Silence of the Darkness

October 15th

October 15, 04:00 AM... — "Be quiet for a moment," an unfamiliar voice whispered. — "They are asleep. They've hidden it somewhere around here..." Heavy footsteps were heard coming down from the second floor. One of the whispering shadows in the darkness pushed the other: — "Move back! He's going to see you now!" Oliver stood at the top of the stairs in fear. Staring into the darkness, he asked with a trembling voice: — "Who are you? Dad!" News: October 15, 04:50 AM

Several unknown individuals entered the home of Henry Brown's family for the purpose of robbery. As a result of the shootout that occurred, police major Henry Brown and his wife Jessie Brown were murdered. The family's 13-year-old son, Oliver Brown, survived death thanks to his father using himself as a shield for him.

After Oliver graduated from the academy, he was appointed as an officer to the department where his father once served—the Criminal Investigation Division. There was no emotion on Oliver's face as he walked through the door of the department. The veteran officers looked at him as Major Brown's son, but no one was aware of the storm inside his mind. The chief commissioner led Oliver to the room at the end of the hallway. He opened the door, stepped aside, and pointing to the dusty desk, said in a low voice: "This was once your father's room... Now it is yours

Oliver quietly entered the room and softly closed the door. The family photo on the desk and chair was covered in dust. He sat quietly in the armchair and, looking at the picture, shed a single tear. Immediately wiping away the tear, he stood up and approached the window to watch the outside. Even though years had passed, that bloody murder scene never left his mind. The sounds of gunshots, the bullets piercing his family's bodies, those screams, and the chaos had been echoing in his ears every day for years. Although everything went very quietly that day, when he returned home and went inside, he found a letter thrown through the door. The letter read: "Leave this city, or the same fate as your father awaits you". Oliver took the letter, lay down on the sofa, placed it on his chest, and closed his eyes.

Oliver smiled and closed his eyes. When he came to the department the next day, he didn't say anything to anyone about it. As he was about to open the door to his room, his colleague approached him: — "Oliver, there is a letter on the desk. A courier brought it and left." It was written in the letter:

— "Where the city's pride meets the sea, under the Moon's 180-degree gaze, 'Justice' counts its breaths among the grains of sand. The waters will come to wash away the sins at 22:45. If you are late, the sea will choose silence."

Oliver looked at the letter in silence for a while, then slowly placed it on the desk and turned toward the window in surprise. There was an expression of deep concern on his face as he watched the people moving hurriedly in the street. He called his colleague over and said in a determined voice: — "Investigate the courier. Find out exactly who sent this letter and who delivered it to them."

In the evening, his colleague approached Oliver and informed him: — "The letter was given to the courier from a black pickup truck. Since the inside of the car was dark, he couldn't see the driver, but he says there were several people inside. We checked the address provided by the courier; because it was an area near the sea at the city exit, there were no cameras there. Therefore, we could not determine their identities.

Evening had fallen. Oliver stood in front of the window, filtering what his colleague had said through his mind. Suddenly, his eyes caught the old church rising at the highest point of the city. The moonlight was falling from behind the church at such an angle that the building's massive shadow pointed to the shore like an arrow. Oliver experienced a moment of shock, then turned to his colleague and shouted: — "Everyone to the shore! Take the search dogs as well, hurry up! We don't have a single second to lose!"

When they reached the shore, the sea was shrouded in pitch-black darkness; only the turbulent sound of the waves and the gentle whisper of the wind could be heard. The other policemen who came to the shore were trying to understand what was happening in confusion. Oliver broke their silence with his determined voice: "Don't just stand there! Search this area, someone must be here! Don't waste time!" he shouted, as if waking everyone up.

The searches, which lasted for several hours, yielded no results. Just as hopes were about to fade, Oliver narrowed his eyes, looked at the dark waters, and suddenly shouted: — "What is that? Look over there!" Near the shore, everyone could now make out a piece of wood whose tip appeared from inside the water every time the waves receded. Without thinking, Oliver threw himself into the water and began to swim rapidly toward the target wood. As soon as he reached it, his voice echoed on the shore: — "Hurry up! Help me!" They pulled that lifeless body tied to the wood onto the shore. Oliver collapsed on the sand. "If only I had understood a little sooner, it wouldn't have been like this..." he whispered, punching the sand in anger. His despair had shaken all the policemen around him.

The silence on the shore was unbearable. After seeing Oliver's despair on the sand, the policemen did not dare to approach him. No one asked questions, no one found comfort. The duty officer simply squeezed Oliver's shoulder and said, "Go rest, Oliver. We will talk in the morning".

The next day: Oliver entered the chief's office. There were dark circles under his eyes, as if he had stayed awake all night. The chief leaned back in his chair and looked at him carefully.

— "Tell me, Oliver. I received information from other employees yesterday, but I was waiting for you to recover. Tell me in detail, what happened?"

— "Everything started with that cursed letter, Chief. In the letter, it was written: 'Where the city's pride meets the sea, under the Moon's 180-degree gaze, 'Justice' counts its breaths among the grains of sand. The waters will come to wash away the sins at 22:45. If you are late, the sea will choose silence.' I understood this too late, far too late."

The Chief looked at the writing and was surprised: — "What did you understand from this?"

Oliver leaned a bit further over the desk, looked straight into the chief's eyes, and began to explain every detail one by one: — "Chief, this letter is not just a bunch of words; it is a death sentence calculated with mathematical precision. With the phrase 'Where the city's pride meets the sea,' the killer was referring to the highest point of the city—that old church. The 'Moon's 180-degree gaze' is not accidental either. In astronomy, this is the moment of 'Opposition.' That is, the moment when the full moon rises exactly from behind the church, casting the building's massive shadow like an arrow straight onto that shore. At the same time, this situation points to the peak point of the high tide; in this season, the water level rises to its maximum precisely under that angle."

The '22:45' time in the letter is the exact minute when the water would be at its highest point. By saying 'among the grains of sand,' the killer was telling us that the victim was buried in the shallows, in the sand, and would suffocate when the tide rose. By the time we got there, the sea had already finished its job..."

A few minutes later, investigators entered and placed the preliminary information about the deceased on the desk. As the Chief flipped through the documents, the expression of surprise on his face was replaced by fear and horror. He pushed the papers toward Oliver and said: — "Oliver, look at this! The deceased is a former police officer... but that's not even the most terrifying part. The autopsy has determined that a symbol resembling a human ear was carved into his chest with a knife.