Monsters

Maggie sat in her room and thought about Harry Dresden. She had looked him up online and found news articles from a decade ago that talked about cases he had solved (he was a private investigator, apparently) and how his apartment was burnt down and finally how he died. After that final date, the obituary, there was nothing. No mention of him since his death. He was completely off of the radar. I decided to talk to Aunt Murphy. Mom had said that Aunt Murphy was Harry's best friend.

She went to Aunt Murphy's house, all the while thinking about her father. From what she had heard and read he had been a successful investigator. And Wizard, she thought, turning the word over in her mind. Magic, it couldn't be real, it was impossible. But… it wasn't. She could remember the night she had been rescued. The night that her real mother had died. That thought caused hatred for her father to stir in her. She realized that he had to do it, but still. It was her mother.

She then realized that that night had caused her father to cast himself into exile and abandon everyone he had known and cared about. All because of what he had had to do. He was in penance, as her dad would say. Well, her adoptive dad. Well, her second adoptive dad.

She quickly reached the front door of Aunt Murphy's house and knocked on the woodwork. Aunt Murphy hadn't worked as a cop in years, apparently. She ran her own investigative business with Uncle Will and Uncle Thomas, although Uncle Thomas only provided the money needed and only helped on really difficult cases. She'd got her license by training under a man called Nick Christian, who ran Ragged Angels. A good man, she had said, but heavily damaged by everything that he had seen.

Aunt Murphy answered the door, looking the same as always. Barely five foot and dressed the same as always when at home, sweat pants and a baggy t-shirt. "Hi." She said brightly and invited Maggie in. She had a lot of time for her, no matter the situation. She was in the middle of a big case that could change her career, but Maggie was being bullied at school and she would immediately be there to help and support her. They went into the living room and sat down. "So, what can I do for you?" She asked. Maggie spent a minute lining up her thoughts before starting with, "Could you… could you tell me about my father?" Murphy's smile froze, it didn't leave her face but the colour left it, as did the warmth. Murphy sighed before replying, "Okay."

And for an hour, they talked. About her father and the life he had led and the work he had done. She told her of how she met him when she was a beat cop and he was still working for Ragged Angels; she told her of the times she had tried to arrest him and had once chipped one of his teeth; she told her of how he had saved her life and others thousands of times for little or no reward. By the end of the conversation Maggie realized something about her father. He was a good man.