Imagination is the key to the enigma _TOME 1_ by Fatéma-zahra Benmoussa

Chapter 1: A crime in the dock : New life - Part 1

'Sometimes people go through tough times and think that they're doomed to never overcome them. But life has its own surprising way of rewarding those who believed they deserved better, and worked harder, with a second chance in the least expected time.'

The young girl tried to get up, despite her blurry vision, but she was suddenly hit so hard on her head that she fell immediately to the ground again.

"Look, I promise I never meant to hurt you, but YOU made me do it. If I keep you alive, you will tell your family that I was your kidnapper , then all my plans will fall apart! Ugh! You shouldn't have seen me, so please do understand!"

The victim looked at the speaker trying to figure out who they are, but that was in vain: she couldn't recognize their voice or even guess their gender because of her already weak senses at that moment.

Few seconds were enough for her to completely lose consciousness.

-Person1: "Let go of me! Just let me do what I need to do bro! I don't understand why you're trying to stop me?! She SHOULD die! You KNOW that because of HER-"

-Person2: "I know- I know, it's okay. Her punishment will be much harder than that, don't worry about it! I came to help you out, you idiot! GO! I said go NOW, before anyone sees you! I'll take care of the rest."

He watched his partner go further and further away then he grabbed the victim to force-feed her a gray pill which stopped her wounds' bleeding at once. After that, he whispered in her ear saying: "You won't die now, we still need you around nosy girl!"

"Hello! 911? We need an ambulance..."

A few meters away from the crime scene, we could hear the screaming voices of young frightened girls. Their ages were around fifteen, and these were some reasons behind their fear: the scary questions that came into their minds such as: 'Is that the legend's blood-thirsty monster's doing?' and especially: 'what if he picks me next?', plus of course, the fact that the victim was around their age.

- Girl1: "Hey! *She poked the shivering terrified girl next to her* Tell me do you know who she is?"

- Girl2: "Not at all! *Crying her eyes out* B-but.. I wonder- what the poor girl has done f-for them to hurt her like that? Do you happen to know her?"

- Girl1 scared of blood, glanced at the crime scene, then quickly looked away, so she won't have to throw up, before answering: "No, but as much as I'm disturbed by what I'm seeing, I'm dying to know that information. Do you think the culprit has gone far away? Is he coming back?"

-Girl2 answered with a trembling voice: "I have no idea either! I heard one of the girls assuming that the culprit was preparing to like totally devour the victim, if it wasn't for doctor Max's vehicle approaching. Imagine she's right!"

-Girl1 chocked, and started shivering as well, covered her ears before screaming: "N-No! STOP THAT! *She stayed quite for a bit then shouted again_ she had a scary thought* Imagine the culprit's one of the criminals who pick girls our age! What if I were next? HAA!!"

Don't be surprised by the two girls' seemingly exaggerated thinking, the victim's blood drops were all over the place, and not just any place _the deserted dock. In other words, the calmest place in Somniuma (Land of dreams).

This place was abandoned by everyone but few elderly fishermen. Why? Simply because they're not afraid of the old myths. Honestly, why would they be, when THEY made these up. The funny thing about this; is that these two girls for example are gullible enough to believe such tales. So, if it wasn't for the all the fuss and their curiosity, they wouldn't have set a foot there.

Same goes for the other girls, apparently.

Our story starts late in the year3100, and exactly from Estelle's assault. On that unfortunate day, the ambulance and police floatomobiles' sirens were echoing deafeningly everywhere around the deserted dock - that never witnessed, before that day, anything but the sad news of the drowning illegal immigrants.

#Note : A floatomobile is a floating automobile. #

Yup! This time it was different. The crime scene was surrounded by a yellow plastic ribbon in which was written in big black letters things like: DO NOT CROSS, NO TRESPASSING. That's the barrier that morally protects the scene, and stops the curious ones from coming any closer. They know that only the specialized party was allowed to cross it as it is THEIR job to crack the case.

There were 4 teams in total, that collaborated with each other for that matter:

The scientific police team; led by the 20 years old analyst - Steven. He wore some medical clothing with white gloves, and a mask that hid his nose, mouth, and his silky blond hair. The badge on his arm was clearly visible along with the sentence printed on the back of his uniform: S.P SOMNIUMA. The blue-eyed young man was squatting and examining the victim pitying her a little too much. That's normal - it was his first case.

Sometimes, he talked to his humanoid assistant - Stacey, that was helping him analyze, while his other colleagues - the detectives, were trying to find clues in the victim's clothing or around her, and taking as many pictures as they possibly could for future study.

Other times, he saved his current analysis in his recording pen.

The detective - Ayman though, was the leader of the investigation team, a medium skin toned strong man in his late thirties, with a simple attire on showing off his muscles. He hung his badge on his arm, so he won't have to introduce himself all the time, then kept interrogating every single person he laid eyes on nearby, in hopes of coming across someone who's seen or heard anything interesting at all.

Last but not least, there was the medical team that was rushing to help the girl hoping her life could actually be saved, before sending her to the hospital. That is of course IF she was still alive.

Yes, and one shouldn't be surprised to see all the four teams gathered at once even with the last probability being possible. Every crime's taken as a huge deal in Somniuma, murder or not! As long as a single blood drop at least has been shed.

/// END OF THE PART ///

Hope you liked the first part ^_^ . I will be posting 2 parts / weekend. So, see you tomorrow. ^_^