Chapter 1 - Beginning

Year 2024.

The day so far has been rather uneventful. Paper, paperwork, and pencil marks coating your fingers. It's roughly 8 in the evening now, and you're readying up to finally go home when you hear a familiar voice speak up nearby.

"Matty, would you mind helping me over here?" asks Harry, one of your fellow detectives, his voice emanating from around the nearby doorway.

"Ah, No problem!"

You think it won't be that bad...until you open into the long hallway and look to your left.

A deep sigh exits your lungs when you see it.

Harry has 2 large boxes in his hands, but there's piles of boxes behind him, waiting to be picked up.

"You can't be serious." you say, pinching the bridge of your nose.

"Sadly, this is real." he deadpans, letting out a deep sigh at the end of his sentence.

You walk past him solemnly. The boxes seem to be about 20 pounds in weight, nothing too bad considering you've been going to the gym for a while now.

"Well...let's get started I suppose." you say with another sigh.

Your muscles ache with every box you carry, and soon enough, there's only a few left.

"So...have you heard?" asks Harry.

You tilt your head, there could have been more detail put into that question, but you decide to question it.

"Heard what, exactly?"

Harry pulls a piece of scrumpled paper out of his back pocket. "Read it." he says with a grimace. This can't be good.

On the paper sits an image of a bloodied body. Another image shows a small plastic recreation of a White Pelican next to it. The area around the body is generally dark, seems to have been at night.

"The picture was submitted to the agency by an anonymous person. By submitted....I mean left at the doorstep of our building last night. No explanation given."

"Well, we have a case on our hands then."

"Let's just focus on getting these boxes run back and forth so we can go home, Matt." says Harry quickly, seemingly trying to finish the conversation as to get what he saw out of his head.

You agree, helping to bring the boxes back and forth until the exact last one.

"I'll take this last one, pack your things and head home Matty, you look exhausted."

Harry might just be right. You feel like you're going to pass out already with how late it has gotten. You let off a quick salute motion with your ring and middle fingers straight, before heading off.

The doors of the building open up into a pitch dark, snowy abyss that is outside tonight. You can see your car, and head over to it, unlocking the door, and turning it on.

The drive home is uneventful. You turn right, off the motorway, exiting into a main road. The road leads you straight home.

You pull into your apartment building, turning off your vehicle and grabbing your keys, heading inside, saying hello to the tired receptionist, and unlocking your door.

"Another tiring day over and done..." you mumble, rubbing your eye, a yawn quickly following.