Starry Days & Sunlit Nights: Volume 2 - Haze of Shadows

Chapter 1.5 - Blank Spaces

Alone inside a police cruiser parked in front of a Chinese antique shop and an Italian bistro, a young woman in the navy blue of a law enforcer with medium brown skin and a long black ponytail looked through the files in her hands. They were stamped with the words 'Case Closed', but she wouldn't be reading them if she didn't have a reason.

On September 19th, which was a month ago, the police initiated a raid on the hideout of a suspected human trafficker who went by the name Charles Greyford. What they did not expect was that the place had been filled with booby traps, and nine out of the ten participating officers lost their lives that night.

In the time that it took the police force to organize a second raid, this time under the commissioner's supervision, Greyford had managed to make his escape, leaving behind no trace or evidence at the scene. They had managed to obtain the bodies of their fallen comrades, at least, although they had been damaged so badly that it was difficult to determine their cause of death, if not for the only surviving officer confirming what she had witnessed.

A full investigation on Charles Greyford was conducted after the incident, and there wasn't much to dig up on the man other than some basic details. Age 43, with black hair and black eyes. He hailed from Scandinavia, graduated with a degree in medicine, and became a part of a multinational corporation that had its hands in things like pharmacy and food products, but were known best for their many zoos. Then he suddenly disappeared off the radar, until recently. The end of the report confirmed that the suspect was now a terrorist, wanted for the murder of at least nine police officers, and perhaps many others.

All of that was according to the reports.

For Officer Bella Blanca, it was different. She had been there, the sole survivor of the failed raid. The report added up with what her memories told her, yet something about it felt off. But what was it?

That was why she was reading the files, to perhaps find some closure or maybe even find out what was missing in her memories. While she had passed her latest psych evaluation, she knew she couldn't do her job right if something like this still distracted her.

A large cupcake with a candle sticking on top of it sat in a box on the passenger seat to her, together with a card greeting her a happy 24th birthday. Her co-workers were sweet. It was too bad she couldn't enjoy it with all of her friends now. She would have especially liked spending the day with her long-time partner, mentor and good friend, Lieutenant Kristoff.

But that was impossible now. The man was dead, killed during the raid.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't trust her own memories. Something was missing, but she was finding it impossible to remember what it was. Had the trauma been so much for her that she had locked parts of that memory away? But she was a proud member of the Liberta City Police Force; she was trained for that sort of experience.

It had been just a few days since she decided that she wanted to get back out on the field and away from the desk, so she had yet to be assigned a new partner, but no one could replace Kristoff. He was like the brother she never had but always wanted. In her native tongue, she'd have called him Kuya, if he knew what it meant.

She read the files over and over, but still couldn't come to a logical conclusion. Frustrated, she put the files down on her lap and sighed. "Ay naku."