“Agh ..What am I doing on the floor…”,the man groaned and got up slowly from the cold sleazy linoleum. He went to the window .Darkness and the sleepy ambience assured him that it was still night. The cool air made him shrug and Cullen felt as if he was being watched. Opening the balcony door, he inhaled the night freshness .Not a single soul was present outside, he was the one who could not sleep.
“What should I do?”, wondered the man in a stony silence ,smoking a cigarette and looking in a pitch-black sky. The only decision he could make in such a state was to go back to bed and just sleep on it. When Gillean went back to his bedroom, he saw a silver key still laying on the floor. He was not in the mood to pick it up and think about all of these.
“Good night to me, eventually. I have two and a half hours left to sleep”, he thought and instantly nodded off.
***
“Why don’t you pick up?!”,Gwen was desperately trying to call the criminologist and walking nervously around the room.
“Hello?”, eventually replied a disturbed sleepy voice.
“Hurry to the office! Someone robbed your archives!”
“But they were totally secure!”, hollered Gillean Cullen.
“They might have been”.
“I’ll be in twenty minutes”.
The other line was already silent. Gwendoline Gull hung up.
He started running around the flat getting ready. The man totally forgot about his exhaustion and lack of sleep after this news.
“How could it have possible happened? I definitely need to check the CCTV”.
The unsettled man ran to his garage and sensed the dread coming from every single corner. He realized that nothing in this world is secure. Gillean quickly got into the car and drove away. There was a shower and windscreen wipers worked hard to wipe away the heavy persistent drops of rain. Although the wipers helped, it was still confusing to drive in the rain. The criminologist mixed up and turned on the wrong side of the road.
“Am I doomed?” ,he asked hopelessly.
“Look where you’re driving!” an old hag yelled as he drove past. This generation is already useless, they only curse others, especially way younger then themselves.
***
“Hello there!”
“Hello”, Gwen responded listlessly . She looked as though she was a nervous wreck.
“Did you check the CCTV?”
“Nope, decided to wait for you”.
“Is Brandon in the office ?”
“No, but he’s already getting to work ”.
“Gwen, calm down. We’re gonna figure everything out. You’re not alone. You’ve got a good team to help and back you up if needed”.
She sighed and hugged him. They were standing this way until Brandon came. Gillean patted her back and went to shake arms with his another colleague.
“You two lovebirds!” said Brandon as he greeted his older companion.
“Brandon!”, yelled both Gwen and Gill in unison and stared at him. The newbie was red like a beetroot.
“Wanna go get some coffee?” he offered after a short embarrassing silence.
“I wouldn’t mind one”, agreed Cullen.
“Would you like something , Gwendoline?”
“No, thanks. Can you come to my office afterwards?”
“Only me or both of us?”
“Both of you. Got a serious thing to discuss”.
“She scares the shit out of me when she talks this way”, whispered the criminologist to MacCaulie.
They nodded and headed to the canteen for some morning coffee and at least something to chew. The two men bought two cups of Americano and two ham sandwiches and found a table in the corner. This place is perfect for having breakfast normally without anyone eavesdropping on you. The place was quite crowded. The people who were in a hurry to get to work are now trying to catch up on the skipped breakfast. The only person who seemed to be not in the mood for it was Gull. She was sitting at her desk hiding her face in the hands and tried to clear her thoughts. But they were like an avalanche: looming closer and closer no matter how hard you try to save yourself.
“How could the archives have been stolen? They were disguised and under a strict surveillance…Everything has turned upside down since this murder on the Riverside 36”,the young woman thought to herself.
“Oh, don’t be so delusional! It’s just a coincidence. No murder can influence the police department because it’s task is to tackle this sort of crime. I’m simply overwhelmed”, Gwen was convincing herself.
“It’s just a coincidence…An insignificant coincidence, nothing more”, the detective reassured herself and inhaled deeply.
***
“How was your sleep today?”, asked Gill.
“Strangely, but I slept like a log. I haven’t had such a deep sleep for a long time already”.
“You’re not so neurotic then”, Gillean grinned and took a sip of coffee.
“The adrenaline just worked out”, the younger men shrugged his shoulders.
“I didn’t even have any dreams”, he added.
“Lucky kid!”, Mr Cullen laughed nervously.
“What ‘bout you?”
“Nowhere near as relaxing as yours”.
“Stop beating around the bush. Go on!”
“A persistent dude!” Gillean got up and patted his mate’s shoulder.
“Oh, all right. I don’t know where to start. When I got home I was so pooped that dropped off the minute my head touched the pillow. Nothing disturbed me until three am …”
“Let me guess …Was there an apparition?”
“Almost. There was a gust of wind in my bedroom and I heard as if something was scratching my carpet. But I don’t have a cat and all the windows were closed. I bet it was something supernatural”.
“I got it. What’s next?”
“Something dropped on the floor. It was a key and a message. It said something like:” The game’s started ,you better hurry up”. Then the wind disappeared and I passed out”.
“Oh, really sorry for it”.
“I suppose what key it is”.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s a key for the time machine”
“But how’s that likely!?No one could have brought it to you-the lab’s owner is in the middle of nowhere and I doubt he will be caught some day. Do you believe in something unexplainable ?”
“After what I saw I already do”.
“ I can take a stab at you being frazzled. Your mind could have tricked you”.
“ I know it sounds unreal, but I do have the key!”
“All right, I see. If you need help-reach me out ASAP”.
“What’s your mobile number?”
“It’s 766788912”.
“Thanks for your openness ,friend”.
“ Don’t mention it”.
They finished with their breakfast and went out into the corridor. The Head Detective had something crucial preserved for them. The men spent a lot more time at the canteen than they expected.
“Gwen’s gonna be angry with us”.
***
There was a knock on the door.
“Come in!”
“We’re here”, said the colleagues.
“Take a seat”.
“What’s the matter?”
“To start with, the archives have been stolen. Let’s just watch the surveillance together “.
She launched the camera recordings for Brandon and Gillean to watch. They were of a poor quality because of the rain and the sky getting dark. It was quiet and calm for a while, but then something started rustling in a bush right in the corner the camera overlooks. The creature(as they thought at first) left the shelter. When the three people looked closer, they saw that it was a human. The male person had a weird appearance. The whimsical man wore a scruffy cloak .It was hard to identify his face .Suddenly, the stranger took off his hood and the face could be seen clearly: it was totally hideous. The man had scars and cuts all around his face and one of his eyes was blind. His messy hair made him look like a werewolf. It was strange that he didn’t notice the camera filming his intrusion.
The criminal took out a lock pick and simply broke the door. The alarm didn’t work despite of the intrusion in the late hour. Then the recording stops. The three viewers were flabbergasted, trying to find the right words for this video.
“Are my computer archives intact?”
“They were hacked too”, said Gwen and shaking as a leaf. The invincible fear was pervading her.
“I’ll send a raid group to look for him”, Brandon said to calm the girl down at least a bit.
Brandon went to help the crew that was going to look for the villain while Gwen and Gillean were trying to log back in all accounts and restore the archives. There were top secret documents of paramount importance. It would be a disaster if they were released in masses.
“That’s impossible!” exclaimed the Head Detective desperately.
“Gwendoline, I need to tell you something”.
“What’s that?”
“Something strange visited me at night”.
“Ha-ha, it’s so relevant to us now”, she said scornfully.
“I mean it. Something broke in when I was asleep. There was a gust of wind in the room and the entity was scratching my carpet. There was also a cloud of smoke. Everything disappeared abruptly and I saw a piece of paper and a key on the floor. I can predict that it’s a key for the time machine. The message urged me to hurry up “
“Ugh…We should go to the lab together”.
“When?”
“Right now!”
The two people got into the car and drove away .They were rushing on the highway, passing dozens of streets, roads and avenues. People having a Friday evening stroll gazed at the police car racing somewhere. The clouds of dust from under the wheels pervaded the air. No driver could outrun them. Finally, Gull and Cullen got to the crime scene.
“It’s even more malevolent than I imagined”, she said.
Walking down the numerous corridors and rooms, the criminologist detected a hole in the floor which leads to the cellar. The courageous colleagues reached the needed place.
“The time machine is right here”, Gillean Cullen pointed out.
“Holly crap!”
“Yeah”.
Gwen could barely stand and sat on the moldy wooden floor. She tried to invent something for them to do further. Everything was as if in a fog. It was arduous to think and pacify the train of thought. There was an inevitable evil looming them. At least the detective felt this way. Or it was her conscientiousness that tried to deceive and make her feel apprehensive. A disgusting smell of rotting wood and dust congested the air around them.
“You all right?’
“Not really”.
“What’s troubling you?”
“It might seem bad of me”.
“Why? Spell it out!”
“I want us to test the tech”.
“How? Who’s gonna do it?”
“You…” she said in a quiet voice.
“OK, but I need some assistance”.
“I’m gonna help you”.
“We need to reach Brandon out to share our plan”.
“I’ll call him now”, Gwen said and started dialing his number.
She contacted MacCauley and they developed the plan more. Brandon was going to stay and work at their department. The supervision of him was transferred to another person ,Nick Stacy. The criminologist had to take part in the time machine test. Gwendoline Gull would be observing the machine and how the experiment goes.
“Let’s have a look on how this thingy works” ,the detective suggested.
“Actually, it’s pretty straightforward”, he replied and approached the giant apparatus.
“I hope you have the key with you?”
“Yeah. I decided to take it even though I knew you wouldn’t believe me”.
“You genius!” Gull exclaimed and hugged Gillean.
He came closer to the machine and put in the key. The door opened immediately. Gwen sat at the desk to work with the computer controlling the machine.
“Which year would you choose?”
“Hm…”
“So?”
“Let it be 2300th.I don’t have a particular date in my mind”.
“Gotcha”.
“You will see how I get to the future and all my life there. You can even adjust something there, cuz it’s a controller of this thingamajig”.
“As soon as I switched it on an instruction appeared there. It says you also need to put on a bracelet which has a chip inside. It is operated by the computer and this way someone working with it can help you get back home”.
“I saw a weird bracelet on the shelf here and picked it up”, he said and took it out from his pocket.
“Let me see…”
“Got it?”
“Yeah, put it on already”.
“Goodbye, my dear friend”, Cullen said with devastation in his voice.
“Goodbye”, Gwen replied. Tears were gushing from her eyes.
“I’ll find a way to communicate with you no matter the time difference”.
“You promise?”
“I never lie to anyone and can’t stand people fooling me”.
The man looked in her eyes and took her arm. They embraced and he begged for this memory to remain in his head for ever. He’s never felt this way before. Gillean let his colleague go and went to the door. Cullen waved goodbye before it closed. Gwen collapsed on the chair .She had butterflies in her stomach. It was a kind of foreboding of something going wrong.
The criminologist was already trapped in there. He turned left and saw a structure similar to an old-fashioned clock .He had to turn arrows forward to get to his date. Small though they were, the hands were heavy to pull. The action required some effort.
“Oh, for God’s sake! I finally did it”.
“Now lie down in a capsule in the center of the machine”.
“Who said that?”
He turned around and saw a speaker in the corner.
“Silly me!”
After specifying the chronology, the man mastered his courage and laid down in a capsule. The safety belts buckled up and the thing started spinning. The space surrounding him swirled as if in a triumphant and excited dance. Gillean Cullen closed his eyes.
***
“Mummy, where are we going? Why are you packing?”
“We’re moving away, darling”.
“Where’s daddy?”
“He’s far ,far away”.
“Did he die?”
“I’m sorry, sweetie”.
A little boy ran away in his bedroom and started sobbing. Tears were rushing from his eyes and the pillow he laid his head on was soaked.
***
“Elliot! I know how he died!”
“My dear! How?”
“The forensics showed that he was poisoned”.
“Has the police launched the investigation?”
“They’ve already figured everything out. It was Barty Jefferson who did it”.
“Oh man…”
Little Gillean was eavesdropping the whole conversation. The child was stupefied.
“I’ll avenge him come what may!”
Cullen loaded his backpack and went to his dad’s office in the mansard.
“I know he had a gun somewhere in there”, the kid started rummaging in all the drawers.
“Gilly, where are you?”
After not getting the response, she found a child in the attic. He was holding a handgun.
“Jesus!”
“I only want to protect you!”
She hugged him and then they woke up two toddler twin sisters – Sunna and Sian and left the house for good. South Carolina was their new home.
***
“I want to ask you to greet our new colleague! Gillean Cullen will be a new officer in our division”.
The newbie looked around and nodded to all his colleagues. It was the first day he wore a police uniform.
***
“Kudos for your successfully solved case!”
***
The sky was dark. Thunderbolts were sparkling, people tried to hide from the disaster. Streets were overloaded with buildings and deprived of trees or any greens. Malevolent shadows of glass-constructed quarters reflected in the light of natural phenomenon. A teenage girl running past took out a peculiar device from her duffle bag. It resembled a tablet. But she unfolded the case, tapped a button in the middle and disappeared. It was a portable teleport.
“Holly cow! It can’t be Detroit!”
He opened his eyes and realized it was a vision and he was still on the way. Then everything dissipated and Gillean was falling somewhere.
“Ow ! Where am I?”
The man took a look at where he was. The criminologist emerged in a deserted suburb. Something was revving above him.
“A car in the air. Ha!”
***
Detective Gwendoline Gull was still sitting at the desk watching her compatriot’s venture. The air quivered with a high-pitched resonance, a siren’s call cutting through the urban clamor outside.
“What’s going on! The computer is glitching! The mouse doesn’t move!”
“Your device has been blocked by an unauthorized user”.
“Fuck…Gillean!”
He’s stuck in there for evermore. The bracelet on his right wrist started beeping. Cullen saw a notification: “The computer system has been hacked. Now act yourself!”
“Bullshit!”
The man got up and ran in an unknown direction. The streets were unfamiliar to him. The criminologist was running at random, gradually getting out of breath.
