The rain last night had washed the entire town new; every hint of dust on the trees, the park benches, the cobblestone pathways had vanished. Loughtown now stood in the silence, drenched with the drops the rain had marked before departing.
There, now, blew a chilly breeze in the morning air. The sun rose lazily. The whole world seemed at peace.
And yet, the crowd of the morning walkers in the southern part of the town stood disturbed, their faces pale with horror.
Wren Winters, 20 years old, noticed the eerie atmosphere and decided to approach, every squelch of her boots on the small puddles making her uncomfortable. She pushed herself through the loud crowd that was now gasping, shouting, debating full of fear.
Their voices filled her ears until she halted, her black eyes staring at the scene that had caught everybody's attention.
A dead body, drenched with blood and rain.
It was a construction site, and the corpse wore a worker's uniform— the yellow jacket and helmet—the yellow colour, however, blended with the deep red of blood.
The face of the young man was smeared with blood too, his eyes rolled back and drool that trickled from the corner of his lips was now dry and pale. His body rested against the tree with his head hanging low, sunken under his shoulders.
The sight was terrible. And for Wren, the whole world seemed to have gone silent, every sound a mere whisper to her ears,
Yelen—the country of 0 crimes, was no more.
Behind her, the people's voices were loud and clear.
"How is this even possible? Eight years without the sign of the smallest thefts and now this?"
"The government protected us and will continue to protect. We just have to believe and stay calm. Don't panic. I am sure they will hang the murderer soon."
A man suddenly puked on spot with what he saw and smelled.
"But who is this murderer? Why all of a sudden? How did such a murder happen and how did he escape the government's eyes?"
"How much pressure do you wish to give them? The young king has given his best to ensure our safety for eight whole years straight! Not to mention, his father died right before that!"
"We don't mention the old king…"
"What will we do now? What do we do? Lord, save us!"
Wren hadn't heard any of this in the background. She just stood, frozen, her eyes scanning the body and its surroundings with a small guilty smile. Guilty for smiling. Smiling for she had found a case for her brother after all these years.
She snapped out of her thoughts as a woman shook her shoulders frantically. "Don't worry dear! I have sent my son to call the police! He should be– They should be here at any moment now."
Wren took a deep breath as her face put on a sympathetic look, before wrapping her arms around the woman into a hug. The woman gasped then hugged her back tightly, her trembling body now comforted.
"It's okay", Wren whispered before pulling away. All of them, strangers to each other, now stayed together, talking among themselves until a voice broke out from a distance. They turned their heads to see a young boy approaching from afar, followed by a group of officers.
"Mother!" He shouted at the top of his lungs and the woman beside Wren now ran towards him with open arms. She hugged him tightly, comforting herself as much as comforting him.
The people were truly shaken, Wren thought, for they had led too much of a comfortable life. A sudden murder is no joke, and for inexperienced Yeleners that had long forgotten crime, it was like their world was about to be shattered. She could leave, now that the police had arrived.
…
A bitter smile came on Wren's lips as she took one last glance of the mother and son, before she turned around to leave for home.
Her pace increased as the distance from the construction site grew. She was soon sprinting on the upward slope of the pavement, then going down, never stopping for a breath. Her boots splashed over the tiny pools of the rainwater on the black, gleaming cobblestone road.
One hand was on her chest, feeling the racing heartbeat. Excitement for finding a case for Orion or the fear at the scene she had started her day with or the way she was running-- she didn't know which one made her heart thump that fast and loud and nor did she care.
The main road soon diverged into two. She ran straight although the road with the sharp right turn would have taken her to her destination too.
The path narrowed down, the trees became denser and the slope gentler. Her pace slowed as her body was shadowed under the canopy, an extremely soft green hue reflecting over her body.
Wren went through the gate of a bookstore, the two-storied building waiting for her return as usual. She pushed open the front door, making the 'CLOSED' signboard sway slowly from where it hung. The dark bookshelves didn't seem welcoming enough but she loved it. By the end of the room, just next to the money-counter, stood a door restricted from costumers.
She opened the door to reveal a narrow corridor.
Taking off her shoes and keeping them in the corner, she first entered the kitchen to greet Mrs. Honey good morning and then give her a bad morning with her most recent news.
The soft clang of the cups and plates welcomed Wren.
"Back from your walk already?" She asked, sipping her tea.
"Yes. Is Orion awake?"
"Is he ever? At this time?" She giggled.
"Well, he better be today. It's a crazy one! You know that construction in the southern part of our town? Someone lies there dead today-"
The woman choked on her tea. She cleared her throat hastily.
"Accident, right?!"
Wren shook her head with a blank face.
The woman continued in disbelief, "No no this can't be happening… The construction site, right? Maybe they have bad safety measures."
A subtle frown drew on Wren's face as she shook her head sideways. "It was a murder, Aunt Honey."
Aunt Honey. That's what the siblings called the generous landlady who had raised them as her own kids for 8 years after that fire that killed their parents.
"Oh and you are just so cool about it? No roaming around the streets from now on. Just stay in the bookstore. Your customers will come and go. You will keep earning. What else is needed? Oh, I need to plan. I can't let another Dolvian storm break us all."
She had lost her husband and child.
Aunt Honey stood up, walking to and fro in the kitchen, muttering some words in her mouth that Wren couldn't understand other than the phrase, "just like the beginning of the Dolvian days."
Wren sighed, realizing the memory of those days were still fresh in people's mind.
Dolvian days…
Those Dolvs still haunted the Yelener's memory.
It all started 10 years ago, the Dolvian storm. They were the people from the forests of Yelen, those Dolvs.
The former king had been ruling in the most unforgiving way. Deaths every day. Innocent people caught and hanged with no evidence. He had been losing support from his people.
The first to protest radically were the Dolvs. They, however, were very aggressive in their action. They attacked the nobles and those related to them. A civil war broke out and Yelen didn't cool down until the king was killed one year later.
The next king, or the current King Cedric, was sensible enough to not go down that path. He had given people new rightful laws and freedom and gained much support after introducing the program of the zero crimes and actually achieving it. But they never explained how they achieved it.
All they said was, "We will punish the criminals severely and pass the justice according to the crime they do. We can see them all." Of course that's the only thing they could say. Yeleners somehow were shocked at the decreasing rate of crimes that year. Soon, there were no crimes. That was the start of the no crime country from 8 years ago. However now there was a break in the system.
Wren watched the woman silently panicking and felt sorry. However, it was yet to confirm if the murderer was still roaming in the town or not.
"It's okay, Aunt Honey. I think the murderer won't be waiting in our town to get arrested. He is probably gone."
The woman looked at Wren then sighed. "You are right. There's no use overthinking. But I still want you to stop going out too much."
"Well, your tea." Wren's eyes gestured towards the cup. She wanted to change the subject of going to morning walks as soon as possible.
Aunt Honey sighed. "Already cold."
Wren shrugged. She went to the stairs to go to her brother. She suddenly halted.
"Also, Good Morning to you, Aunt Honey! "
There was no reply, just a disapproving grunt.
She went upstairs.
Walked to Orion's bedroom.
Slammed the door open.
Orion jumped from his chair in shock, his pen falling from his hand to the floor. His shocked face turned to anger.
"What's your obsession with slamming open the doors?!" He snapped.
"What's with you not sleeping today?" She snapped back. It was shocking for her to see him awake so early. He rolled his eyes at her strange question. She scowled.
"I brought a good news for you." She said slowly, scanning his table. Orion was up early to reopen his search for clues of his parents. Old newspapers and letters laid scattered. She frowned. He can't stay unemployed, repeating the same thing with no real goal.
"No news is good for me."
"Grumpy Old Man. There's a murder. Southern area. Outside gates of that construction site."
His ears perked up with interest. She smiled proudly and continued it with the details she had observed and the theories she had made.
"The body laid resting to a tree. It was a worker. At night. Alone. Super weird. Must have been called by the murderer as a trap.
Skid marks were around the body. He was either running frantically in the dark, slipping again and again or fighting with the murderer.
There was blood on his jacket but not blood flowing out his body. I don't think it was his. The killer must have already been injured and then the killer's blood got smeared against his victim."
She stopped and looked him into the eyes. "RS? "
He shook his head. "Shouldn't be. They won't do a thing so easily detectable. They are a secret organization remember? I doubt these small town police even know about them. It should be someone else. But how come someone break through the Red Scorpion's system. Eight years... "
"So?"
"I don't know. I have to check it for myself. You are not reliable you know."
"Brother, I just gave you details better than-"
He stood up and picked up his coat had been hanging on his chair for a week now.
"-any civilian– Wait, is that even clean?"
" Not dirty either." He shrugged. He turned and headed out for the crime scene, leaving Wren behind, perfectly content with the choice to not look at that corpse a second time.