Gone After the Wind

Chapter 3 - Visit

Gripping the steering wheel tightly, Cara Black glanced back to her wristwatch for the fifth time since the moment she sat in the car. She eyed the entrance anxiously again in the hopes of finding what she had been looking for this time. Thirty minutes of waiting had already been tormentful. To see herself doing it for another hour, she can't be sure now if her patience would still be intact by then.

Sighing heavily, she tilted her neck and scanned the crowd consisting of the unknown faces of middle school students strolling outside the school's wide entrance, apparently enjoying the glories of coming home early. She was confident that she didn't miss the chance. That wouldn't happen because she arrived at the parking space minutes before the bell rung across the entire school.

The signature balmy climate of Rosegold City had extended throughout the suburban area such as Summer Heights where Cara currently lives. It warmed the breeze of the reposed afternoon, painting the sky with red-orange hue and shaking the leaves off the trees. It was one of those days in the post-winter season where the sun wouldn't leave her spot open and raise in the sky like an automatic light bulb, always ready to glow in a specific time.

Just a few days ago, there was a snowstorm that horrified the whole state of Albreska. Although Rosegold wasn't included in the list of the places that received the destructive effects, this part of the city still showed the signs of how disastrous the storm had been. One of which was the misty bed of bermuda grass covering the entire grounds of Ravenhurst Academy, and the traffic that bombarded the Ansten Avenue.

The class and office work had only resumed this morning, crowded roads and establishments are the likely situation to come after such disaster. And that included the warm summer that is now peeking through the enormous clouds in the sky.

Cara, who never loved the glowing sky and the scent of the incoming summer, rolled up the window of her car and sulked down on the driver's seat. She watched the other kids being picked up by their parents at the front of her vehicle. Ignoring the envious feeling she gathered by looking, she sat upright and scanned the entire entrance again, her system getting flipped out as she embraced the fact that she had been staying so long in an area with a severe amount of exposure.

She had never been this apprehensive towards a public place, she loved it even. And although she had witnessed all sorts of danger foreboding in an open area, she was, all the time, prepared to face any of it. She was always that daring and full of courage, despite the stereotypical truth that women lack them.

It was only last in the lists of her skills that had put tremendous amazement to the whole force of Albreska PD. As a result, many favored her, and she almost got promoted to a position higher than a mere detective. It held the entire map of her future career.

Almost.

If only she didn't become too entitled and engrossed at keeping her so-called perfect reputation, that almost might have never happened. And she might be one of the strong pillars in the force now, enjoying the lavishness of that position and wasn't feeling vulnerable like this.

She straightened her back when at the last wave of students, the vapid expression of Alex—her thirteen-year-old son with short brown hair and hazelnut eyes, caught her eyes. He was slinking through the vast crowd, moving past his schoolmates with such speed, some glared and yelled at him.

Cara felt the rush of relief cleansing away the pessimistic thoughts she had a while ago.

God, you're getting worse, Cara, she thought and murmured a curse under her breath.

She hastily unlocked the car and watched as Alex slid himself inside the front seat.

"What took you so long?" she asked abruptly, setting the car into life. She threw a curious glance to her son. "Didn't we have an agreement yesterday?"

Locking the seatbelt on his body, Alex replied with a nonchalant voice,"I forgot about it."

She drove away from the parking lot, a bit relieved that she's back on the road, safe and with her son, who was unscathed. Above it, she felt less pleased with the reply she had just received. "Did you? Or this is just your another way of pissing me off?"

"I said, I forgot about it, Mom!" Alex snapped back, shifting his body to the direction where Cara wouldn't see his face. "Always accusing me of lying."

He had done it before on our first try to mock me. I almost died in extreme worry. How could I not suspect him?

"I'm just making sure that we're not back on the rebellious days. I know I have explained it thoroughly, so we shouldn't argue about it. You do know that your security is my priority, right?"

"Yeah, you've been nagging about that for so long, Mom. How could I forget about that? Dad was murdered because you treasured our security so much." Alex scoffed. "Thanks for reminding me that again," he added sarcastically.

Cara swallowed the bile potruding inside her throat. Her chest tightened as if someone was clenching her heart mercilessly. Her eyes welled in tears, and as much as her rage was pushing her to scream back, she couldn't spit out a single word. All her battles with Alex had already exhausted all her ways of reasoning. She couldn't handle arguing with him again over this. After all, she had done every way she could think of to prove to her son that she didn't cause her husband's death.

"Let's not drag it here," she dismissed with jaws tightening. "My point is, if we both follow the plan we both admitted to, no such event will take place again."

Alex only shook his head as a reply.

Cara cleared her throat, and with a compassionate voice a mother could muster, she spoke. "Anyway, Nana Ryla won't make it home tonight, so our dinner would be up to me. She'd be staying at her daughter's house. Do you want something in particular? Meatballs, perhaps?"

"That's not even included in my favorite food," Alex said with a lazy voice, instantly crushing down Cara's hopes. "You should've asked Nana before she left. She knew every food I like."

Cara pressed her lips, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the steering wheel. Another pang on her chest kneaded her heart. "I've been trying to make this easy for us, Alex. All I want is your cooperation and honesty. Is it too much to ask for that?"

Alex didn't say a single word. He kept staring at the window. Another set of minutes had passed, and he broke the silence.

"Then, stop trying. No one asked you to do this," he said with a tiny voice, and instead of lacing the silence with a conversation, Cara kept her mouth shut.

Fifteen minutes after they left the school, they finally entered the small neighborhood where they had recently bought a two-story house with an untrimmed lawn circling the whole property. The spaces between houses were just enough for the inhabitants to draw each other's privacy. Although the place wasn't ideal as what they had back at Rouletia, its wide roof didn't fail to provide a cozy home enough for them and Nana Ryla.

Once Cara saw the front porch of their house, she started to slow down the car, only to regret it after, when she saw a familiar blue Sedan parked at the front.

"Did you invite someone over?" Alex asked, also staring at the car.

Cara swallowed hard. "I can't remember. Who would even visit us?"

Alex shot her a curious glance. "Who is that, then?"

Cara was too drawn staring up ahead, she almost didn't hear that question. For a moment, she thought it was her husband's relative, visiting them at such an unfortunate time. Her heart pounded heavily.

"Is that..." Alex trailed off, looking back anxiously at Cara, who carried a tight expression. As if Cara's ultimate silence had enlightened Alex, he didn't bother to follow up his question and just sunk low in his seat.

Cara, on the other hand, kept scrutinizing the familiar figure leaning at the side of the Sedan and puffing a mouthful of smoke from his newly lit cigarette. His pushed-back long hair and light stubble on his face almost made Cara think it was another man. She couldn't think of any possible reason why she received such a visit. As far as she can recollect, she was not supposed to see anyone from them until the days of her punishment were over.

Unless the visit was something personal.

Why was he wearing his usual work clothes if that was the case? And why do the tires of his car has smudges of mud?

Retaining these thoughts inside her head, Cara pulled over the car just a few meters away from the Sedan, her eyes are still following the man's movements. She only tore it off when he looked up.

"Alex!" Cara hollered at her son, who, without hesitation, sprinted away from the car, and passed the man with an unknown glare. It was too late for Cara to stop him.

"He still hates me, I guess," said the man, and Cara looked at him sharply.

"Everybody has the reason to hate you," Cara said and folded her arms over her chest. Her hazel-nut eyes stared at him blankly. "What are you doing here, Eric?"

Blowing another smoke from his cigarette, Detective Eric Sautney showed his peculiar smile at her. "Is it wrong to visit an old friend?"

Cara's eyebrow lifted. Her dark brown hair swayed with the wind. "Don't give me that bullshit."

Eric's soft laugh soothed Cara a bit. It's only been almost a month since they converse with each other. It wasn't near good when their connection was forcibly cut because of the tragedy. Cara lost her best friend for insufferable weeks, and to see him in front of her, safe and looking the same, she didn't know what to feel.

"I'm sorry I didn't make it the past shitty weeks," Eric said, his voice laced with concern. "Faucalt was so stressful after you left. I had to fill in the spot."

"I understand," Cara said, shrugging. "I wouldn't face you properly if you had visited. Our first week here was too much for us. We couldn't afford to deal with the remnants of what happened."

Eric nodded and stared at her. "How are you, Cara?"

"Nothing near fine," she answered, smiling weakly. "Had to endure all of this even every morning is a struggle. I've got no other options, haven't I?"

"I'm sorry..."

Cara shook her head, waving away the solemn air. "Come on, stop that. You didn't travel all the way here to throw me a somber party, did you? You've got something discuss with me, I can see it from your face. Faucalt definitely ordered you to come here."

"I..." Eric shut his eyes tightly when he couldn't form any excuses in his head. "don't think this is the proper time—"

"Make your trip worthy of your time," Cara cut him off. "Let's go inside."

Eric had no choice but to follow behind her on the porch. As they walked inside the house, Eric couldn't help but sense the glooym atmosphere. He wasn't sure if it was because of the darkness engulfing the particular places of the house including the living room and the alley leading towards the bedroom upstairs, or the closed blinds.

It was neat, yes, but everything was too dark. Too cold.

"Alex's probably upstairs," Cara broke the silence as they headed into the kitchen. "So no need to filter your words here. He won't come down until you're gone."

Cara switched on the lights in the kitchen and offered Eric a seat from the dining table.

"Coffee?" she asked, walking towards the counter to set up the maker.

Eric shook his head. "I already had one just a while ago."

Cara nodded and made one for herself instead. "Tell me about what you've been working on recently. You've got a case, have you?" Once she was done creating her coffee, she took a seat beside Eric and waited for his answer.

Eric sighed in defeat. He pulled out a single folder and placed it on top of the table. "A murder has been discovered in a forest park within the premises of Redvine town. The way the victim was disposed is utterly similar to the one we worked on before: the Rasco case."

Cara's eyes slowly widened as she examined the files on her hand.

Swallowing hard, Eric watched her face go pale. "You were right, Cara. He wasn't done yet with his work. And he's getting better at it."

Before Cara could travel back down to the haunted memories lane again, she slammed the folder back to its place and pored at Eric.

"It's not my call to lead you on anything," Cara said with gritted teeth. "Or to even look at this. I have no right, Eric."

"The chief had agreed to reinstate you." From the inside pocket of his coat, Eric extracted two heavy objects from it. When the light shone upon it, she saw that it was her badge and gun that she had left two months ago under Chief Alman's care. "You're officially back on the case."

Cara's heart raced with so much excitement as she peered over it. She had loved everything about being a detective. Despite the risk and danger accompanying it, she never considered leaving the force. Her determination to provide justice for all the unfortunate ones had made her survive all those years of catching various types of murderers. She had poured all her dedication and attention towards it just to serve the oath she had taken. Even her family had become the casualty, the urge never died.

Strangely, as she gazed at it with longing eyes, she couldn't feel the same intensity of the fire that had kept her moving. But instead, an unknown shriveling fear started to conquer her body. It was the same as the one she had felt when she saw Marco's lifeless body, sitting upright beside the large garbage bin.

Before she could control it, the dark memories she had buried within came flooding down in her mind.

And the strong facade she had just recently built started to crumble, brick by brick.

The only thing that was left was her extreme fear of something worst.

"No." She shook her head fervently. Her hands started to tremble. "I... I can't go back," she said with a shaking voice.

"Cara—"

Before he could see the tears flowing in her eyes, Cara stood up coarsely, her head hung low. "You're right. Maybe this wasn't the right time you went here. I think you should go."

Eric stared at her, utterly dumbfounded at her sudden dismissal and change of heart. "This has nothing to do with—"

"None of it matters to me now. I lost Marco before. I... won't risk Alex over this."

Eric sat there in silence, saddened and shocked that the tremors of the tragedy were still brewing inside her. Never in a thousand times did he think she could be this fragile.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were ready," Eric said, reaching out to the folder, his eyes watered in tears.

"I thought so, too," Cara said with unshed tears. "I'm sorry, but I think it's best if you leave now."

Eric nodded solemnly. Finally, he got up from his seat and embraced her weakly. He was about to leave when Cara noticed that he left the gun and her badge.

"Take it back with you. It won't be any of use here."

Eric halted from walking and shook his head. "It's originally yours. No one is capable of owning it other than you."

Cara watched him smile faintly at her for the second time before he disappeared from her sight.