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THB4: It bit you? Oh no! I'll have to discipline it. And thank you for pointing that out. Thanks for your review!
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The morning light lit the outdoors. Raven stood out in the penitentiary parking lot, lit cigarette in hand. She watched a woman in red with a smirk plastered on her face saunter toward her, shiny black high heels clicking on the pavement.
"Cinder," She greeted "Bitchy as always." She took a drag of her cigarette and blew smoke in Cinder's face. She coughed and turned away, fanning the toxic fumes away from herself.
"Raven," Cinder purred. "Sloppy as always." She placed a hand on her hips. "You look well."
"I wish I could say the same for you, Cinder. But you look like a whirlwind of bad decisions and eighties hairstyles. What can I do for you?"
"Actually, it's what I can do for you." Cinder winked.
"Why are you here?" All traces of emotion had drained from Raven's features and she was now looking down at Cinder with a cold glare.
"The Tribe sends its greetings." Cinder replied. "And a message." She folded her arms and batted her eyelashes. In a most innocent and mocking tone, she asked. "I don't suppose you would want to know what it is?"
Raven grabbed the collar of Cinder's dress, pulling her forward. Cinder could feel her heavy, agitated breathing as she hissed: "Listen up, Fall. You tell me what the Tribe wants to tell me, or the next time I'm charged with murder, it will be a murder I actually committed. What's the goddamn message?" She hissed.
Cinder squeaked, knowing that Raven wasn't messing around. Raven grinned and pinched Cinder's cheek with her free hand. "What's this?" She asked playfully. "Is Little Mrs- Sorry, Little Miss Fall scared? Come on, Cin-Cin. Out with it."
Raven let go of Cinder. Cinder smoothed out her dress and molded her features back into a smirk. "They say if you want to come back, you'll be welcomed back with open arms."
Raven rolled her eyes. "Tell them that I say I'll consider it, when Hell freezes over, that is." She bent down and stubbed out her cigarette. "I wish I could say I enjoyed this meeting, but then I would be lying."
"The same to you. But I'd rethink my decision if I were you. One does not anger the Queen."
"Goodbye, Cinder." Raven turned around and stalked away, flipping the bird as she went.
~Skeletons in the Closet~
Ruby sat alone on the bench, tossing corn kernels to the sparrows in the dirt. She looked behind her at the memorial stone. Softly, in a low whisper only the birds could have heard, she said: "Hi, Mom."
She left the birds with the bag of kernels as she crept toward the memorial stone. "You know, it's funny. We can't bury you yet, and we already sent out funeral invites. Oh, you know Aunt Rae? Yeah, she turned out to be Yang's mom. You knew, didn't you? Why didn't you tell us?" A solitary tear rolled down her face, splashing onto the grass beneath. "Why didn't you tell us about the Tribe? It could have happened to us, you know?" She reached into her satchel and pulled out a lump of white fabric. Ruby shook it out, and a white hoodie with a burning red rose emblem emblazoned on the front, with the words "Wild Rose" prominently displayed on the front rested in her hands.
She draped it over the memorial stone. "Here you go. I'm getting too big for it, and it always was your favorite." She sniffed, wiping tears from her eyes. "I love you, Mom." She hugged the marble stone. "I miss you so much."
~Skeletons in the Closet~
Blake opened the cupboard and reached into it, pulling out a bright blue bag of shrimp crisps and a six-pack of orange cream soda. She grabbed her burner phone, punching in a number and popped a few crisps in her mouth.
"This is a long-distance call to Menagerie. Extra fees will be charged to your account. To continue and complete your call, press one. To hang up, press four." She pressed the one key.
"Sun? It's me."
"Oh! Hi, Blake!" Sun greeted enthusiastically. The sound of sipping a drink (Probably a cold beer, if she knew him well enough) could be heard over the phone. "What do you need?"
"I was wondering when you were gonna send me that info. Which you said you would send last week. I don't need anything on Branwen, she's been let off." Blake sat down on the red leather loveseat, reaching into her bag of crisps and chomping down on another one. "So what do you have for me on Nikos?"
Sun sucked in a breath. He sighed. Blake imagined him pinching the bridge of his nose. "Blake, I need you to understand that the people I've gone to have only given me one thing on Nikos. They want nothing to do with her?"
"Why? I get she might have killed someone. Your people have helped us before. Why not again?"
Sun sighed again. "Blake, do I have to spell it out for you? The Tribe is poison. To my guys, even talking about them is a tremendous risk. I know this one guy, Sage. He sold info about them and his dad was found dead. Shot."
"Oh my God." Blake gasped. "We knew they were dangerous, but…" Her voice trailed off.
"Yup. I tell you, I had an encounter with a Tribe member yesterday! They're awful!" Sun exclaimed "They heard me talking about a guy named Tyrian Callows. This big burly dude told me, and I quote 'Shut up about us and you'll be a grease stain on the ground.' and he shoved me into dumpster. You better be careful if you're working on a case with them involved. There are rumors about what they do, and well, let's just say it doesn't end well for the victims."
"Sun, do you have anything on Nikos? I need it." Blake said, voice hard and demanding.
"I can't tell you over the phone. Meet me at the docks on Friday at four in the morning. I can get a boat out to Vale." Sun answered.
"Alright, but I'm counting on you, got it?"
"Got it." The line went dead.
Thank you very much for reading, it means one hell of a lot. Also, this story cracked, drumroll please 5,000 VIEWS! Thank you thank you thank you thank you! Please leave a review on your way out, and thank you once again for following the development of Skeletons in the Closet.
Tasie out. *mic drop with Coco Adel's sunglasses*