𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫 | 𝟐𝐦𝐢𝐧

XVI

Yesterday, 11:46 p.m.

After hearing the male on the other end of the line hang up, Ryujin sighed and set her headphones on the stand. She needed a break.

She went to the staff's room and started to make some coffee. Ryujin leaned her hands on the counter and closed her eyes. A few other of her coworkers were in there too, but she wasn't in the mood to talk because something was stuck on her mind.

Something about that call was off.

Ryujin didn't know what it was, but something in that call seemed to set the world off balance. Something didn't feel right anymore, like if an old picture on your fireplace mantel suddenly went missing. No one ever looked at it or dusted it, no one cared about it. But if it suddenly disappeared, you would look at the mantel and feel something was wrong. That's how Ryujin felt.

Something just wasn't right.

The most mind twisting part was that she didn't know what it was. She's worked as a dispatcher for two years now, and has received plenty of calls. People have injured themselves, some worse than others. Ryujin's heard many disturbing stories from the calls, but a certain something about a boy with hypothermia just tilted the scale.

It wasn't a disturbing case, she's had many calls about hypothermia before. But something about this specific one stuck with her.

"Hey! Your coffee's ready." She turned around to see her friend Yeji pointing at the coffee machine. Ryujin was snapped out of her thoughts and took the cup off the griddle and blew away the steam.

"Ah, thank you." She went over to sit next to her on the couch. "I was just thinking."

The orange haired girl chuckled. "I could tell." Ryujin took a sip out of her coffee. "About what?"

Ryujin shrugged. "A call." Yeji frowned. "What about a call could be so mind catching that it made you zone out that much?"

"See, that's the thing. I don't really know." She answered honestly. Yeji sat in silence and listened. That was one thing she loved about her. She always listened when she had worries or just wanted to rant.

"Yeji, have you ever felt like you recognized something or someone, but couldn't quite put your finger on it?"

Yeji nodded. "Yes, I have. One time, I saw this man at a gas station. We were both getting our gas. But when I saw his face, I knew it looked familiar, but I just didn't know where I knew him from."

Ryujin hummed excitedly. "Yeah! That's exactly what I'm talking about. It's like a weird form of deja vu."

Yeji clapped her hands together. "Exactly. It was stuck on my mind for at least a month, before out of no where, I just knew where he was from. He works at a restaurant down the street from my house. I go there pretty often, so I knew his face."

The door to the lounge opened, and the two girls' boss, Jake, stepped in. "Yeji, do you think you could cover for Sunoo? He had to leave early and..." He took a deep breath.

"There was a murder."

Both of the girl's eyes went wide. "What??" They both exclaimed at the same time. Jake nodded sullenly. "We need you at the scene."