A bird flew up to a window and perched itself outside on the small ledge. It was a falcon or more precisely a kestrel; part of the falcon family. It had mainly brown feathers but if one looked carefully they could see red marks running down some which was unusual for this type of bird. It was also unusual to see a kestrel in a city; they were commonly found in woods and the countryside. Zach looked at the bird and it looked back. The bird had a intelligent spark in it's eyes. For a moment they stared at each other as if a conversation was being held telepathically.
"Awwwww", the bird chirped at him.
"No, I'm alright. The handcuff's a pain but it's only temporary.", Zach replied as if knowing what the bird was asking.
As if satisfied with the answer, the bird flew off. Some would say Zach was crazy talking to a random bird. Others, like people who believe there is a way to communicate with animals, would praise him as being a pioneer in the field.
Out of boredom, Zach decided to turn the TV on. It went straight on the nationwide news channel. He tried moving the channel but the remote seemed to not respond to his will so he decided to watch the news. After all, all he wanted was to drown the silence out while he waited.
The news reporter was reciting about the rising tensions between the two superpowers when suddenly she stopped.
"Breaking News: The PM has authorised the use of firearms for all police officers. This seems to be in response of the high rise in crime rates across the country. Large majority of the populace is angered by this and demands the ruling to be reversed."
Few more hours passed by with Zach listening to a debate on the topic of gun laws and its benefits and drawbacks. He was starting to dose off from the lack of entertainment when he noticed the door slowly swing open. The detective from yesterday walked in. Her dirty blonde hair gently swayed from the breeze from the window covering her chestnut brown eyes. The hair stuck to her face showing the sweat lightly staining her forehead. She wore a cream blazer with a white t-shirt underneath tucked into her matching cream trousers. She looked completely the same as yesterday but for the gun holsters hanging down from her shoulders which carried two guns.
She walked up to Zach and undid his cuffs without uttering a word.
"Get up and get dressed"
"Are you not gonna tell me what exactly is happening. I feel like I'm being treated as a criminal."
"It's because you are one."
"..."
They stared at each other for a while. The detective looked down at her watch and broke the silence.
"How long do you plan on staring me down? Because I haven't got all day. I'm swamped with work."
"Fine, I'll do as you say but I want an explanation later."
The detective turned around giving him some privacy to dress himself with the clothes that were neatly folded up in one of the drawers. After putting on the clothes, Zach was escorted out of the hospital with the detective at the front and the two other guards behind him. Zac looked back and saw the previous female guard looking menacingly at him whilst playing with her baton.
'She tries too hard.'
Zach soon found himself in the car park being led towards a white Vauxhall Astra. The detective got into the drivers seat while the two guards opened the rear door for him and gently pushed him in. Soon after the door was slammed in his face the car was already cruising down the road.
"I'm sure you have a lot of questions but before anything allow me to apologise for your recent treatment. I wanted to keep your reappearance as low-key as possible so that those crazy reporters won't interfere with my investigation. That means you won't be able to see your family anytime soon either. Not that you would be able to anyway. I heard that your parents retired and moved to some other country but your sister is still here though."
Zach took a while to digest all the new information before responding:
"Well, thank you for not telling the public, I guess. I really don't want them breathing down my neck."
"I'll have a few more questions more once we get to your new house."
"I'm getting a house?"
"Yeah, I put you down as being in house arrest and so they gave you house 'cos you don't have one."
After a pause, "Am I in house arrest?"
The detective went silent for a moment.
"Oh, I haven't told you my name, have I? Well, I'm Catherine Reilly. You can just call me Kate."
"Don't change the topic and answer my question."
"Did I tell you the house has a balcony? It's great, the view is to die for."
*Sigh*'I guess I really am under arrest. She won't even tell me what for. How absurd! This is gonna screw up quite a lot of the plan.'