Unhealthy Attraction

Chapter 5: Drowning Sorrows

A/N: It's great to see so many people trying to figure out who the murderer is. Nearly every guess makes sense in some way or another. I figured that I might as well go along with everyone's opinion here. Most of you are sympathizing with Popuri and are considering her to be a victim, despite my attempts to turn her into a crazed stalker. So, I'll make her a bit more normal, but she will still be a little crazy at times. Well, enjoy this chapter and keep of the detective work.

Legal note: I do not own the song that Jack butchers in this chapter. I think that it's been altered enough so that it won't break any copyrights. It's actually supposed to be that one song about some dude who killed his girlfriend in a car accident. I don't know what it's called or who sings it, either.

(-)

The Cooking Festival for today was cancelled. In its place was going to be a funeral and Popuri had nothing to wear. Well, not nothing to be exact. She had that black corset-like undershirt that she always wore above her clothing instead of below them. It wasn't really the appropriate kind of thing to be wearing to a funeral. Plus, she didn't have a matching bottom half to it.

"Come on Popuri! We're going to be late!" Rick called up to Popuri.

That's right. She couldn't show up late to the funeral, it would only draw more suspicion onto her. Half the townspeople were already pointing at her, saying that she was the one who killed dear, innocent Elli. "She wasn't even close to innocent!" Popuri fumed, remembering that evening when she had overseen the late night romance unfolding.

The other half of the town didn't know who to accuse of the dastardly deed. So many people had a motive for taking Elli out of the picture. A few pointed to Doctor Tim, saying that since he could have his lovely assistant, nobody could. Others pointed at Jack, but they had no theory to work on. Why would a good looking guy kill of his own girlfriend? It just didn't make sense.

Still, other fingers were being pointed at less likely murderers. Gotz was accused by Won, who claimed that the wood cutter had gone insane and was hunting for somebody to join him in his perpetual sorrow. In return Gotz accused the peddler, saying that Won had probably offended Elli by offering to sell her birth control pills, which led to a fight and somehow Won had won. Even Pastor Carter and the Harvest Sprites were not spared from the accusations flying around town.

Popuri didn't think that it was any of them. The person who she though was the murderer was waiting downstairs for her. That's right, she thought Rick did it. The day after they found the body, after giving her statement to Officer Harris like the rest of the village, Popuri had returned to her chores. She was feeding the young chicken that was Pon's replacement, reminiscing about how peaceful it had been before all of this turmoil started.

Once finished, Popuri was closing the door when she noticed a hammer shoved away behind the row of chicken feeds. She recognized the hammer as Rick's, thinking that it was odd for the tool to be so far away from where he normally kept his equipment. Popuri stretched out, reaching until she could feel the cold metal on her fingertips. She smiled at being able to reach the tool, wrapping her hand around the head of the hammer.

Instantly, she knew something was amiss. The tool was all sticky, covered with a hardening liquid. Popuri reeled back her hand and screamed at the sight of her blood covered extremity. The chickens around her became alarmed by her outburst, taking flight. White feathers were everywhere, with Popuri screaming in the center of the mess. Upon confronting her brother with the blood covered weapon, Rick had the nerve to say that he had used that hammer to kill Pon. "Why would he say such a horribly lie?"

Back to the more pressing issue at hand, Popuri had managed to locate a somewhat dull colored skirt that she could wear to the funeral. "Grey is such a depressing color" She thought as she slipped the skirt on. Rick's impatient foot tapping echoed up to her room, telling her that she had better hurry a bit more. Popuri gave a final tug on her corset strings as she gave herself a final check over in the mirror. The tapping was growing rapider. "I'm on my way!" She called out, brushing her pink hair out of her face.

Rick was clearly upset with her. "We have five minutes to get there before it starts. I don't want you to be late!" "More like you don't want to be late yourself." Popuri withheld this comment, choosing instead to smile sarcastically at her brother as she joined him at his side. "Let's go." She whispered quietly.

The two siblings silently made their way through town and towards the church. Dreary, depressing music from the organ inside the church drifted eerily through the early morning setting. Rick and Popuri were arriving just as the music was dying down. The crowd of mourners had already gathered in the courtyard of the church. Popuri and Rick quickly slipped among the gathered people, blending in as easily as a girl with pink hair can.

Pastor Carter was just starting to recite an opening prayer. Popuri chose to not pay attention to the rather boring scripture. She wasn't the most religious of people, although she did attend church every Sunday. That was mostly for show, though. She had much better things to do on a Sunday, like watch Jack work. Now there was something entertaining!

The tear-filled ceremony took well over two hours to complete. Pastor Carter drawled on and on about what a shame it was that Elli's life had been cut short. "Real tragedy." Popuri had thought to herself at one point during the drawn out burial.

A procession of people were called up to give emotional speeches about special moments that they shared with the dearly departed. The Pastor had thought that it would be a good idea for her boyfriend to give a short speech. But, when Jack's name was called, he was nowhere to be seen. It was at this point that Popuri noticed that Ann was missing as well. Now, this may have only been a coincidence, but it was mighty suspicious that Jack was absent from his lover's funeral and that a girl who was interested in him was missing in action. Quite a few of the villagers, the ones who accused Popuri of the murder in fact, waved off Jack's absence as emotional trauma.

So, it came as a surprise to Popuri when she went to the Inn after the funeral to attend a solemn gathering and Jack was sitting in the far corner. The farmer had surrounded himself in a protective semi-circle of empty bear mugs and was working on his… seventh drink? Ann, who apparently had been serving Jack during the funeral, was delivering another drink to Jack. The two engaged in a short, yet polite conversation as Ann placed the mug before Jack.

Popuri felt the familiar twinge of jealousy rise in her as she witnessed Ann fall under Jack's charm. "His girlfriend died a few days ago and he's already moved on? What's with him?" Popuri took a seat across the Inn from the flirting couple, within eyesight, and ordered a drink for herself from a rather suspicious Doug. Then, she settled in to watch.

Jack was obviously drunk. He was mumbling through the lines of a strange song, "Where… oh wear hassss my baaaabby… uhhhh… something? The lawrd tuk hir awei frum meeee!" He was having difficulty sitting upright, probably due to the fact that the room was spinning with very strange rotations. It even appeared that he had tied his rucksack to the table in an effort to stop him from falling over. Still, he drank. "He must really be hurt," She thought, almost getting up to comfort the farmer, but Ann had come back.

"I've got to take these mugs back." Ann explained, trying to take a few of the glasses away from the semi-circle.

"No." Jack protested, pointing to his circle. "See these? You can't pass them."

Ann looked confused. "And why not? I can easily reach over them."

Jack was persisting that the mugs had created an invisible barrier around him. He had even resorted to miming that he was trapped inside his make believe barrier. Ann had had enough. "I'm not going to serve you any more drinks. You've definitely had enough already."

"But, I want drinks!" Jack protested as Ann gathered he mugs. When he realized that his whining wasn't winning over Ann, he switched to a different tactic. "You know… I find you very attractive… Maybe… we could go to my place?"

The red-haired waitress was speechless. Popuri was in a similar state. "How could he? First Elli and now Ann! His tastes in women are really scary." Popuri felt her fists tighten as the anger inside of her rose. This was exactly the same way that she had felt after seeing that late night rendezvous between Jack and Elli. Now there was another girl in between her and her goal of making the farmer hers.

Ann was crumbling under the onslaught of charm from the drunken farmer. It wouldn't be long until she gave in. Ann finally made up her mind, setting the tray of dishes down on the table as she sat down with Jack. Nearly instantly, Jack reached around her, smoothly wrapping his arm over her shoulders. Ann merely blushed, inching herself closer to Jack's side.

"Your foods ready." A stubborn Doug interrupted Popuri's vigilance. The owner of the Inn placed a steaming hot piece of pie before Popuri.

Popuri smiled bashfully, waving away the food. "I'm afraid that I'm not hungry anymore."

"Suit yourself." Doug replied, reclaiming the dish and heading back behind the counter. He cast an evil glare over at Ann and Jack before returning to his work. It seemed that he wasn't very pleased with the developing situation, either.

Popuri had had enough of this place. She just couldn't handle watching the man she had been in love with since her childhood was flirting with another girl, yet again. Didn't he believe in destiny? Popuri silently pushed her chair out from the table, got up, and left, trying not to attract anyone's attention. Then, she went home, and despite the early time of day, she went straight to bed, where she cried her heart out until she fell asleep.

(-)

A familiar knocking on the front door awoke Popuri. She didn't really care who it was, she just wanted to be left alone. Her bedside clock told her that it was only one o'clock in the morning. "Why would someone be knocking on our door at this hour?" Popuri groggily asked herself. She was too tired to even guess as to the reason of the rude wake-up call.

Rick's footsteps were heading down the hall to answer the increasingly impatient knocking. Whoever was outside wanted in urgently. Popuri listened as her brother descended the stairs and fumbled around to the door. There was a loud creak as Rick opened the door, followed by a few whispered words. Popuri was fully awake now, much against her own will, and her interest had been raised. She strained to listen into the conversation going on downstairs, but the voices were just too muffled to make out anything.

The visitor had apparently been let inside and Rick was starting up a fire. Whatever the visitor had to say was important enough to warrant that she wouldn't be going back to sleep anytime soon. So, Popuri climbed out of her bed, slipped on an robe, and went to join the people downstairs.

Just the sight of Mayor Thomas told Popuri that something bad had happened again. The mayor was sitting on the couch, mindlessly staring into the fire, tears brimming from his eyes. Popuri looked over at her brother for some answers, but Rick was far worse off than Thomas. Rick was curled up in the corner beside the fireplace, his face buried into the palms of his hands. For the first time in her life, Popuri witnessed her brother cry.

"Rick…" Popuri asked, inching towards her brother. She was worried for him, but she didn't know what to do or how to comfort him.

Rick had heard Popuri's voice, looking up into the eyes of his sister, his own eyes fighting to hold back the flood of tears. His lips quivered and his voice was cracking as he spoke a few words, "Karen's dead." Then, Rick returned to his sorrow, burying his head between his knees, not trying to hold back the sobs that racked his body.

The murderer had struck again, this time at someone who meant something to part of her family. Rick was no longer a suspect in Popuri's mind, just another victim of the collective travesty that had befallen Mineral Town. First Elli and now Karen. Who could possibly be evil enough to kill two young women?

Popuri suddenly felt very unsafe. Two young girls had been killed. Could this be the work of a twisted serial killer who had a fancy for girls her age? The young pink-haired Popuri rushed to her brother's side, offering compassion and seeking refuge at the same time. Rick paused his crying for a few seconds, only to look over at his sister, who was there for him when he needed it. He would have to repay the favor to her somehow.

Thomas broke his vow of silence, but his words came out as a stuttering mess. "I… I'm going to have… I'm sorry Rick… I know she meant a lot to you… We need to get everyone together and talk." The Mayor got up to feet and waddled over to Rick. "Stay strong, Rick." Thomas smiled weekly, patting Rick on the back before departing into the night, probably to deliver the horrible news to other families.

(-)

A/N: I bet nobody was expecting that Karen would be the next to die. Once again, I apologize to everyone for killing off a character. Please, don't anyone take it personally. This goes for every future murder, if any, that take part in this fic.

For the personal note: Neil is healing, despite infections galore and serious attempts to make the injury worse. That kid has a death wish. Mage is doing pretty good, but not great. She isn't responding well to the newest experimental drug that she's trying. But, other than that, she's doing good. On another note, I'll be coming out with a new Harvest Moon fic in the next couple of days!