Chapter 1: Unending Whispers

Kia Ling walked into the station and wasn't surprised to feel the air in the office change. Whispers became quieter but somehow louder, like more people were talking but now took greater care to not be heard. Officer Kane, who was clearly walking to his desk, coffee in hand, decided to take a detour just to avoid her. And her former friend turned acquaintance, Betty, suddenly had an important phone call as soon as she saw her.

Betty smiled and waved politely before looking away. She was really trying to hide the truth. But the truth was clear. There was no phone call. Kia didn't hear the phone ring.

It had been three months since her attack, and yet the rumors hadn't died down. As it would turn out, the officers of Bane City have very little to talk about. But the little they do have to talk about, they talk about it for as long as possible. For an advanced city, home to a burgeoning tech industry, the city's cops were extremely backward in thinking and traditional in their worldviews.

Kia Ling was not raped by the serial killer of Avalon Groove. But that didn't matter. They either didn't know this fact or didn't care. All they knew was that Kia was found lying on the floor with her panties down and a buck-naked Agarath lying on top of her.

As Kia walked to her desk, she considered getting up there and screaming at them all.

"I wasn't raped. He didn't touch me."

"But she knew that this would achieve nothing. An outburst like that was only going to convince them that she was crazy. Besides, those who wanted to believe she was raped would still continuing believing that that was exactly what happened."

Her mind probably suppressed the memory.

She was passed out. She probably didn't feel anything.

For an organization that prided itself on defending truth and justice, the Bane City Police Force didn't care about the truth in this case. They only cared about their whisperings and gossip. Kia didn't mind the stories and jokes. She only wished they stuck to simply talking amongst themselves. She wished with all her heart that they didn't treat her like she was weak, diseased, cursed, and damaged.

Going back to the way things were before that night would have been much better. But if she couldn't change the past, she wished she could, at the very least, change the way people saw her, especially those she cared about. Like Jean, who approached her with a smile on his lips but a look of pity in his eyes.

"Kia the tiny killer," Jean said as Kia sat at her desk. His voice was cheerful, but Kia couldn't help but hear the tiny nasal sound of pity at the end of every word he said. Or maybe it was all in her head.

"Hey Jean?"

"Last night was a blast. You should have been there," he said, as he rested his butt on the edge of her desk so he was looking down at her. While Jean wasn't treating her like nothing had happened, he came pretty damn close. Which was far more than she could say for her other colleagues.

"I don't think anyone wanted me there."

"I did."

"Maybe. But, not anyone else. I would simply have ruined the party."

"Nonsense. Everyone asked about you. I had to do the unsavory job of pulling excuses out of my butt."

"Asking about me is very different from wanting to see me. You know this, Jean."

There was an awkward silence as Jean tried to decide between keeping up the act that nothing was wrong or getting into a really awkward and uncomfortable conversation. In true Jean style, he deflected the conversation and changed the topic altogether.

"I would have loved to see you there. It was boring without you. Anyways, the captain would like to see you?"

"What? And you didn't lead with that?" Kia asked as she sprung to her feet.

"He seemed to be in a bad mood. I wanted you to enjoy a few minutes of pleasantness before going into his office."

She cursed under her breath as she began to walk towards the office with Jean walking beside her.

"You know he gets angrier the longer he waits, she said. At least you would be in there with me."

Jean chuckled. "Nope," he said as he turned to the right, leaving her right in front of the office. He turned around and mouthed, "good luck," while raising his eyebrows mockingly before turning his back to her and walking away.

Kia took in a deep breath and let it out. Then she knocked twice and stepped into the captain's office.