Conundrum

The First and Only Chapter

January 16th, 1947

New York

She had been denied the honor of being a detective only because of her gender. Elaine Wood had dreamed of becoming a detective for as long as she could remember. She was 24 now, and as she slammed the door to the prescient and walked out to the chilly streets of New York, she knew that dream wouldn't come true unless she made it happen. Stepping onto the sidewalk, the angry woman got the attention of passersby's and received dirty looks and scowls because of her prominent frustration. She didn't want to take the hardships anymore—all she wanted to do now was show them that a woman is not necessarily weak. She wanted to show them that she would succeed.

* * *

As she threw her bag into the small room and practically launched herself on the cot, she attempted to drown out the noise of the noisy people around her. She was done with work and just wanted to sleep, but that would definitely be difficult when her extroverted roommate—Charlotte, whom was also a secretary for the precinct she had just applied to—entered the room with a devilish smile, which ultimately was downgraded to a frown.

"Didn't get the job, huh?" She said softly, sitting down next to Elaine's rather athletic frame and placing a hand on her back.

"Nice observation there." The brunette grumbled, rolling over onto her back so that her front was facing the ceiling. "I never would have gotten it anyway."

"Awh, don't say that honey." The blonde replied, her rather annoying valley girl accent driving Elaine's tired mind into mild madness. "But I got you something to turn that frown upside down~!"

With a groan, the blue eyed girl looked over at her brown eyed comrade and felt her eyes widen as her roommate pulled an enclosed file out from under her dress. Snatching it from her hands, Elaine removed the paper clip and tossed it behind her shoulder. Flipping it open, she flitted through the pages and looked more than surprised.

"Charlotte, you could get fired for this." The girl murmured in awe, closing the murder case file and staring up at her closest friend.

"As long as you can show them you're worthy, I'm fine with it." The usually preppy girl said in all seriousness, her short blonde curls bouncing as she nodded her head towards the file with a large smile that seemed to appear out of nowhere. "Make me proud."

At that, Elaine couldn't refuse. Little did she know that this would end in disaster.

                                                                                 January 18th, 1947

  New York—Hell's Kitchen

The only thing the girl could do now was run. With the supplies that she had gotten from Charlotte, she had followed the murderer's trail well. But as she found the sick man in an alleyway with his next victim, she had thrown whatever she could—which just so happened to be a rock the size of her thumb. That had ticked him off for sure, as he was chasing after her, kitchen knife in hand.

She had finally lost him when she turned the corner, running into an abandoned theater that she had heard they would demolish soon. Right now, she didn't care as long as she was away from that psychopath. This was a bad idea. Noticing a pile of stray bricks from an opened wall, the adrenalized girl decided to grab one—just in case.

Walking further into the theater room, she noticed a film was playing on the screen. It wasn't much of a film—but it was disturbing as ever. Children sat on a cart that lay on railroad tracks that moved continuously, a sail attached to the iron object. The train tracks stretched on further than the eye could see. Dark water lapped at the land on either side of them, but that wasn't all. The ghastly and pale faces of men, women and children appeared at the surface of the waves, reaching out to them as they passed. The brunette began to walk closer to the stage and stepped onto it as she watched the looped film. She was too wrapped up in watching that she didn't hear the footsteps behind her until she was nearly killed.

The back of her dress was ripped, and she could feel a slight sting on her lower back. As she swung around to face the sneering face of the man whom had attempted to kill the child, and tried to swing her odd weapon at his face. She didn't succeed, but instead was pushed back and collided—no; fell through the screen of the theatre. As her back collided with something hard, she looked back to see train tracks and a cart with the children from the film on it. They looked back at her and grimaced—they didn't even reach out to help. Looking back at the man towering over her, she saw her brick near the edge of the waves. On quick impulse, she dove for her makeshift weapon and felt an eerie chill sweep up her spine as he fingers brushed the water. It felt as if other fingers brushed against her as well.

Leaning up, Elaine was nearly impaled with the sharp knife if it wasn't for the brick. She hit him hard enough to render him unconscious, but turned over the brick to see a glittering red liquid in the dim light. With a gasp, she launched the weapon into the water, which swallowed it happily. Turning back to face the theater, she shook as she began to hear voices flood her ear.

"It's alright now."

And in all sense, it was. The murderer was unconscious and caught, and she was alive. Slowly standing up, she turned back and stared at the children in the cart and the faces in the water.

"When I'm a detective, I'll save you. I promise that."