Destiny's Decision for one Cyprus Gray

   New York City, 1841,

The land of the free and the home of the brave housed a rather interesting character.

Cyprus Gray was a cold, bitter, self-entitled man, selfish to boot, and overly opinionated. He was someone with a personality that people actively avoided, as well as being someone difficult to deal with. However, on the flip-side, he was an opportunist; someone that was willing to exploit anything, for any advantage. Needless to say, he was not someone that had many friends or really associated with people in general. By no means was he “popular” either. This was, of course, all up to him.

He always felt as if his true potential was wasted, and that his talents were forgotten. To be direct, he felt underappreciated. As a result, he often overcompensated by using his selfishness (which knew no bounds), to fuel his strength. Strength was something that Cyprus had in abundance, mentally at least. He was able to construct impenetrable walls of titanium that surrounded and protected him from everything around him. However, many people would call Cyprus weak, for he was so isolated that one could only assume he was running from his ghosts, and phantoms of the past. 

For Cyprus, this case was a chance for his unbreakable walls to become armed with weapons, or in the literal sense: government (state or federal) protection. This would give him the privileges that he felt entitled to. This was a chance to be given the opportunity to change society forever. 

Cyprus had discovered this case when he was walking back from his regular, repetitive, 9-5 job. The idea had hit him in the face when he was strolling by 14th Street, after walking by a local bagel shop. Literally. 

On his way back from his very peaceful, non-stress, workplace he was assaulted by a newspaper. Coincidently so, that newspaper had an unsolved mystery on the second page. Grasping the paper off of his face Cyprus flipped through the paper. When he saw the article his mouth practically started salivating at the opportunity. This was what he was waiting for, this was fate finally telling him that he was in fact destined for more. This was the world saying that he was special and more deserving, the universe was practically calling out his name. He was finally the conductor of his own orchestra.

But something was itching at the back of his mind, why would fate lead him to this specific case, what made this one special?

So, of course, being someone to quench his thirst, he read. He read through the article, completely devouring the knowledge like a starved animal that killed its prey.  

He soon learned that when Mary Rogers had been found in the Hudson River, many people brushed it off. For it was common that some relationships went more than sour. After all, abusive relationships were a commonality of the time. Her body had been brutally mutilated, beaten, and raped. He learned that she appeared to have been gagged and tied down, in order to reduce any resistance she could have. Her body had only been found by some poor worker that was aghast at the state of her corpse.

He was intrigued, incredibly so, by the lack of care and priority that the justice system was putting in on a seemingly dangerous and important case. For he couldn’t fathom having someone so dangerous walking around the same streets he lived on.

From that day on Cyprus decide that his destiny was to solve this case, he had self-appointed himself as the lead detective. 

He started from the bottom: what did he already know? and who was the evidence pointing against?

The evidence was blatantly pointing towards an angry lover, someone that was close enough to her in order to get when she was vulnerable. However, Cyprus scoffed at the idea; of course, a mainstream paper would try and make this tragedy into a drama worthy scope. He was utterly repulsed at the lack of awareness that everyone around him had. Why were they okay to walk around when there could be a potential killer on the loose? More importantly, why were they so ignorant of the world around them?

Secondly, the lack of family relations was, suspicious? Why was Mary Rogers mother so invested in having this case solved? Especially, since parental love only went so far.

This was a route that severely intrigued Cyprus. Mainly due to the fact that when people think of an abusive relationship their mind automatically goes to the immediate response of intimate relations between a man and a woman. However, many forget that parents can be abusive or neglectful as well. And even though this idea is so foul; foul in the sense that the few people sworn to love and nurture are able to radiate the exact opposite: hatred and harm. It was the one idea that Cyprus could build on.

A few days later, and Cyprus was ready to quit the case. Nothing was happening; there wasn’t any momentum at all. Patience was a virtue that he was still developing.

As he was walking by an abandoned house in the middle of 16th Street he peered into a shop, just casually window shopping. Coincidentally the shop that he was looking at was actually an apartment. And the sight in the window made his heart jump into his throat, he felt like the air had been squeezed out of his lungs. In the apartment that he just so happened to be walking by, there was a woman that appeared to be mourning, quite severely at that. However if one would take a close look, they would notice that this woman was hunched over a photo. But what was shocking was that in her other hand was a stained cleaver that she was blindly chopping with. The crazed woman was stabbing a photo of Mary Rogers to the point where all that was left were a few pieces of scrap paper. This woman seemed to be in a frenzied, inconsolable state; above all, she was dangerous.

Cyprus knew what he had to do. He felt his blood pumping, heart racing, and palms getting sweaty at the thought of what he was about to do. Cyprus felt as though his story was about to hit its peak, climax-crescendo- and he was ready.

This will be the defining moment in his story, the thing that will get him into history textbooks. This one moment defines him as someone that's meant for more.

Instead of going inside the house and doing all of the dirty work, he did what any calm, collected person would do. He called the police. And from there it was only a matter of time before he got the recognition he so desperately craved.