Garden Plaza, Heatherfield
3 PM
Now we visit the Garden Plaza, otherwise known as the apartment complex where upper-class families such as the Hales live. Up to know, Cornelia has been a small part of our story; having only been present at Taranee's bedside and appearing around the lunch table with her friends. But, as we will see, she will soon find herself becoming a commonplace in our story. But, for now, she finds herself answering the door to Hay Lin, who as just arrived from the hospital.
Cornelia sees the look in her friend's eyes and silently leads the way to her room, where the two Guardians can talk in peace. As soon as the door closes behind her, Hay Lin breaks into tears and throws herself at her friend. Cornelia awkwardly returns her friend's hug; she is no good at this kind of thing and does the best that she can. Hay Lin releases her blonde friend and sits on her bed; Cornelia plants herself next to Hay Lin…
And the story begins…
"So I take it that you went to see Will?"
Hay Lin nodded and rubbed her eyes, which were still bloodshot and puffy. Cornelia sighed and laid back, staring at the ceiling.
"And I bet that went well."
Hay Lin jumped off of Cornelia's bed and began to walk around the room; as she moved, she started to speak, more to herself then to Cornelia.
"What I don't understand is why she said those things to me. I remember plenty of times when Will told me that she loved my personality."
Cornelia shrugged. "So she lied; why are you taking it so hard?"
Instead of answering her, Hay Lin asked a question of her own.
"Does my idealist attitude bug you?"
Cornelia blinked. She hadn't been expecting that. "Did Will tell you that?"
Hay Lin looked at the ground, even though Cornelia was still lying on the bed. "She said I piss a lot of people off."
"Well, you can be a little exacerbating."
Hay Lin spun and gawked at her friend, tears welling up in her eyes. From her position on the bed, Cornelia held up a hand.
"Sometimes, when people are having a bad day, your positive attitude is a little annoying." Hay Lin hung her head. "But that's all; trust me, nobody hates you for it."
Hay Lin felt herself smile for the first time in hours. "Thanks, Cornelia. I needed that."
The blonde pushed herself up and faced her friend. "Do you know what your problem is?"
Hay Lin's smile immediately disappeared. She shook her head.
"You're taking someone who's so messed up she shows up to school drunk and believing everything she says. Will was probably angry at herself and you just got caught in the middle of it."
Hay Lin thought back for a moment. "Actually, she said she was mad at her mom…"
Cornelia grinned. "Ouch. You're lucky all she hurt were your feelings."
"Oh, thanks." Hay Lin said sarcastically. "You're a pal."
Cornelia smiled a perfect smile. "Thanks. I try."
-----
Lair Household
at the same time
Meanwhile, Irma had finally mustered up enough courage to venture outside of her room. She slowly opened her door, glancing in both directions before timidly stepping out into the hall and closing the door behind her. She softly padded to the stairs and began to descend; she hasn't eaten anything today and her stomach was protesting loudly. As she reached the bottom and began to walk towards the kitchen, her brother Chris, who was following her, reached up and grabbed his sister around the waist.
"I got you, Irma." He yells, laughing as his sister screamed. Unfortunately, his innocent prank sent Irma's mind into overdrive; she threw his hands off and spun to face him, hands raised to defend herself. At the same time, the drain in the kitchen suddenly began to backfire, squirting a jet of water in the air, causing Anna to shout in surprise. Irma relaxed slightly when she realized that it was only her little brother. But this fact did not stop her reaching out and grabbing her brother by the arm, pulling him in close.
"You are a brat, Christopher Lair. Why can't you just leave me alone?"
Chris gave no reply except a little moan of discomfort; Irma was unconsciously tightening her grip.
"Irma, let me go!" he shouted; Irma shook her head as she continued to squeeze. Chris reached down and tried to pry her fingers off of his arm, to no avail.
"You're hurting me!"
Suddenly, Irma seemed to snap out of it; she looked down at her little brother, who was staring right back at her with fear, or something very close to fear, in his eyes. Irma gasped as his words stirred up a memory that she had been trying hard to forget:
"Let of me!" Irma shouted as the man's hands viciously pressed into the flesh of her upper arms. The man nodded as though considering it, and actually did release one hand (Irma felt a surge of hope) only to force it under the waistband of Irma's jeans. Irma let out another scream as she felt the man's fingers on her underwear…
The present Irma shook her head and returned to facing her brother, who was still staring at her and holding his arm where she had grabbed him, which was an angry shade of pink. Irma felt a rush of guilt and took a step forward.
"Chris, I'm so sorry – " she started.
Chris, however, took one step back before turning and running up the stairs; Irma listened to his footsteps growing fainter before she heard his door open and slam. The brunette smacked herself in the head.
What is happening to me?
-----
Heatherfield General
3:30 PM
"Hey, Will."
Will glanced up to see her mother in the doorway; he redhead had just finished changing out of her hospital gown and into a fresh set of clothes that her mother had brought she that she wouldn't have to wear her dirty clothes home. Will managed a weak smile.
"Hey, mom."
Susan sighed; it was kind of impersonal, but it was better than having her daughter scream at her. She smiled and attempted to make conversation.
"Do are you ready to come home? I know the food they serve here is almost as bad as at your school."
Will forced a smile as her mom chuckled to herself, but the smile faded just as quickly as it appeared. Susan noticed this, however, and decided to offer a compromise. She walked over to her daughter and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Listen, Will; why don't we go out for an early dinner, and then we'll go home and I'll listen to anything you want to tell me. And if feel you like you have nothing to say, then I won't pressure you. Sound good?"
'No it doesn't sound good! Why can't you just let me be?'
"Sure mom, that sounds nice."
Susan just nodded and held the door open for her daughter. Will walked out and over to the elevator and pushed the down arrow. The doors opened and Will and her mother got it. The pair descended in silence, the only sound coming from the elevator itself as it hummed passed floors. It finally stopped and the pair exited and then walked out a door to the underground parking garage. While they were walking, Susan noticed that her daughter was carrying a wrapped present.
"Who's that for?" she asked, a small part of her brain imagining that it was for her.
"Well, it WAS from Hay Lin, but I kind of hurt her feelings, so I decided that I would patch things up before I open it."
They reached Susan's car and piled in. Susan started the engine and turned to Will.
"Alright, Will; where to?"
Will pointed her finger straight ahead of her, as if she was guiding a ship to land. "The Silver Dragon!"
-----
Heatherfield Memorial
4 PM
Tom Lair stepped out of his police cruiser; he had no idea what awaited him except that the radio had reported a body at Heatherfield Memorial Park. The big sergeant made his way over to the police line, where he recognized and nodded to one of the officers, a wiry little man named Peters. He ducked under the yellow tape and followed the voices to a small copse of trees. He came across a group of detectives standing around something covered in a tarp. As Tom approached, his Lieutenant walked over to him.
"Glad you could make it, Tom." He said as they shook hands.
"What have you got for me, Rogers?" Tom asked as he grabbed a pair of latex gloves out of a box that was offered to him. He snapped them on and knelt next to the body alongside Lt. Rogers. Rogers lifted a corner of the tarp for Tom to see.
"Looks like a pretty standard homicide. I wouldn't even have called you out here if it hadn't been for this." With a glance at Tom, he drew back the entire tarp. Tom gasped; he bent down and ran his gloved fingers over the words carved into the man's chest. He inserted a finger into one of the wounds and felt around; pulling his finger out, he shot Rogers a look.
"What do you make of this, L Tee?"
Rogers, his hands on his hips, nodded towards the body, "Tom, read what it says."
Tom shifted himself so that he was standing at the corpse's feet. He began to read aloud, his eyes growing larger as he spoke…
"I…am…not…your…Guardian…IRMA LAIR?"
Turning to Rogers with a look of confusion and alarm on his face, he asked what it meant.
Lt. Rogers shook his head.
"I was hoping you could tell me, Tom."
Suddenly, something clicked in Sergeant Lair's head. He turned back towards the body gave it another quick once over before he asked Lt. Rogers the question that was burning through his mind.
"Jake, was the victim wearing a green jacket?"
Rogers nodded, even though Tom was still facing the body.
"There was a jacket covering the torso. Funny thing, we thought it was brown at first; there was so much blood on it."
Tom only needed the final piece to fall into place. "And was he wearing a mask?"
"Yep, although the head was kinda hard to find."
Tom gasped as he put it all together in his mind.
"Jake, I think I know this man."
-----
Cook household
4 PM
A'k'sl walked up the short path to the front door of the fire girl's house. He had watched her parents leave thirty minutes ago, and knew that the girl was alone with her brother. Because confronting Tom Lair had worked so well, he was planning on doing the same to the fire girl's brother. He had his suspicions that the brother was probably curious about his sister's injuries and that the girl had no doubt come up with any one of a number of lies. And he figured that she would be less likely to lie to her brother then to be parents.
And so, he reached the door and rang the bell; listening as footsteps approached the other side of the door. As Peter opened it, A'k'sl put on a winning grin; humans tended to like you better initially if you had a smile on your face. Peter, however, didn't seem to share this view with the majority of his race; being the son of a judge and a lawyer, Peter had inherited an inborn distrust of strangers, a trait his sister does not share.
And so, when Peter asked "Can I help you?" it came out much gruffer then A'k'sl expected. The Cranal widened his eyes a bit and nodded slightly.
'Not as friendly as you look, huh? Alright, I can respect that.'
Aloud he said "I heard that somebody trashed your sister, Cook."
Peter narrowed his eyes while his brain registered what he had just heard; when it dis register, his reaction was just as predicted. He threw his hands forward and grabbed A'k'sl by the collar and pulled him in close, just as Tom did.
"What. Did. You. Do. To. My. Sister?"
'Must we talk like that? Alright, but you owe me for this.'
"I. Was. The. One. Who. Hurt. Your. Sister."
Peter's eyes widened. He shook A'k'sl, hoping to jolt that smug smirk right off his face. He only grew angrier as A'k'sl began to laugh. Snarling, Peter pushed A'k'sl out of the doorway and then spun him around and slammed him against the wall. From inside the house, A'k'sl could hear Taranee's voice.
"Peter? What's going on out there?"
A'k'sl seized the moment and sounds a growl of his own as he reached his hands up and grabbed Peter's own collar and pulled him in even closer.
"Do you know what it felt like to crack your sister's skull?" He snarls in Peter's ear.
At these words, Peter forgot himself. He pushed himself away from the Cranal and raised his fist, meaning to smash it into A'k'sl's face. He drew it back and swung forward…and shouted as his fist impacted on the hard unyielding wood of the side of the house. His eyes grew wide as he stared at the empty space in front of him, the strange man having completely vanished.
-----
Garden Plaza
6 PM
We switch our gaze to the Hale home, to find Hay Lin and Cornelia watching TV. Mr. and Mrs. Hale have taken little Lillian to the park, and are not due home for another hour or so. Of course, this leaves the two Guardians with the whole apartment at their disposal, but they seem to find it difficult to get off the couch. Besides, it's not like there is anything good on that is keeping the girls interested; they just don't feel like moving.
Cornelia lazily flips through channels trying to find something to watch while Hay Lin dozes on the other side of the couch. Just as Cornelia is about to give up when she sees something that catches her eye…
Reaching her hand out, Cornelia shakes her Asian friend awake…
"Hay Lin!"
"What?" her Asian friend asks as she wakes up, "Cornelia, I was having a good dream."
Cornelia points to the TV. "Isn't that Irma's dad?"
Sure enough, Sergeant Lair was on the TV, giving a statement to a reporter. In the background, the girls saw a police line which more officers were ducking under as they moved back and forth. Between the officers, they could see a few trees and then the camera panned, giving them a good look at Heatherfield Memorial Park, before returning to Tom Lair. Cornelia pressed the mute button and Tom's voice filled the room.
" – already spent several years in prison for two individual counts of rape."
"And about what time was this man killed, would you say, Sergeant?" asked the reporter.
"Although we don't have the exact time of death, we can say that it was sometime last night."
The reporter took several seconds to ask his next question, as he was listening to his boss via earpiece.
"I see. Sergeant, it has come to my attention that there are some…unusual circumstances connected with this body. Would you care to elaborate?"
The reporter shoved his microphone in Tom's face, almost hitting him in the nose.
"Well, the body was found decapitated, with the head lying several feet away from the torso. The left arm was also detached."
The reported nodded. "And what would you say caused it?"
"We don't know that at this time, but inspection of the neck and shoulder leads us to believe that they were torn, not cut. There are also large bite marks on the waist and lower legs."
"Sergeant Lair, are you suggesting that an animal did this?"
Before they could hear Mr. Lair's response, Hay Lin pressed the mute button, causing Cornelia, who had been leaning forward in anticipation, to pitch right off the couch. The blonde rose to her feet and spun to face her friend.
"Hay Lin! I wanted to hear the rest of that."
Her expression changed when she say the look in her friend's eyes. She sat down next to Hay Lin and began to rub her back as Hay Lin spoke.
"I'm sorry, Cornelia, but what if this guy is the same one who – "
" – attacked Irma? Then it looks like someone gave him what he deserved."
Hay Lin gasped at her friend's savage answer; she rounded on her fellow Guardian.
"How can you say that? He had a life too; he must have a family who miss him."
"Ok, back up, Hay Lin. We're talking about some guy who tried to rape one of our best friends. If I were you, I'd save my sympathy."
Hay Lin looked at the floor.
"I know.' She said in a small voice "But he was still a person."
"Yeah, a bad person; look at it this way: he was killed sometime last night in Memorial Park, right? So that means that the killer could have been after Irma."
Hay Lin gasped and covered her mouth. "You think somebody wants to kill Irma?"
Cornelia leaned back into the couch.
"I don't know, Hay Lin. I just don't know."
-----
A'k'sl sat at a table inside a little coffee shop on the east side of Heatherfield. He had unfolded the map that Nerissa had given him, which turned out to be a modern street map that a tourist would have, and was busy marking the houses of the Water and Fire Guardians respectively and the restaurant where the Air Guardian worked and lived. He had also traced out the path that the Water Guardian had taken last night, taking care to mark the spot where she was attacked and subsequently saved.
He mentally checked his list; he still had to pay a visit to the Earth Guardian and the leader, as well as finding out where they went to school. He knew in the back of his mind that he should have taken his mission a little more seriously, but Nerissa be damned, he was having fun.
He refolded the map, stuffed in back into his front pocket, and took a sip of the latte in front of him. There were many things that A'k'sl hated about this miserable world, but coffee was not one of them.
A/N ok, so here is chapter 5. I probably would have updated yesterday, but I had a geology field trip and did not get back to campus until 7 PM. Plus, I pretty much decided to re-write about 1500 words of this thing because I just didn't like it. So I hope this keeps you guys entertained.
Review responses:
NIkly – Yes, I am indeed motivated. Thank you. I do expect, however, that I won't be able to update quite as often when the quarter really picks up, but I will try to keep it as fast as possible. I still have a wealth of story ideas, so keep up the reviewing. Your response was a perfect length. Try your best to keep them that way and you'll make me a very happy camper.
MaJorReader619 – glad to hear that I make your day…you make mine as well. Keep reading and enjoying.
lost prince – glad to know that my story leaves you wanting more. I like to pride myself on being about to tell my stories in such a way that my readers begin to empathize with my characters. I like it even better when my reviews agree with me. Keep the LONG reviews coming, yours was a great length.
Guardian's Light – but you do so well with the long reviews. I love hearing about other people's stories and/or characters, but try to limit it so that only takes up at most half the review. I'm glad you like my OC. I know that all he really seems like right now is a bad person, but I hope to give him some depth later.
dawntodark – thank you.
babywhale512 – once again you make my day. It always brings me pleasure when I read your nice long reviews; I'm proud of the way the Irma scene came out…being a man, I don't live with the fear of ever being raped even though it is a possibility, so I'm glad you think her reaction is real. Glad to know I give you "all a lot to think about". I'll try to keep the standard up.
XV-Dragon – keep your reviews that length, sir, and you will earned yourself my eternal gratitude, and maybe some awesome Sour Skittles, which I am gorging on right now. Gotta bulk up for my long hibernation period this winter. Just joking….or am i? keep the long reviews coming, my friend.
Remember everyone, feel free to tell me if you feel that something (or someTHINGS) is/aren't working out or seem to not follow the story. I learn from my mistakes.
