The Puppet
The Body
"Charlie, get over here!" Dana chased her brother to the pier behind her father's surf shop. She stopped at the edge and looked around.
"Charlie, you're not funny! We need to get home, now." Dana didn't hear Charlie respond, though. She just heard the salty breeze of the wind billowing around her.
“Come on, Char—" She was cut off by a choked whine she knew belonged to her bratty, six-year-old, kid brother.
"Dana..." His voice had come from a distant corner, and even in broad daylight, Dana's skin crawled. Maybe it was the fact that Stryker was, unknowingly, watching her as his plan played out. She was his target, the person he needed to make his chaos happen.
"Charlie?" As she skirted around the corner of the boathouse, she let out a blood-curdling scream. She'd found her brother but he was covered in blood, in front of Majenta Coleman's body. It wasn't just his hands, either. It was everywhere... his face, his shirt... everywhere.
"What's happening, Dana?" Charlie asked, staring at his blood stained hands. He hadn't known what was going on. All he'd been trying to do was play tag with Dana. Then, he'd tripped and fell on something hard, cold, and wet. When he stood up, he was covered in blood and it wasn't his.
“I—I don’t even fucking know.” Her heart was beating too fast, her lung wouldn't take in air, and her throat hurt from how loud she'd screamed. Her cheeks were wet with tears. Needless to say, Stryker got the reaction he'd wanted. But he, nor his master, were in any way done raising hell.
God, what're Jen and Drake even doing? Bleu thought as she walked to her door in her pajamas. She wasn't in the mood to deal with neighbors and their issues... she had her own problems.
“Hey, I don’t wanna buy anyth—“ She cut off her words as she took in their uniforms.
“Hello, ma’am. I’m Officer Lavinsky and this is my partner, Officer Joel.” Both officers had their hats off, the universal sign of bad news. That sinking feeling Bleu had felt earlier at the diner was back. Something was wrong…
“Um… hello, officers. Can I help you?” Bleu asked, in her most polite voice. She kept her tone as smooth as she could muster, but inside, she was shaking.
“Actually, Ms. Coleman, could we come in a moment?” The officer with the light hair, Joel, asked. He was handsome, blonde hair and blue eyes. Everything about him screamed polite country boy. Bleu knew she was going to be receiving bad news… the question was… what was it? Even his calm collection couldn’t stop her hands from shaking and her palms from sweating.
“Sure,” she murmured, unsure of what else she could say. She felt as if time had come to a standstill. Nothing was happening fast enough. “Is there an issue? Are my taillights busted, again? Is that it?” The officers stepped over the threshold, giving her pitying looks. She knew it wouldn’t be that simple, but damn it, she didn’t need their sympathy! She just needed the truth.
This was Joel’s least favorite part of the job. As a rookie, it was required that he observes and he was just glad he wasn’t giving the news… yet.
“You’re the sister of Majenta “Jen” Coleman, right?” Lavinsky asked, clearing his throat. Her eyes began to water as Bleu thought of her sister. What could have happened? Death hadn’t even crossed her mind. Lavinsky had been an officer for twenty-six years and this part had never gotten easier. As a father of three girls, he almost couldn’t handle the look of horror and sadness that contorted Bleu’s beautiful features. And she hadn’t even heard the news, yet.
“Yes, officer. Is she in some kind of trouble?” She managed to get out. Her throat was closing up and it was hard for her to breathe.
“Are your parents home?” Joel was on the brink of breaking down with every question Lavinsky asked the girl. Her face was red, as if she wasn’t receiving air and her voice was coming in short, quiet, whispers. She was having an anxiety attack… or was about to.
“Probably. But they don’t live here. Jen moved here from Chattanooga three years ago and I can to live with her two years ago. We don’t talk to our parents much… I’m not even sure they live in the same house.” Bleu crossed her arms, digging her nails into her skin, and let the tears fall freely. The officers were avoiding all her questions and she knew it had to be bad.
“Miss, are you over seventeen?” Joel chimed in, dreading the moment when Bleu got the news.
“I’m eighteen. Will one of you tell me what the hell is going on?” Lavinsky cleared his throat and pulled at his shirt collar. Bleu was having trouble standing. On top of difficulty breathing, she was extremely dizzy.
“We’ve found your sister, Majenta… or really, Dana and Charlie Chung found her.” The redness in Bleu’s face began to go away until she heard the rest of his statement. “But… she’s been murdered.” As soon as the words left his mouth, a wave of tears was released from Bleu, as if her body had already known what he was going to say. She covered her mouth to hold in her sobs, which were coming out in short pants. She couldn’t breathe.
“I’m so sorry, miss.” Joel said, patting her back, but Bleu hadn’t noticed as she sank to her knees. Her body was numbing and she stared off into space, recalling how, just yesterday, she was tasting wedding cakes with her sister. Jen hadn’t even let on that someone was after her. She just said something about going for a walk and never came back. She wasn’t even nervous.
God, how had she been so stupid! Speaking of, where was God? Bleu didn’t believe she deserved what she was getting, and she was right. She and her sister had said their prayers, went to church, and were good Christians… her sister deserved better than this!
“Ms. Coleman?” Joel asked. Bleu had forgotten he was there. Her vision tinted black around the edges and she could see her living room rotating. Her oxygen supply was getting shorter by the second.
“Do you know who killed her?” Her voice was raspy and she was having a hard time speaking, but she had to know. Joel pursed his lips, afraid to answer. He couldn’t disappoint this girl. She’d been through enough. “Do you know?” Bleu exclaimed, once she noticed his silence. She was about two minutes from losing consciousness.
“No, ma’am,” and because he couldn’t stand to see the look on her face, he left, Lavinsky following close behind. Once the door closed, Bleu crumbled into a ball; unable to handle all the sadness she was feeling. Her best friend, her only family, had been robbed of the chance to live. Bleu wanted to kill who’d done this. Right before she passed out, her phone rang. It was on the table and she couldn’t move. Her finger twitched, as if reaching for it, but then… everything faded away.
you need to update this ASAP
3/3/14