"Get me out, Luna," Al demanded.
"Darlin'. Sugar. Please," Luna begged. "Think this through. You're making rash decisions here."
"I don't want this Luna. This is not what I want. I don't care what you have to do, just find me another body."
"There is no other body, baby." Luna said
"There's gotta be. There's gotta be, Get me out of this body, Luna."
"Al, if we take you out, we can't put you back" she paused as if she were listening to a higher authority. "OK, alright."
The surroundings went dark as Al found himself standing in the emptiness, surrounded by blackness. "So what now?" Al asked.
"We wait," Luna explained. "We wait to get you to your final destination."
"Woah," AL said. "Woah. No Final Destination.' New body."
"Have you not been listening to me? No new body. You're stuck now sugar."
"Well that's not acceptable. That's just not acceptable." Al said.
"You're all over the map, Al. This ain't gonna work if you ain't open to the challenges."
"These are not challenges. They're torture."
"You are doing this for Marcie."
"No," Al said. I am hurting Marcie. And that is the last thing in this world that I want to do."
Luna was silent once again, giving a nod. "We'll try something else. Gabby! Where are you darlin'?!"
"I'm here, Luna!" the tiny girl called appearing almost immediately. Her red curls fell down her back as she stood before Al. "Hi!"
"Hi," Al said a bit confused.
"I'm Gabrielle," she beamed.
"He's being stubborn, sugar." Luna said to the child.
"Al," Gabby said. "You got a real chance to win back Marcie again. And you have to. Don't be such a baby."
Al looked at the little girl in shock. "How am I supposed to" he couldn't believe he was arguing with a little girl.
"You have two choices, Al." Gabby said, sitting down. "You can go back in Dr. McBain, or you can stay here."
"And I'd make up your mind soon, baby," Luna said. "Because the longer you're here, the longer Michael is making things harder for you."
Al gave Luna a strange look. With a flash, Al stood beside Luna in the student center, watching in awe, Michael McBain with Madison Kensington. For a girl who had just lost her sister, she didn't seem too shaken up. Or at least you couldn't tell by the way she was throwing herself at Michael.
"Hold on. That's two people?" Al said. "I don't think I've ever seen two people ever get that close to eachother in a public place." Al cringed at the public display. "This is disgusting. This is gonna screw everything up with Marcie. If she sees this I'll never have a chance."
"Then you've got one choice, sugar," Luna said. "Get back in there. Accept the baggage and get back in there."
"Fine," Al said growing more confident the second time he said it. "Fine. Put me back. Put me back in I'm ready."
Madison and Michael hadn't even come up for air yet. That had to be some kind of record breaker in the Public Displays of Affection category. It was sudden, as Al reentered Michael's body. He didn't even have to think, pulling away quickly from Madison.
"Michael?" Madison said. "What's the matter, baby?"
"This," Al said. "This whole thing is disgusting," He was revolted. After all the horrible things this girl had done to Marcie, he couldn't even stand to look at her.
"Oh I told you that it was over between me and Deke." She placed her hands on Al's chest, trailing them over the contours.
Al snapped his hands up, grabbing her wrists. "Back off, Madison!"
"You're hurting me Michael." Madison said.
Al loosened his grip, not intending to physically hurt the girl, although the thought did cross his mind briefly. She had hurt Marcie and the thought of that killed him. "I don't want anything to do with you!" Al yelled. He made a scene, catching the attention of everyone in the center.
"But baby"
"You're disgusting! You disgust me. Keep your hands off me." He threw Madison's hands down. "Stay away from me! You hear me, Madison?! Stay away!"
Marcie just wanted to get her mind off of everything that was going on. She didn't think the Police Station was the best place to do that, but there was work to be done, and she wasn't about to put it off just because of the day she was having. At least she wouldn't have to deal with Michael McBain. She put her bag down, taking a seat behind the desk and immediately taking out the papers she had been working on for Bo.
"Marcie?"
Marcie smiled at the sound of the voice. She looked up. "Ronnie." She said. "Hey. What are you doing here? I thought you were fixing Roxy's roof."
"Yeah I was," he said. "Believe me, sometimes I think she's puts the holes up there on purpose." Marcie laughed. "No I I got a call to come down here."
"The Commissioner?" she asked.
"Yeah."
Marcie wondered, standing from behind her desk. "Don't worry," she said "I'll find out what's going on." Marcie made her way to Bo's office, knocking on the door. "Commissioner?" she said. "I'm sorry. My brother's here. He said you called him?"
Bo sighed. He was hoping that he wouldn't have to explain the whole thing to Marcie right there. "We just want to ask him a few questions, Marcie." Bo said. "He knew all the girls"
"You think Ronnie did this?" Marcie said. "Ronnie wouldn't hurt anyone."
"We're not saying that he did, Marcie." John explained. "We just need to talk to him. Maybe he can give us. some information about the girls. We can find out if they had anything else in common."
"Marcie" Ron said standing in the doorway, having heard the whole thing. "It's OK."
"But Ronnie"
"Hey," he said taking her shoulders. "It's OK. I'll answer their questions and then I'll get out of here. We'll get some coffee OK." He looked at her. "OK?"
"OK." Marcie said softly.
"OK," he said. "So" Ron took a seat in front of Bo's desk. "What can I do for you?"
"Ron" John said. "You teach dance down at the community center."
" Yeah."
"So you knew Marissa Kensington."
"Yeah," Ron said. "Yeah, she took the night class. Didn't have enough time in the day. She was a good kid, a quick learner."
"Did you see her last night?"
Ron nodded. "Yeah. She left late last night... she was working on something new and..."
"Where were you?"
"I was packing up to go home," Ron got defensive. "What are you getting at?"
"You're from Ridgeway. Jersey, right?" John asked.
"So?"
"You know, Susan Gelman...Noralyn Atkins, they were from Jersey too. Dancers."
"Are you trying to say I killed those girls?" Ron said. "I didn't even know those girls."
"We're just covering our bases, Ron." John said. "You we're conveniently around when..."
"Stop!" Marcie said. "Stop this. Ron didn't do this. He would never hurt anybody."
"Marcie..." Bo said.
"No, Commissioner." she said softly. "My brother isn't a murderer. He didn't do it."
"Marcie," John said. "All we're trying to do is..."
"John," Bo looked at him. "I think we've heard enough here."
"I can go?" Ron asked, already standing. Bo nodded. Ron turned and left the office and Marcie followed after him.
"Why'd you let him walk?" John asked Bo as the office emptied.
"Marcie's a good kid." he said. "She's already lost so much. I don't want you to tear into her brother and try to put him away for these murders while she's around. Just... we'll keep an eye on him for a while. She if anything new pops up."
"Yeah..." John said. "As long as it's not another body."
Nightfall. The breeze was just as brisk as the night before as she made her way from the Community Center. It wasn't enough what had gone down earlier that day. The police crawling the campus asking way too many questions. She didn't feel like answering them. She didn't know anything. Marrisa was a goody goody anyway. No big loss to the world. It was a harsh way to think or feel, but she had bigger problems on her hands right now. More pressing matters.
She walked onto campus, searching in her coat pockets for the keys, realizing all too late that she had left them at the center. Letting out a loud sigh, she went to turn, getting caught from behind by a crushing pressure around her neck. She struggled, trying to fight back, trying to kick and scream, but she couldn't. The red leotard now adorned her neck as she went limp. She was propped up, several hearts painted on her face.
And the music filled the air.
