TRAPPED (Short Story)

Trapped: Two

Shen Wei observed the suspect's demeanour through the one-way mirror window as he carefully and with concentration jots down notes.

Yunlan grinned and stood beside Shen Wei, noisily unwrapping a lollipop with his short nails and failed. Feeling disturbed and annoyed, Shen Wei quickly snatched the lollipop, unwrapping it for Yunlan, who smirked in triumph. He's still the same.

~~~~~~~~~

"We had to bind her arms and legs. She tried self-harming. We want to know if it is pretense before she pleads insanity. That's why I need you-your expert advice."

Shen Wei nodded his head. "Tell me, every detail about her, where and how did you find her?"

"A week ago, we got a lead of Zhang Danni and Ding Dun's hideouts," Yunlan recalled the crime scene to Shen Wei.

Flashback: ⚠ Disturbing scene⚠

The team surrounded the suspect's house while Da Qing and Yunlan stood at each side of the door. "1,2,3," Yunlan signalled with his fingers and kicked the door open. Immediately they were greeted by an identifiable stench smell.

"OMG! Such an awful smell in here!" Da Qing squeezed his nose as they searched around the house, looking for Ding Dun and Zhang Danni. Dead or alive.

They came across a wardrobe, oddly misplaced in the middle of the room and tried opening it. "Chief, we can't open this wardrobe." Da Qing yelled as Yunlan quickly rushed to check. "Hurry, call Ling Jing to come here, now!"

Moments later, the wardrobe was open. Swarms of flies flew out, and maggots were gushing out from Ding Dun's corpse, leaving them to face such a gruesome scene. And sitting beside the headless corpse was Zhang Danni, holding a bloody butcher knife in one hand and the victim's head in the other hand, giggling and talking to the head as if it was still alive.

Ling Jing and Da Qing immediately covered their mouth and fled outside to puke.

End of Flashback.

"You mean, she locked herself inside that wardrobe? Let me meet her face to face!" Shen Wei requested. Yunlan obliges and leads Shen Wei into the interrogation room.

Shen Wei leaned in closer to observe Zhang Danni, who had her eyes fixed at the ceiling as she kept mumbling to herself. She suddenly jolted, startling Shen Wei, who almost lost balance. But Yunlan quickly caught him by the waist.

At that moment, Zhu Hong came in, holding a folder and smiled sweetly at Yunlan. Her expression suddenly changed as she saw Yunlan's arms wrapped around Shen Wei. "Chief! Here's what you asked for." She furiously glared at Shen Wei.

Yunlan showed Shen Wei the report of the autopsy and another report of a prescription.

"This prescription is for treating mental disorder patients. The dosage is pretty high." Shen Wei meticulously read through the reports. "And her blood test only reveals that she recently started taking this medication. A psychiatrist would never prescribe her such a high dosage."

"We don't know how she got her hands on these drugs. No sane person would want to harm themselves. Unless she got forced."

"Unless..." Shen Wei made his way to Zhang Danni again and waved his hand in front of her face. "Unless she got hypnotized into taking it."

Yunlan and Zhu Hong quickly looked at each other and then back at Shen Wei, surprised by the new information. "Hypnotized? Is it possible?"

"Yes! A person is more suggestible under hypnosis. The hypnotist can advertently fabricate memories that didn't actually occur, making them believe that it's real. It's like having a mind trapped in a state of psychosis." Shen Wei stated.