The Hidden Cause

The Gratis city resided by the livre river, whenever the falls come the silent city was filled with bustling noise from the people that make the city lively and exciting.

On a typical fall day, where the city was supposed to be filled by noise was filled with deafening silence, people were stunned as they saw an unidentified man who has a life vest ironically floating lifelessly onto the river.

"It's the fourth time of this year" states a man in his late 20's who was silently observing the rescuers retrieve the body.

On the other side, a young woman restlessly stomps her feet on the ground "Why can't you move faster?!" she roars at her teammates as she moves closer at the lifeless body of a man.

The authorized person immediately cleared up the area and the people with a curious gaze were driven out of the scene.

The man immediately strides towards the petite woman and taps her shoulders "Sacha" preventing her to move closer to the dead body.

Her body stops as she felt the familiar presence behind her, meeting the eyes of Zivi, and sighs deeply as she moves aside to give him a path towards the corpse.

Looking at the lifeless body his eyes squints as he saw the familiar pattern on the arms of the unidentified man 'A map' he thought, as his hands that are covered with gloves, traces the engrave map on the skin of the man. His fingers stop at the end of the map, 'What a meticulous person' he commented through his thoughts.

Looking at the familiar map on the arms of the unidentified man she gasps as she covers her mouth "Is it the same person?"

"Yes," Zivi nonchalantly said as he takes off his gloves and giving it to his assistant. "It is the fourth case with this kind of pattern" he looks at Sacha who has a complicated expression on her small face.

"But," before she could utter some words Zivi looks at her briefly

He let out a sigh "Yes" Pulling out a cigarette from his pocket as he walks away.

She immediately follows him, as she looked at the corpse a while ago, she could see the engraved number onto his hand, it was three, "Someone is imitating him," she said in a conclusion.

He lit up a cigarette and apathetically looked at the corpse that was miles away from them "Thank you for stating the obvious"

Sacha immediately covers her nose to prevent the smoke enter her lungs, "But which one is the imitation?" she asks looking at him.

The fingers that were typing as fast as the lightning stops, as her mind stops working at the question her character asks. "Right. Which was the imitation?" she asks herself as she looks at the thousand words in front of her. "I'm stuck again" she sighs as she slumps onto her chair munching leftover noodles that she cooked a few hours ago as her late-night breakfast. Her eyes wander looking for something that would give her an idea but her eyes lands on the mirror on her side, reflecting a woman in her early 20's with disheveled hair and clothes, she grumbles at her appearance, 'No one would see me like this so I don't care' she thought 'I'm comfortable on my own what's the use of dressing up cleanly if I'm alone? I love myself and I accept who I am' those thoughts keep running onto her head as the doorbell rang.

She looked at the clock beside her desktop and it was already past ten in the evening 'Who would come here at this hour?'

No one. No single soul will look for her especially that she was an 'orphan' and doesn't have any friends who are breathing the same air as her. While she was in the middle of deciding for her life, the door rang again, her lips start to bleed as she bites it, before she could stand on her chair her computer started to glitch and show's a phrase 'OPEN THIS DAMN DOOR'

Her eyes flickered as she looks at the door that was a few miles from where she is, she slowly gets up as the person behind the door knocks impatiently.

She breathes heavily as she grabs the pan that has noodles in it, 'It is better to be armed than to die without fighting for my life' she thought

Her anxiety grows bigger as she steps closely at her door "Who are you?" she asks, but the only thing she could hear was her heartbeat. "What do you need?" she continues,

"Payment" a timid voice was heard across the door with a hint of impatience under his voice.

Did she not pay for her bill this month? Looking at the calendar that was pinned onto her wall, she saw a red mark on the day today, 'Shoot!' she thought it was the time to pay for her rent!

Putting back the pan she was holding, she grabs her purse and immediately opened the door, she can't be chased out of this apartment. Never!

But as she opens the door a man who's in his pajamas looked at her, meeting his gray eyes through the thick glasses she was wearing, a line formed between her eyebrows, tall nose, small, lips, and a fine jawline 'Do I know him? He looks familiar but it is impossible to forget such a pretty face' she thought, scanning him from head to toe, her sight stops onto his hoodie that has characters in it.

He impatiently extends his hands onto her, "I'm here to collect my payment, Adelia Niamh"

The line in her brows deepen it seems like this man is just giving her wrinkles, she tilts her head slowly as she looked at him questioningly "A-de-lia Nyam?" she asks confusedly "Seems there was a mistake, I am not Adelia Nyam"

His gray eyes look at her sharply "Don't kid me. I need my payment" his fingers tap against his torso repeatedly.

"I don't know what misunderstanding this is but my name is Clara Delia, not some Adelia Nyam" she caresses her forehead "Neither I am in debt to you nor even know you! Ah!" she shrieks when he stops her from closing her door

"Don't try to run away" he smirks, "Even you try to deny it I have evidence" he rummages at his hoodie and takes out his phone "Look at this" he shows a picture of him with a woman with the same features as her.

"It's me?" an obvious question escaped her small mouth 'but why am wearing clothes like that?' she looked at the dress that is hugging her waist perfectly and emphasizing her boobs that she thought she didn't have.

"It's you unless you have a twin which is a ridiculous idea" his voice got a trace of ridicule, looking at the petite disheveled woman expression, she looks at him with a serious face as if acknowledging what he said. His one eyebrow went up, "Don't make a stupid face because you can't deceive me"

Looking at the smug expression at his 'pretty' face, her face crumpled 'It's already late-night and someone is scamming me through their beautiful face' she inhales deeply as leans forward and looks up to meet his gray eyes, she barely passed his shoulder but her attitude fills the shortcoming she has to her height "You can't deceive me, too. That picture" looking back at his phone and moves back to his eyes "It's photoshopped" giving him the sweetest annoyed smile she can come up, she taps his shoulder playfully "Better luck next time, boy" she waggles her eyebrows as she slips onto his hold and immediately locks her apartment door.

His gray eyes flicker as he looks at the close door in front of him 'Boy?' he asks in his thoughts as he deliberately moves his gaze towards the windows that was reflecting his broad shoulder that even his hoodie can't hide, 'When I am big?' a small faint chuckle escapes his thin lips. "I'll be back and collect the payment" he exhaled and move his feet to the direction where he came from awhile ago, but before he takes a step "You can't hide from me" he nonchalantly declared and moves his feet to the exit.

The sound of the door being opened breaks the deafening silence that the darkroom has, a tall man with a lollipop in his mouth enters scanning the room that he barely clean, he shrugged and moves his feet to his working room. Three monitors that were working hard on displaying a numerous kind of number in seconds greets him, displaying 'Welcome back, Master' for a second and go back to their job. Nodding his head, his hands reach out for the glasses in his hand, the moment he sits on his chair his fingertips move restlessly and a ton of words appear on his monitors per second.

After a few seconds of typing restlessly his fingertips stops as his eyes were focused on the screen showing a girl with a disheveled appearance in her room with a miserable expression on her small face, seeing her expression the corner of his lips moves upward.