Chapter 1: Call for help

It's about 8:30 AM in the morning where Derek is riding off to work on his bicycle when he witnesses a mugging scene. A young woman is coming out of a plaza when she suddenly gets robbed of her purse which contained a huge amount of dollars as she just counted them and was returning them into her purse when a young man wearing a black hoodie snatched it away from her.

Derek parks his bicycle at the side of the road and stops the thief, chasing after him until he has caught the man who stole from the woman. He doesn't get the chance to beat him up properly for stealing but he is able to retrieve her purse and makes sure that her money is complete before walking up to the elderly rich looking lady and hands it over to her.

"Give me that, you mugger!" She replies rudely which leaves Derek in shock.

"I'm sorry, what?" Derek asks her in shock and disbelief. 

"What? I have watched it on news! Young people like you team up to cheat the elderly together!" She screams into his face as she brings out her phone out of her bag.

"Team up to cheat the elderly?...."

"Look at your raggedy clothes. Don't think I'll believe you were just being nice. I am calling the police." She wrongly accuses Derek. 

“So you crashed a fire hose in the course of chasing the robber, right?"The police said, he arrived five minutes later. After getting a positive answer, he nodded, "Okay, You've been arrested for destruction of government property."

“What?! But I'm doing the righteousness!" Derek shouted. 

His bike is impounded, taken alongside with them while he is handcuffed and led towards the car. 

His world falls apart, he had wanted to reach his workplace on time but now he was going to spend his day in the police cell. 

  

When they arrived, the first thing done on him was documentation. Two of the officers who had arrested him take him to the registry where the details of suspects and criminals are input into the system. 

  

"Write there....." The taller officer who is at his right says, but then he remembers that he did not get his captive's name. Turning to Derek, he asks. "What's your name?" 

"Derek Dawson." Derek said, blankly. 

This is a whole new environment he hasn't been to before. He wonders what will become of him once he gets into the cell. 

"You have been asked to pay a sum of one hundred and fifty dollars as fine. But for the meantime, you would be in our custody, meaning you aren't free to leave this premises until you have paid the required amount. 

Immediately the COP finishes saying this, he disperses Derek and the three police officers who had taken him here. 

"Get the handcuff off him." He orders the officers. It's usual for those approved to be in custody under the fine section to be given a little bit of freedom, unlike those who are found to have committed hideous crimes. 

As they are taking him away to show him to his cell room, one of the police officers leans into his ear and whispers. 

"If you have someone, you should make a call. Make sure you don't delay payment of the fine till tomorrow."  He speaks like there is some danger if it reaches. 

After settling down in the room, Derek starts to think of who to call for help. The first person that appears in his mind is his wife. 

"Hello darling, please, it's urgent. I need your help." He says as soon as someone picked the call. 

"What the hell did you do again?" But the person who answered the phone was not Tahlia, but her mother, Derek's mother-in-law. 

"Hello Mrs. Could you please pass the phone to Tahlia?" Derek said in hurry. He didn't want to argue with him right now. 

"She is busy. Talk to me." She replies in a hoarse tone, the very nature of it discouraging him. Derek hesitated, but spoke up anyway.

"An elderly woman was robbed this morning on my way to work and when I tried to help. I crashed a fire hose."

She scoffed. "So what do you expect your wife to do now?" Her very tone detects sarcasm.

"The cop detected a fine of a hundred and fifty dollars for me." He pauses, his heart beating heavily. "I'll be so grateful to receive your help. This is just the beginning of the month and I'm yet to receive my salary." 

She laughed. Then he hears some other voice in the background, which he detects to be his wife. 

"Who's that?" Tahlia asked, "Mom, is that my phone?"

Gianna, his mother-in-law, didn't answer.  

"You funny clown, no one can help you!" With this, she hangs up leaving him dumbfounded.