Opening Authors Note: Can you keep a secret? It's a tough task to take sometimes, especially when papers one, two and three litter your desk and they all say exactly what you don't want them to say.
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I'd like to take a moment – or several if you are a particularly thorough reader – to tell you a story. Or, rather, a series of short ones. These stories are found in the very peculiar apartment of a very particular him. Just a him, and a him is all he'll remain, for now. I'd tell you that who the him is doesn't matter in the slightest, but I'm sure an astute elocutionist such as yourself can see that he is a him that matters a good deal to the big picture here. That being said, you'll have to either wait to find out who him is or find out who the him is yourself.
So anyways,
In the back room of his particular peculiar apartment was a poor wooden desk which sat against the furthest wall in shambles. Judging by the disrepair of the room as a whole, one could safely assume that the somewhat solemn sojourn of the building must have had other activities to busy himself with. On his chair was his overcoat, "ZPD" emblazoned on its back. Atop the desk sat a stack of papers.
These are those papers.
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Prison Log: Executions 04/XX
Thester, Greer- Electric Chair
Moira, Emmett- Gas Chamber
Hay, Timothy- Electric Chair (Botched)
Qwala, Kerry- Electric Chair
Big, Alfredo- Lethal Injection
Maxine, Carl- Electric Chair
Helmler, Armin- Gas Chamber
Stallerd, Joseph- Electric Chair
Gat, Gitty- Electric Chair (Botched)
O'Donnel, Wolf- Firing Squad
Johnson, Isaac- Gas Chamber
Browning, Cecil- Lethal Injection (Botched)
Browning, Conrad- Lethal Injection
Barker, Daniel- Electric Chair
Skyes, Joseph- Electric Chair (Botched)
Weseltine, Elliot- Gas Chamber
Trunks, Frederick- Electric Chair
Wright, Bobby- Lethal Injection
…
The letters in the following series of papers are all a tawny yellow, creased in several places. They seem to have been dug up out of a garbage can.
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12/XX
My darling boy,
I heard what they said about you in court today and I want you to know that I don't believe a god damned word of it. I know you baby, you're my child, you're my Nicky.
Most of all, I know it isn't true. Don't let them get into your head.
Wait for me honey, I'll find a way to get you out of there. Your name will be cleared again by next year. I'll be here for you the entire time, even if I can't really be there for you. You understand, don't you? Don't think I'll stop thinking about you for as much as a second Nicky. You've been my entire world since the day you were born, coughing and crying and bloodied, wriggling into the world. You'll be my entire world until I leave.
In fact, I'm going to find a new lawyer after I sign this letter.
Loving you with all of her heart,
Mom
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1/XX
My sweet Nick,
I got your letter this morning and I haven't been able to focus on my chores since I read it. You didn't do it Nicky, don't pretend you even have the mind to. I know times are hard right now and your mind is running in four different directions and you aren't sure of who you are anymore; that is exactly what your mother is going through right now.
Oh, that must sound so conceited of me, so very self-absorbed. There you are, shouldering the burdens of this planet and I'm writing you to complain about my own worries and woes. I don't know what's become of me and my right paw is inches away from scrapping this letter and starting anew.
But I do know you, sweetheart, and I'm telling you that you couldn't have done any of this.
I raised you Nicky, carried you in my arms as I walked the cramped halls of that apartment we could barely afford. You were the one thing that got me through the day. I kissed you goodnight, every night. I wrapped myself around you those mornings when you'd cry, certain that you had no companion and that nobody loved you. I loved you.
I love you.
I know you.
Write me again soon.
In love with you still,
Mom
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3/XX
Baby Boy,
Why haven't you written me back yet? Are you ok in there? Are they hurting you? Nick, please answer your mother. I've been sick in bed for the last three weeks and I feel like death. Mrs. Halloway says that I must have caught the stomach bug but I know I'm just sick in the heart.
I need to hear from you again Nicky.
I need to see you.
I've lost you once before and I just can't bear the thought of losing you again.
Love, love, love, love, loving you,
Mommy
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12/XX
My only sun [sic],
Come back to me.
Love,
Mom
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3/XX
Nicky,
When I saw the letter addressed from you to me in my mail slot I just about died and went to up to heaven on the spot.
But now you tell me that you deserve this.
You don't deserve this.
I don't know who's been telling you these sick fucking lies but you don't fucking believe them Nick.
They're fucking liars.
Please Nicky, god, you need to fight them.
I love you so much.
Thinking of you always,
Mom
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10/XX
Nicky,
Mrs. Halloway brought me pasta today and I thought of you again. It was your favorite dish as a boy, whole wheat with mushrooms and asparagus. Isn't it queer how that women remembers such things?
Anyways, I woke up feeling tired yet hopeful. There was something holy about the morning air today. I don't know just what it was, but something, somebody seemed to be telling me that it was all going to be ok.
That is to say, that you are going to be ok.
I hope this letter finds you in a good state of mind, and if it doesn't, I hope it brings you to one.
Ever believing,
Mommy
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11/XX
Nick,
I saw the news today. I saw the revised verdict.
It's wrong, isn't it?
You don't deserve this.
Do you?
Heartbroken,
Mom
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2/XX
Nicholas Wilde,
Know that I loved you.
Mom
…
Transcript:
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My Associates
· Alexei
· Elmer
· Burtan
· Koslov
· Mr. Beady
· Nick Wilde XXX
· Angel
· Siscal Fiscal
· Marty
· Morty
· Beatrice
· Carlos
· Christopher
· Sergio
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3/XX
Dearest Jackie,
Janey Made that stew ya used to like so well, the one with the chives and such. It was scrumptious to say the least, and we all fell into those mumbly rants about the good old days we're so prone to falling into, ya know the ones, the ones when we all sorta just say something and don't really pay none too much attention to what the other is blabbing on about. I'm rambling, and ink don't buy cheap. Anyways, the youngins broke one of Ma's dishes while we were washing up tonight. They were rough-housing, as they do, so, like Ma used to do, I smoothed out the wrinkles in my blouse, straightened my spine and opened my mouth to tell em real polite and real stern like why what they did was wrong.
But I just yelled at them instead.
And I mean I really yelled. I was cursin and damn near spittin throughout the whole thing. Junior cried.
I know ya've been quite a busy buck nowadays, roaming the big city as ya do, but I miss ya.
We miss ya.
And ya know Ma and Pa would miss ya too. Things aren't quite the same on the farm without ya, but I'm sure ya coulda glimpsed that in the dozens of other letters I've written ya since ya left. McArthur went and got himself sick last month, so it's just me and Janey out in the fields and I think the summertime burrow heat may just be getting around to finally boiling my already bumbling bunny brain. I don't mean ya have to come home and help if ya don't want to, I just think I'd be a bit more even-tempered 'round the kits if I had ya to chat with.
Ya always were a good chatter.
How is that big city of yours anyhow? Ya never did write me back and tell me how you're doing there. I know, I should get my cotton tail on the next train to Zootopia myself and track ya down, but the main district is such a big place, ya understand? And a little country gal like me just wouldn't be able to find my way around the place, that's all.
We miss ya sorely here though.
It's been years, Jack.
I think ya owe it to me us. Ya should come home.
It wasn't your fault, what ya didn't do, ya know that, right? Ya need to forgive yourself and come back.
Come home, Jackie.
Waiting,
Claribelle
…
Your order has been placed!
Bouquet of Pink Carnations x 1
Order Placed By: Judith Hopps
Order Sent To: Judith Hopps
Address: XXXX Cap St, Savannah Central
~Savannah Graveside Flowers thanks you for your continued patronage!
…
This next note is written on paper so old it's begun to brown. Folded several times, it's crumpled at the top, almost as though someone snatched it from another in a hurry.
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- Jocelyn Eckybara
- Shay Webber
- Clarice Lamben
- Asha Lector
- Maria Belèmortè
- Anaya Chival
-Julia Stour
-Monica Gonthers
-Macy Greer
- Johana Swinton
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How To Fix A Telegraph
I. Water Damage (Pg. 11-24)
II. Disrepair (Pg. 25- 104)
- Neglect (Pg. 25- 54)
- Misuse (Pg. 54- 104)
III. Missing Parts (Pg. 105- 213)
- Finding (Pg. 105-108)
- Manufacturer ( Pg. 109- 133)
- Replacing Part ( Pg. 134 – 213)
IV. Broken Key (Pg. 214- 220)
V. Useful Numbers (Pg. A- G)
…
Author's Endnote: Well there's that. Did you manage to get a glimpse at it? I can't tell you what it is, but I can tell you that there are several its and if you did see it(s), then you shouldn't say what it is. Maybe you could just tell me that you saw it.
Now don't go saying you saw it when you really didn't. That spoils the fun.
Ugh, well, enough of that. I hope this wasn't too painful a read. I was scribbling in my notebook during my breaks in an attempt to further flesh out this story and decided to publish them after some thoughtful editing. I suppose a small update is better than none at all, and it gives me a chance to update you guys on this stories status.
For those asking, no, the fic hasn't been abandoned (if you haven't gathered that already), nor will it be in the foreseeable future. Sorry to say.
The next story-driven chapter is in the works and I'm liking it a lot. Part of me wants to tell you just why that is but I can't because that would spoil everything! Ah! You might just have to come visit me again if you want to find out what occurs in the following chapters. Anyways, please leave a review letting me know if this little bonus chapter did anything for ya. If it did, there can be more in the future, whenever I wind up in an update drought, though the format would likely be a bit different. Some may read like your typical story. Or maybe you hated it. Let me know all about that too, as then I can save myself some time and just skip it.
I'll let you go now. Thanks again for reading