Edited by: Waning_Crescents

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Roars from the other side of the wall traversed into Cal’s lodging, stirring him awake, and he opened his eyes in drowsiness. Even though he had fallen asleep rather quickly the day before, he had woken up numerous times during the night in restlessness. Whenever he did, out of habit, he first glanced beside him in an attempt to check on Sigal, but when no one lay there, he remembered that he wasn’t in his apartment anymore, and his eyes drooped in sadness. What Sigal didn’t know to this day was that Cal soothed him every time he had been haunted by nightmares. Somehow, whenever Sigal’s fretful movements rustled the sheets, Cal woke up, touched his hand in a gentle manner, and whispered a few words to calm him down. This always put Sigal into a tranquil slumber without fail.

Who will ease his pain now that I am gone? He will be okay, right?

He let out a sigh as the hubbub outside grew louder by the second, and he sat up in annoyance. “Just what is going on?” He grabbed his jacket, opened the door, and peered outside.

In the hallway, two men exchanged words that seemed to have turned into a heated argument.

“What did you do to my son? I told you I would pay up, so leave my family out of this!”

“Nonsense! You think I would stoop so low as to kidnap people for money? What do you take me for?”

“You people have no idea what it means to bust your asses off to make money! You just take without mercy! Now tell me where my son is!!”

“I already told you; I have nothing to do with that!”

Right as Cal stepped out with the intention to intervene, the receptionist joined the two men to break them up and calm things down. The man who was looking for his son stormed off, enraged cussing as he did so, while the other retired to his room.

As the receptionist turned to go back downstairs, Cal walked up to him. “What was that about?”

“Oh, sorry, sir. I hope they didn’t disturb your stay. It was nothing; that man was just looking for his son. I am sure the young boy just ran away and will show up sooner or later.”

“Does this happen often?”

The receptionist thought for a brief moment, but then answered. “Not that I am aware of. I mean, kids do that sometimes, right? They fight with their parents and run away, but eventually they all come back.”

The man made a good point. Kids indeed often were like that, misbehaving and upset about the tiniest things, which could lead them to run off without thinking, plunging the families into worry before they returned home just a while later. However, Cal couldn’t shake the feeling that something seemed off. “Is the man from around here?”

“No. He is from the neighboring district, but he works at the docks, I think.”

“I see.” Cal remarked, while he thought, Is this truly a case of a runaway or?

“Is something the matter?” the receptionist glanced at Cal, questioningly.

“No, no.” Cal shook his head. “What about the other guy?”

“He is a debt collector.” The receptionist’s expression turned more serious. “There are a lot of people who struggle to pay their bills and loan money through legal or illegal means.”

“Illegal?”

The receptionist nodded.

“And that one is?”

“I don’t even want to know; I only hear what people say on the streets. I’d rather not associate with any of these people.”

“I understand,” Cal said, “Thank you for your hospitality. I will be on my way then.”

 

Debt collector… Cal thought about what he had just heard while he wandered through the streets. Would they really resort to this? But if they did, wouldn’t they threaten the other party to obtain their money?

No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t make sense of the situation, but for some reason he also couldn’t just leave it be and decided to talk to the father of the missing child.

At least, what the receptionist told him proved to be true, and he found the man working at the docks. Cal had walked up to him, expressed his interest in what he had heard, and offered his help. While he expected that the man would discard an offer from a stranger, to his surprise, the man chatted away without restraint and told him everything about what had happened.

It turned out that the boy didn’t come home from school the day before, which seemed unusual for him. He stated that his child was a good student and never disobedient, rather a child that would never dare to run away from home.

The words ‘disobedient’ and ‘dare’ alarmed Cal. For some reason, it gave the impression as if his parents held a strict regime around their home, making it unthinkable that their child would even think of disregarding them. Under these circumstances, the runaway boy sounded more plausible than he had thought.

“What about the guy you argued with?” Cal eventually asked.

“He is scum. I am sure he is involved. These debt collectors are all the same.”

“From which agency is he coming?”

When Cal asked that, the man’s demeanor changed and his words became more harsh. “What’s that question? Are you helping or not? Or are you blaming me for loaning money?”

“No, I will help.” Seeing as the man wasn’t willing to give a proper reply, Cal could only drop the matter. “I’ll let you know if I find something.”

 

Wasting no time, Cal spent the little money he had left on a cab ride to the neighboring district to investigate the matter as promised. When he got out of the car, his eyes immediately fell on the extravagant buildings with red, shining ornaments dangling from their roofs.

This… Cal never had been here before, but this grand and eye-catching scenery in front of him made it pretty clear where he ended up at. Oh, no. Cal lost all color at the men and women who roamed the streets in exposing attire. With smiles plastered on their faces, they talked up to anyone who passed by their establishments, trying to reel in more customers. What did I get myself into?

He let out an exasperated sigh, strengthening his resolve before he took a few steps towards these buildings. It didn’t take long until a woman, with a thick layer of make-up on her face and clothes that only covered the skin around her delicate parts, approached him with some sweet talk. “Hey there, handsome. Want me to show you a great time?” She fluttered her eyelashes in a seductive manner, hooking her arms into one of his. “I will even give you a discount. What do you say?”

“Sorry, I am in a hurry.” Cal smiled helplessly, slipped his arm through her grip, and sped up to get away as fast as possible. He let out a sigh of relief when he made it past the building; glancing behind, the woman had already moved on to her next possible prey. No sense of personal space…Kristian would have loved that.

However, when he turned around, a man walked towards him, winking. By the looks of his attire— black latex shorts and only latex stripes in a crisscross format highlighting his muscular chest— the man clearly belonged to the same business as the woman he just escaped from. “Welcome, welcome!” the man said as he drew closer. “Oh, you are a sweetie!”

Before Cal could even react, the man cupped his chin, a grin forming on his lips. “Oh, I know exactly how I could please you.”

Cal froze as he stared at this tall man with barely any clothes covering his skin. A mix of panic and uneasiness flushed over him, leaving him unable to react.

“Did I scare you?” The man’s grin turned mischievous as he stared intensely into Cal’s eyes. “Don’t worry, I will be gentle.”

This not only sent shudders down Cal’s spine but also woke him from his stupor. “I’m not interested.”

Without any intention of backing down, the man engaged in another attempt to seduce him. He bent forward, drawing closer to Cal’s face, and said in a quite husky voice, “Don’t be shy. It will be great, I promise.”

Cal narrowed his eyes in annoyance before he slapped the other’s hand away and took a step back. “I said, I am not interested.” Then he turned and walked away with quick steps before this could escalate even further. The fuck is wrong with these people??

When he made it past the worst of this district, he finally reached the residential area— the place of interest.

 

***

 

The night had been as unsuccessful as the day before, which left Sigal in a frenzy by now. There had been no sightings of Cal so far, nor had anyone seen him. The young man of twenty-six, who had been driving and running around with no breaks the whole time, appeared as if he had aged a few years through the past day and night. The anxiety and worry he felt nonstop, even more so with each ticking second, left their visible marks— dark circles beneath his eyes and his cheeks slightly sunken in from exhaustion.

He stepped out of the car and took a deep breath before he lifted his head and stared into the sky. A scoff of a laughter escaped his lips as some memories flashed through his mind.

‘Come on, Sigal. If you always look so grim, you will never find someone special.’ Noah grinned, playfully. ‘Because you will only scare them away.’

‘Stop pestering me with that nonsense.’ Sigal grumbled. ‘Feelings just get in the way of our job. I am not interested.’

‘So stubborn.’ Noah chuckled. ‘I am sure there is someone special out there, even for you. Just promise me, if you happen to find that one, don’t scare them away with your face.’

‘Shut up!’

Noah laughed, heartily.

 

Noah, I might have found that special someone, but… He lowered his head. I let him slip away after all. No, worse, I failed him.

The situation seemed almost hopeless by now. Colst was a big city after all, which consisted of many districts and little towns, making it without a doubt an unfeasible task to track someone down in a short amount of time.

 

When Sigal entered Lake Avenue it was almost noon. He remembered that Cal had investigated around this area before, chances were that he returned to places familiar to him. As he walked along the streets, the citizens kept their distance as they recognized him. His always cold demeanor intimidated most people, causing them to avoid any contact or confrontation. Sigal had never acted violently towards innocent people, yet people shrunk back as if he would beat them to death even if they only made eye-contact.

However, he couldn’t care less about his reputation, whether true or not. If he wanted information, people would rather talk than remain silent under his watchful glare; therefore, he used his natural intimidating aura to his advantage.

Sigal showed Cal’s picture to everyone he could catch on the streets in the hope that someone would recognize him. While most shook their heads, going about their own business, a woman glanced at the photo for quite some time.

“Familiar?”

She gave it some more thought, but, in the end, she nodded.

“Really? Where did you see him? Where did he go?”

“I am not certain, but I think I saw his face. He walked into the inn in that direction.” She pointed down the street. “There is only one. You can’t miss it.”

“Thanks.” With finally a glimmer of hope, Sigal rushed off.

 

***

 

After Cal had talked to some neighbors, the situation didn’t get any clearer than before. It turned out that no one had seen anything suspicious, nor that the boy had been in trouble. However, one woman felt the need to spill all kinds of gossip. For one, she told him that the mother of the missing child worked at one of these brothels, leaving the son most of the day alone. The neighbor expressed her worries about raising a child in this kind of environment and thought that it didn’t seem so implausible that the boy might have run away.

Cal let out an exhausted sigh as he walked away, wiping the sweat off his forehead. Running around in the burning summer heat left him quite exhausted, and the humid air made him feel extremely uncomfortable. What am I even doing? Why is this bugging me so much? He staggered to a shadowy spot, sat down on the concrete, and leaned against the wall. I am not even an investigator anymore; I chose not to be.

He closed his eyes, letting the warm summer breeze, which gave barely any relief, glide over him. Since he woke up, events after events unfolded, keeping him busy enough to not think too much about his recovered memory fragments, but now that he rested, it all resurfaced. It’s all so confusing…

His moment of peace ended as soon as screaming and shouting echoed through the street, causing Cal to open his eyes quickly. What was that? He rose and scanned the street to his right and left until his gaze fell upon a man pulling a child along, while the kid complained and whined for its mother.

“Hey!” Cal took one step forward in an attempt to go after them, but as he did, everything around him suddenly blurred, and in front of him appeared a man, dragging a little version of him along. What…?