Disclaimer: Silly you if you've read this much without reading the disclaimer.
Jessica was seated at one of the high school lunch tables, when she heard the loud speaker announcement. "Jessica Rippner to the counselor's office, please… Jessica Rippner to the counselor's office." She grabbed her backpack and began walking to the office area.
Two police officers and Jackson were waiting for her, when she arrived. The relief on Jackson's face when he saw Jessica was intense. She knew something was wrong. Ignoring the police officers, she rushed over to her brother. "What's going on, Jackson?"
He shook his head. "I don't know, Jessie. They wouldn't tell me until you arrived."
Jessica turned to the police officers. "What's the matter?"
The older officer smiled gently. "Miss Rippner, we need you and your brother to come with us for the afternoon."
"Why? What's going on?" Jackson asked, wrapping his arm around Jessie.
"I'm afraid we can't discuss that here. Would you please follow us out to the squad car?"
Jessica looked up at her brother. He nodded. "Sure we'll go with you." They followed the policemen to their car and got in. "Everything will be fine, Jessie." He whispered. But he was trembling. Jessica had never seen her brother so shaken up. They rode in the back of the police car in silence, until it pulled up in front of the city morgue. "What are we doing at the morgue?" Jackson asked as they got out of the car. The worry in his voice was even more evident. The older officer smiled but kept walking.
The younger officer opened the door. "If you two will follow us inside, we'll explain everything then." They followed the officers inside and into a small windowless room. There was a small metal table with four chairs in the center of the room. "Please, sit down." The older officer said gently. Jackson and Jessica sat down as close to each other as they could get. "Now, as you both realize, we're at the morgue. We're here because I'm afraid there has been a dreadful shooting." Jackson stiffened, and Jessica let out a small gasp as he tightened his grip on her hand.
A doctor came in holding a plastic bag with a wallet inside. She set the wallet on the table. There were monogrammed initials on the bottom, right hand corner. "JR, that's dad's wallet." Jessica whispered to Jackson. Jackson nodded. "What is that doing here?" He asked.
"Do you recognize this wallet, son?"
Jackson and Jessie both nodded. "It belongs to our dad. Why do you have it?" Jackson replied.
"Kids, I'm going to ask you to come with me once more."
They stood and followed the officer out of the room and into a very cold chamber. Two examination tables were in the center. On top of the tables were two bodies, both covered by a white sheet. Jessica gripped Jackson's arm to keep from shaking. The doctor reappeared and pulled the sheets away. Jackson jumped and Jessica let out a soft shriek. Lying on the tables were the now lifeless bodies of their parents. Each one was mutilated by four bullet holes in the chest and one bullet in the exact center of their foreheads.
"Do you two recognize these bodies?" The officer asked. For a moment neither sibling could speak. The officer repeated the question. Finally, Jackson nodded. "They're our… our parents." He said hoarsely, vainly trying to hold back the flood of tears that were threatening to burst forth. Jessica was trembling violently, she had given up the battle and a river of tears was flowing down her face.
"What happened?" Jackson demanded. "Why are our parents dead?"
"Like I said earlier, son, there was a shooting. Apparently, two men broke into your house, while your parents were there. We aren't sure what they were after, but your folks must have gotten in the way. We have officers out looking for the bastards right now. We won't stop looking until we find them."
As the officer led them from the room, Jessica was trembling even worse. Jackson put his arm around her to keep her from falling. But it was no use her legs gave out from the shock and emotion. As she fell to the floor, Jessica blacked out.