I stooped barefoot on the cold concrete floor, my face buried in the smoke from the firewood stove, which clouded my sight. The peppery feeling it gave to my eyes made me tear up. However, I was motivated by the aroma of fried rice and fried chicken wafting through the entire kitchen from the big pot.

Vanilla, butter and milk. These were the combination of aromas that filled my tiny apartment that evening. Playing on my Bluetooth speaker was I Drove All Night my favourite track from Celine Dion's One Heart album. In my flour-stained hands was a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice as it stared at my mixed batter carefully spread out on a baking pan.

It was 11:45 on new year's eve. Sandy couldn't tell how it happened but she was having the time of her life at this party which was organised by her friend Cathy. Usually, she would have said 'no' just like she always does. Not just to New Year parties but to everything and everyone. Then she'll hide behind the four walls of her apartment and watch the fireworks from her balcony to usher in the new year. But somehow, she had been cajoled by her friend, Cathy, who had just been dumped by her boyfriend of four years, to be at her New Year party so they could get drunk and watch the fireworks together.

The first sound I heard that morning was the sharp sound of my doorbell, grr grr jolting me off my sleep. I sucked my teeth hard, loud enough that whoever was at the door would hear it.I was sure it was my landlord. He has been on my neck for his rent which wasn't even due. But because it was Christmas and he was aware of the wave of Detty December enveloping the city, one that has caught me in its wake too. He chose to remind his tenants of his rent earlier.

"Anything yet?" Detective Maya called out to Detective Rodriguez leaning on the door frame that led to his office. He had been standing there watching her partner be so engrossed in the pictures and clues of their latest case, a series of murders.

That evening didn't feel like my regular Saturday evening filled with paperwork and closing of accounts. I had no motivation at all left in me to work. It felt like one part of me was reawakening to a realisation I had never thought about.