The Frills of Sanity

Ignominious Moratorium

By the moment Hope returned at The 54, she was totally devastated. When John parked his SUV near the gate, she rushed straight to her room and locked herself inside

Others at The 54 were dazed in horror when they caught a glimpse of Hope. From whatever espies they had, they all were clearly fenced from offering their condolences and grief at the moment.

What they saw of Hope was pain, disbelief and anger. Her eyes were sour and red. The desolation and melancholy was written all over her face.

Hope plunged in her bed and hid her face under the blankets. All she wanted today was to run away- from the torpedo of the dead bodies, from the reality and mostly from her own self. She was fed up of the game where she knew nothing and was expected to defeat the unknown.

She clung Scotty's bracelet watch in her palms and twitched her lips making an effort to control her voice. It was the only remembrance of Scotty Hope could get signed off from the evidences with the permission of The CSU and Dr. Tina Mitchell who was handling the postmortem and the evidences at the crime scene.

As she gazed at the watch with watery eyes, she remembered how Scotty had won this watch from Mrs. Holmes. That annual sports day at The Brighter Days, The competition of running 100-meter hurdles, 10-year-old Scotty being the only girl participant among all the other teen competitors, her last jump over the hurdle and then her winning that run..! Mrs. Holmes was very happy and Hope was very proud that day.

Mrs. Holmes had gifted this watch to Scotty that night. It was the memento of her struggle, faith, belief, desire and success.

As she reminisced it all; she closed her eyes, laid her head on a pillow and let the tears fall letting her heart cry for the misery she had recently experienced. When the tears finally stopped, burden of the miseries lullabied her to a quick sleep.

Down in the living of The 54, everybody was worried about Hope. AD didn't allow Alexis and Layla to go anywhere near Hope. He had convinced them that its only good to leave her alone for some time, at least till they get an idea about how horrible the situation is. When Soltz finally barged in through the door, Alexis rushed to him.

"Soltz, what happened? How bad was it?"

"Not now, Alexis. " Soltz gasped and settled on sofa. "How is she holding up?"

"We haven't spoken with her yet."AD barged in the conversation." I think we need to give her some time to process." While Alexis settled next to Soltz, AD settled on a chair.

"Honestly, it is a lot to ask for at this very moment." Layla came out of the kitchen and settled next to Alexis. She handed a mug of coffee to Soltz, exactly the thing he needed that moment.

"I agree with Layla. I mean, I myself haven't completely processed the whole scene yet, including disappearance of my mother and godmother." Alexis sighed and Layla patted her shoulder.

"Anyway, what else did you get? Anything about the case? Any clue about why was she murdered?" Layla questioned to which Soltz nodded in negation.

"Dr. Mitchell said that she was tortured and then shot dead. The way the shot was taken indicates that the shooter was shorter than our dead Agent. She examined the shells we found and the bullet holes on the body. She confirmed that..The gun used is the same as the gun used in previous kills."

"So.. The killer is the same. That Phenomenal Woman B****?" Alexis raised her eye brows and glanced at AD.

"Pretty much. the evidences sum it all up, I guess." Soltz scratched his bald head and gasped again. "But anyway, that is not going to be our concern henceforth!"