Shadowed Wings: The Tale of the Silver Raven

Was I Your Weakness?

A shadow of a woman appears in front of Ray, echoes of laughs and cries surround her. She starts following the shadow. The girl seemed to be happy, she was dancing around in a melody of her own. A sudden bright light shines through a small passage. Ray quickly dashed to see who the shadow was and called her out. The girls had started to disappear in the light, as if it was slowly dissolving with the warmth of the bright light. Ray tried to see the girl's face when an unclear whisper was heard " You must live a good life unlike mine. I believe in you. " The girl looked back , Ray could not believe the sight. It was Vennisa, slowly disappearing . She rushed  to stop her from leaving "You promised to never leave. Stay with me. Please!" she begs as tears rush down her cheeks. "I always wondered if I was your weakness?" Vennisa adds , Ray tries to grab her hand more firmly and suddenly the hand vanishes from her grip. She looks up and finds herself in complete darkness. "Don't go!" Ray yells and sits up to find herself in the hospital bed.

"You are awake ,miss Ray" a strange voice comes from the window, she looks in the direction of the sound and finds a man standing there. "Who are you ? Why am I here? Why are you here? Where is my sister? " she had so many questions , the questions she desperately wanted answered but her questions were interrupted by the man "I am Detective Paul Koner ,  incharge of your sister Vennisa Nicholas's ,murder case. We expect your co-operation for the investigation . Please answer some of my questions." Ray interrupts with a heavy voice "Vennisa Nicholas's murder?" and freezes. Detective Paul offers her a glass of water and informs "Vennisa Nicholas was shot at your house and was pronounced dead on the spot .Since you seem in no condition to answer any of my questions right now I shall visit you later." Detective said in a cold and harsh tone. "I would suggest to call a family member to take care of you . Loosing someone is not easy." he added as he was exiting the room. Ray sat there in realization and abruptly said "there IS no one , she was my only family." Ray said with tears in her eyes , yet not ready to cry in front of someone. In a heavy voice with a lump in her throat she added "Please close the door properly on your way out". Paul looks at her , he could see the pain in here eyes but he was not there to sympathize. So he exited the room and closed the door firmly. A sudden loud cry burst from behind him. He walks off , thinking to himself "It must be very difficult to face everything, all alone. We are all alone after all". He was well aware if he would sympathize with every victim's family his ultimate goal of providing justice would be compromised.

It had been five days since Vennisa died, finally a funeral was organized after the post-mortem was conducted. There were some complications during the process but, it was kept completely confidential. Ray stood next to her sister's grave quietly. Everyone came by , said there consolidations and left. When she thought that she was left alone with her sister , a familiar voice reach her ears "You must love her very much ", she turns around fiercely but was not surprised to see detective Paul. He ascends towards her , moves closer and says "You must have cried a lot. That is the only explanation for you to not cry on a funeral." He adds with a hint of criticism and doubt. She requests him for some privacy and to not disturb her at the moment. He respects her words and moves back .

"Help me catch them "
Paul hears a clear declaration as he was waiting at the entrance , smoking. Ray approaches him with fire in her eyes ready to burn the whole world to find the culprit to her sister's death.

Detective Paul is amused by this energy . All excited to proceed the case with that aggression of the client , Detective Paul starts the investigation. They start investigating and dig up all the past records of Vennisa to look for any possible suspects . Though there were some people from whom she took money but there were no records of the lender contacting her for repayment. This seemed weird so, the detective planned to investigate this first , Ray also accompanied him. They went to interrogate one of the moneylenders who had given a huge amount to Vennisa at a very low interest rate. "How do you know Vennisa Nicholas?" Detective Paul started the interrogation. "She is a classmate of mine from college."
"Was.." Paul abruptly intervened.
He continued without being bothered from the huge gasp. "And why would you lend such a huge amount to some classmate of yours?" he continued. "She was in great need of money, and when she came to me I could not resist but help her. She was so naïve . Also I am a very good person at heart you know." She started bragging herself off but was cut in by detective
"Locked up for two nights, causing huge recuses in club, being kicked out of college dorm – these articles say otherwise about you. "
Paul heavily throws a file at the table. He leans in, looks at her eyes and says "We will try this one more time and you will utter only the truth out of that pretty mouth of yours . Understood?" she nods unable to speak. Ray stands on the side, she was impressed by the way he worked. "I am telling the truth. She came to me begging for the money and I could not resist myself from helping her.." the detective completely blows off at this statement. He slams the table , he picks up the empty glass of water and launches it at the suspect. Ray rushes to stop him ,she grabs his hand right before he hits the suspect
-"She sold me her house."
Surprisingly the suspect confessed , trembling and trying to cover herself from the attack. Paul immediately pushes Ray away and asks in a clam voice
-"Why didn't you mention this before?" .
Still trembling she replies -"It was not a legal contract so I wanted to avoid any trouble. Vennisa had tricked the owner into signing the property papers.".
"Thank you for your cooperation and remember to respect people's time." Detective Paul smiles and leaves in a hurry. Ray also follows him . She was confused on how the interrogation was being carried out.