Under the Oak Tree - Time Before You

20 Beam

"Dammit."

Riftan bolted up from his bed and cussed. He rubbed his eyes rather violently, as if the intensity would allow him to better decipher his dream from reality.

The man had always been a light sleeper but the past weeks had rendered him into a miserable state of sleep deprivation. Placing a hand over his chest, Riftan tried to slow his breathing but his heartbeat was way too erratic for him to calm down. He hated waking up like this, but the recent recurring dreams would always build up with so much irrational emotions that he would trip back into reality.

There was always an unexplainable pain to his heart. It felt intense, yet not in the sharp piercing definition. The feeling was rather dull, like someone had burrowed deep into his cardiac muscle and retrieved something he had never knew was buried there.

Once again, the dream last night felt immensely vivid despite the choppy narrative. It was like having flashbacks without a backstory.

The dream would always start off with the sky in a surreal shade of purple and the wind was always bitter cold. Peering down from the clouds, he would always find an unconscious woman resting on his lap.

His heart would ache every time he reached for her pale cheeks, before sealing his lips on her cold forehead. The skin contact burnt so much, yet he never stopped doing it every night. Oh and yes, his nose would always be tickled by what he remembered to be a beautiful mane of red...

Maxi.

Riftan sighed with longing as he recalled the professor and their interactions back in her residence. He recalled their exchange of warmth and fluid that tasted like honey, rose and mud. Riftan subconsciously reached for his lips with his fingers, and the flame that burnt them travelled down to his lower abdomen. The man groaned.

Since that night, Maxi had left for confidential investigation with Prosecutor Leon and it was already close to three weeks since he had last saw her. While the professor was actively responding to his text messages, it was not the same as having her physically around him. Also, he really detested the fact that she was in the company of that sneaky green-eyed snake instead of his.

How can this petite lady possess so much of my sanity?

Riftan grumbled again and ran a hand through his nest of bed hair. He would definitely need a cold shower this morning.

***

"Please, Captain?"

"We're on duty, Sergeant."

"This only happens once in a year and it's already the last day! I promise I'll be really quick!"

Riftan folded his arms across his padded vest. One of the traits of an excellent detective was to be persistent. However, with Sergeant Sidina, Riftan knew his ears would bleed from her endless pleas and complaints if she did not get what she wanted. Uslin and Elliot were assigned along with them, but Sidina had specifically requested to be paired with him instead. With a long sigh, Riftan then nodded his head and sent the female sergeant off with a stern warning.

"Be quick."

"Thank you, Captain! I'll be back in a jiffy, please stay put."

Clicking his tongue, Riftan watched as his subordinate immediately disappeared into the crowd. He adjusted his bulletproof vest nonchalantly as he looked around the location. The team was in full combat armour with a rifle today. They had been sent by the headquarter to the port for the Anatolian Spring Festival as reinforcement to monitor the public safety. With the rising cases of abduction and serial murders across the Western continent, the law enforcement force had been on red alert to ensure that no more incidents would happen on Wedon's soil.