Wall

1

Slouching into his chair, the suspended detective poked at the takeout he had ordered, despite his constant lack of appetite. He ran a hand through his greying hair, sighing as he found himself left alone with his thoughts. Mark Acker was a police detective, a good one, but lately, he’s been out of it. Blanking out mid investigation, the insane amount of stress, the list went on. End of the day, he was put on paid leave. Until when? God knows.
Every day got more boring, checking in with his co-workers who refused to tell him anything, not like they were allowed to anyway. He drank away his thoughts before going to bed daily; he was a workaholic and now a mess. The investigation he was on, if he hadn’t been so passionate, so into it, maybe he would have had it sorted out by now instead of it consuming his thoughts. But no one had, and missing people piled up periodically, more information being added and more details becoming more confusing. Usually, when they get more information, with each extra mystery, it meant he was nearing an end, but for this, it just blew up the knot of details, making it messier and more complex.
It made him mad, frustrated. It’s been a week since the middle-aged man was out of work. He bet his co-workers who cared half as much as he did know more about his case than he did. He wished he could just rock up to his office and open the updated case file while sipping at an Americano. Constant thinking just annoyed him more; he needed a drink.
Grumbling as his back cracked due to standing, he walked to his off-white fridge and opened it. Reaching inside, the detective paused. His phone was ringing. Practically prancing on his phone, he held it to his ear hard enough to leave a dent in his skin.
“Hello?” he spat out quickly, Australian accent thicker than usual with the lack of using his voice in the past week, that and the typical grain being enhanced by the lack of water.
The higher voice on the other end chucked. “You sound like shit, Acker!”
This was returned with a groan. The man on the other end hadn’t been his boss, despite the stations’ main phone being used, it was a co-worker, James White. “What do you want, James...”
“Don’t sound so excited to hear me.” The cheery man teased, “I’m just giving you a...heads up? I think boss’ gonna have you back soon, like real soon.”
Mark lit up, perking in his place and opening his mouth to speak, now holding the phone with two hands as if to make sure he wasn’t hearing things. But as if on queue, his face twisted into an uneasy expression, looking as if he had been told the worst news of his life.
“I’m going to work with... a rookie?” he asked, carefully, practically warning James to be careful about his answer.
“Uh...yeah...” the static voice over the phone drew out. “Look, boss wasn’t gonna have you back for another month. I negotiated my ass off tryna get you in!” he whined, causing Mark to pull his phone away from his ear with a grumble into his hand.
Mark pinched his nose-bridge and rubbed his face, tapping his foot as he stopped to think to himself for a bit. Although he dreaded the possibility of training someone ever since he moved to Florida, working with a human paperweight was better than sitting at home for another three weeks. So, Mark was going to do it. He thanked James quickly and hung up, sitting down at his kitchen table, completely forgetting about the bottle he planned on drinking just a bit ago.
This was going to be an annoying week.