Patient 021 “Elia”

"Get off me, woman."

The sinner was splayed on the ground beneath me, glaring as if he had a death wish. He held a knife in one hand and a cloth in the other. 

I put down my coffee and adjusted my foot to open his jacket, unsurprised when numerous suspicious green vials fell out. If he could have killed me, I would have only asked why. But our god is not that forgiving. 

Deep breaths. This man, no, this criminal in front of me was a danger to the society I held so precious. I regained my slipping composure and forced a smile.

“Sir?” I started. “Sir? What were you trying to do, sir? Are you okay? Do I need to call the police?”

He grunted and tried to get up, but I kept my foot on him. I was not letting this man escape me. 

“Darling,” he smirked. “Can’t you just let me get up for a second?”

He tried to wiggle out from below me, a grimace painted across his disheveled face.  

“Love, we have all the time in the world. I need to breathe, unless I might, you know, throw up. You wouldn’t want me to barf all over your lovely, lovely shoes now would you?”

“Sir,” I grimaced, definitely not removing my foot. “I think it would be best if I called the police. What did you say your name was, again?”

“No!” he shouted, then lowered his voice, his tone turning saccharine-sweet. “You can just call me Danny, love. Now darling, do we really need to involve the police in this? We both know of the corporate corruption that is rampant in the system. Do you think that we can trust them to handle this? I already know the answer to this, and I think you do too love.”

I couldn’t trust my prey any more than I could trust the police, but he had a good point. It was a well-known fact that WellCorp, well, controlled everything. It was not like I could do anything about that, but I must remain vigilant. 

“No, no you cannot control my actions, scum,” I said. “I-I’m not really prepared to handle this,” I gestured to him, “issue by myself. I mean, look at me. Do I look like a bodybuilder? You are staying where you are, and I will call the police.”

I dug my heel into the scum’s stomach and he yelped, losing his smarmy smirk and replacing it with a grimace, one tinged with fear. Good, he should be afraid. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he believed himself to be our God’s second coming, as was the same with all the bland-faced egotists I had encountered before. 

I opened my chip and called the police. With each digit I entered, I dug my heel deeper into his stomach, subconsciously punishing him for his poor attempt at convincing me.

“Help!” I screamed, raising my voice an octave. “Help! Police! There is a man inside my apartment! I,” I paused and sucked in a hysterical breath, “I don’t know what to do! Hel-”

I hung up, leaving the caller with a flush of panic.

The man grabbed onto my leg and clawed it, begging me to look down. Somehow, he had gotten his hands free from the metal bindings, but I really didn’t have time to worry about that now. I had other things to worry about, namely the police.

“No!” He cried. “You can’t turn me over to the police. You just can’t, darling. I’m just a law-abiding citizen.”

Law-abiding citizen, my ass. I pointed at the vials and sent him a concerned glance. 

“Nevermind that, love. I will escape, and I will be back here just weeks from now, and we will have a bit of fun, won’t we?”

He let out an exhale and looked up at me, a soulless smirk lighting up his cigar-scarred face.

“Darling, I have been in more prisons than the years you’ve been alive. No one can stop me. Now,” he threw off my leg and I stumbled. “I’m done entertaining your childish hero complex. I have places to be and people to do.”

He slowly rose to his feet and grinned, his overconfidence almost laughable.

Men.

“Well, darling,” I kicked him, pushing him down to his rightful place beneath me. “Why don’t you stay a while? What did you say earlier? Ah, yes. We have all the time in the world, now don’t we?”

I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my badge.

“RAPD, kid,” I smirked as I pulled out my handcuffs from my jacket pocket. “You are under arrest for the murders of multiple women across the RA metro area. You have the right to remain silent, but do be aware anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of our Lord.” I grabbed onto his arm and flipped him over, pinning his back to the ground with my knee and handcuffing him in one swift, practiced motion. “Now where were we?”

He groaned beneath me, his disgust almost permeable. 

“I really am sorry I couldn’t draw out this whole process. Honestly, this likely would have even made your day,” I added, internally shaking with fear. “But, as you know, I have places to be and people to do.”

Sirens blared from outside my apartment. The police would be here any minute now. Of course, they wouldn’t expect me to be here, but how could they turn this opportunity down? Their precious detective, casually protecting the metropolis in her free time.

I left without a trace, leaving behind only the evidence and the suspect. I slipped through the wood-framed window, watching my redeeming act of goodwill disappear behind me. I zipped across the fire escapes, trapezing from bar to bar like an acrobat performing for a silent crowd. 

The red and blue of the police lights painted a dramatic scene beneath me, the once-monstrous murderer appearing like nothing more than a normal guy, one who was anxious and afraid just like the rest of you humans. Beside him, two police officers were scribbling on their notepads, no doubt receiving a rather skewed account of the night’s events. 

Their report didn’t matter. Truly, none of this mattered. I had exposed a killer, and he would go to jail. Simple as that. 

That's what I did. I fixed up your human messes, only to be repaid with trial after trial of experiments and new treatments to cure an incurable disease. 

Was it all really worth it?

I didn't know.

I lived no other reality after my father passed.

In the back of my mind, I knew I was lonely. A girl can't live case to case, forever chasing after the worst of humanity, and be happy with her life. 

I couldn't remember the last time I had hung out with friends or spent a day on self-care. Hell, I hadn't had a day off in years. 

It was fine though. I didn't mind. As long as I pretended hard enough, I could almost enjoy being alone. I had gotten used to it, no one asking about me unless they needed a favor. 

It wasn't awful, to be fair. I never had to worry about what another person thought of me, and I always got to eat whatever I wanted in the moment.

Plus, I had all sorts of free time to devote to picking up new hobbies. I had knitted hundreds of blankets, sweaters, and hats. You name it, I'd probably tried to knit it. 

Not saying any of my sweaters looked good - they were all littered with holes. I'm kind of a only-good-at-one-thing kind of girl. Trust me, I've tried everything from baking to astrology, failing miserably every time. At least they were fun to experiment with to pass the time.

But every once and a while, whenever I finished up a particularly difficult case, I wished I had a shoulder to cry on. I prayed that some hapless soul would stumble into my life and would decide that I was someone worthy of their love. 

One day.