The Detective and the Rockstar

Chapter 1

           It was her sister who first encouraged her to follow her dreams. It started atop a tree one summer while they shared a bag of tart gummies. She confessed her love for writing poetry to her sister and showed her the little notebook she hid in her closet in a shoebox.

           Annika had begun writing poetry two summers before that one when their father passed away. It was her way of processing the confusing emotions. She knew Alice would understand.

           Alice and Annika were born one year apart and shared a close bond, but they were nothing alike. Alice liked pretty dresses and jewelry. She smelt like flowers and was a studious girl who followed the rules. Annika liked jeans and tee shirts. She smelt like laundry detergent and preferred to enjoy life without worrying about being perfect. She never expected to amount to anything, so she didn't put any pressure on herself to succeed.

           Still, no matter how different they were, they needed each other to survive. They loved one another with all their hearts and would never do anything to hurt each other.

           When she was seventeen, Alice encouraged her to enter a poetry-writing contest, and despite her convictions, Annika did. She wasn't expecting to win, but she had. When she was handed the cute trophy with the metal quill at the top, she smiled so much that her cheeks felt sore. It was the first time Annika had ever won anything and it changed her forever. She had discovered herself, but she was not a poet. Her destiny lay somewhere else.

         When Annika turned eighteen, she joined the army, much to her mother's dismay, and left the poetry writing and her childhood behind her. When she found it too boring, she joined the police force instead.

           The excitement instantly hooked her. Annika loved it and exhibited such great prowess in the field that she was swiftly promoted to detective. After being assigned to another precinct, she met the man she thought she would be with forever. Eric was the first man who had ever mesmerized her. There wasn't anything about him she would ever change. But Eric was gone, leaving her with bittersweet memories that carried her through the days. She suddenly began writing poetry again. 

            These days, poetry writing was her only escape from her grim reality. Sitting in her stuffy office, surrounded by piles of case files, she stared at the words she had written through tear-filled eyes. The approaching footsteps told her that someone was coming her way. She opened her desk drawer and dumped the notebook in. Just like when she was a child, she wished to hide these personal words from the world.

          The door opened, letting in the cacophony of ringing phones and blaring voices into the still office. A man with short salt and pepper hair poked his head into the room. He grinned like he usually would. Sun rays pouring in through the window made his dark skin glow. His presence always helped her relax.

"Hey," he said. "You got a minute?"

"Yeah, sure." She looked down at the unfinished paperwork with dread. Two months of this punishment seemed like years to her.

He closed the door behind him and walked closer to her desk. "How's it going?" he asked.

"Great." She swept her hands dramatically over the piles of paper. She rolled her eyes and ignored the man by continuing with her work. 

"Did you ah...talk to the doctor I recommended."

She leaned back in her chair and gave him a dry smirk. "I'm not crazy. I don't need to talk to a shrink."

"I never said you were crazy. What you went through had to be traumatic. Speak to someone about it before it drives you mad."

"I talk to my sister, my mom, my friends." She recited sarcastically.