Everything comes and goes for a reason… is that true? Well, let’s hope it is. Because some unspeakable truths and unique events cannot be explained in simple words of humankind.

Now, let’s take you to the window of an apartment that is calm despite being in the middle of an eventful city.

The time of grace,

Nature is at its peak,

The morning sun is rising,

And the day is bleak.

Pretty pleasant, but not the best of its kind. But this day holds something special for Maya, who is just opening her eyes to welcome the day.

In the dimly lit apartment, a sudden sound of alarm crumbles all the sense of silence in its premises. The bedroom is gifted with a beautiful and comfortable bed, but somehow the apartment owner found it way more relaxing to sleep on her recliner that night. But, her mobile phone is left abandoned on the side table of her bedroom. It is really uncommon for her to not feel the urge to always keep her phone close by like it is a part of her soul.

Maya opens her eyes and looks around at the silhouette of everything in her apartment. The dim light is making everything much more mysterious and beautiful than it needed to be.

The alarm is still buzzing… and annoying every part of the house that is habituated to complete silence.

Waking from her slumber, she rushes to the room, stops the alarm, and takes a sigh of relief with a hint of annoyance in it. Then her mind plays the memory reel of all the responsibilities that she needs to fulfill today. She is handling eight cases at the moment. Despite that, it is practically a simpler period of duties compared to her usual busy schedule when handling fifteen cases simultaneously is not an uncommon thing!

She checks daily notifications of all the cases that are in the queue. Finds a notification from the Investigative Assistant, Lily. 

The text says: We have an urgent case. But it seems intractable—seems too complicated in the roots. Should I try to balk it?

Maya replies: That’s exactly the kind of case I need! Let’s dive in. I’ll be there in no time.

Placing her phone down, she rushes to do her morning chores. Washes up, and her coffee maker machine serves her coffee, as per the pre-set time. Which, remarkably, is always perfect for her! Or maybe she is always in a rush, so she never takes much time in her routine. 

Hot coffee is ready for her the moment she steps into the hall. She takes the coffee and silently appreciates its warmth in every sip. The only moment when she relaxes before her busy day starts.

“What a beautiful day to solve a crime!” Declares Maya, looking down from her traffic & rush-view apartment window. The traffic view was overrated, so she glanced over at the rising sun.

“I hope this day will surprise me. Nothing surprises me anymore. People are… crazy. I don’t think even the devil would be ready to deal with the stuff that people do these days,” whispers Maya, talking to the void of the morning sunrise.

She is the kind of person who would rather stay alone than have a party on her birthday. And, actually, yesterday was her birthday. She celebrated it with the person she finds most trustworthy… herself. There are no guests… no over-exaggerated celebrations in the evening. And of course, lack of time could have been a reason for that as well. But it was just her party. She enjoyed the few hours she could get with her favorite food and watched the most clichéd dramas where endings were predictable at the expense of her sleep.

Maya is a government-affiliated homicide detective. Looking at her expense sheet, people might think that she is not strong financially, but living in an average apartment in Brooklyn, Manhattan, New York City, would render that theory useless. Her salary was approximately $97,440 PA with some benefits like insurance policies, healthcare options, retirement plans, and pension plans, but that was mostly for future concerns. In the present scenario, her job includes lots of overtime that sometimes completely takes away the feeling of payday excitement. At present, her life was busy, too busy to count the benefits that she will be getting in the future and there was no time to think about them either.

Reminiscing about the past and appreciating the morning sky view made an hour feel like a minute. And her mobile notification sound stops her train of thought right there. 

The notification says:

Lily: Are you on the way? Don’t take the main road. We have a traffic jam today. I have sent you the coordinates. Drive by this shortcut.

Maya: Thanks, honey. You know me so well. Maybe playing Overbearing-CEO over me has its perks after all. Just leaving now.

Lily: 😠💢 📟⏳

Maya: 😘

Maya smiles and quickly rushes to her walk-in wardrobe to get ready. 

“Weather is pretty cold right now, light fabric won’t do. Let’s just put on the overcoat,” Maya utters these words to herself and then chooses a dark brown top and a light brown overcoat to go with it. Paired with the black-ish brown trousers. Maya is not a particularly stylish person. She prefers comfort over style and personal preference over fashion. At least that’s what most of her colleagues tell her.

Then she walks out of her apartment, locks it, and slips the keys into her bag. Her service vehicle is in the parking lot. She equips herself with the radio and arms herself with necessities. “Today is a perfect day to take a cab, but only service vehicles are allowed on duty,” articulates Maya while sitting in her vehicle. She started the radio, took the driver’s seat, and started the drive to the agency.

She keeps the radio volume a bit high to avoid any sleepiness oozing out of her sleep-deprived self. Thanks to that, now she is wide awake. In the middle of the way, she needs to stop multiple times due to traffic, and she keeps diving in and out of her memory lane. Once again, a major traffic jam blocks her way, and she stops. This time, her memories take her to past incidents. This and that leads to the memory she never wants to remember.

She recalls the time of investigation when she was a serial murder case survivor. At the young age of 10 years, she was self-studying law in the orphanage, thanks to the donation of legal books by a generous anonymous donor who actually used to visit the orphanage and ask kids ‘What they wanted this year’. 

On the day of Maya’s birthday, she was kidnapped by Jes, a temporary caretaker hired by the orphanage. She was a lovely lady and cared about everyone, at least that was how it seemed. Maybe a bit too sweet to be true. That’s why people say, “too good to be true is a doorway to scam.”

That year, Jes decided to take kids on a nature drive trip and even though the orphanage budget hardly allowed for a decently clean bus, she hired a much cleaner and newer bus from her own pocket. This was an exciting trip for every child in the orphanage, so dozens of children, over ten years old, were allowed on the trip. And two temporary teachers were there to assist.

The seats were limited, excitement was unlimited! So, only selected children were allowed. But very quickly, everyone’s excitement turned into a terror of their life. And many kids lost their lives in the struggle to set themselves free from the running bus of a serial killer. He was notorious and his nickname was Scorch.

That serial killer was notorious for killing young victims. As per the criminal profiler, he was taking revenge for his traumatic childhood and was jealous of the ‘bliss of that age’. On the outside, he was a very normal person most of the time, but he used to go on a revenge spree on his birthday every year. Which unfortunately was on the same day as Maya’s. That year, Maya and many other children were victims, and only a few survived.

He used to take the bus with victims, start a fire in it, and leave the bus running near the hill. He often chose the forsaken or deserted parts of the land to ensure that the bus would drive a long way before falling into the deep abyss. That day too, during the trip, suddenly everyone fell into a deep sleep with the sleeping gas in the environment. When they woke up, they were on a burning bus, and there was no driver, no teachers, no one to help these kids.

The bus was running on a long, barren path, waiting to drown in the darkness of a steep hill drop. Teachers were identified, they were accomplices but considered dead in the end. However, their bodies were never found. Many kids jumped from the broken bus windows. Mostly, it led to their demise, and some actually survived with serious injuries.

Maya, on the other hand, could not think of anything. Her mind went blank, and the floor was lit on fire. It was a game of ‘Floor is Lava,’ but in real life. Instead of rationalizing her thoughts, she simply walked on the burning gasoline, her mind disassociated. Her feet were burning, and screams were everywhere. But it was almost like she was in some kind of ‘giving-up’ stage of her life. She kept walking, step by step until she reached the gate area.

She reached the gate to open it. 

As if it would open… They wish!! But what!? It did open!! The bus door opened! Yes, it did.

Fortunately for her, the bus was running on a barren path so she could jump on a less rocky, almost-clean, barren path. Slipping down a few minutes and then stopping with a rock slam. Her ribs were fractured, legs were burnt, but she survived. That was the craziest turn of events, and it didn’t make any sense. But well… in the end, she survived.

On the judgment day in court, Maya was present as a victim and as a witness. Her legs were scalded. She had countless bandages on her third-degree burns. Her back was supported. It was healing, but still badly bruised. Also, Serial killer, Dom (Scorch), was just a few feet apart. Their eyes met several times. Every second of it seemed a mix of living in a horrible punishment and re-living the past.

On the other hand, Dom felt a kind of admiration for her. In a definition, it was the form of the ugliest compliment a person can get. Later, he admired her in his last words, saying, “I am not cold-hearted. I selected the capable ones. They had the brains to think. See, I never closed the door. It’s just that kids are lazy. No one was brave enough to walk on fire, just to try their luck and see if the gate was open. No challenge-for-survival-spirit in them. This was a major disappointment for me. How half-heartedly do these small humans try to save their life? Such a pity. They just cry, wait for their demise, and hope that someone will save their petty little lives. This was the first time I saw a survivor like her. She deserves to live.”

Everyone unanimously gasped in shock and disgust. The audacity! Was he even a human being? Maybe he was the reincarnation of the devil himself. Who knows? Anyway, he was convicted of several murders and pedicides, found guilty of “felony murder,” and received the death penalty.

She was able to get an educational grant from the government after that incident. By the time she was 18, she was able to complete her bachelor’s in criminal justice. After that, she joined the police academy for further training that lasted thirty weeks. She was admitted to the local police academy and got her first-hand experience of the law enforcement system during her few years of work as a patrol officer. After a few more credentials in her pocket, she could fulfill her dream of becoming a homicide detective at the young age of 25.

Her life now is way better than it used to be. But she never found herself inclined towards the extravagant things that seemed to appeal to most people her age. She is a person who loves to spend time alone with herself. And of course, life becomes clearer and you start appreciating things that are simpler when you experience the cruelty of the world on a daily basis. So, solving crimes and seeing justice take place in the real world is the definition of joy for her. That is where she sees hope in humanity… for humanity. 

A sudden jolt of car horn noise brings her back to reality. And the cab driver is talking from his window, “Ignorant jaywalkers. There should be a license to walk on their feet! They just can’t seem to do it right.”

Maya looks at the cab driver, smiling, and she nods, “Right, I wish,” and then she glances at the traffic light that is signaling to move forward. She nods, promises herself not to zone out again, drives her way, and smoothly reaches the location. She walks towards the building, enters it while thinking about the cases, and then says to herself, “Let’s see how things go from here.”

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Thanks for reading! This is me, 📖 writing novel 📖 for the first time! 

Be kind and leave some 📝 reviews 📝 and ⭐ starts ⭐ to encourage me! 

And I will apprecaite 💭 any suggestions to improve. 💭 

And ✏️ leave your comments ✏️ so that I can see that you are enjoying the parts! 👌

I am trying to improve these chapters as much as I can! 

🤩 Again, thanks for reading and see you in the next one! 🤩