"Good day, you've reached the Possession Crimes Unit for non-emergency reports. Just give me a quick rundown of what's going on, and we'll figure out the next steps together. If it's an emergency, hang up and call 112 instead," Cindy said over the phone, her head resting on her palms.
Nobody knows why it turned out this way, but they accepted calls for mysterious sightings and supernatural clues now in the PCU.
The barrage of calls drained every one of their energy, and it was just past noon. Cindy and Kit were left in the office receiving the calls on the first day it was implemented.
The caller seemed to have a younger voice than Cindy expected. Almost like a child's. "Can you tell the mean teacher that a demon stole my homework? Just yesterday, I clearly did my math stuff, when a demon came in like woosh and just took it. I was like "NOOOO! That is my math homework!" He just laughed and ran away. I cried. I was sad. Please make him understand..."
Cindy was flabbergasted. "Tell your mother about it." She just put the phone down immediately without another word, when another ring went off.
She sighed. "Let it be real this time."
"Hell—"
"Help, you must help me. My cat, it seems like something has taken control of it. Right now, it is threatening my family with a gun… you must understand it has a gun."
The old man paused with a heavy breath, almost a whimper escaping him.
"Now, it is molesting my wife, in front of the kids. Nooooo! My wife! She says she wants a divorce… Please, this demon is ruining my life!"
The familiar tone followed and the call ended abruptly. Cindy put down the telephone. She stared straight at her turned-off computer screen, eyes empty, questioning her life choices. "I was a top graduate..." she chuckled, lifeless.
Another ring filled the room, this time to Kit's desk.
"Good day, this is the non-emergency reports line for possession cases—" His words were cut off by an urgent female voice.
"There is a demon in my household. I tried to hide from it, but it followed me. It just stares at me with its empty eyes."
Kit stood up, and his eyes widened. "Ma'am?! Please give me your address and call the emergency hotline immediately!"
"It is testing me, trying to rip all happiness away from me. Why did this spawn of Satan have to be my child… Can you exorcise kids too?"
Kit, with all the tension suspended in his body, fell back to his chair. "What..." and the call cut off, only the monotonous tone of rejection left.
"Another prank call?" Cindy leaned back in her chair. "Ugh, this is a mess..."
As the two processed what just happened, both desk telephones rang once more. They both groaned and picked them up.
"Hello, am I speaking to Sarah in that damned car store? I was told to call you about the extended warranty on my car. It's freshly bought, but it makes that weird noise "Woocha Woocha cha" and I would like to file a complaint..."
Upon hearing an old woman complain about her car and warranty, Cindy's eyes seemed to be void of life. She put the phone back and rested her head down on her desk.
"I'm a top graduate... I'm a top graduate..." she murmured.
Kit, on the other hand, had a call with panic in a young man's voice. "I heard screams coming from down the hallway. Many women seemed to scream, they're yelling at each other!"
"Sir? Where are you right now?! Please call the emergency hotline!" Kit stood up from his seat as he felt the tension and fear in the poor young man's voice.
"I am here at the supermarket, and we have killer prices that you would not want to miss!"
A laugh followed the sentence, and once again, it was that annoying prolonged tone of dismissal, without Kit having to say another word.
"This must be a lie..." Kit was now dazed, falling back into his seat once again. "I got fooled twice..."
Kit only stared forward. "Me. The receiver of the Commissioner General's Award..."
Cindy scoffed. "President's Awardee here."
A moment later, Sycamore entered the door and looked at his two detectives, dejected at their desks.
"You both look like you've sealed 84 demons." Sycamore settled on his desk and ruffled through files in his drawer.
"That's oddly specific," Cindy muttered without looking at her senior. "Detective, I would like to resign from this team. I don't like you, and I hate this job." Her tone was monotonous and empty, making Sycamore smirk.
"We love you too. Move on from that old case, will ya?"
He got Cindy's reaction, and she perked up. "Detective, you know that you still made a wrong decision during that day with the golden hour, right?"
"And it turned out I was correct."
"Ugh." She fell back into her seat. "And? They won't give us the case." She paused with a sigh. "I don't understand demons, the notes Quill gave were helpful, but we need to see it more first-hand."
"Well, don't wish for it. Do what you can right now."
"And that is...?"
"Receiving—"
"Receiving prank calls all day. Gotcha." Cindy interjected him.
"Is it that bad? Prank calls would be a five out of ten. Even back in the Homicide Unit."
Kit, whose head was down on his desk, joined in the conversation. "It's a ten out of ten, detective... Ten out of ten," he said, his voice muffled.
"Well, suck it up." Sycamore stood up again, after gathering a few files, and grabbed a set of keys.
"Why those keys?" Cindy asked as she saw him put them in his pockets.
"The priests needed a place to train." Sycamore tidied the files and put them inside a folder. "I'll be lending them that unused gym."
"Mm." Cindy nodded. "But why the biggest one?"
"Training once again even for Pierrot. When he visited his mother during that day, he had trouble handling the case when he came back."
They all knew it was because of the previous case at the shopping mall. When Pierrot couldn't handle the three demons by himself when he could easily have. And why he was quiet the whole day, despite it being his first case at that time.
"Pierrot's training again?"
"Yeah, but basically their whole team will use it."
"Well, good luck to them. Maybe I'll use that gym too. I'll see them after work or whenever."
"Good luck to you guys too," Sycamore said as he exited, closing the door behind him.
Cindy nodded, almost at peace, when another ringing of the telephone on her desk set off. Kit, who was nodding off on his desk, flinched at the terrifying sound.
Nevertheless, Cindy picked up, as a groan escaped her.
"Good day, this is the non-emergency hotline for possession-related reports..." was all she could say from her usual spiel.
"Hello? I don't know if I'm calling the right number... but I think there is something wrong about my grandma..."
Cindy's eyes widened, as she listened intently to a young female's voice over the phone, wondering if the things she was hearing were real or not...