Trapped in the Web
Water droplets tapping the windows of the office were as good as a blind man’s vision; this was the only sound that penetrated the denseness of the quiet that the rain made. Detective Emily Carter was in her chair, spinning on its turn, and then tapping her fingers on the police station desk. It was past midnight, and the city was quiet; however, Emily could not sleep as she had a lot on her mind, specifically the file on her table.
It was an old case, one that had stayed with her for several years and was still fresh in her mind. A murder of a young woman named Lisa Harper had been solved a long time ago, provoking a lack of any tips or suspects. Though everyone easily lets go of such matters, Emily has never been one to do so. Still, there was something about it that had rather set me in the wrong direction.
Earlier, she had countless nights with the typewriter and research papers, just waiting for that one moment to find the link that helped it all click. And tonight, she was as close as she could hope to be to that feeling.
He handed it to her and she looked at her ringing phone on the table, breaking her chain of thought. She took it and noticed it read, ‘Text message from a number she did not recognize. ’
Yes, I remember what happened to Lisa.
Emily looked at him, and her eyes welled up as she said. Emily’s heart leaped. She had been given leads before: misinformation, leads going nowhere, stunts pulled by people who wanted to be part of the action. But this felt different. She felt a coldness invade her skin with intensity to the extent that the air seemed to freeze.
Who is this? She quickly typed back.
A few seconds, however, went by before the reply came.
I remember giving you an old factory at Riverside Drive where we should meet, don’t you recall? Come alone.
Emily hesitated. It was not good—no, hardly safe—to follow such a lead on one’s own, with no support. But something inside her knew this was the break she had been waiting for. She took her coat and her gun, and she went outside of the bar into this storm.
Driving through the city with the rain obscuring the intensity of the neon lighting on the roads, there were no cars on the streets. The factory was old and dilapidated; it was a gigantic structure that stood low over the river and seemed to represent a long-forgotten part of the past. Further, Emily pulled up to the compound and alighted from her car, which was pouring rain, and she was drenched by the time she got to the door.
Slowly, she turned the knob and got out of the room, the door squeaking loudly in the silence. The exterior factory lights were off, and a few lights from outside the factory came in through the door and windows, which were cracked. Even their footsteps became muffled as Emily moved further into the building, clutching the awkward weight on her hip that was the gun.
She got to the main floor; the room was so large that there were only remnants of broken machines and heaps of scraps and waste lying around. In the middle of the hall, there was a ceiling lamp that spread rather faint light when a man was seen standing in the corner.
The figure was bulky and obscured behind darkness, yet its tone was so clear, lensing deep into Carter’s ears when it spoke. This is because in the novel, I have been anticipating the arrival of a visitor or a guest metaphorically in writing Strange Forward all this while.
She picking up the gun, Emily could not hold herself but asked, ‘Who are you?’ nerves could be seen making her take small steps towards him so as to get a better view of the person.
“A man who knew the truth,” the man said, as he exited from the shadow.
It was a man; his face was covered with a hood all over. He was clutching a file before him, and it resembled the one that Emily was busy reading at their office.
‘Lisa Harper,’ he said, extending the file to her. They were not freed like she was; it only made me realize that she didn’t just disappear; she was taken.
The man’s insolence made Emily’s breath catch in her throat. "By who?"
The man didn’t reply to her, just flinging the file down on the floor right in front of her. ‘It’s all in there,‘ it said to me Everything you need to know is in there. But be careful, Detective The truth is not always what it seems.
The man immediately lurched to his feet and walked away from Emily before vanishing into the darkness. Was Emily now all alone with her questions? She took the file, held it tightly and tremblingly opened the file.
Sealed with it were photos, documents, and a map. A map that, when followed, takes you to a place that Emily had never been to before. Yet as she tried to pore over it, she suddenly felt a chill shiver down her spine—she had no escape.
She was way in too deep.
إرسال تعليق