~**~ Dove peaks from behind the computer. I know I said it would be a week, and 'whew' what a long week it's been! I AM SO SORRY. At first, I was enjoying a short break, then fanfiction.net went down…several times. Then I saw that I actually received a few more reviews on all my stories. I was hoping to get a few more, begging and pleading for me to update. While on my hiatus, I got the plot for my Dragon Ball Z and my Gundam Wing crossovers. SOOOO, this means that if I get enough reviews, I will start writing them. Oh and on this and my others I have the endings written, I just haven't typed them yet (hee hee).
Thanks to my girl Jennifer, she has been there for me through a bit of crisis and doubt, and she is a real fan of this story. Nick, I can't answer your questions, you will get the answers in the stories. Well enough with the excuses… ON WITH THE SHOW!!
Crystaldove productions is proud to present:
Homicide: The Death of Serena
Chapter 5
"DAMN! Can't anyone watch where they are going!?"
"Oh my, I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching were I was going."
"Another kid, shouldn't you be in school or something?"
"Uh, I'm sorry…"
"Hey leave her alone!" Lita turned the corner and saw a woman of about 24 with wavy auburn hair and sparkling violet eyes.
"And what are you going to do little girl?"
Lita looked up and for once saw someone taller looking down at her. This woman was about 5'9 wearing a very revealing black mini skirt with a split on the left side, which left very little to the imagination. She had on a red cropped v-neck shirt with spiked red heels. Her crimson lips parted slightly to show sparkling white teeth. She was gorgeous.
"We didn't come here to cause trouble, ma'am…"
"Funny, that's what that blond kid said."
"Blond kid?" Darien asked.
"Yeah blond with two pom-poms on her head."
"Is this the girl you saw?" Darien asked shoving the picture of Serena into the woman's grasp.
"Yeah, that's her. She came running through here a few weeks ago. She literally ran over me, scared away my customer too."
"Customer?" Asked the book smart, yet street dumb Amy.
"Yeah, my customer, or client. I'm a working girl."
"Working girl…you mean a prostitute!" Lita stammered.
"Yeah girlie, why else would I be here? Anyway she knocked me over; made me ruin my shoes and cost me $100. But I'll forget about it handsome. You look like you need a friend." She seductively said to Darien.
"Uh 'gulp' me?" He said with a cracking voice.
"Yeah sugar. Have you ever been with a woman…a real woman?" She swayed her hips and stood in front of Darien. Behind her Amy stood in shock while Lita took notes on her technique. Darien on the other hand blushed about 10 shades of red while his eyes bulged.
"N…no, I haven't" He whispered. The usually cool and stoic college freshman didn't want the girls to hear him. He knew others assumed that he was a 'Ladies Man', in reality he'd never been with a girl or even kissed one.
"A sexy man like you…I don't believe you. You look like you're in college." She said while running her fingers along his face.
"Uh huh…I'm in college." Darien gasped out.
"Well do you need for me to show you how to satisfy a woman?"
"Thank you, but I waiting for that special girl."
"Really, that's almost sweet, but there's no such thing as special." She dejectedly said. "So what are you girls doing? Thinking about starting a career with ocean-eyes here being your john?"
"What…no, I mean it's a nice job and all…" this came from the ever apologetic Amy. "I'm flattered…"
"Get to the point honey, I'm losing customers talking to you!"
"Well I'm Lita and this is Amy and that's Darien. We were told that our friend was seen last down here. You remember the girl in the picture with the twin blond ponytails?"
"She's your friend? That's hard to believe."
"Huh? Why is that, uh…?"
"Cherri, my name is Cherri."
"Well why is that Cherri?"
"Let me tell you what happened."
-flash-
September 17
10:15 p.m.- Near Pier 19
"Why must he torment me so? All I have been was nice to him, no one understands me; I'm completely alone."
" I heard someone say while stumbling. Then this whirlwind of hair ran into me."
"What the…? Hey you klutz, watch where you're going? Oh, my shoe…you IDIOT!"
"I'm sorry…so sorry."
"She starts bauling and stuff."
"Whoa, there's no need to cry like that, it's just a shoe. No wait, your eyes are red as strawberries…you've been crying already. What's a pretty thing like you crying for and what are you doing down here?"
"I'm not pretty; I'm ugly, lazy, immature, and dumb." She said sliding to the ground.
"Hey, take it easy on yourself; look things can't be that bad. It's slow around here now, lets go call your parents…"
"NO!!! I'm not supposed to leave my room, I'm already grounded; my mom will kill me!"
"Calm down, shh…ok bad idea. Well lets call one of your friends…"
"I don't have any."
"I don't believe you, you look like a very nice girl."
"If I'm so nice, why do those I try to open up to hurt me. I'm the laughing stock of my class, the ridicule of my so called friends…my father avoids me, since he's never home, my mother hates me and my little brother wishes I wasn't his sister. I'm sorry if I'm not that coordinated, I thought I would have grown out of that. Those who were close to me pitted me; I'm so weak, I can't look after myself. Even my cat is ashamed of me…and if that wasn't enough I have a college-aged tormentor that makes it his life task to continually point out all my faults. Yes I'm nice…nicely pathetic. I'm really sorry about knocking you over and messing up your shoes…I gotta go."
-end flash-
"With that she jumped up and left."
"Why didn't you stop her, didn't you see how distraught she was!" Darien yelled grabbing Cherri by the shoulders.
"Hey, I aint no social worker! Wait…" She drawled. "You're the college-aged tormentor, aren't you!"
Darien paled at that comment.
"Yeah, I guess that would be me." He was shocked by a slap to the face.
"It's your fault I lost my customer! If you weren't so mean to that poor girl, she wouldn't been down here!"
"Hey, it's not all his fault!" Lita interjected.
"And which 'friend' are you? It looks like you are the on that pities her, am I right?"
"No, I don't pity her."
"Are you sure, you appear to be strong and if I recall, she was very tiny; frail almost. And the blueberry over there…hmm that's a toss up there; she seems to be a braggart. Smart and rich, works hard because she wants to." At this Amy began to cry.
'Is this how Serena views me?' Amy thought to herself. 'I should have tried to understand her better. With all my knowledge, I really don't know how to be a friend. Serena was my first friend, even if I wasn't Mercury, she still approached me.'
Darien gave Amy an understanding look, he knew what she was thinking, almost. Lita on the other hand stood in complete dismay.
'I failed Serena in more ways than I realized.'
"Cheri, have you seen her since?"
"No doll, why?"
"She's been missing since then and you may have been the last person to see her." Amy inquired after composing herself somewhat.
"Oh, that's too bad. With her childlike appearance she could have been a 'very' rich working girl." Darien, angered at this comment, grabbed Cheri by her shirt and raised his fist to her face.
"Don't ever put Serena in the same class as you! She's not some cheap whore that get paid for love!" He shook, his hand coming ever closer to the woman's face.
"Touché', hey don't try to defend her now. Maybe if you thought about her feelings then, she wouldn't have run away. What a hypocrite!"
Darien relaxed his fist and put his head down.
"Did you see what direction she went in?"
"Yeah, towards the water." Cheri said over her shoulder while approaching a darkened car. "Hey sugar wanna have some fun?"
"Come on, Darien it's ok we don't blame you."
"So why doesn't that console me?" The girls watched as a few tears slid down his face. They passed a few dockworkers; some did recognize her and led her in the direction of an abandoned warehouse.
"She went there?" Lita asked. "I hope she's ok."
"Why would she come here?" Inquired Amy.
"Just be careful and stick close to me." Darien said. Each one of them all have the same thought, that if need be, they would revert to their alter egos, if necessary.
Darien opened the door and peeked in.
"Hello Serena? Is anybody in here?"
They waited for an answer but received no results.
"Let me try. Serena are you here…it's Amy. I'm here with Lita and Darien is here too. We are so sorry we were the kind of friends that you needed. Please…answer me."
They were greeted by silence. Disappointed they turned to leave and were startled by the appearance of an old man.
"What are you doing here?"
"Ahhh!" They all shouted while taking on their respective fighting stances.
"Oh you startled us sir." Amy breathed while calming down.
"Well if you weren't snooping around my home you'd have no reason to be scared! Who are you and what are you youngin's doing here?"
Lita took a deep breath from the other direction and proceeded to explain.
"My name is Lita and my friends Amy and Darien are looking for our friend Serena mister…?"
"Smith, my name is Smith; no misters no sirs."
Lita took the picture from Darien and showed it to Smith. In recognition his eyes bulged and he began to shake.
"NO, NO get away from me!" He screamed while stepping back.
"Wait please, we're her friends; we want to know if she is ok?"
"Yeah right! That's what she called that…that person!"
"You saw her, tell us what happened!"
"Oh no…that person isn't coming to hurt me. You can't protect me so why should I help you?"
"Mr. Smith please! We won't hurt you; we would never hurt Serena." Amy pleaded with tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Ok but you didn't hear this from me; I'll deny it anyway!"
"That's fine Mr. Smith, we won't tell anyone." Darien assured him.
"Well it's was about four weeks ago. I was coming back from my dealings with the night dock workers when I heard this young girl's voice. She was talking to herself; her voice full of loathing and self-pity. Listening to her made my life sound like a rose garden."
-flashback-
"I can't do anything right. Can't walk five steps without stumbling or ten without knocking someone over. Everyone is right, I ma a true disappointment; just a waste of space. Why was I ever born…I'm just a failure."
"Then there was this blinding light. I ducked behind the wall and couldn't tell what the light was. I tried to see what was happening from behind the wall, but I didn't want to risk getting seen."
"Hey, who's out there? Cut off the light, I can't see! Hello? Please tell me who you are?"
"I heard her voice getting further away so I guess she was walking towards the light. I crouched on the ground and looked out. I saw her creep closer but then she fell."
"It's you…why are you here? Are you here to chew me out again? Didn't you do enough of that already today? Please turn off that light, I can't see where I'm going. What's that…what are you doing? No…please don't hurt me. I'm sorry that I'm such a failure. I'm sorry that I'm a disappointment to you. I tried…NOOOOOO PLEASE…"
-end flashback-
"The next sound I heard was the horns of the 10:40 shipment coming in."
"She knew the person? You mean she's…she's …no, I don't believe you! She can't be, NO SERENA!" Lita screamed and lunged for the cowering Smith but stopped knowing it wasn't his fault. Amy started trembling and broke down into tears. All the while Darien stood motionless and when he was able to move, he stumbled and fell. Tears streamed down his face and he had difficulty breathing.
"The other person…did you hear their voice?"
"Kinda, couldn't tell if it was male or female though…sounded muffled."
A sudden noise behind the dumpsters made Smith jump. His face became filled with panic and he began gathering his stuff.
"Well I answered your questions, get going. And you didn't hear anything from me."
"Wait please, we got to tell the police!"
"I ain't telling them nothing. You ain't heard nothing from me."
He picked up his stuff and ran away. Darien ran after him and could never catch him. A man that age shouldn't be able to run faster than Darien, but he lost him anyway.
"Damn! Where are you? Please help us!"
Darien continued to plead to the air but didn't get a response. He fell to the ground and this is where Amy and Lita found him a few minutes later.
"Darien get up." He didn't respond. "Come on Darien, I can't carry you home." She said kneeling down by him. "He didn't see what happen, yes he could have helped her but he was a coward. He thinks of no one but himself. Please you can't give up; we have to have faith. She is too special to be taken from this world."
"I guess your right Lita. Let's go to the precinct."
"But we promised Smith that we wouldn't tell anyone!"
"No Amy, you and Lita promised; I didn't."
Darien stated as he got off the ground. The girls nodded and they left. Elsewhere Det. Monroe approached the Hikawa Shrine. From speaking with others, he had composed a list of possible suspects. Looking at his notebook, he reviewed his notes.
Patricia Hurana- Teacher
Has been witnessed verbally and emotionally abusing Serena. Doesn't seem upset that she is missing Cares for her own welfare rather than the welfare of her studentsRaye Hino- Student/Priestess
Hasn't displayed emotion since Serena's disappearance Several have witnessed her saying that 'her life would be better without Serena in it' Has verbally insulted anyone whom has defended Serena."Well Miss Hino, let 'me' see how you really feel"
End chapter
I hope this was long enough for you. See you later and thanks for READING AND REVIEWING!!
Dove