Pessimism (Book One)

Chapter 2: I Spy

We were back at the crime scene. He still hasn't said anything to me, about how I got here or what was going on?

"Would you at least answer me." No reply. He would just get irritated and then investigate the crime scene. Its been five minutes since the accident. The time since then had only moved five ticks. It seemed so much longer, but I guess nothing is going as planned today. I hope mom isn't worrying. Wait! How did he know my mom's phone number? He had told me before that a kid from under a tree had told after he investigated the witnesses. Could it have been De--.

"It seems we got a big case here." The detective told me. I didn't understand. I thought he knew who attacked him.

"What is it?" I asked. He sighed.

"My apprentice isn't suppose to ask obvious questions. Look around and tell me what you see." He told me, more in an orderly way than in a teacher way. At first I denied to myself, but then I thought about it and came to a conclusion that I want to get out of here as quick as possible.

A detective's apprentice, not the best thing. I am not even good at I- Spy. I looked around. Everything looked like it did before. The drips of blood near the accident. The CAUTION signs taped around the street. I didn't see the problem.

"What is it?" I asked. He looked at me funny.

"Take a closer look." I did and still I noticed nothing. I'll be here all day if I don't answer his dumb I- Spy question. I looked closer at the ground. Nothing seemed new. Did they add new cement, I didn't know. The detective persisted.

"I'll grant you the knowledge of my name, if you can answer my question correctly." Why would he italicize the word grant? On that condition, I decided to figure this out. But a feeling in my gut told me that there was more than just one answer. I looked around and I noticed one peculiar thing that I thought wasn't necessary to be mentioned. I looked to him. He was smirking. I hadn't noticed, but every time I turned around, he would quickly become serious.

"Got it?"

"I think, um... Well, I noticed one thing. There is hardly anyone around, no polices anywhere and yeah that's about all I got um... Grant?" I smiled a little.

"Hmm? Close and not only did you answer correctly, but you got my name right. I'm proud." He smiled. I didn't know he was still talking, and so I interrupted him.

"You're welcome--."

"Call me Mr. Grant!" He cleared his throat. And waited for a reply that we both knew was not coming. He stared at me for awhile and mumbled something under his breath, something I couldn't make out.

"You remind me of him so much, Ian."

He walked over to the middle of the street. I saw him pick up something. Something I wasn't able to identify myself. It was black and small, with a sharp tip. It looked to me that it was plastic. He came back up to me, showed me the UPO( Unidentified Plastic Object) and gave it to me.

"Identify the object." For a second I thought he read my mind, but he just used a good choice of words. I looked at my watch to see how long I have been playing this game. It's 12:06, only six minutes since the accident and a minute playing this dumb game. Time has been slowed down for some reason.

"Do I-?" I took it from him knowing that it'd be pointless to fight with him. When I held it, it quickly turned from a 2D object into a 3D object. I guess from my point of view it was much different. It was also heavier in density? I don't know how, but it was. There were little red dots around it, but I soon knew that that was not rocks, but blood.

"Well?" He looked at the object in my hands, then up at me. Well, I thought, this seems like an ordinary object with a little blood stained on it. But I knew that this was no mere question. He asked this because I'm his apprentice and I have to know.

"It's chipped at a sharp angle, could have been used to attack him because there is know chip in the ground." He smiled and I knew that I answered it right.

"No, you only got a fourth of that correct. It was never chipped off the ground, not sharp or at an angle, but it could have been used to attack him. But that is also wrong." He paced back and forth.

"You told me that I got a fourth of that correct." I complained. Grant makes no sense I swear. I'm about to leave.

"You did. You answered with your head. Now let me think." He continued his pace. I wondered what he was thinking. I wanted to look at my watch so badly, but I knew that if I did, it would only still be 12:06.

What seemed like ten minutes, was only about a minute. I looked and it was 12:07. He stopped his pacing and I was relieved. We were finally going to get this over with.

"I think I know what happened here." He said.

"I think so too." I said in sarcasm. This not going anywhere.

"That isn't it." He looked at me with his crystal blue eyes. "Follow me my apprentice." He started and I didn't want to go. I started home when I heard him calling. "Ian! Hey come back!" I didn't listen to him. I'm tired of following him around, in his footsteps like he's my father. I walked passed the faceless people. It was happening again and I turned around to see Grant following me. I thought something different and when it didn't happen the second time, I continued my pace. "You can't go back there!" I ignored. "Don't you want to know what happened to your-!" I stopped walking and turned around. He was smiling.

"My what!?" I questioned. I walked up to him. Who was he? "My what!?" Grant was smiling. "My what!?" I was face to face with him now.

"Nothing." He laughed. "I just knew that would bring you back and it changed your intentions." I laughed angrily and stormed back to where I was originally headed. "Hey Ian! I was kidding come back! But you should have seen your face, it was priceless." He caught up with me and grabbed my arm. "Ian." We met eyes.

"What?" I grumbled. He was starting to remind me of Derren.

"Why aren't you acting like my apprentice?"

"Look, I didn't get asked too do this ok. All I wanted was to go to school and leave and have a regular day." I just remembered that it was raining. I wasn't getting wet before, only when I was waking and now it stopped. I looked above me and saw that Grant was holding a huge umbrella. That makes more sense now. The flood was rising.

"I'm sorry, but now you are my apprentice got it?" He faced me to him.

"No." I turned around and walked, but then stopped. "I'm sorry, Grant." I continued.

"Ian." His tone got me to stop my triumphant out of this. "Do you know what being a detective truly means?"