The clockwork dormouse

Hi, guys this is my first story.  Feel free to comment on mistakes I make, I'll try and fix them. Im hoping to update every week or so until next time, hope you enjoy reading :)

-The lullaby.

The ticks echoed around, then faded to a hum at the end of the world, resounded and returned, there was no logic. But the end result was quite beautiful, an optical illusion, you heard many but only saw one, only one was playing in the orchestra . And that one was Snow White’s glass case, the witches house, the enchanted tower of which Rapunzul resigns within, the perfect display case for a doll, a perfect doll but very much alive. Icy crystals formed in the ridges of her lips, glistering like decorations. The same frost caressed her fair hair and dark eyelashes and one could most ironically say she was frozen in time. And there she slumbered to a ticking lullaby, her breath slight but unfaltering, creating circles of misty condensation on a fragile pane of glass. In a world of shattered glass and polished wood.

-Chapter I

The only thing she dared to concentrate on was the neatness of her writing, most people became uneasy in a case such as this one and it was essential to keep a clear head in situations like these, there was a chance you could miss an important clue or your handwriting could suffer to unreadable even-in-your-own-eyes standard. Deciphering notes was not needed in her life after a hard day of work, so as a rule she had set for herself she kept her writing fast paced but neat, notes were a detectives best friend. Abila De Ansa was a surprisingly talented detective for her age.

At the age of 22 she was virtually unapproachable by men of her age; some joked that her concise lived to work, others that she had sold her soul to be able to work so much (this one was favoured by her male colleges who had tried to approach her but had been given the usual trademark cold shoulder). Abila herself could not even deny it; she preferred to work than to face human interaction, although the work did involve questioning she preferred to think of it as a task where she didn’t need to use human emotions which often resulted in complaints about her being un-sympatric. But as company went; her assistant was her only link to society as her farther had left her mother by the time she found out she was pregnant. Her mother then died not many years later leaving Abila alone at the age of six.  Her assistant, Kalem Corti had been paired to Abila for the sole reason to lure her out of the dark cave she had barricaded herself in side for thirteen long years; and he had succeeded in a mere year partnered to Abila she had slowly come out of hibernation to what her older colleges called the rim of the cave, as she questioned if the sun would burn her back. The overall result had been rumoured to be the best working team in the Rain department, the disturbed cases home and cases no one bothered with.

So as Abila lifted her head for a minuet to brush a strand of her auburn hair behind her ear, only to catch site of Kalem covering his mouth with the back of his hand to the sight of a arm sewn to a body with black thread. Abila narrowed her gaze; she’d have to re-teach her apprentice the importance to show nothing more than interest in the crime and its scene later on, which was something she did not like doing either. The grimacing ginger caught her eye and gave a nervous smile before walking over, typical; she questioned why he’d even registered to be taught in this department with such a soft stomach; yes, she could never deny that he was hard working but his organisation was of another world .Although he was not a bad piece of eye candy the concept seemed to work against him, although the sight of the sixteen year old getting flustered in the middle of a crowd of females was slightly amusing it wasted time that could be used; which had been the exact reason for their lateness this morning.

 She sighed and tucked her Nevano navy notepad into her coat pocket as the ginger, freckled Kalem moved awkwardly towards her; casting one last wary glance towards the many operating tables with lifeless corpses piled precariously upon each other.

“So…” he began before she cut him off, “Get your act together, were supposed to be the professionals in here, you look like your about to chuck up your guts, the police are here to clean the area we’re here to give a small spark of hope and deliver unwanted news to its receivers, over twenty girls from the age of twelve to sixteen have disappeared in the last four months were here to identify the one we can and give them back to their family” she gave a sniff and repositioned her reading glasses on her nose.

“ Your right, your right! But were not going to get much out of this mess” gesturing with a sweep of his arm at the dissected bodies scattered across the room like cooking ingredients, “ There’s only about three we could give a proper name to, most have had their eye balls ripped out, if you ask me this guy either didn’t want us to find out about who he killed or just has a hobby of collecting girls faces in the smallest pieces they can be in”

Abila cocked her head to the side, he was right in this state they could just about be looking for needles in haystacks. “Yes it seems your right, he even deliberately took the pleasure of plucking every hair from their heads and colour coding them in drawers” tipping her head towards a cabernet on the other side of the room. Kalem made a face but said nothing allowing her to continue “but the worst part is the sergeants found bodies dating back five years ago, most are bones but the smell was revolting”.

Kalem’s eyebrows threatened to float of his face, “All from five years ago?” Abila shook her head; he whistled “Addiction?”

At this she pursed her lips for a second but shook her head in the end, “Dr Shelfeild did not seem to be a person to slip into addiction, he was described as respectable in all his studies and their origins”.

Kalem shrugged his shoulders and managed to slip a cocky smile “Even doc’s must have had addiction where do you think mad scientists originated from?”

she smirked but returned her gaze to the problem at hand, watching sergeants peer in to sacks of bloody contents only to recoil at the smell. “ what a mess” she mumbled turning to confront Kalem again who looked sickened as ever, “Who were you managed to identify” she questioned.

He sighed, stuck his hands in to his trouser pockets and rocked back and forth between his heels and toes, “ Lucy Ackaman, Ana Moscort and Natalia Kaperpot, faces in tack they fit the descriptions, found body-less”

He stopped rocking and lifted his head so his gaze met hers and waited for instructions, Abila tapped her pen against her leg and shivered, it was becoming late, “we’ll go back type up a short review then you will do the final review tomorrow,” she paused for a second, breathed deeply and continued, “ and I will deliver the bad news”.