THE DETECTIVE'S REVENGE

15 years ago, In a forest, yume was chased by demons, the demons was getting close to her. Thorns ripped at Yume ankles. Blood trickled down her legs, but she didn't feel it. She only felt the weight in her arms. Her daughter. Two months old. Behind her, the demons laughed. It wasn't human laughter. It was dry leaves burning in the dry season. "Give her back," they hissed. "The child belongs to Dark Mountain." Yume ran harder. Dark Mountain was where they took crying babies. Where mothers came back with empty arms and dead eyes. She wouldn't go back. The cliff appeared out of nowhere. One step was forest floor. The next was air. Below her, the Omi River churned. Black and angry. The demons were five steps away. She could smell them. Rotten meat and old blood. Little kalina woke up. She didn't cry. She just stared at Yume. Wide, trusting eyes. "I'm sorry, my light," Yume whispered. Her hands shook. She laid the baby in the woven basket she'd carried food in that morning. The demons were two steps away. Yume kissed kalina forehead. Once. Hard. Then she threw the basket. It hit the water with a soft splash. The current took it. Spun it twice. Gone. The demons skidded to a stop. Confused. They'd been chasing two heartbeats. Now they heard one. One demon grabbed her arm. Fingers like ice. "Fool," he snarled. "Do you know what you've done?" Yume looked down at the river. The basket was gone. She smiled. Her first real smile in months. "I guess this is where—" She didn't finish. She wrenched free and stepped backwards. Into nothing. The river swallowed her. The demons roared. But it was too late. Detective Kelvin Lee hated cold cases. Not because they were hard. Because they were sad. He stared at the file on his desk. Case #0819. Fifteen years old. Stamp: `UNSOLVED - CLOSED`. Victim: Yume Aihara, 22. Cause: Suicide by jumping. Location: Dark Mountain. Notes: Witnesses reported victim was delusional. Claimed 'demons' were chasing her. No baby was ever found. Case dismissed as postpartum psychosis. Kelvin closed the file. Postpartum psychosis. That's what they always wrote when the village stories didn't make sense. His partner, Inspector Aoi Bakare, dropped a coffee on his desk. "You're still on that one? Kelvin, it's 15 years. Let it go." "Baby was never found," kelvin said. "No body. No basket. Nothing." "Because there was no baby," Aoi sighed. "Grief makes people see things. You know this." kelvin didn't answer. He opened his drawer. Pulled out a photo. Taken three days ago. By a farmer near Omi River. A girl, maybe 14, holding a basket. Inside: a baby. Sleeping. "The baby is healthy," Aoi said, reading his mind. "DNA came back. No matches in the system." "No matches for 15 years," kelvin said. He stood up. Grabbed his coat. Black trench. Standard issue. "Where are you going?" Aoi asked. "Omi Village. I want to talk to the girl who found her." "kelvin. The case is closed. Chief will have your badge if you—" kelvin was already out the door. The girl's name was Hana Sorano. She sat on the steps of her mother's hut. Shelling egusi. Her hands were fast. Her eyes kept darting to the forest. "You heard the baby at the river?" kelvin asked. He kept his voice soft. Hana nodded. She didn't look at him. "Tell me what happened. Exactly." Hana's hands stopped. "I was picking flowers. For Mama. Hibiscus. Red ones. I told myself, 'okay after this last flower I will be going back before it gets late.'" She swallowed. "Then I heard it. Crying. Small. Like… like a cat. But not a cat." "From where?" "The river. I thought maybe somebody threw away a baby." Her voice got small. "It happens." kelvin wrote that down. It did happen. Too often. "I followed the sound," Hana continued. "The basket was stuck between two rocks. Half in water. The baby was inside. Not crying anymore. Just… looking at me." "Was there anything else? In the basket? Near it?" Hana finally looked at him. Her eyes were old. Too old for 14. "There was cloth. Tied to the handle." She stood up. Ran inside the hut. She came back with a strip of faded kimono. Blue and white pattern. "Mama said I should burn it. Said it's cursed. But I kept it." kelvin took the cloth. It was old. Very old. But the pattern… He'd seen it before. In the crime scene photos from 15 years ago. Yume Aihara's wrapper. The one she was wearing when she jumped. His phone buzzed. Aoi. `Kelvin. Get back here NOW. Chief saw you left. You're off the case. I mean it.` kelvin looked at the ankara in his hand. Then at Hana. Then at the forest. The same forest Yume ran through 15 years ago. The same river she threw the basket into. Except the baby didn't drown. She'd been in that river for 15 years. And she didn't age a day. Kelvin typed back: `I'm not off the case.` Then he blocked Aoi's number. He looked at Hana. "The demons. From the stories. What do they look like?" Hana's face went white. "Why," she whispered, "do you want to see them?" Kelvin didn't answer. Because he already knew the truth. Yume didn't have psychosis. She wasn't delusional. And the demons from 15 years ago? They were still here. And now they knew the baby was back. Kelvin looked at Hana and asked where the baby was? She hesitate for awhile before leading him to where she hides the baby because of her mother nagging. kelvin paused remembering something from the case and asked Hana if she finds anything strange about the baby, Hana paused and stared at kelvin... Well since 15 years ago strangely the baby didn't aged. Hmmm strange" then kelvin pulled out a small paper and asked if Hana recognized the woman in it. Do u happen to know this woman? Hana dragged the paper from his hands "Shocked" how did u have her picture?...