Investigation: Day 50

The cases are ongoing. Many new elements are discovered, but no real evidence is found to establish the motive and convict the criminal. Many parts of the case are still very hazy and unclear. And Maya’s absence from the team only made them busier. 

It does feel weird that all the new and old cases are breezing by. They are solving crimes left and right just like they always do. But for some reason, these 4 murders are leaving them nowhere. It is a big scratch on their efficient image in front of the media and, even worse; it is showing them in a negative light as well. People seem visibly uncomfortable when their cases are handed to the team members. They are living in an irony that no matter how many cases they are solving on a regular basis, these cases are still dominating their reputation and leaving a visibly ugly scratch on their career. 

But of course, these are for later concern. They try to unfold and reiterate every aspect of this case, but things are still on the worst side. Caius was called in for suspicion but he cleverly slid himself out of the suspicion and they didn’t have any other evidence to do anything more with his details. Stygias, on the other hand, went nuts. Like… really, real mad. His mental state became worse with every passing day. Eventually, after a week of observation and testing, he is transferred to the mental help facility, so that his worsened mental condition can be improved. Things aren’t looking very positive for his condition, but they are doing their best to help him.

And as for Maya, she is still in her worst condition. She screams in her dreams at night, and even in the daytime, she is always on high alert. Her body aches all the time and her mind stays in chaos. She zones out anywhere and anytime and jolts out of her episodes. Most of the time, even she wouldn’t know what kind of voices she would create in an empty room. Sometimes she would leave her front door open and sometimes she would lock herself in the washroom. Leaving everyone scared, who was unlucky enough to be in the hall at the time.

And for that reason, she had to leave that apartment when her neighbors filed an official complaint about her being too noisy and disturbing. There was even a time when there was a rumor that she was possessed and that her apartment was haunted. The first few complaints were warnings, but then she eventually was given an eviction notice due to the fact that all 3 other flat owners raised a complaint against her. And even the people on the upper and down floors could feel the discomfort.

So, as a result of this, she is evicted and since she doesn’t have any funds ongoing, and most of her savings and medical aid fund are going into therapies and medical treatments, thus she decides to move into a separate quarter in the outskirts of the city. It was an old house, built almost 100 years ago, and hardly any human being was around. In a normal situation, this would have been a place filled with a thousand red flags, but at this moment, she needs a place just like this.

She knows that she can’t live among the people with her current condition. And she doesn’t want to be admitted to the hospital, as it makes her feel… helpless.

She is now unsuitable for general society due to her hallucinations, paranoia, and nightmares. Her head is always filled with unsettling noises & outsider screams that would usually come from her room at night. Of course, it is all just part of her nightmare cycle, but it was hard to bear with the consistent complaints. 

Now she starts living in secluded quarters that are far from the city borders, and no one is there to hear and complain about her nightmares and unsettling behaviors. Her medications are ongoing and her therapies would be online or on visits to doctors. And now, she completely restricted herself to her house. 

Her life completely changed in just a matter of a few months. But she is still, although unofficially, involved in the case of these murders. She would inquire about the updates from time to time but only to get disappointed since it was almost turning into a cold serial killing case. But in all of this chaos, even when her house was basically 3 hour’s drive away from the bureau, Lily would still visit her once or twice a week. She is the only peace Maya has in her life. Talking to Lily is the only thing keeping her sane in such conditions. At least that’s what it seemed like until the moment it wasn’t enough.

This goes on for a week... and two, and then one day, her dream starts becoming way too vivid and realistic. At this point, she starts to doubt her reality and believes more in her dreams. Her dreams are becoming her reality and reality feels like an endless dream that just wouldn’t end. So, from her point of view, she is miserable in her dreams and frightened in reality. 

In the past, all her dreams were frightening, but they were still random and it was easy to distinguish between what was real and what was not. But for some time now, her actual living space and surroundings have become the base architecture of her dream settings. And now she is dreaming of different things in her living space settings. She is having regular nightmares of being chased by multiple grotesque animals. They would chase her till the end of the visible dirt road, and she would fall and then they would eat her alive. 

Another nightmare is of being chased by some people. There are 2 girls and 2 boys, but their faces are never clear and it is hard to recognize them. They would chase her till the end of the road and burn her alive at the end of her nightmare. And every now so often, she would see a red iron gate, and the floor on fire. The roads towards the gate are always lit, burning with hellfire and she would walk closer for the sake of her life. And from that point, it seems that the time stopped, her movements became slow. Everything else is not moving, only the fire is becoming more and more intense. And she walks, almost peacefully, on the burning road, reaching out to the gate and opening it to see a wide land filled with ashes that are showing the sign of previously lit but now extinguished fire. 

As soon as she enters the gate, walks inside with fear in her heart, previously stopped time starts its cycle again. But this time, it seems that those grotesque elements of her nightmare are no longer interested in her. Almost like they completed the mission of bringing her close to where she needed to be. And that is almost the most peaceful dream that she would occasionally have.

And with this dream, she would wake up with almost a quick jolt of electricity. And then she would find herself lying on the ground outside and in front of her main gate. She also remembers witnessing herself walking from her room, from her bed to the ground, but it is part of a confused memory because she is also sure that it never actually happened. It is almost a pseudo-memory that she is having. Because she is almost certain about the authenticity of both memories, but only 1 can be true. Her confusion is just becoming part of her life as her dream starts making her memories more and more jumbled. She is taking more and more medications to relieve the symptoms, but it is of no avail.

And then one day the big bang happened. She takes her medicines, and for some strange reason, her medications work this time. Finally, after a long time, which feels like an eternity, she is feeling tired in her body, but there is no pain. And her hallucinations are not there and her mind is not surrounded by the unsettling voices! Things almost become too normal to ignore! She has been taking the same medication for some time now and this is the first time she experienced such relief with a normal dose! It is an impossible dream come true situation, and she sleeps comfortably on her quarter hall sofa, which feels more comfortable without all the pain in her body.

And suddenly she feels a touch of wind gazing from her skin. It is impossible to feel much wind inside the house with the closed doors. So she opens her eyes, and to her surprise, the main door is wide open. Normally, people would get up and close the door, but she doesn’t feel the need to do that because she wants to enjoy the feeling of comfort in her body. She doesn’t want to have anything to do with the petty things of this world. This feeling of having a normal body that feels comfortable lying down is the most precious thing for her. So, she closes her eyes and decides to ignore the world for now. It will still be there when she opens her eyes again, anyway.

A few minutes pass in silence and then the clear sound of footsteps alerts her senses and wakes her up. It isn’t like someone is wearing shoes or anything. It is the slightest noise of someone walking barefoot, but she is a detective after all. Her sensitivity and senses are heightened in her health condition. She opens her eyes immediately, only to find that her vision is a little hazy. She sees a man standing on her porch, looking at her with a blank expression on his face. With a tall and lean physique, he has pale red skin that makes him stand out from the distance. And, as their eyes meet, the man starts walking toward her, leaving dusty footprints behind and his expressions become more and more human-like with every passing step. In a few steps, he reaches the sofa and calmly sits down beside her. A few minutes of silence pass by and it is a pure terror for Maya as she finds herself listless and unsure of the reality of this situation. 

And then, after a few minutes, a man leans near her and then whispers, “So, you are finally in the den! So, it’s time to meet the devil!”

She is stunned and scared for her life. Words betray her at that moment and she just let a scream out to disrupt the situation. The man was just sitting beside her, now clearly wearing a cold smile on his face. He almost seems to be mocking her with his micro-expressions.

Maya tries to kick him, but the man doesn’t budge. So she rolls to the other side of the sofa, jumps to the ground, hurting her hands and feet in the process, and then simply runs out of her home without any consideration of anything. She looks backward, and the man is casually walking towards her. No matter how hard she runs, the man seems to easily stay behind her, but not enough to catch up to her. She keeps running, stumbling, and running on the dirt road, only to finally faint somewhere on the grass pavement.

She is lying down on the dirt and grass road of a secluded village where no one is present to help. She waits there for someone to show up. She lays there unconscious. Waiting for a light of rescue.

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