Washington, D.C
8:05pm 9/7/XXX7
Sackson St.
He was late, again.
I stood at the bus stop, staring down the road, watching for dad's bus to come into view. I checked my watch.
8:06
The bus should have arrived 6 minutes ago. Dad's bus was usually late, so I wasn't worried. Well, maybe I was a little worried. I'd had a bad feeling all day, I'd been looking forward to getting home and getting the day over with but my luck was never that good. So here I was, standing on an empty road with storm clouds brewing above me.
8:10
The bus pulled in to the stop, I moved out of the way of the doors and watched a young couple get off the bus. The bus driver looked at me before closing the doors and driving off again. The feeling got worse as I watched the bus drive away. Dad hadn't been on the bus. I looked left, down the street, where the bus had come from but there was only darkness. The sun had set half an hour ago so beyond the street lights was just pitch black.
8:14
I heard heavy footsteps coming from my left. I turned and saw dad running towards me. I smiled for a second before I noticed that he had his gun out, and was still in his uniform.
"Get away, Conan!" He screamed when he saw me. I froze as I saw a man in black chasing after dad with a gun in hand. He raised it and shot at us. Dad reached me, grabbing my arm and kept running.
"Dad? Who-" I cut myself off when I saw dad's face. He'd been crying.
I heard another gunshot and dad stumbled, I saw a splash of red on his pants. I heard laughing from the man in black.
"Get behind me." Dad stepping in front of me, as he faced the man in black. He wore black glasses, hiding his face. His blond hair was cut raggedly at this shoulders and his face was covered in thin, white scars.
"Absinthe."
The man smiled, and removed his glasses. He had piercing green eyes that didn't match his playful grin. Absinthe raised his gun, pointed right at dad's chest. Dad didn't even flinch, he just kept glaring at the man. I looked down and saw dad's phone in his hand. Absinthe couldn't have seen it since it was hidden behind him, right within my reach.
"Conan, you need to stay down." I recognised the code. 'stay down' meant call for help.
"Hiding behind you won't save him for long. I need to take out he trash."
I quickly grabbed he phone, trying to be as quiet as possible. I crouched behind dad, so I was out of Absinthe's view. I scrolled through the contact list and sent a quick message to mom.
and then another to dad's boss. I slipped the phone into my short's pocket and whispered "ok"
Dad stood up, and raised his gun at Absinthe.
"You won't get away with this. You'll pay for what you've done."
Absinthe simply grinned and said "won't get away? I already have."
And then, he shot.
8:15
Bang!
My eyes widened. I watched as dad fell in front of me, crimson spraying. I couldn't look away, dad wasn't moving, his eyes were closed and he was smiling like he always was. I took a step forward, my hand out to touch him.
"Dad?"
I heard Absinthe laugh, I looked up to see him inches away from me, his gun still raised.
"Yo."
I stared into his eyes, they glittered madly as he laughed again.
"One down. One to go."
I did the only thing I could and ran.
Bang!
Bang!
I couldn't stop, I ran down the street and went down an alley that would lead to my house.
Bang!
Bang!
I felt a strange heat in my stomach, it was burning hot, painfully so. I looked down and saw I was stained red. I fell as my body tensed and the pain rippled through me. I couldn't breath.
I heard Absinthe laughing faintly. I felt the cold of his guns barrel on my back. I had to move.
I used all of my strength to push myself up and to my right to avoid the gun shot.
Bang!
My leg was on fire, burning hot as the ground beneath me stained crimson. I was crying. My glasses had been knocked off so everything was a little fuzzy, but I could still see Absinthe's green eyes above me as he aimed his gun.
8:17
Suddenly, there was shouting, and I saw flashes of red and blue. Absinthe looked up, started before running away from the lights, without even glancing at me. My eyelids were heavy and I fought the pull of sleep. I had to... tell mom... what happened...
I felt hands pull me up as the shouting grew fainter and the lights grew dimmer before both faded completely, leaving only darkness.
Beep.
Beep.
That was annoying.
Beep.
Stop it.
Beep.
Tired...
Beep.
Ten more minutes...
Beep.
Fine. You win this round.
BEEP.
I force my eyes open. Only to be blinded by a piercing white light.
Beep.
"Ugh" I force out. My mouth feels dry and sore, my whole body aches especially my right leg and my stomach.
"Conan?" It's my mom. I turn my head to look at her. I still don't have my glasses on, so everything thing is out of focus, but I can still see the red marks around moms eyes. She's been crying. Dad was crying before too... Dad... My eyes widen.
"Dad!" I start coughing, my stomach tenses and I feel hot pain coarse through me, I struggle to breath. I look down and see a oxygen mask over my mouth and a little further down, tubes and wires coming off my arms.
"Don't try to move yet, your still badly injured. Just... Please." Mom sounds like she's not he verge of tears. I look back at her, and she smiles. She looks tired, like she hasn't been sleeping.
Suddenly there's a knock on the door. Mom stands up and open ps the door.
I look around and realise I'm in a hospital room. I'm an idiot of course I'm in a hospital room. Shaking me head, I continue to inspect the white bead sheets, curtains and white everything in the room. I spot mom's overnight bag in the corner next to the chair she was sitting in to my right. Looking left, I see a bedside table with my glasses and a clear vase of flowers, lilies, I think.
I hear my mom close the door and turn to my right again to see she's not alone. Some of dad's work friends are there, and so's some other relatives I don't take the time to identify.
"Conan?" I finish looking at the group and see that someone has taking mom's seat. I try to sit up and fail miserably so simply try turn my body right, so to properly speak.
"Jodie."
She's dyed here hair again, it's bright red and down just past her shoulders. She's wearing the same red glasses as last time we met, probably so I could recognise her.
"Hey, cool kid."
"What...happened?"
Jodie looks uncomfortable, she's got bags under her eyes and she doesn't seem to be wearing make-up as she usually does but who knows.
"It's a top secret project your father was working on. I'm not meant to tell you any more then that. "
"Who are they?" I already knew that dad had been on some top secret project on taking down some group. He'd been pretty stressed lately about it.
"They're called the Black Organisation. We don't know much about them, but they have powerful allies in the government, big corporations and almost anywhere that'll be useful. They go around just doing what they want most of the time and we can never get a solid lead on them."
The black organisation, huh. Dad must've...
Dad is...
"Conan?" It's my mom. I move to look at her but I feel tears welling in my eyes and look down.
"I'm sorry to ask this, but we need to know everything you saw that night."
I look up at Jodie, my eyes still watering. I feel a tear streak down my cheek. I try to raise my hand and wipe it away, but I find I can't move it. I feel a tissue wipe my cheek, I look up and see mom wiping it away.
"It's okay, you don't have to talk about it now."
No...I need to tell them so they can find them...for...for dad.
I feel someone sit next to me, disturbing the bed sheets.
"You must've been brave. To stand up to this guy. Not bad, Conan-kun" it was Japanese, I recognised the voice talking.
I turned left and saw Shinichi-niichan smiling at me. I switch to Japanese like he'd taught me.
"Shinichi-niichan, you're here!" I feel myself smiling, he'd always turn up or at least call when I needed him.
"Yo. How're you feeling?"
I don't know how to answer that, in response, I try to move my arms. Once that fails, I try my legs which also remain still.
"Can't move."
Shinichi-niichan laughs. "I can see that. How's you're right leg and your stomach?"
"Hurts pretty bad. My breathing feels funny." I'd only noticed it after Jodie appeared, but my breathing seemed lighter and my chest felt kind of numb.
"Yeah, the doctors said it was to be expected. The..uh...bullet grazed your right lung so they've done something to your oxygen tank to help it heal. I don't know the specifics, though." Shinichi-niichan pointed to my right to an oxygen tank connected to my oxygen mask. There's also a stand next to me topped with some bags of clear and coloured liquid connected to tubes in my arm.
I notice everyone except Shinichi-niichan and my mom have left, they probably went when we were talking.
"There was...the man, dad called him something strange." I felt as if I should tell Shinichi-niichan and mom what happened so I switched back to English.
"What was it?" Shinichi-niichan leaned towards me and my mom walked around to my left and stood next to him.
"Dad called him... Absinthe."
"Absinthe like the drink?" Shinichi-niichan looked puzzled with his hands together in front of his face, like the Sherlock he admired. "I'll talk to Starling-san later, maybe she'll dig something up." He smiled as he stood up. "Well, I'll stick around for a bit, sleuth around and see what's what, 'Kay Conan-kun?"
"Hai!"
I turned back to my mom, she usually didn't like me talking about detective stuff with dad or Shinichi-niichan, bit I guess this time is an exception. She doesn't approve of five year olds getting involved in dangerous stuff.
"The doctors say you'll be out in a few months. You're injuries were quite severe."
months!? I guess I'll be out of the action for a while.
"Wait, mom?"
"Yes?"
"How long have I been asleep?"
Mom looked like, she was counting days on here fingers.
"15 days."
"What!?"
It'd only felt like a day or two, but it had really been over two weeks!?
I guess I'm in worse shale than I'd thought.
I want to be out helping Shinichi-niichan and Jodie and everyone with tracking this Black Organisation, but I'll know I'll be useless if I'm injured. I'll just have to make he most of my time here.
I asked mom to get me some books from home on medical and first aid stuff. Shinichi-niichan and his dad Kudo-san said a detective should be knowledgable in as many fields as possible and I want to get started early so I can help when I'm better.
I just hope nothing happens while I'm out of the action.
At 8:15pm, few weeks ago, on the 9th, FBI agent Samuel Edogawa was found dead after a shooting on Sackson St. The identity of he shooter has not been released, the only witness, Mr Egogawa's five year old son has been unavailable for questioning thus far.
The FBI and police department have released only a few details but a press conference is scheduled to happen on the 25th.