Testing Death
(brittany/santana) AU (brittana)
settings: modern times
Chapter 1: Scattered pages
"The sky is gloomy on the 5th of October, 1966. I hated writing. What's ironic is that writing keeps me calm and it hinders my mind to overthink, and also I've sweared to myself, countless of times, to never write more than a hundred words again. I guess I can't keep my promise to myself, for my hand is destined to grab a pen and let the words perform. Each word of this journal leaves a mark, about my existence. No one will remember the name 'Brittany S. Pierce', let alone if my parents will ever forgive my 'sins'. A few would remember my name and recall a great journalist, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone with the gift of youth and talent on writing could surpass and overthrow my title.
"I'm not writing for my parents, for they despise what I did and what I've decided to do. I'm not even writing for my so called "friends" or "acquaintances" at McKinley town, for everyone I cross is going to do everything to mask their true feelings - and I don't need that. I don't need lies. And I don't write for anyone.
"The very purpose of writing the preceding pages of this journal, and the latter parts to come, is for myself. Some would say that being a journalist entitles you to provide everyone's satisfaction - like it's some sort of responsibility. I disagree on those claims. I believe that I write for my own entertainment, and others can critic as they please. But I'll make an exception just this once, I'm writing for myself and also for a girl. She's just an ordinary stranger like any other person, but she's more tolerable than anyone I've ever met in this miserable world - excluding my friend, Quinn Fabray. I'm writing for a girl who murdered and who tested death in exchange for the crimes that she did - and her name is Santana Lopez.
"'Remember to set an alarm at 9am in order to wake up early on Tuesday, for Tuesday is the only day worth living', I've told myself countless of times.
Yesterday was Tuesday, but I didn't set an alarm. It's not like the preceding Tuesdays filled with purpose and sense of living. What I felt yesterday is not optimistic in nature, but the feeling of regret and emptiness"
A woman paused and cleared her throat after reading one of the scattered pages on the attic floor. She then grabs the a page which seems to be the first page of the journal, because she realised that she read the penultimate page. Quinn Fabray doesn't seem to mind the sounds of silence surrounding her; she feels nostalgic because of the memories with her friend, Brittany, inside this house. She is about to continue reading until she was interrupted by the sound of footsteps going up the stairs. She remembered that she went alone inside this abandoned house. Panicking, she grabs the nearest plausible object that could aid her to defend. She grabs a golfclub, and hurried near the corner of the door ready to swing the golfclub. The door opened and as she was about to swing, a man stopped Quinn before she could even hit the girl next to him.
"God, you startled me!"
"... caaalm down, Quinn! It's just me and Rachel.", a guy named Finn Hudson said.
"What on bloody buggin' are you doing on Brittany's attic?", Rachel Berry uttered while trying to put off an accent.
An accent is supposed to be beautiful and appealing to foreign ears, but Rachel kind of does the opposite when she mimics accents. People who've been fans with Ms. Berry's theatre performances doesn't seem to mind the cacophonous mimicry, except Quinn aWnd Brittany.
"First of all, I can't seem to determine whether that's the sound of dolphins dying or a Jamaican acce.."
"... IT'S BRITISH!"
"Right", Quinn said while rolling her eyes. "Second, why are you here?"
"We're suppose to ask you that question. Sadness and depression isn't part of the Quinn equation after all, and Brittany wouldn't like to see you like this. Quinn, it's been 5 months since she's gone missi.."
"Her body was found on the outskirts of McKinley town yesterday.", Quinn interjected. "I saw it when they dragged the decaying body of the water. I recognised her body because of her facial features and my locket, which I only gave Brittany, was with the body."
"...Quinn, I'm.. I apologi..."
"You don't need to apologise. You couldn't even hurt a fly, so I know that you're not the one who killed Brittany."
"M-mee?! Why did you even suspect me to be the killer?!"
"It's a joke, dwarf. I not trying to be humorous, but I'm just- uhm- nevermind. I'm here because I want to know who tried to kill her. She had a lot of enemies because of her job. I've been searching this house for days, and I've found this secret attic full of letters and journal pages."
The attic door was hanging on the ceiling of the second floor, but it's not that visible to be perceived as a door. Yesterday, Quinn only perceived it's presence when she saw that there's a beam of light piercing through the ceiling.
"The journal pages might help me to know about what happened 5 months ago. I'm one of the excellent detectives in McKinley town, and the disappearance of my friend is the only case that I've made 0% progress. But now that I've got clues and answers, my hopes are high.
"Finn and Berry," Quinn cuts her gleeful spirit and begins to get serious. "Since you both are here, you can help me to cover more ground."
"Alright.", Rachel said with a thirst for some mystery.
"That's why I came here.", Finn interjected.
"Rachel just wants to come with me because she's going to be a director, and she wants an idea for a production. I came here because I've got the autopsy results of Brittany's body."
Finn is a forensic pathologist - people who uses lab science in order to seek evidences for criminal and civil cases.
I hope he didn't go pervy with Brit's body, Quinn thought. I doubt it because he's Berrysexual, but that doesn't mean his perv attributes is off.
"Let me see"
Quinn examined every single information she's holding.
"Bruises and scars on the arms and neck area... Severe tissue damage on the cerebral and abdominal area... Asphyxiation due to drowning.. Oh my god, these results proves that Brittany didn't commit suicide. It was murder. And I was right all along... Oh thank you, Finn. "
"Gee, don't mention it"
"Murder.. 5 months ago... crime... Santana Lopez... We're making progress!"
"Who's Santana Lopez?", Rachel stated with confusion.
"Santana Lopez is a criminal five months ago who's been put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime."
"What crime?"
"Murder and attempted murder on Tina Cohen, the daughter of the founder of Cohen Corporations. And Brittany's the assigned journalist about what happened. She's the only one authorized to talk with Santana Lopez. The last words that I heard about Brittany is 'I'm going to prove that she's innocent. Even if it means my life.' October 4, 1966 is when Santana Lopez was executed. They didn't publish Brittany's column because it's incomplete. And everything just went back to normal. Until one day, Brittany just went missing.
'I'm going to prove that she's innocent. Even if it means my life.' What does it mean?
Cohen Corporations. Santana Lopez. Brittany's journals. The letters.
There's some connection about it. There's something left missing.
Who killed Brittany? Why did Brittany said that Santana is innocent, when every evidence points to her? I saw Santana Lopez tried to kill Ms. Cohen.
I even shot Santana on the leg, just to stop her from killing Tina.
Santana Lopez. Criminal. A connection?
Quinn's thoughts are all jumbled up. She knows she can't give up now. She has all the evidences to start on.
She then tried to sit down and stop overthinking.
"And ohh by the way, this is yours right?", Finn gave a transparent bag with a locket inside.
"I know it's yours because it has the Fabray initials embedded on it. But I guess you gave it to Brittany as a present."
"Yeah. She's family.", Quinn smiles while a single tear gushes on her face.
She then noticed something odd on the locket. It's closed but a little bit oversized because of something inside.
She pulls the locket out of the bag and opens the locket. There's a note inside with water damage.
Q█inn, █an█████████████in██████orp██████bad███ Trus██o On██
"The last part seems like 'Trust no One'"