Present Day
Hajiri grasped his hand over his chest, as though to steady his racing heart. His quick, shallow breaths could've been the sound of rushing rapids, and yet he could hardly hear at all. Face flushed, eyes unseeing in the dark of night, he grabbed his bed frame to ground himself, falling slowly to his knees.
It took several minutes for the panic to subside. He relaxed against the side of his bed, surveying the quiet room thoughtfully. He was here. In his bare, government issued apartment. Sitting on its gray carpeting at the foot of his rickety twin bed. At 5:00 in the morning. He had nothing to fear, he just hated the feeling.
He began to ready himself for the day, as there was no point falling back asleep now. He changed out his clothes, he fixed his breakfast. He sat down at his desk, affixed halfway between his kitchenette and bedroom, and reviewed the case, as though unshaken by the night before.
Pinned to his cork board, half obscured with bright red thread, was the portrait of a pale boy with light eyes. He studied it, as though it offered any new insight after all those years. Because it wasn't that day in the boat that was the worst. It was the weeks after, the agony of the unknown.
YOU ARE READING
Detective Hajiri; Volume One
Mystery / Thriller"He wasn't young." "Seventeen is young, Kojima." "No it's not," The detective stated, matter-of-factly, now turned away from the scene. Moonlight traced a silver line across his features, lighting only his narrowed eyes. "They recruit them young. Mu...
