“The real madness probably is not another thing that the wisdom itself that, tired of discovering the shames of the world, has taken the intelligent resolution to become mad”

-Heinrich Heine

Chapter 1

The two women studied the young girl through the glass wall, trying to dissect their torturous mental processes with the sole strength of their stare.

Her long hair covering her face. A lonesome eye was shyly peeking through the black threads, but it did not seem alive. It was as if a crystal ball painted in the macabre work of a taxidermist. The only signal of life: the almost unnoticeable blink that kept the cornea wet.

Doctor Yoo placed her cup of coffee on the table. A little white indent on the border of the almost perfect circle broke the uniformity of the black ceramic. Scrollwork of grey smoke fluttered on top of the dark beverage. Describing rings and spirals that flew with the air. The first rays of the morning sun, which shone through the only window in the room, penetrated those projecting shadows that tore the symmetrical surface in mottled and discordant shapes.

The smell of the coffee was penetrating and mixed with the sour taste of the liquid, it slid through her palate like a soft smoothie. Caffeine formed part of her system, like the blood and the air she breathed, but she had the feeling that that case would sour her life.

“What are you thinking about?” She asked her boss who, standing next to her, wouldn’t stop looking at the motionless character through the glass.

“I hope it’s not decaf” Said Doctor Park, pointing at the cup of coffee with her chin.

“Come on, boss.” Answered Yoo Jeongyeon with a smile. Nothing seemed to get her out of her zen state. “You know what I mean.”

Park Jihyo took her own cup to her lips without answering the question. After two small sips she continued:

“I’m going to assign you the Chaeyoung case.”

Jeongyeon looked at her through the corner of her eye.

“I thought you liked me.”

Jihyo shrugged in response.

Even when her face remained hidden and her body seemed carved in stone, Jeongyeon noticed the hands of the young girl wouldn’t stop moving. In her left forearm, parallel lines shone. Three, thin pearly scars that traveled her skin like the stripes of a tiger.

There was something between her fingers.

“Chaeyoung” Said softly, savoring the letters. “Weird name”

“Yes, from our point of view. Logical from the family point of view.”

“I’m kind of lost, what do we actually know?” Asked Jeongyeon.

Jihyo turned her head, placing her small eyes on hers. After a few seconds, a look of complete comprehension showed on her face.

“Right. I forgot you showed up after… well…”

“Very well.” Said Jeongyeon getting away from the window and sitting in an old chair. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Jihyo seemed hypnotized by the young girl Chaeyoung, but she managed to break visual contact long enough to allow herself to focus her attention on the formulated question.

“Chaeyoung is locked in this institution since she was eleven years old, after she killed her father.”

“After she… you’re joking, right?”

“No.” Said Jihyo with complete seriousness. “Two days after her eleventh birthday, Son Chaeyoung planted an axe on her father’s head.”

“Damn.” Murmured Jeongyeon. Her usual coffee dose wasn’t going to be enough. “How is that possible? It seems catatonic”

“She wasn’t always like how you look at her now. She was a healthy kid. Smart even. Her mother and sister couldn’t believe it, but the tests were irrefutable. After all, they were the ones who found the body.”

“The bodies? She killed more than one person?”

“No. Fortunately only the father.”

“I don’t think that’s something to be relieved about.”

“Trying to not sound redundant, it depends on how you see it. Her father was special. He had a plant selling business, with a certain liking towards cactus.”

“Cactus? Is that were the name came from? From the cactus?”

“Yes. Carnegiea gigantean. The biggest cactus in the world, native of the Sonora dessert in Arizona and from the state of Sonora in Mexico. Life average of more than 1500 years.”

The funny look on her colleague face made her add:

“You can’t learn Chaeyoung’s story and then pretend you won’t investigate anything about the plant in honor which she was baptized. It’s impossible to fight the temptation.”

“If you say so.”

Jihyo, with an unreadable expression, decided to ignore the commentary and continue the story:

“Chaeyoung’s father didn’t go to the other side without a fight. In the fight, I imagine it was before the axe strike, he pushed the kid and left her unconscious. The bad thing was that in the fall she broke a gas pipe from the stove.”

“A stove?”

“Exactly. She remained locked in a room full of gas way too long. When the mother and sister found her, it was too late for Chaeyoung’s brain. Her being alive is a miracle. An ambulance was passing through the area when they made the call. When the paramedics arrived she wasn’t breathing and had no pulse, but they managed to bring her back from the other side. The bad thing is that the lack of oxygen took away the existence of millions of neurons.”

“This case gets harder by the minute. How am I supposed to help her then?”

“Never underestimate the power of brain plasticity. She’s not very talkative and tends to speak slower than the normal. She has missing periods in which she seems to be lost in the limbo, but generally, she’s a person you can deal with. The bad thing is, regarding the night of the murder, Chaeyoung doesn’t remember a thing about what happened with her father nor the events that led her to do it.”

“Posttraumatic stress?”

“Could be. Even though, there’s something more.”

“What?”

“Chaeyoung lives in a very elaborated fantasy world. When asked about her past she won’t stop talking about dragons, green giants and witches. Nothing about what she says makes sense and in the end, the judge decided that she would take her sentence in a psychiatric hospital. She has been here since then.”

“I get that, but I’ve been working for you almost a month, and I had never seen her. Where was she?”

“That’s a very easy answer. She escaped.”

“Excuse me.” Said Jeongyeon choking on her coffee. “I don’t get it, what do you mean she escaped?”

“Just like you hear it. She was very calm and never was the one to give problems. A nurse had too much trust and 35 days ago, Chaeyoung escaped the hospital. It’s as simple as that.”

“What happened after? Did the police go and look for her?”

“Of course. She was searched everywhere. Her mother was furious. She didn’t really visit her, but at least she came at least twice a year to see how her mental health was and if she managed to remember anything. We never had hope for her, but when she found out Chaeyoung escaped, she almost had a heart attack.”

“Well.” Said Jeongyeon getting up from her chair and pointing at the girl. “That’s at least one good news for the family.”

“It will be when they find them.”

Jeongyeon turned around, astonished.

“What?”

“It’s very curious.” Said Jihyo with her sight lost in nothing, trying to bring back the memory. “Two days ago, Saturday to be more precise, at 4 am the bell from the front door rings. The guard goes take a look thinking it’s the food service a bit early and he finds Chaeyoung standing in the entrance. He lets her in and with the help of the night shift workers; she was taken back to her block. She didn’t offer resistance… no, that’s not true, but generally speaking, she behaved. Anyway, the police was informed and two officers went to look for the family to inform them, but they weren’t found in their home. Up to this day, they’re still gone.”

“No one had spoken to them in a month?”

“The detective in charge of that case had a meeting with them fifteen days ago to ask them routine questions. The neighbors are positive of having seen them a week before, but no one knows when they went missing.”

“And do they think this has something to do with Chaeyoung?”

“It’s a possibility. The two women moved to the town after the murderer, but left someone in charge of the whole plant business. They’d go occasionally to check things out, but they weren’t going to stay in a place where a murderer took place. Being honest, I can’t blame them.”

Jihyo moved closer to the glass.

“The police went to the nursery garden thinking they could be there. When they arrived… well… it wasn’t very pleasing.”

“Oh, no.”

Jihyo nodded.

“The corpse of the worker was lying on the floor. A pickaxe on his chest.”

“Hasn’t this girl ever heard of guns?”

“We don’t know if she was the one who did this.” Reminded her boss. “But there were signs of struggle. No signs of the mother or sister. If they are alive, hiding somewhere or buried three feet underground, no one know. Maybe, only she does.”

With the finger, she barely pointed at the figure with messy hairs.

“What is that on her hand?” Asked Jeongyeon.

“Remember when I said that, generally speaking, she was behaving like a role patient when she came back?”

Jeongyeon nodded.

“That is, as long as you don’t try to take away what’s on her hand. One of the workers tried and Chaeyoung became a psychopath. We managed to sedate her and take it by force, but I decided to risk it and gave it back. The object doesn’t seem to be dangerous. Maybe you can help us get an inside as to why it’s so important to her.”

“What it is?”

“A simple necklace with a knitted thread. The fibers of green and yellow, and hanging from this, a pendant.”

“A pendant?”

“Made of wood, carved in the shape of a cactus, a Carnegiea gigantean to be more precise.”

Well, there's the first chapter to this story! By the way, let's just assume Chaeyoung's father named her Chaeyoung because it was the name that got closer to the cactus name.