Chaos Chronicles

Alicia walked through the halls of the AED head quarters trying to prepare herself for the eventual berating from Claire. The early sun was rising from behind the buildings, the light creeping in from the windows to her right, the clacking of her boots echoed down the corridor.

There were also the faint echo of two more pairs of boots. As Alicia turned a corner she came face to face with none other than Claire, her long flowing black hair which contrasted against her pale complexion, reached till her waist. Her cold blue eyes looked onto Alicia's. She had bloodlust in her eyes but held herself back so as to uphold her public image. She was wearing her usual outfit which was a buttoned white coat under which Alicia could make out a light blue shirt. She also wore white trousers along with a pair of black boots which completed her outfit.

Beside her was the boisterous Ryan, his unique spiky, long hair jutted upwards and then to the right. He had confident brown eyes. An old scar covered a small part of his tanned forehead. The scar was jagged with unsymmetrical lines probably done by a blunt hit. He looked like he was desperately trying to hold his laugh. He was wearing a teal sleeveless blazer, a white shirt underneath, light brown pants and brown shoes. He also always wore his weird belt which had a bunch of small 5×5cm² metal cubes dangling from it. 8 cubes to be precise.

"Ms. Lockhart. Are you not ashamed to show your face to me? If I was you I would have quit the AED immediately. After all it was your fault that a criminal now has classified government files. What excuse do you wish to make for your short coming?"

"I admit that it's my fault, Captain. I promise I will catch him no matter what. All I need is a week, no 3 days. That's it. I just need three days. I will fix my mistake and catch him even if it's the last thing I do" Alicia said with determination.

Suddenly Ryan burst out laughing, "That's enough... Haha... Stop messing with her, Fret"

Claire burst out laughing as well and then her form turned into a white jelly like substance. It moved and swirled for a few moments before solidifying in the form of a young woman with grey eyes. She had shoulder length wavy dark red hair. She was wearing a yellow short gown, white stockings and gloves finished with a pair of blue sandels.

"Sorry" Fret said, "Ryan put me up to it"

"Hey now don't put the blame on me" Ryan said.

"But it's the truth"

"Even so. You don't just snitch on your partner"

"Partner? In crime is what you meant?"

"Yup. Of course. What else" Ryan said with a nervous laugh.

"... " Alicia said nothing. She simply glared at them.

"We will uh.. Be on our way now. Lets skedaddle Fret" Ryan said and started pulling on her hand

"We are sorry" Fret said as she was being pulled away by Ryan.

'Stupid kids and their stupid pranks.' Alicia thought. Ryan and Fret were the youngest members of the AED.

'Although I suppose Fret was right. It was my fault and no one else's. I should have been more alert. More vigilant. I should have focused more. It was my fault in the end that the files were stolen.'

As she was overthinking she found herself in front of Claire's office.

"Well, here goes nothing" Alicia took a deep breath and entered the office.

Inside, Claire was barely visible behind the mountain of papers, files and documents. The office was quite a small room. It was completely empty, except for a table with two chairs on either side. Claire was sitting on the chair facing the door. The only other hint of life in the room was a bulb of purple hyacinth, planted in a small flowerpot by the window sill. The room was dim, while a beam of sunlight made its way through the window lighting up Claire and her monstrous pile of documents. There was also a strong smell of coffee filling up the room.