Playing with the Dead

A fan fiction by Kate-chan 91

Disclaimer: If I was Butch Hartman, I would be older, male and live in California; what do YOU think?

Kate-chan 91's tidbits (A/N): Here's the actual tenth chapter, everybody. I really hope y'all like it.

101010

Part Four

Chapter Ten: Connecting the Pieces

101010

"To be dead is the same as never to have been born, and better for than living on in wretchedness. The dead feel nothing; evil then can cause no pain." – Euripides

"Mom…"

"What is it, Claire?" Keith asked her daughter as she took a sip of freshly brewed decaf coffee.

"Why are you reading someone's diary and taking notes off it again?" Claire responded as if she was somewhat used to seeing this.

"It's evidence, dear," Keith replied. "I'm using it so I can finally crack down on this really strange suicide case once and for all."

"Mom, it's Sunday! You should take a break for once. Sunday is a day of rest, anyway!"

It was then that Claire looked down on her watch. "Oh crap!" she yelled when she read 8:41 on it. "Dad's coming over to pick me up in a couple of minutes! See you on Friday, Mom!"

"Be safe, Claire!" was Keith's only response as she finished drinking her coffee.

101010

As soon as she had finished loading the dishwasher, Keith resumed her work on her assignment. It was not time for her to connect the evidence to truly solve the unusual case of Sam Manson. As usual, the evidence for this case involved photos, writing, and other ways to create a record; all this was strategically placed on her huge oak desk in the living room.

The very first pieces of evidence she examined after the girl's diary was Danny Fenton's case file. Grisly and gory black and white photos of the crime scene were the first to come out. As it turned out, the photos could only show part of the story. First of all, they only composed of images of the boy's body not long after the murder; the murder was apparently given so little recognition (or poor recordtaking at the very least) that a photo of his murderers or him before his violent death were nonexistant.

"Damn!" Keith cursed a few minutes later when she realized she had reached yet another dead end. It was then that she decided to take a drive through town to take a break and clear her mind.

After stopping at a convenience store to buy a couple of Hershey bars and a bag of Skittles, Keith decided to drive by the cemetary to take a gander at Danny Fenton's gravesite. As she was walking closer and closer towards the site, she noticed a faint figure standing in front of agravestone. Upon closer expection, it was a woman in her fifties with graying red hair and a bouquet of flowers.Furthermore, the gravestone she stood in front of read:

DANIEL FENTON

1955-1969

BELOVED SON AND BROTHER

Doing some quick mental math, Keith asked the woman, "Are you Danny Fenton's sister?"

"How did you know?" The woman replied.

Keith flashed her badge. "Detective Mary-Lynn Keith, 'Mam. I'm currently investigating a case where your brother seems to have ties with. Would you like to tell me about him?"

The woman thought for this for a second. Finally, she replied, "...I guess I can. It's my day off... My name's Jasmine, but you can call me Jazz if you want, it's an old nickname of mine..."

When both women sat down on the grass, Keith began talking to Jazz. "So," she asked, "What do you remember about the night Danny was murdered?"

"...I don't remember much, to be honest with you, but I do remember this: I was 16 and I was screaming at him over the typical things teens fight over. Only that time, however, it would be our last. Danny and I eventually got so angry that I wished that he would die and rot in Hell and he yelled, 'THAT'S FINE WITH ME! I'LL DO ANYTHING TO GET AWAY FROM YOU!' and he stormed to his room.

"What happened next is a bit foggy: the Policeman came and told me to come over to that girl Paulina's house and asked to identify this body they found there. It was unbelievable; he was so disfigured and bloody I couldn't even tell it was him. His PAJAMAS of all things were extremely bloody so I couldn't identify him with that. It wasn't even until they came with a DNA test that it was determined to be indeed Danny.

"Aside from that, I had to deal with yet another tradgedy in my so-called life."

"And what was that?" Keith asked

Jazz sighed. "My parents died in a plane crash on their way here in order to attend the funeral. I became so depressed that I turned to alcohol,made my grades drop and eventually dropped out of high school too.Not longafter that, I decided I could not live any longer and attempted suicide. When I was about to jump off that building, however, I swear I heard Danny talking to me. He said I should not do this and I can turn my life around and change my fate in the process. I immediately felt emotionally healthy again and stopped trying to commit suicide that moment. I cleaned myself up, went back to high school, and I'm now a brain surgeon with a husband and two children."

"So in a way, Danny actually helped turned your life around."

"Exactly."

Keith was looking around for a quick second when she noticed a crumbled, white piece of papersticking out ofJazz's pocket.

"What the hell's that?" She asked.

"This? Oh, that's a print of an oldphoto of the two of us. I always place a copy of iton his gravestonewhenever a newone iserected. Vandals are always destroying it."

"May I see it?"

"Sure..." Jazzreplied as shegave it to Keith.The picture composed ofDanny and Jazz in, according to the print on the bottom, the year 1969.

"Damn... helooks a lot like my father when he was that age, only with a weirder hairstyle anda different sense of fashion, obviously..."

"Really?"

"Yeah... I loved myfather... but when I was eight, hegot cancer. I prayed and prayed to God that he would survive, but he didn't. Idecided to become an atheist afterwards because of that."

"I feel so sorry about that, Detective... Iknowwhat it's like to lose a loved one." Jazzsaid as shegot up.

"Where are you going?"

"Grocery shopping. Can you place that print on the gravestone before you go?"

"Uh... sure. Have a good day, Miss!" Keith replied asJazz left the site.When she was out of clear view, Keithreturned to reality world and placed the print atop the gravestone just like she was instructed to do. She wasjust about to walk away, however, when she started thinkingagain about the resemblence between her father and Danny Fenton. Keithgot angrier and angrier as shekept seeing that very resemblence; she couldn't bear it.

Suddenly, she snapped. "DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU!I HOPE YOU ARE IN HELL, BASTARD!" she yelled as looked around for a rock to destroy thefaux stone that marked the boy's gravesite. Afterbreaking offthe top of the stone, she spat on it and started crying. It was then when she heard a boy's voice promising her he'll have his revenge...

10101010

"MOM! IT'S ALMOST TIME TO GO TO CHURCH!" Claire yelled as she walked down the hall.

Many things happened during the two weeks since Keith vandalized Danny's grave. Not only had she stopped eating candy as she usually did, she also converted back into Christianity and went to Church everyday. It was also during this fortnight that she became somewhat suicidal...

Claire was still looking for her mother when she found her in her bedroom. "Ah, Mom! There you AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Her mom was pointing a gun at herself.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, MOM? YOU CAN'T DO THIS, YOU CAN'T!"

Keith, however, ignored her daughter's frantic cries and pleas. She immediately pulled the trigger and dropped dead.

"MMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!"

End of Chapter Ten

A/N: WOAH! Don't kill me for killing off Keith! It's in the storyline, anyway. Before going, I would like to inform y'all that the next chapter will be (sadly) the final one. Please review if you can.

Ja Ne!

Kate-chan 91