother hesitated before flipping through the pages. Most of them were harmless doodles and scribbles of random thoughts, but then, she stopped at one page, her face pale.

Emma and Alex leaned in.

It was a list.

Not just any list...names.

of them was the woman who had just been murdered.

The drive back to the station was silent. Emma was gripping the case file so tightly her knuckles were white.

"This isn't a coincidence," she said finally. "This woman's name was on a list drawn over a decade ago. And now she's dead."

Alex sighed, his hands tightening on the wheel. "This isn't just a murder case anymore. There's something bigger at play here."

Emma rubbed her temples. "And Cain? What the hell is he? A missing boy reborn? A copy? A coincidence? What are we even dealing with?"

Alex didn't answer.

Because he didn't know.

Back at the station, Cain sat quietly in the corner, the chocolate bar from Officer Kath was on in his lap. He had barely moved since Jia left with her parents.

A few officers whispered as they passed, throwing him curious glances. He was an anomaly, an unsolvable question.

The officer watching him sighed, walking over and crouching beside him. "You okay, kid?"

Cain blinked, his expression unreadable.

"Want something else to eat?"

Cain turned to him slowly. And then—just barely—he smiled.

The officer felt a chill crawl up his spine.

For the first time, it wasn't the sadness in Cain's eyes that unsettled him.

It was the way he looked at him.

Like he knew something.

Something the rest of them didn't.