The Phantoms

Chapter 1

John's Perspective

I guess now is a better time than any to tell you who I am. I grew up knowing my name was "John Cross" named after Mr. and Mrs. Cross, the loving family that adopted me when I was still too young to form memories. My original parents left no papers to give evidence of where I was born, or even of my real name.

The Cross family did not try to hide the fact that I was adopted. They admitted the truth to me at such an early age, that I was unaffectted by it. Even looking about it now, I don't feel anything but the curiousity of their identity.

I had nothing special about my chilhood, except for the strange fact that I encountered the weird phenomena of déjà vu more than any of my early friends could believe. Dreams had always been a mystery to me. Dreams are usually considered, by scientists, to be a border between reality and the messages of the subconscious mind. Mine though, seemed to be more like a border between reality and... the future, if that made any sense; but then again, cogniviton is nothing but speculation. No one could predict the future.

Time passed, and I grew older. I even got my dream job working for the Sylvania police department, as a detective. I was naturally skilled at my profession, and quickly climbed the ranks. Soon my crime solving skills became known across the state, and I took down many criminals in the dark side of this town. In my time with the police force, I managed to take down Alex King (the head honcho of Sylvania's underground gang), Jason Price (a very wanted drug dealer), and even Roy Richardson (wanted for the murders of five known people). Soon, however, I realized my need for greater things, and moved on from the police department to start my own private investigating branch, Enigma. Doing so, I unfortunately created many rivalries from local gangs, but my old buddies from the unit made sure they could not get to me.

The bell of the diner's door shook me out of my brief reverie. Marisa, the regular waitress, greeted me by first name and asked if I wanted a menu. I politely declined, only ordering two pancakes. As she went to deliver the order to the kitchen, I looked around. I had only met my client once, when she hired me for her case, but I vaguely remembered what she looked like. After a couple scans of the eatery, I breathed out in relief upon finding that she wasn't here yet.

I sat in the nearest booth meant for two and put the folder on the table. Five minutes passed, as well as my breakfast plate. After my stomach had its fill, my patience had not. Ten minutes passed, then twenty. Soon I began to wonder if she was even going to show up. Talk about getting stood up.

I had one leg out the booth, ready to leave before I heard the familiar door chime. The door opened, and a young lady walked in. I recognized her to be just the person I was waiting for, and a feeling of relief flooded me. She gave a quick scan across the room and found me. As she made her way, I could not help but notice the missing energy from her. When I first met her, I was taken by how pretty she seemed. She had soft blonde locks of hair falling just past her shoulders, a rosy blush on her cheeks, and a warm smile on her face.

Today, however, her ponytailed blonde hair seemed darker, and it contrasted against her oddly pale face. Her once welcoming smile was nonexistent, and her face was devoid of all emotion. She managed to slide into the bench of booth and quickly apologized, "I'm so sorry!! I was a little late because, uh..." Her words trailed off, but nonetheless I replied, "I understand... You look a bit off. Have you been giving blood? Gotten your flu shot?"

"Err... something like that," she squirmed, crossing and uncrossing her legs. "How did you know that?" She was strangely uncomfortable about the subject for some reason, as her face suddenly flushed. I suddenly spotted a small cotton bandage right below her sleeve, and I was struck with realization.

"Well I am a renowned detective... and it doesn't take a genius to notice that you are wearing a bandaid right above the crease of your arm."

"Oh, haha," she gave a weak laugh, "That. Wow, not what I thought you were implying Mr. Cross. I guess I am a little out of it right now, that or my mind isn't really where it should be this early in the morning." She rambled on.

"Nonetheless Miss..." I suddenly realized that I forgot her name, but she saved me from embarrassment by filling in the sentence for me. "Nicolina Ares, but you can just call me Nikki." She gave me a small smile; the most energy I noticed in her so far. "Nonetheless Miss Nicolina," I said ignoring her suggestion, "you must be wondering about your mother's case."

Nikki, as she then reprimanded me to call her, had hired me to investigate her mother's passing away, as well as her father's death. Nikki's father had owned a great company, one focused on the goal to enhance the human species' genes and create the perfect human.

Recently however, her mother was found dead in her husband's office, and a few days later, her father disappeared too, leading the Sylvania Police Department to believe he had been the murderer. Nikki believed otherwise, insisting her father was innocent, which caused her to seek my help.

"Well Nikki, you needn't worry about his conviction. After looking into videotapes, theories, and even the room itself, I have evidence your father was not the killer." I opened the manila folder even further to a page filled with clippings and pushed it towards her. "These are the bits of shredded paper found in your father's shredder. After piecing them together it looks like this," I motioned my finger to point at the recreated page. "It's a note threatening your father. I compared it to his own writing, and no two letters of the whole alphabet look exactly like your father's. Usually even when forging letters, criminals tend to subconciously write several letters the same."

She gave a hearty sigh and sat further back into the booth, letting her hair down to cascade around her. She was a bit jumpy through the whole conversation, but now, she seemed at ease. "Justice will be mine soon, Mr. Cross, and all thanks to you. They don't call you the best for nothing." She gave me a second smile, and the color began coming back to her. I gave a smile back and encouraged her, "Please Nikki, call me John. You are the one who wants to be on a first name basis." She gave another laugh, and stared at me, as if she were admiring my work. "You are truly The Great One, o John," she joked around. "Solving mysteries even on your day off, I presume," she said as she acknowledged my clothes.

"It's kind of my thing, I guess. I'm restless until the mystery has been solved," I admitted with a shrug of the shoulders. "Well John, that doesn't seem hard for you, I bet you have solved all of your mysteries."

"All but one Nikki," I told her as I took a sip ftom my coffee, "the mystery that is my parents." "Oh," she responded, averting her eyes. She still seemed a little bit uncomfortable at the mention of parents. "What happened?"

"Oh, it's nothing. I was just adopted; I never met my parents. To this day, I have nothing tho help me figure out their identities." She took a moment before she reassured me, "Well you're the greatest detective I know, you could definitely pull through!" She then put her hand on mine to comfort me.

Suddenly, all my senses whooshed out of me. I remember her lips moving, but no sound made it into my skull. A spark of understanding then made my whole body shiver. "It's you!" I exclaimed in realization, "You're the girl in my dreams!" By this point in the conversation, the diner was empty, and Marisa seemed to be taking her break. Nikki blushed, her entire face red to the tips of her ears. "John, I-I'm real flattered but I don't even know you that well, I mean we've only really met twice, and I don't know your age, but I'm sure the difference is, well I don't even know and-" "No, no, no," I interrupted her run-on, slightly pink. "Let me rephrase this a little better. I have been having some very strange dreams lately, all involving one lady who would try to communicate with me. She had no luck until this morning, when she warned me of a company which I believe..." I flipped through the folder until I landed on the biography of Mr. Ares, "Better Living Inkorporation. B.L.Ink"

"My father's company?" Nikki now looked at me like I had transformed from an admirable sleuth to an insane sociopath. "What about it?"

I looked at her. She definitely was a younger version of the Nikki that I met in my dream. "You warned me about it" I scratched my head trying to remember her words exactly. " 'Destroy the company. Leave no survivors.' Those were your words exactly. Nikki, have you or your father made any enemies, anybody who could benefit from your father disappearing?"

Nikki now looked at me as if she suddenly understood. "Now that you mention it, the only person I can think of is Dr. Aiden Kraimer, the head experimentor... and the new CEO of the company." I didn't notice when she rolled down her sleeves, but the bandaid was now covered. However, she still unconsciously scratched the area, as if it were a nuisance.

"Nikki, I think I know who caused your mother's death and your father's disappearance."