Occāsus

Chapter 1 - Initiation

"The fuck is wrong with this country!?"

"..."

It was just yesterday,

"How many more of this should I solve? Hah?!"

"..."

Moving from a farther west of this country, a place that was far more peaceful than here.

"Idiot government, bullshit rules!"

"Sir.."

My anger was restless after hearing so many jobs I'm going to attend. As an interrogator, I must make sure my mind and soul are ready to face something that could kill me mentally or physically.

"I've had it, this will be the last, after this, I'm out."

"..."

I was trembling. I suddenly realised that saying something so fierce could make them hate me and might have given me a case about a ghoul found on a forest.

"..."

Sweat slowly pour from my head, as I am beating my mind for being so slow even if I should calculate information to solve problems, a man with a well looked tuxedo came by me and gave me documents of my next job - and probably my final.

"It sucks for you to choose this idea on leaving the GSIO interrogation team, but I won't be bothered with your exit, finish this and you can leave, fail it and you shall be punished."

I swallowed about 5 millilitres of my saliva - doing nothing but looking at his eyes like I was paralyzed. One with a displeasure and other with frightened face.

I replied after 30 seconds of starting to each other's eyes,

"Yes... s-sir."

I couldn't shout like before, those people know me well to let me be if I am shouting, but I wouldn't dare to shout at the one that I call a "boss", or the general to be exact.

I was given a handful of papers, this usually shows I'm facing a powerful enemy, the case of a murderer.

After glancing a bit at the file, it has a bolded number written on it, "188-81". I was escorted to some sort of a storage room where I would usually have a nice long chat with a witness.

Inside this room, there will be a person, a man? That is going to tell me everything about this case, if I solve it, I'll stay as the GSIO interrogation team, if I fail, so does my life.

A wooden door, approximately 2.2 meters tall and about 1 meter wide, is in front of me calling my name to open the door handle to see what will bring to me.

Surprisingly, it is dark, so dark I can't even see the boxes and books around, but all I can see is a boy. A young boy, probably 10 years old, wearing a black hoodie with his face down. His skin is tainted with dry blood. The case 188-81 is the case of a murder in a party which just happened last night. I came to realise that having three eights' meaning it's an unsolved murder case with the suspect being unknown.

I find myself sitting in front of him as I tried to look at his face under the hood. His face was as dark as his jacket, and yet he hasn't been moving, and his breath doesn't let out a single sound.

I mustn't waste my time. I am at the verge of being fired as an interrogator, and if I don't solve this. I'm sure nobody will.

I must solve it.

*Uhm

I cleared my throat as I am thinking about what to start. Usually I would start with a bit of greeting, however, I might need to make him talk first.

Perhaps, I should summarise everything before I went going casual on him. A kid on a murder case? That's a bit too much even for him to handle.

"Case, number 188-81. Night. Murder. Chaos."

I said it like I am reading some speech or something, it is embarrassing if my colleague heard it.

But wait, what should I call him? Kid? Son? Dummy? Boy? Man? Guy? I couldn't care less, I'll just say what I always say.

"Sir, you witnessed an attacked last night,"

I must make sure that he talks about what happened.

"Could you tell me exactly what had happened?"

As I finished my words, the room came silence. I heard a bit of muttering outside of the room, however, this silence gives me anxiety for some reason.

I thought it was all over. He won't speak, he won't tell the story, I can't get any information.

But then, he started facing me. I startled a bit as I see his mouth. His lips are dried and a bit of blood under it. I feel sorry for him. Under the hoodie, a sound filled with despair,

"Dark, something dark rose, I don't know how, I don't know why."

His voice shivers me. He is still a child, yet he experienced something that even a child shouldn't. I decided to stay quiet and let him continue,

"He struggled against his feelings, it kept crushing him, he's hopeless."

I'm surprised he said it like how I did. It relieves me.

What he said, "something dark", "feeling", "crushing", "hopeless", all sounds familiar. I can't think right now so I'll guess something,

"Love problem? You know kids can't have a girlfriend at your age. You're too young."

Now I felt like I'm his parents after saying it.

He looked down again with his hoodie still covering his face. He starts to inhale and shouted.

*Ahhh! It's as if he's trying to let out something deep inside him, yet he decides to force himself by shouting. For now, I must give him a mood to make him talk. I need to gain information then I can act.

"Calm down kid. Just tell me what happened, and we can sort this out, take your time sir."

This habit of me calling even a kid "sir" is killing me. Yet it's something I usually do so I won't bother.

Something came to my mind. He said "He" not "I", so he must be talking about someone else, probably his close friends or someone he knows. I need to know this "He"

"Eh also, tell me who this person that you were talking about."

He slowly looked up and until I see his eyes, the eyes that is filled with restlessness.

"It was just a few months ago."

He said it with a despairing tone.

"The beginning of something dark, yet darker, as it proceeds."

***