Diverging paths

A Promise And A Challenge

Headzo's Challenge
30/12/2041

He remained alone, stairing at the board of connected dots.

The walls were covered with articles, crime scene photos and a description of what Headzo saw, the night his brother left.

Who was the child, that died that night?

Where are they going next?

Who do they target?

These questions ran through Headzo's mind on repeate.

The marks were beginning to add up, but with no evidence or bread crumbs to easily follow, besides a wing carved in a victim during every massacre, it was difficult to discover where they'd be next.

"Bloody hell you're still doing this" Wingzo entered, clearly tired of how long Headzo had spent working "if the entire police department haven't solved this, then what makes you think that a smart child can?"

"Hope" Headzo responded.

"Headzo you need to stop!" Wingzo pleaded "why do you even need to find them?"

"I need their help" Headzo explained "they're clearly intelligent enough to remain anonymous, undiscovered, and get away with murder, so with their help, maybe we can find my brother, and bring about final justice"

"It's no use spending ever waking hour driving yourself mad, for hope!" Wingzo was getting annoyed "do what you want, but I beg of you, stop this and be with us!"

Wingzo left, angry.

"She doesn't understand" Headzo spoke only to himself "it's not just about the help, it's about them being like me, intelligent, special, afraid."

Then it hit him, the answer, the pattern to the killings, the next location.

"Afraid!"

he was filled with realisation

"their locations seemed odd, they killed around the same area, but echoed out now and again, like they were testing the waters,"

it all started to make sense to him "they were moving further out at a constant rate of increase, at first, they rarely ventured, but as they got more comfortable, they've gone further and now they have almost completed a full circle, their area of killings has almost fully expanded out"

he got excited

"but now they've got one last place to visit, and that's were they'll be next!"

Headzo moved around, pacing back and forth, overcome with excitement.

He left, filled with hope.

Carlos' Promise
30/12/2041

The dimly lit streets guided their path.

Carlos' pupils expanded to take in information, forcing their brain to work.

How Carlos sees is different to most, to us, to everyone, Carlos sees patterns and calculations.

Looking upon the wall of bricks, they see the angles of brick connection, how they're not quite perfect.

87°.

91°.

89.5784°.

The more they looked, the more accurate the estimates got.

256.

256 bricks in the wall.

8 bricks tall.

32 bricks long.

This is how they saw the world.

Looking at the man, leant against the bricks, they saw the slight twitch, of fear, in the man's hands.

But what was in his pocket?

Carlos watched, analysed, a height of around 23cm, not a knife, to thick, a phone, of course.

Carlos continued to walk, numbers flying out at them.

Then, they heared a noise.

The tapping of water hitting the floor.

Tears. 

Counting the seconds, between each tap, Carlos realised their likely age, a child, possibly.

Clearly slouched, otherwise the tears wouldn't of hit the ground, as cleanly as they did.

Curious, Carlos turned and moved, to the sound.

Walking under an arch, a portion of a circle, 107.8cm in diameter.

Then, they laid eyes upon the child, a girl.

A height of around 5ft 8, making them, likely, around 14-15 years old.

"What's wrong?" Carlos queried.

"N...nothing" the girl uttered, wiping away their tears.

Carlos moved and sat down beside her.

"Your tears would say otherwise" Carlos tried to appear kind, trustworthy "now tell me what is wrong, maybe I can help."

The empathy Carlos felt was unusual for them, but they were fascinated by it.

"M..my sister" the girl held back tears "they took her, they killed her" she couldn't hold back the tears for long.

"How old was she?" Carlos forced back inside themselves, the anger.

"9" the girl was quick to answer.
Carlos was finding it hard, to remain calm, but still they tried.

"Now, listen, this is important. I can make sure they never harm anyone, ever again. But I need more information." Carlos spoke carefully "How many were they?"

"5, they wore black, a couple of 'em 'ad black 'air, one 'ad brown. T...they was of average 'eight" the girl was confused, but tried not to show it.

"OK, where abouts were they? And how long ago was it?" Carlos was almost finished.

"A few streets down, i...it was 'bout an 'our ago" she began to feel hope.

"I promise you I will find them, and they will regret their, actions." They spoke in a reassuring tone "I swear they will suffer. You will never see them again. I promise you that. Now trust me. Close your eyes."

"W...why?" The girl was a little afraid.

"Just trust me, close your EYES." She did as she was told.

Away Carlos flew, wings flapping, faster, and faster, before landing, once more, upon a building where Carlos watched a group of 5, two with black hair, one had brown, and the others with hoods.

There, they waited, until the sun would rise.