It was a normal morning in the Scott household. If chaotic. Kara Scott was the vice president of a small advertising company and was running late for work. Her husband Douglas was a neurologist and was called in early for an emergency CT scan, so Kara was left to get their three daughters ready for school. Susan, who was the oldest at fifteen, was at the breakfast table and texting on her cellphone. The youngest at eight was Julie, and was playing with her cereal.
"Julie, Cheerios are meant for eating, not for a race around your bowl." Kara said.
Julie sighed. "Yes ma'am."
"Where is Daisy?" Kara asked, glancing at her watch.
"Upstairs in bed." Susan said.
Kara ran her fingers through her black hair. "She has been having some stomach pains. I'd better go see if she's ok."
Kara walked upstairs and to the bedroom of her middle daughter, Daisy. She was eleven, a straight A student, and had piano lessons every Friday. She also had been complaining of abdominal cramps and had some blood in her underwear the previous night. Kara knew what this meant: Daisy was having her first cycle. Looking back at when Susan first got her period, Kara had kept her from school the first few days. It was looking like the same would happen with Daisy.
Kara entered the pink & purple bedroom that had its walls littered with photos of classical composers and boy bands. It seemed that Daisy was still sound asleep in her canopied bed, so Kara pulled back the curtains to let some light into the room.
"Daisy, it's morning. Rise and shine."
There was no response from Daisy. It was only her second day of the cycle, so Kara was expecting her to be tired. Still, she needed to eat breakfast.
"Sweetie, your cereal will get soggy. I'll give you some juice so that can some Tylenol for the p-"
Kara pulled back the drapes of the canopy bed. She could only scream in horror when she found Daisy, pale skinned and vacant eyes staring at the ceiling, blood soaking the sheets of the bed.
The police were called. There was no need for an ambulance. Daisy had been dead for sometime. As Daisy's body was carted off to the medical examiner's, two police officers photographed the scene and swabbed the bloodied sheets. Kara stood at the door to the room, being comforted by Douglas who had come home after hearing about the death of his daughter.
"What do you think happened?" A female officer asked her partner.
The male officer sighed after snapping one more photo. "I'm not really sure. Mother says that she had just received her cycle."
The female officer laid her hands on her hips. "I think it's time to time call in homicide."
"Why?"
"No period can cause this much bleeding. Something else happened to Daisy Scott."