1- Curious Wandering

The ringing of my phone went unanswered as I was lying down on my couch watching the news, but at least the phone wasn't disconnected so it started ringing again. I closed my eyes for a few precious moments, I breathed deeply and let my breath out in a long, relaxing sigh. The phone ringing won't stop, and I turned the light on and rolled over to answer my phone, resting on one elbow. "Hello..." my voice was unsteady.

"Leo, I'm coming to see you," Rony rushed to hang up the phone before I could reply him, and his odd request made me pause. Rony was a well-known mechanic in a little town called Caspalina. The population of this town was barely over a thousand. People from around this teeny tiny city knew Rony very well. As the years go by, it was getting harder and harder to find a truly close-knit communities that embodied the feeling of togetherness and old-fashioned hospitality like Caspalina. Rony was the only mechanic with a good reputation in the town that some people used to drive more than 50 miles from outside the city to get their cars checked. I have lived in Caspalina for over five years now. I had found a mining job during my intern years and somehow I got comfortable in the setting. My friendship with Rony wasn't an extraordinary one, it was no different from the occupants of the city, for the same reason. Rony was one of the very reserved laid back people I have known. He was educated, exclusively by his father, who was a strict disciplinarian who'd left a huge effect in his life, and at the age of seven he was taught how to work with machines and engines.

Ever since I have known Rony, our conversations mainly used to be about working together for growth and stability. I have never heard a girl's name escaping from his mouth as an adoration. His wrenches, screwdrivers, pullers were his only best friends, at times I often used to catch him talking to his tools, but that night it felt a little unusual.

"What took you too long to answer?" Rony opened my apartment wide as it was left unlocked. He had a raspy voice that gave him solid confidence. He chuckled as he spoke and folded a newspaper he was reading and stared at me. His stare was sending mixed signals of one hurt and buried as if they feared being vulnerable more than the cold reality they had witnessed. Before I could answer him, he once again asked me an unexpected question. "Do you believe love at first sight?" he asked with a shy smile.

"Hmm, well I guess it depends..." I turned my head to look back at him, as his voice streamed into my ears from behind me. "But why'd you ask?" I was curious about his sudden question. He starred at the ceiling and started looking through the window. He was trying to process his thoughts and there was total silence in the room.

"Man, you know I have been in this tiny town all my life. Since the day I was born, I have never felt this way. I mean, I know everybody in this town. We all go to the same store, we wash our clothes at the same coin laundry, Sunday service we all at the same church. I mean, I don't see a lot of females around my age except the older women in their late seventies and eighties on Sunday service." he stopped talking.

"Where is all these stemming from, man?" I looked back at him.

He started walking around the room and he went to my fridge opened a bottle of beer and poured wine into an empty glass and handed me, and we took a sip even though I didn't want to take one. "So this morning, I had a client whom I have never seen before. I mean, not even a single day in my life. She was certainly mysterious, even a little eccentric, but... what did she know about my shop? There was a deep richness to her melanated skin but there was humbleness and suspicion that lives beneath it. A calm and disturbed spirit." The thing was, Rony was an emotional person. When the emotion is strong it feels the same as truth and it compels me to believe.

"A beautiful woman has a beautiful soul. However, she appears to be in her mid-twenties with no damn ring and bruises in her face and left arm. Her car was overheated, but I don't think that's the reason she pulled up. What dark secret had she been holding from me that she would be forced to reveal if she knew how I felt about her the moment I saw her? Honestly, it didn't even take me time to open up the hood of her vehicle and fix it..." he took a deep breath and took a big gulp from the bottle of beer.

I was still laying on my couch giving Rony a full attention listening too eagerly and naturally. I could read something on his face, he didn't appear to have the same spirit. He looked disturbed and frustrated, and at the same time with millions of thoughts in his head he was trying to solve a riddle.

"Is she from cities outside Caspalina?" I asked.

"Hmm..." he started thinking. He got up and started looking through the window.

"I was concerned about her bruises, they were catchy. I tried to make a way to approach her. But when she knew I have observed something odd with her, she let her guards up and suddenly she was unapproachable. She seemed to be violated. The way she looked at me seemed like she was trying her absolute best to trust a man. I was certain that she got abused though" Rony reached his pocket and took off a piece of paper and he passed it to me.

Every good and bad thing I ever learned was on the side of curious wandering. When Rony handed me the folded paper with a crease in it, I froze for a minute. Shock brings quietness within; a moment to feel my emotions kicking and prepare myself for what is to come. The paper read ' don't call the police, but find me some help. Long-mown Dr.' It had a desperate hand writing.

Throughout my school years, I've learnt not to react quickly about any scenario. Before I react, I had to solve many critical questions that were buzzing in my head. Thinking deeply about the message on the piece of paper was critical, but my ability got pretty thin when I'm immersed in negative word association. If every time I think of "police" my brain also pings "crime," my brain was polluted. This time it hit different, I read it again 'don't call the police, but find me some help. Long-mown Dr.'

"Long-mown drive is abandoned! Why'd she hide at the abandoned neighborhood if she's seeking some help?" I asked.

"After I have fixed her car, which literally took me less than five minutes; she got closer to me and handed me this paper instead. She was muted, but her eyes spoke louder. I guess she didn't have money. She had nothing with her. This alone raised my curiosity. As a matter of fact, I never thought of charging her a penny but regardless she managed to pass me this paper." he paused. A long pause. He went back to the fridge and opened another bottle of beer.

"Do you at least know where she's at now?" I asked and he just nodded his head no and left my apartment.

The next morning I got up earlier than usual, right before the dawn. I locked my apartment behind and went out for a long walk. While I was curiously wandering around the small Parks few feet from my apartment, I heard a very loud scream making an echo around the tiny streets of Caspalina. It was the kind of scream that bypasses the ears to speak right to the heart. The scream continued for a couple more seconds and then ceased faster than a microsecond. This was odd. I tried to blame the ungodly hour, but regardless it was very unusual in Caspalina city.