I received this anonymous SMS on a hot summer day, while resting on my sofa, reading some celebrity news that I wasn't even interested in. The text message told me about a murder, its exact location, and that I was the one who should investigate it. I'm a detective by profession and my first instinct was to screenshot the potential evidence and go directly to the address indicated by the message. The building was in a neighborhood not too far from where I lived, however I was still recovering from a car accident that happened to me a few days ago and was definitely not supposed to work or even walk too much with my broken leg and crutches. I don't think that I hesitated much anyway, and I jumped into the first taxi heading to the crime scene.
The police were already there, and the officer guarding the entrance to the apartment made a strange face seeing my crippled self, but was ultimately convinced to let me in after seeing my detective badge. The victim was lying there, on the floor of the small vestibule, judging by the marks on her neck, she was probably strangled to death. None of the three city police officers had touched anything, as they said that they were still waiting for the forensics team, but they did let me examine the body, as long as I didn't touch anything. Nothing was really out of the ordinary, the victim was wearing running clothes as if she was just coming back from a jog. Maybe some creep followed her from a nearby park, cases like those weren't something really rare in a big city like this... But then I noticed something, a crumpled piece of paper, of a familiar pink color, the exact same color as some pages of my books for learning new languages that everyone knew I was accumulating through the years but never really used. I could even swear that there was some of my writing on the wrinkled paper... As I was examining the body, I was asking routine questions to the officers about who reported the murder, how and when, the name of the victim and... And then it hit me. I would have fallen off my feet if I wasn't already crouched near the corpse. The name that the officer revealed was the name of my previous companion. That girl was the girl I spent 10 years of my life with, before ending that relationship a couple years ago. I had no idea where she moved after that, but somehow she was there now, lying lifeless on the ground... And I didn't ever recognize her face. I got up, dizzied by the shock that this information procured me. Meanwhile, I heard a distant but familiar voice around the corner as my boss entered the room. Upon noticing me, he quickly scolded me for being there in my poor state, and told me to go back to my place to rest. I spluttered something about the paper in the hand of the victim and the anonymous text, but he shrugged me off, telling me to send anything I thought important to the office, where him and an able colleague would take care of the case. But who was he exactly? When I heard his voice I was convinced that he was my boss, his clothing as well as the red stripe on the badge he was wearing from the same detective company as mine were confirming that, but his face was unknown to me. For all I know, he could have been an imposter disguised as my chef.
At this moment, I felt like the world was spinning and realized I was going through too much emotion and exercise for someone in my condition. I was still supposed to be in convalescence for at least 3 to 5 weeks, and was here at the crime scene like I was in my best shape. I agreed with my so-called boss and climbed in the taxi he called for me, still a bit haggard. However, that was then it hit me. Before going out with that girl, I was competing with a cousin to win her heart, as we were both madly in love with her, but shortly after our relationship began, I lost sight of this relative. Lost sight until recently, not even a few months ago, when he called me, saying that he was in town for a bit and wanted to catch up, and eventually ended up borrowing one of my language books, pretexting that he wanted to go on vacation in the country that spoke this language. I agreed, as I didn't plan on really using this book anyway, although I thought that such a destination was a strange choice for holidays as it was not really a dream location. Could it be that this cousin was still angry at me after all those years? Did he maybe try to shoot his shot after my breakup, and it didn't work out? It was a far-fetched idea, but could he be the murderer in this crime, a passion crime? Was he planning to flee to this country that was out of our jurisdiction? Even worse, was he the author of this anonymous text wanting in spite to make sure I would see the cadaver of my ex-partner? I hastily scrolled through my contacts list and found his number, called, and after some incredibly long seconds, he answered. Except it didn't seem like he did it on purpose, as I heard no voice at the other end of the line and no response to my "Hello"s. I was mostly hearing what could be clothes rubbing against clothes or against the microphone of his mobile, and a faint voice calling boarding announcement until the call was cut short. I immediately told the driver to change his destination to the airport and tried to call back, only to receive the "unreachable cellphone" automatic message.
Arriving near the airport, the traffic was clogged as usual, so I told the taxi to let me out just there and started running to the terminal, or at least tried to, with my injured limb and two crutches. The walk felt endless, but I finally arrived at the building and asked the nearest information counter about departing flights. It turned out that I missed by half an hour the takeoff of a plane to the country my cousin pretended to want to go to.
It was at this moment that I realized how foolish I was. My medication was starting to wear off, and the pain in my leg began to feel unbearable, which was probably not helped by the fact that I did the complete opposite of the nice rest that the doctors prescribed me. I made all that scenario up in my head based on a crumbled piece of paper I couldn't even examine properly. And even if all of that was true, I ran off to chase a person that I would probably not recognize if I was face-to-face with him, even less in a crowd! The doctors told me that such an impact on my head could cause some migraines or even some worse symptoms, like acute apperceptive prosopagnosia. I was in a state of complete delirium, sweaty, and in agonizing pain. I decided it was better to go back home, take my painkillers, and call my general practitioner instead of trying to act like Sherlock Holmes.
I chose to use all three dream elements because it was funnier to make the protagonist run in crutches where thos weren't even connected at all in my dream. Also, I did 0 proof-reading and just roughly translated it to the draft I did in french (my native language) so it might feature some errors and or plotholes.
Otherwise, really fun exercise ! Dream elements: Language book, Running, Crutches Cards drawn: 1) the chariot 2)the emperor 3)the hermit (randomtarotcard.com/) Murderer Has A Personal Vendetta Against The Detective Opportunistic Family Member Detective Has Face-Blindness
I was excited when I peeked at the end for your chosen keywords and saw the "Detective Has Face-Blindness" one. I recently found out I have some face-blindness too. I watched a lot of mystery shows, and I could never understand how police or detectives were able to pick out a suspect's face in a crowd either, so that part of your story felt spot-on. I thought the face-blindness prompt would make an interesting twist, it was great to see someone take up the challenge. Fun read!
Comments
I received this anonymous SMS on a hot summer day, while resting on my sofa, reading some celebrity news that I wasn't even interested in. The text message told me about a murder, its exact location, and that I was the one who should investigate it. I'm a detective by profession and my first instinct was to screenshot the potential evidence and go directly to the address indicated by the message. The building was in a neighborhood not too far from where I lived, however I was still recovering from a car accident that happened to me a few days ago and was definitely not supposed to work or even walk too much with my broken leg and crutches. I don't think that I hesitated much anyway, and I jumped into the first taxi heading to the crime scene.
The police were already there, and the officer guarding the entrance to the apartment made a strange face seeing my crippled self, but was ultimately convinced to let me in after seeing my detective badge. The victim was lying there, on the floor of the small vestibule, judging by the marks on her neck, she was probably strangled to death. None of the three city police officers had touched anything, as they said that they were still waiting for the forensics team, but they did let me examine the body, as long as I didn't touch anything. Nothing was really out of the ordinary, the victim was wearing running clothes as if she was just coming back from a jog. Maybe some creep followed her from a nearby park, cases like those weren't something really rare in a big city like this... But then I noticed something, a crumpled piece of paper, of a familiar pink color, the exact same color as some pages of my books for learning new languages that everyone knew I was accumulating through the years but never really used. I could even swear that there was some of my writing on the wrinkled paper... As I was examining the body, I was asking routine questions to the officers about who reported the murder, how and when, the name of the victim and... And then it hit me. I would have fallen off my feet if I wasn't already crouched near the corpse. The name that the officer revealed was the name of my previous companion. That girl was the girl I spent 10 years of my life with, before ending that relationship a couple years ago. I had no idea where she moved after that, but somehow she was there now, lying lifeless on the ground... And I didn't ever recognize her face. I got up, dizzied by the shock that this information procured me. Meanwhile, I heard a distant but familiar voice around the corner as my boss entered the room. Upon noticing me, he quickly scolded me for being there in my poor state, and told me to go back to my place to rest. I spluttered something about the paper in the hand of the victim and the anonymous text, but he shrugged me off, telling me to send anything I thought important to the office, where him and an able colleague would take care of the case. But who was he exactly? When I heard his voice I was convinced that he was my boss, his clothing as well as the red stripe on the badge he was wearing from the same detective company as mine were confirming that, but his face was unknown to me. For all I know, he could have been an imposter disguised as my chef.
At this moment, I felt like the world was spinning and realized I was going through too much emotion and exercise for someone in my condition. I was still supposed to be in convalescence for at least 3 to 5 weeks, and was here at the crime scene like I was in my best shape. I agreed with my so-called boss and climbed in the taxi he called for me, still a bit haggard. However, that was then it hit me. Before going out with that girl, I was competing with a cousin to win her heart, as we were both madly in love with her, but shortly after our relationship began, I lost sight of this relative. Lost sight until recently, not even a few months ago, when he called me, saying that he was in town for a bit and wanted to catch up, and eventually ended up borrowing one of my language books, pretexting that he wanted to go on vacation in the country that spoke this language. I agreed, as I didn't plan on really using this book anyway, although I thought that such a destination was a strange choice for holidays as it was not really a dream location. Could it be that this cousin was still angry at me after all those years? Did he maybe try to shoot his shot after my breakup, and it didn't work out? It was a far-fetched idea, but could he be the murderer in this crime, a passion crime? Was he planning to flee to this country that was out of our jurisdiction? Even worse, was he the author of this anonymous text wanting in spite to make sure I would see the cadaver of my ex-partner? I hastily scrolled through my contacts list and found his number, called, and after some incredibly long seconds, he answered. Except it didn't seem like he did it on purpose, as I heard no voice at the other end of the line and no response to my "Hello"s. I was mostly hearing what could be clothes rubbing against clothes or against the microphone of his mobile, and a faint voice calling boarding announcement until the call was cut short. I immediately told the driver to change his destination to the airport and tried to call back, only to receive the "unreachable cellphone" automatic message.
Arriving near the airport, the traffic was clogged as usual, so I told the taxi to let me out just there and started running to the terminal, or at least tried to, with my injured limb and two crutches. The walk felt endless, but I finally arrived at the building and asked the nearest information counter about departing flights. It turned out that I missed by half an hour the takeoff of a plane to the country my cousin pretended to want to go to.
It was at this moment that I realized how foolish I was. My medication was starting to wear off, and the pain in my leg began to feel unbearable, which was probably not helped by the fact that I did the complete opposite of the nice rest that the doctors prescribed me. I made all that scenario up in my head based on a crumbled piece of paper I couldn't even examine properly. And even if all of that was true, I ran off to chase a person that I would probably not recognize if I was face-to-face with him, even less in a crowd! The doctors told me that such an impact on my head could cause some migraines or even some worse symptoms, like acute apperceptive prosopagnosia. I was in a state of complete delirium, sweaty, and in agonizing pain. I decided it was better to go back home, take my painkillers, and call my general practitioner instead of trying to act like Sherlock Holmes.
I chose to use all three dream elements because it was funnier to make the protagonist run in crutches where thos weren't even connected at all in my dream.
Also, I did 0 proof-reading and just roughly translated it to the draft I did in french (my native language) so it might feature some errors and or plotholes.
Otherwise, really fun exercise !
Dream elements: Language book, Running, Crutches
Cards drawn: 1) the chariot 2)the emperor 3)the hermit (randomtarotcard.com/)
Murderer Has A Personal Vendetta Against The Detective
Opportunistic Family Member
Detective Has Face-Blindness
I'm glad you enjoyed the game / exercise!
I was excited when I peeked at the end for your chosen keywords and saw the "Detective Has Face-Blindness" one. I recently found out I have some face-blindness too. I watched a lot of mystery shows, and I could never understand how police or detectives were able to pick out a suspect's face in a crowd either, so that part of your story felt spot-on. I thought the face-blindness prompt would make an interesting twist, it was great to see someone take up the challenge. Fun read!