"DING-DING-DONG-DING!", I flutter my eyes in a tired manner. " Oh...that was the best sleep that I've had in a long time. Maybe being off-duty wouldn't be so bad after all.", I mumble while stretching my arms. I try to look around, but as I had just awoken my eyes were very tired. I rub my eyes and remove the blanket off of my body. I sit up and turn my legs to the right side of the bed.

I stand up, and my legs become a little bit wobbly. I walk around the room until my legs get back to normal. I then go to my bathroom, brush my teeth, floss, and shave. I sniffed my armpits and flinched in disgust. " I probably should shower, or put deodorant.", I say to no one. I chose the latter, and opened one of the drawers, I looked at the different bottles and cans until I spotted my deodorant. I sprayed both of my armpits. I looked at my mirror smiling and said to my reflection "Look at you, handsome detective,... if you exclude the hair.", I spent a few moments admiring myself.

"Alright let's eat something for breakfast.", I thought to myself, while navigating the rooms of my house. While passing the living room, I took my charged phone. "Let's see what's happening with my bros, after all, they might have a good case to tell.", I tell myself in anticipation. I then turned on my phone to see if I got any notifications, but to my disappointment, I had gotten none.

Bored and hungry, I continue going to the kitchen. My vision slowly gets better, as my eyes get used to the light of the day. As soon as I enter the kitchen, my stomach rumbles "Well I'm just in luck" I say in a whisper. I open one of the upper cabinets and take a cereal box. I left it on top of a counter that was under the cabinet. "Now... I just need milk, a bowl, and a spoon.", I say to myself, whilst taking a spoon from a drawer. I went to the fridge, opened it, took milk, and closed it. I put the milk right next to the cereal box, and I had taken a cleaned bowl from the dish dry rack.

I took each item and relocated them to the dining table in the living room one by one. I gave a sigh of relief, after having all the ingredients needed for cereal. I poured the cereal into the bowl, and then the milk. I took my spoon and took a spoonful of cereal. I ate the spoon of cereal with no reaction, as most people would be satisfied by the sugary food. The taste of cereal isn't really bad for me, but I've eaten it almost every day, and it began to taste like ordinary vegetables.

I continued munching, eating, and digesting the food, until I was disturbed by the ringtone of my phone. "Hey... there's someone to take me out of boredom.", as a friend of mine who was working today was calling. I picked up the call "Hello Lee, why are you calling me this late?"I asked him, as it was eleven am on a Monday. "Hey Perry, well we got a chain of cases that are creating a ruckus for us.", he replied. My eyes widen a little with wonderment. "D-do you guys have a serial killer on your hands?", I asked him, "What?... no, just missing people, the local news channel is talking about it now, I'd listen to them", he asks in a bewildered manner.

Following his advice, I took the TV remote that was right in the middle of the table, and turned on the TV " Can you help Sar-.", a narrator of some kid show was interrupted by me changing the channels. I switched different channels until I found the news channel. "Chain of missing people, baffle authorities, as little to no evidence was found in each of the victims' place of disappearance.", announced the anchorwoman of the show.

" This truly is shocking, Lee.", I talk over the news being announced. "Truly, this is why I called you, we need more people in this case, and we surely need a bright one like you. If you don't mind, of course.", Lee replied. " Of Course, this case needs all the manpower it can get.", I replied in a bit loud voice.

"G-great... please come ASAP", stuttered Lee due to me shouting excitement. " Sorry.", I apologized and hung up. I turned off the TV and immediately started to eat my breakfast at a much faster pace, due to my excitement and wonder. After 1 minute of continuous eating, the bowl had run dry of cereal, which prompted me to go back to my bedroom. I dashed there in under 10 seconds, which probably could earn me a record.

I quickly rummaged my closets in search of a nice suit, which had gotten me a dark grey blazer, pretty cliche for a detective. I decided to take matching dark grey pants, and a buttoned yellow shirt. I removed my pajamas, and quickly put on the pants and shirt. However, buttoning a shirt is always time-consuming, but really... I had a lot of time. After positioning my shirt in an appropriate way, I put on my blazer.

"Now to comb my hair.", I remind myself. I quickly entered my personal bathroom and combed my hair into a likable style. I took a mouth refresher that I found in the hand basin and sprayed it a bit into my mouth. " Voila, I'm ready to go," I told all my furniture.

I again dashed across my house, until I arrived at my front door. I quickly take my car keys, wallet, and coat, from the hanging rank and table. I put on my coat, as I knew better than to withstand the cold winter that new England offered. I breathe a few breaths, to try to calm my excitement, which somehow worked. " Wow, It worked unexpectedly.", I mumbled to myself

I leave for my car, which is located a couple of streets away, My house somehow had not enough space for a garage, but I don't complain, as it surely is good exercise. While I walked to the parking area, I looked around the streets that I've been for a hundred or more times, as there was always something changing. It seemed a cafe that I knew had been gone and was being replaced by a shoe shop, at least I could buy myself some new shoes.

I greeted some people I knew and some I didn't. I glanced at interesting people, trying not to be rude. I was walking casually without care until I bumped with someone. "DOPD!", the sound of books falling was heard. "Ow... Oh, I'm so sorry sir!", said a voice of a young man. " Oh, books... it's no problem, when I was in school I always bumped with other people.", I replied chucklingly. I was then able to look at the kid. He had peach skin, dark brown hair, and hazel colored eyes.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

The kid started to pick up the fallen books, and began piling them into a big stack of books."Did you ever fix it?", he asked in a half-jokingly tone. I only shook as my response to his question. I ask him " Where are you going kid, with all of those books?", he looks at me "I was just carrying some books to a bookshop, it's near the parking area.", he replied casually.

"Well, you're in luck! I'm heading to the parking, so if you need help you can ask me.", I offer him. He stopped piling his books and turned to look at me, his face was of relief. His lips then turn into a big smile, at that moment I knew he was glad for my help. "Glady, it'll be faster this time.", he tells me. I take half of the stack, and he takes the other half. We took a few minutes, assuring our grasp on the stack. We then continued our small journey.

"Never got your name, kid.", I asked him. Without looking at me, he replies " Chuck.", he turns his head to my sight and asked me "What about you?", I reply "Perry, Perry Adams.", I wondered why he was bringing books to a book shop, so I asked him "Chuck, why are you taking these books to a bookshop?", " My dad owns the bookshop, and a new batch of books was in a post office, so he sent me off to pick them.", upon hearing they were a batch, I closely examined the books, and realized that they were all the same, and were protected by a plastic cover.

" Thank God, for the plastic covers, huh.", I tell chuck, in which I hear a chuckle " Yeah ... if not for it, I would be a dead man.", he replied, we both laughed at his remark. "So... Chuck what are you studying?", I ask him with plain curiosity. " Unsurprisingly... literature, books really had a big impact on me due to my father. What about you Perry, what do you do?", he answered and asked. "Well I'm a detective, so you probably guess I'm into mystery novels.", I answered nonchalantly, to which he nods.

"Morning news mentioned bizarre cases, are you working on it?", he asks me, to which I nodded. " I was actually off-duty, but the department was stressed, so I volunteered to help.", I tell him. He looks at me with eyes full of curiosity, I sigh "I don't know much either, so don't bother asking.", I tell him, which probably disappointed him.

For the rest of the trip together, we talked about life, my college and university years, I also gave some advice on surviving broke. It was rather fun talking with the kid, who was about to experience the ups and downs of life. However, our time was cut short, as we arrived at the book store. I give him my stack of books, which made my back a hell lot better. " Chuck, it was good talking to you, hope to see you again.", I tell him, which he nods back smiling.

I could now see the parking, as it had a sign saying "Rented Parking". As now I had no extra weight on me, I began to walk at a faster pace. In minutes, I arrive at the entrance and greet the guard posted there. I went to the stairs, as my car was parked on level -1. I find the section where I parked my car and the exact pace where I left my car. "My trusted old BMW, with its flashy red color, I remember when I first set eyes on it. It really was a good car for the price back then, when I was a student.", I tell the surrounding cars.

Using the car keys, I unlock it and enter the driver's seat. I remove my coat, by tossing it in the back seat. I then take my car key and try to ignite the engine, to my dismay it does not ignite. I became nervous at the realization that my car might be broken, but before I really believed that I checked the fuel levels. To my relief, it didn't have fuel, so I exited my car into the freezing cold, and opened the trunk. Among other things, a jerrycan appeared in front of me, which was the thing I needed"

I take the jerrycan out of the trunk and pour some gasoline into the fuel filler, trying to not spill a single drop of that expensive stuff. A few shivering moments of pouring gasoline pass. I finished half of my gas, and to my satisfaction, it seemed I hadn't spilled any of it. I put the jerrycan back where it belongs, and closed the trunk. I walked towards the driver's door, and open it. I sit down and put on the heating. After getting my body warm, I tried igniting the engines, however, this time the engines roared.

Later on

The drive from the parking to the police station was pretty uneventful. There was no traffic or commotion in the whole drive, which relieved and disappointed me at the same time. The parking of the department was full of civilian cars, luckily for me, there was a free parking slot. I did not like the fact that there were a lot of civilians, normally it meant more cases.

I enter the entrance of the station and see different people from all stages and walks of life. There were worried parents, crying children, disturbed teenagers, confused grandparents, horrified husbands and wives, and finally normal-looking criminals. I become stressed, as I hear distressing sounds across the room. I look around the room and spot a lone teenager, who seemed to be 16 to 17 years old. As I approach her, she feels scared and anxious seeing me, but she becomes calmer when she identifies me as a cop.

"Hey....?", I ask her. " J-Jessica, and you sir?", she replies. "Perry, so what brings you here.?", I question her. Jessica becomes a bit intimidated after I ask her a question. "W-well...my d-dad disappeared, just like that guy from the news.", she replies sniffling. I widen my eyes a bit, due to shock and confusion about the father's disappearance. " Did you call him, or check if he took his keys?", I ask in a softer voice. "Y-yeah, it s-seemed he left his phone and k-keys.", she replied while still sniffling. "What about the neighbors, Jessica?", I ask her my final question. She shooked her head.

"I have to leave you now, but I'll assure you that will we try to find him.", I tell her trying to gain her spirits up. She just nods slowly still sobbing about her loss. I leave the poor girl, and try to find Lee. I see a fellow cop and approach him, I said to him " Hey, do you know where Samuel Lee is?", he turns his head to me, and replies hesitantly " I think he went to the locker room a few minutes ago.", "Thank you."

I walk towards the locker room, dodging fellow officers, suspects, and criminals. I opened the door and searched each of the aisles until I see Lee taking some things out of his locker. The 40-year-old Korean-American was a professional detective, I had learned some useful tricks from him.

I shout at him while approaching him " Hey, happy belated birthday!", Lee turns his head very fast, his eyes are a bit spooked " You scared the fuck out of me!", He complains. I chuckle, and say " All jokes aside, things are looking pretty...grim.", Lee nods in response. I asked gloomily "Can we inspect what little evidence we have?", "Sure, follow me", replied Lee. Lee puts some stuff back in the locker, and began to exit the room, I followed suit.

End of chapter 1.