Clouded News

On a gloomy night, the sky was overthrown by a huge giant shadow and the crystalline mountains above, grew furious with darkness. In a bickering moment, a trembling voice was heard, it was thunderous and denoted mightiness. Following this thunderous voice was a blinding light which shone upon a dark small office. The lady seated in the office raised her head and looked to the heavens, where this turbulent storm was raging from. Well, though mighty, the rain wasn't as mighty as the object in between her index finger and her thumb. With this object, the lady with golden hair and dark blue eyes was recording the sales she had made for the day under a brightly lit lamp. A sweet scent that grew stronger when sales were high was suddenly replaced by a nauseous seaside smell. "Is it because of the heavy droplets that are pouring out from the sky?" She thought to herself.

Proving her thoughts right was the window to her right. It was unendingly being whipped by these mighty strokes of water. Indeed, the downpour was great. And yet, someone was being forced to drive at maximum speed in this heavy rain.

In her black hatchback, a lady in a blue evening gown stepped on the accelerator and exceeded the speed limit. Hands fastened to the steering wheel, she was driving through the streets in a haste. Her phone started buzzing but she ignored it. Looking at the files next to her, she increased her pace and drove at maximum speed. As she drove through one unusually lonely street, a black sedan approached her from behind. She did not take notice until her vehicle was propelled forward by an external force, the black sedan being the culprit. She sensed the danger looming and sped up more, this time, she withheld from decelerating. However, the person behind caught up with her and hit her vehicle from behind again. Seeing that her vehicle's strength could not match up with her pursuers, she devised a strategy. Whenever her pursuer drew closer to her, she would switch lanes before he could hit her. This partly worked as the vehicle chasing her was no longer granted the freedom to harm her.

As the downpour intensified, the car chase followed the same intensity, with wipers continually waving their arms repeatedly. After driving for a long time, the lady realized that her pursuer was no longer in control of the chase, hence she began to think of how to wrap up the chase. Knowing the streets well, she began to lead her pursuer as she wished. As part of her plan, she took her foot off the accelerator, briefly allowing her pursuer to be in line with her once they reached a tunnel. The pursuer then tried to take advantage of the situation by veering into her lane. However, she disappeared from his sight without him taking notice. Her pursuer then stopped his vehicle to search for her and saw her taking another route unbeknownst to him in the tunnel, the size of the tunnel making it impossible to turn immediately and catch up. With that she got away.

Her pursuer, a dark husky man with bald head, wearing a dark gray coat stepped out of his automobile. He took out his phone and made a call. In the downpour, he told the recipient: "Sir, I lost her."

After saying this, he displaced the phone from his ears to avoid listening to any insults. Timing perfectly, he brought the phone back to his ear and told his recipient: "But she's not the only one. They were two. My men are after the other lady."

After saying this, once again he displaced the phone from his ear and hung up afterwards.

Elsewhere, another ongoing chase ensued. Unlike the previous lady who escaped, this lady stopped her vehicle after five motorists surrounded her. These men were acting under the instruction of the dark husky man with a bald head. With clubs and knives in hands, they kept banging on the victim's window, asking her to open the vehicle before they broke in. The lady panicked and was puzzled as to what to do. However, an approaching motorcycle threw its light on the motorists and sped at them. Most of them jumped out of the way as he drifted towards them. Stopping his cycle abruptly, he signaled the lady to leave. She quickly stepped on the accelerator and left them behind. The motorists quickly got up to chase after her but were stopped by the new arrival. Since he had blocked them from getting access to their motorcycles, they tried to fight him but refrained from doing so once he pulled out a revolver.

The lady who was just saved then made a phone call. And coincidentally, the phone of the lady with dark blue eyes rang as the call was directed to her. After placing her mighty weapon down, she picked up the call.

"Mia?" The lady who was driving called her friend by her name, trying to confirm if she was on the line.

"Hey Juliana, what's up?" Mia asked the caller. The two were friends from childhood and were even considered sisters by many, so receiving a call from Juliana was not a surprise for Mia, until Juliana continued talking.

"Mia there's something you need to know," Juliana mentioned but due to the loud sound from the heavy rains, Mia could hardly hear a word. Therefore, she asked her: "Juliana, are you okay? I can't hear you well..."

Despite this, the desperate Juliana went ahead to say: "Listen carefully! In Harvey Asphalt's…."

Before she could utter another word, a great amount of light reflected on her vehicle. She turned her head to see the source of the light and received a great shock. A large truck moving at full speed was approaching her vehicle from the west. Before she could react, it closed in on her and knocked her vehicle at a crossroad, pushing it all the way to the end of the road. Finally, the truck gave Juliana's hatchback a little forward nudge, causing the car to somersault down the sloping hill. 

The crash was huge and so was the sound that it produced. It was like the sound caused by a large rock toppling down a mountain. Upon hearing the sound of the crash, Mia's heart jumped out of her chest. With her lips trembling, she called out her friend's name: "Juliana, are you okay? Juliana, Juliana talk to me. Juliana! Juliana!"

Though she had not seen what had happened, the tears fell freely for she knew that her friend was not in a favorable condition. The driver of the truck stepped out of his vehicle and walked over to the wrecked vehicle before him which was upside down. He saw the phone which had fallen out of the vehicle and once he heard Mia's voice, he crashed it with his giant foot. He then smashed the window, took out some files that were beside Juliana and opened them. He went through them slowly and once he completed his check, he threw a device into the vehicle. He left the scene and got back in his truck. After which he started the truck and drove for over ten minutes. Then he stopped abruptly. Picking up a remote, he hit the red button. The timer started counting and after thirty seconds, the vehicle exploded.

Mia kept calling Juliana's line but it wasn't going through. This made her feel restless as she didn't know what had happened to her friend and could not reach her either. Never in her life had she felt so powerless, useless and lost. Taking out an umbrella, she closed the bakery and tried to hail a cab. None was available at the moment. She then decided to call her mom to find out if she knew anything. She called but her line did not go through either. This caused Mia to wonder: "What exactly is going on?"

But standing idle with an umbrella in hand wasn't going to change a thing. So she began to walk in the rain with her legs towards the south, the direction of her home. Walking from the bakery to her house was a thirty minute walk, so it wasn't an impossible task. But unlike any other day, this day's walk felt like the longest journey she had ever embarked on, for her heart could not rest. Once she got to the white mobile home, she opened its white wooden door and trooped inside. The first place she found herself in after unlocking the door was the hall. It wasn't so large but looked empty. She could see just finished plates on the dining table which was at the southern part of the hall, placed in a small corner. The state of the plates indicated that her family might still be home, so she began to call their names aloud. 

"Mom? Mom?" She called. After which she began calling her adopted little brother who was now entering the late stages of adolescence. "Elliott? Elliott?" She kept calling them and heard no response. She opened the door to her brother's room after knocking a few times. But once she peeped inside, she saw nothing other than the neatly arranged room which could be used for a hotel reservation.

She went to her mom's room and knocked on the door. Not hearing any response, she opened the door and went inside. Her mom's room also lacked the one she was searching for; the owner of the room. Instead, all that Mia could see were memories, ones of the past and ones which were about to become history.

At this point, Mia realized that her mom and adopted younger brother, Elliott, were not home.

So she took out her phone and called them once more. This time, her mom picked up her phone.

"Mom, where are you?" She asked in a hurry and heard the woman dearest to her heart reply back in tears, saying: "Your brother and I are in a cab to the hospital. Juliana… Juliana had a car accident and is fighting for her life. We just received a call from Asphalt Hospital and are heading there."

"What? Asphalt Hospital? You mean, the largest hospital in Golden City?" Mia asked her.

"That's right," her mom confirmed.

"Alright, I'll be on my way as well," Mia said and quickly dashed out.

Outside the house, she grabbed her motorcycle but her hand trembled so much that she was unable to start it.