Redemption
I
The Invitation
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It had come on a dreary, frustrating day; one of the worst she had had in years. Through the bills and junk mail, the envelope had screamed for her attention as soon as her fingertips skimmed over the watermarked paper. The neat handwriting scrawled across the front was the color of fresh blood just drawn, but her curiosity was enticed the most by the wax seal that held the heavy, expensive paper shut. Inspecting the red wax closer she had seen an intricate seal holding the letter S as the center and most pronounced feature.
Setting the rest of the mundane mail down, she flipped it over once more to see if it was, indeed, addressed to her.
Bunny Cyphers....
Seeing her name reassured her that it was not for a 'Morgan Wade' she still got mail for. Feeling that it would be improper for her to rip the top open, she grabbed a butter knife instead to gently pry the wax seal open. No, savagely ripping open envelopes was reserved for the monotonous pile on her kitchen counter.
Inside, Bunny had expected a letter from a friend or a relative written with the same red ink on the same heavy paper asking for money or something of the like. That was what she had expected at least, but found inside was a single slip of ivory that mirrored the square shape of its container. The handwriting was indeed written in the same blood red on the same paper but it wasn't a letter. It was an invitation imploring that she attend a dinner to discuss her work... at the Shields Manor up on Widow's Peak.
"Oh God." Sinking into a kitchen table chair, Bunny's heart began to flitter weakly with the possibilities of this invitation, accompanied by childhood memories.
She had grown up in Rosedale and had therefore heard of every ghost story that centered around Widow's Peak, the mountain surrounded by the forest that fringed the small town, but even more so about the mansion that resided in those altitudes. Every bull headed boy she knew who thought themselves to be God's gift to her gender had gone up there to drink and do 'manly' things.
On dare or boast, it didn't matter, they would stagger through the woods to get a glimpse of the dark, empty Shields Manor and try to take a peek at a ghost or demon. Then each group of 'buds' would then hightail it out of there for more times than not, they would see something unholy and report their 'brave' exploits to anyone who would hear of them. Which was all of Glen High and then some.
This right of passage, this tradition went on for as long as Bunny could remember but it all came to a screeching halt when a group of boys, in their haste to get away from whatever it was that they saw, drove their car right into an oak killing all five of them. Rosedale, being as small at it was, had not a one person untouched by the news. It, however, had hit close to home for Bunny and her friends for she knew one of the boys.
Greg Anderson, quarterback and town sweetheart had reassured Bunny that he wouldn't do anything too reckless up on the small mountain. She remembered his easy smile, lazy laugh and charming personality that had won her over. He had used it to put her at ease too when she heard that he was going with friends up to the manor. Kissing the top of her head he promised he wouldn't drink or do anything illegal. He, just like so many others who had come before him, just wanted to see if the stories were true. This pacified her somewhat, causing her to push aside the horrible feeling she had since a week before.
Ami Anderson, however, was much more harder to convince. She was Greg's younger sister, Bunny's best friend, and number one not in their junior class alone, but in all of Glen High. Ami begged and pleaded with her big brother not to go, that it was stupid and foolhardy to even go when ghosts and demons didn't exist. Just for fun, baby sister, he had said. I'll be safe, Buns. I love you.
Bunny jumped when something velvety brushed against her ankle. Looking down she saw maroon eyes as large as dinner plates staring up at her.
The blonde began to laugh. She had been reminiscing so much, so vividly that her crystal blue eyes were full of unshed tears. It was in the past and her first love was in a much better place.
"Hungry, Luna?" Bunny stood and walked into the kitchen, trying not to stumble as her black kitten pranced around her feet, mewing enthusiastically.
Mind wondering once again, like it did often when she had a day such as she did that day; she began to think her day over. It was one for the books, she could be sure.
First, she had pulled up to the gallery where she managed to find it surrounded by police and yellow tape. It seemed that someone had broken in that night, stealing a good hundred thousand dollars worth of art. Before she could even answer any of the police officers' questions, a man in his mid forties came blustering outside seeing red.
"Mr. Jacobson...?!" Bunny looked at him with open shock.
She had only met the owner face to face twice since working at Gallery Rosedale for he had let her full reign of his gallery while he traveled the world, taking the finer things in life for granted. It was odd to see him there since last she heard from him he was in the East, but it did make since that he would make a special trip home considering more than half of the gallery's items were stolen.
"You insufferable...!" The owner came to stand in front of Bunny, "How could you let this happen?!"
"Mr. Jacobson, I couldn't have known-"
"I left everything in your capable hands! Only to have everything ruined! How could I have trusted you?! How could you have let this happen?!" He roared, shaking furiously.
Surprise began to be replaced by anger. What in the hell was he talking about? Like she was to know the gallery was going to be hit that very night.
Straightening up to her full height, which was a good inch or two on her employer, she began to try to reason with him before anger totally took over her common sense, "Mr. Jacobson, I had no idea that the gallery was going to be robbed. It was locked up with the security system on, like it is every night. If you would only calm down for a moment, we could still get back a good portion of the lost revenue if we cooperate with the police."
To make a long, tiring story short, Mr. Jacobson had been too devastated and angry to see any reason at all. Bunny, being the next figure of authority below him, made the perfect scapegoat for his desperate fury. Needless to say, she was the manager at Gallery Rosedale no more.
But the icing, sprinkles, and cherries on the cake had been the events that were to soon follow after the gallery incident: James, her boyfriend, broke up with her during lunch because of a new love interest; her car received a flat on the way home, and her cell phone was now laying in the middle of the street in pieces, complimentary of some red Ford Focus, but only after Bunny dropped it trying to call for roadside assistance.
To the onlooker, despite such a day, she seemed collected, if not absentminded, and extremely exhausted. When she sunk into her couch, invitation forgotten momentarily, she began to laugh at her luck, her boss' irrationalness, the thought that she really didn't care what James did, the fact that she got a flat that only added to the eventfulness of her day, and at her cell phone getting ran over. What were the chances?
She laughed and laughed and laughed until her amusement gave way to tears, "This is so stupid."
Everything was so surreal and pointlessly upsetting, but it still hurt.
Curling up into a ball, she fell asleep for only a moment or two only to be awoken by the ringing of her doorbell. Stretching, the unemployed blonde stood and staggered in the day's fading light to her door. She felt worlds better about her comical situation until she opened the door to see three women standing on her stoop, armed to the teeth with brownies, chick flicks, wine, pedicure kits, and other assorted goodies. The tears came again and the three rushed forward to comfort their best friend.
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"What do you think they want?" Lita asked, passing the invitation to Ami for inspection.
Mina sat up and reached for her glass of wine, "Yeah, it must be something important."
"I have no idea," Bunny rolled over on her stomach.
The four were currently lazing about her living room, their relaxed figures lit by the fire burning in Bunny's hearth. It was an all out girl fest. Just what the doctor had ordered for the distraught blonde.
Lita Johnson, who owned her own restaurant, had bumped into James (now referred to as 'ass wipe' from this day forth) while shopping in the grocer's market for Brazil nuts and had learned of his unfaithfulness when she asked how her best friend was doing. She then proceeded to call Mina Artwell who was getting her nails done at the salon across from Gallery Rosedale, who informed Lita that there had been a burglary that night. The blonde music teacher then called Ami, Dr. Anderson to those who worked at Rosedale Hospital, to tell her friend that not only had their best bud Bunny been dumped, but her gallery had also been robbed only to learn that Ami had already known about the robbery. It turns out that after their friend had left the scene, Mr. Jacobson had a full on heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. Ami then learned from the EMTs that his gallery had been hit and he had just fired the manager, Bunny Cyphers.
Without planning and without another word to one another, they all headed to their friend's house to have an all out girl fest to cheer Bunny up, pulling up to the small yellow house at the same time. It had worked smashingly.
"Maybe they'll become disinterested once they realize that I am no longer working at the gallery," Bunny grabbed another brownie.
"Or," Mina began, "They'll be even more so interested in employing you when they learn that your prior obligations are no more."
Ami, always studious even when slightly tipsy, "But it doesn't really specify what 'work' they're interested in. It is a very vague invitation and a little full of itself since it is lacking in a phone number to RSVP."
Lita began to snicker, "The invitation is full of itself?"
"Oh, you know what I mean," she smiled despite of herself, "What it means, is that they expect you to attend, no excuses. But most interesting part is that it is the Shields Manor."
"Yeah, when did they get back into town?" Mina asked, pouring herself more of Lita's famous wine, "Last I heard they were conquering Japan."
"Exactly. What does a huge corporate family want with me? Half the time they're running their trillion dollar corporate company, the other half being hounded by the paparazzi," Bunny leaned forward as if she had a secret to tell, "Did you know that they have never been photographed? I don't know how they do it. Not one picture."
"Yeah, but I hear that the head of the company, what's it... Darien Shields, he's a hottie. And single too," Mina giggled.
"I don't know how you find this stuff out, Mina, and besides, if they've never been photographed, don't you think that he might be a fat, balding old man?" Lita threw a pillow at her friend.
"It's my business to know, and I have my sources."
"Your sources," Ami stifled a snicker.
The blonde singer began to turn red and was about to start bickering with her friends when Bunny stood up, albeit a little unsteady, "How about we start making a dent in this ridiculous pile of movies you brats brought?"
"Brats?" Mina decided to throw her pillow at Bunny instead of Lita.
"Hey!" She laughed as she fell back on the couch.
"Movies sound good," Lita began to sift through the pile.
"No Gone with the Wind! It makes me cry every time... for hours."
"Hear, hear!" Mina cheered.
Lita stood up to pop in a DVD, "I agree. I don't even know why you brought it Ami. You know you're the only one who likes it."
"What? How you can you not? It's a historical masterpiece!" The doctor waved her hand about, causing the wine in her glass to splosh dangerously around, "It's the greatest!"
Bunny laid down, propping her head up, "Because Scarlet is a spoilt bitch."
This earned a good laugh from everyone, even Ami who was trying to hide it in her drink. The four instead began their moviethon with Two Weeks Notice, one of Bunny's favorites. As she watched her hero Sandra Bullock klutz her way through the movie, she decided that it couldn't hurt to attend the dinner at the Shields Manor. It might be the smartest business move she ever could make. Besides, what else could go wrong?
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TR- Wee...? It was a non-eventful beginning, really. Just one to lay the groundwork down for the rest of the story. I love girl fests, don't you? As always, I want reviews and I know you have them!! So gimmie.
(unedited)
5.27.04