Part 21 by Mystery Guest Blogger
Anna and the Deputy stepped into the 7-11 and marveled at the convenience of food, drink and lottery tickets.

"Have you ever won?" asked Anna.

"It's said that you can't win if you don't play" remarked the deputy.

The two laughed and returned to their journey. Driving along the highway, a thought suddenly occurred to Anna and she discretely looked at the Deputy's left hand which was resting on the steering wheel. She discovered no band on his wedding finger and found herself surprisingly pleased.

In order to look casual, she glanced out the passenger window and but it was not long before she had to turn and look back at the deputy. She noticed that the Deputy had taken off his hat and he had a softer look about him. He was no longer just an officer, he had become her friend.

"Will we be long at the hospital?" she asked.

"No. These things are usually quick. If you are still hungry, there is a cafeteria and we could get something to eat there once I'm finished."

The police car pulled up to the emergency room entrance. Deputy Kaelin shifted it into park and told Anna "Sit tight. I'll get your door."

He stepped out of the car and as he rounded the trunk he heard it. POP POP! Then he felt it. Twice. He heard the running of footsteps as he hit the trunk before he hit the ground.

"Oh my god!" screamed Anna. She ducked down in the car, grabbed the police radio and screamed into it "Officer down! Officer down! Deputy Kaelin has been shot outside of the hospital!".

She jumped out of the car and ran to the deputy's side.

"Anna get back in the car! The area is not secure." he said as he tried to reach for his gun.

"Oh my god, you are bleeding" she gasped.

By that time the emergency personnel, who had heard the shots, were surrounding the couple.

"Let's get him on a gurney"

"Let's get her out of here."

Anna and the Deputy were rushed into the emergency room. As he was rolling along on the gurney he called out to her "Anna...don't leave without me..there's something I need to tell you!"

Anna was taken to a private room by a nurse who treated her head wound. After she was cleaned up and bandaged, the nurse told Anna to wait and that they would give her news on the Deputy's condition as soon as they could.

Anna sat on the edge of the hospital bed and looked down at her shoes. She saw a drop of water land on the toe of her black boots and realized that she was crying.

"What I am a crying for?" she thought.

For an evening that started so simply?

For a pin that cannot disclose it's past?

For a family she never knew?

For a lunatic and his twin?

For a missing little girl with a longing to connect her past?

For the gruesome crime scene photos?

For the body in the bag now at the morgue?

For the fear that was gripping her chest?

For the hunger that was gripping her stomach?

For the pain that was gripping her heart?

For a man she'd only spent an evening with?

For whatever it was he needed to tell her?

Anna was in shock and full of emotion. Her hands trembled as she raised them to cover her face. She tried to control her sobs but they leaked out, much like the tears from her eyes.

Suddenly a hand was in front of her, holding out a perfectly folded handkerchief.

"I guess this has been quite an evening for you. Is there anything I can get you?" a voice asked.

"I just need some answers" replied Anna while dabbing her eyes.

"Well you are in the right place at the right time Ms. Montoya."

Anna looked up to see who the voice was coming from.

She gasped and then dropped the handkerchief...

(to be continued)

Pardon the Interruption Part 20 by Lisa Marie
An executive producer, a lovely young woman, who had gotten lucky on a screen play out of college that won her an Oscar and much respect in the industry looked out the window of her Los Angeles office. Noting that the sky was it's usually smoggy gray.

"Rancette, I am a bit disappointed that the casting has not worked out on this film. And I have decided that maybe we were too hasty in letting you go several weeks ago." I said in a stern voice. Not happy about how the situation had progressed. Looking down at the list and shaking my head.


CAST LIST

DEPUTY KATO KAELIN ... Kato Kaelin [crossed out] Brad Pitt [crossed out] Rance [crossed out] Kevin Bacon

ANNA MONTOYA ... Anna Paquin [crossed out] Jennifer Lopez

SAM ... Matthew Settle

STAN ... Marton Csokas

ROSE HAYGOOD ... Connie Nielsen

CLYDE CANTER ... Paul Bettany

MR. BUD ... John C. Reilly

LILY ... Perla Haney-Jardine

SARA ...Drew Barrymore

JOGGER ... Kevin Spacey

BILL ... David Carradine


"We have gone through 3 different leading men, and now we are up to Kevin Bacon. And are you really sure that Jennifer Lopez is right for the role of Anna?" I turned around and looked at the young, well dressed brunette who sat uncomfortably in the chair facing my desk. I loved that my office was so intimidating to most of Hollywood.

"LM, look you know that when this started we wanted Kato Kaelin for the lead, and you and the producer decided not to go with him. Brad Pitt was clearly out of your price range and Rance backed out when Paquin turned down the role and you cast J-Lo." Rancette said firmly, not as intimidated by the office and the power of the entertainment executive that stood starring out the window. She was excited that she was back on this film. To hell with what her agent told her, she was destined to cast this film.

"Lets not even go down the path of how wrong a choice J-Lo is going to be." I shook my head, J-Lo, please.

Rancette crossed her legs and held back a look of disgust how badly the situation had deteriorated since she left. "Well who would you suggest for a leading lady? We need to get Kevin Bacon locked in for this, I think for it to be successful we need to have a name on this film."

"Hmmm that is a good question. Not that I have a thing against Jennifer, I just think that this role might need a little more, substance. And I am fine with Kevin, you are right about us needing some star branding on this film." I sat down at my desk and rubbed my eyes. I could feel a migraine starting and this was just the beginning of the day.

"Well you know I have two thoughts, maybe we swap Drew Barrymore into the role of Anna and put in maybe a Jennifer Gardner into the role of Sara." Rancette suggested.

LM looked at the casting director and decided that maybe it was a mistake firing her a few weeks back. "That has possibilities. Make some phone calls. Hey do you think if we get rid of J-Lo we could possibly get Rance?"

Rancette shook her head sadly, "No, I think that we might have burned that bridge LM"

"Well that is probably for the best, he would probably want to take over the script anyway. Thanks Rancette." LM said, clearly dismissing the casting director.

Rancette got up from her seat and took her exit from the office. She had quite a few phone calls to make. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to give Rance a call. And oh how much fun is it going to be to pull the rug out from underneath J-Lo.


......



I watched Rancette walk out, glad to have someone finally working on the casting for this film. It had barely started and it was clearly looking to be severely over budget. Rance...pffft, fat chance we will get him back after the Jennifer Lopez blunder.

Time for the next problem, picking up the phone and quickly dialing.

"Hello, yes this is LM. ... No I haven't read the latest draft of the script... Yes I think we will keep the PG-13 rating, but I don't know if we start getting to graphic....No I don't think we will get any full frontal, but if our leading man changes we might have to consider that....Alright, I will ignore the last draft and wait for the next script. Okay, thanks RDD" I hung up the phone and smiled, thank god that RDD was on this film, otherwise it has zero hope of getting completed.


(to be continued)

PTI Part 19 by MsLauren
Anna watched them load the gurney into the back of the
ambulance, her mind racing from everything she'd been
through since the auction.

"What if..." Anna said out loud to herself, looking back
at the file and the pictures again.

She looked at the photos, doing her best to clear her
mind of everything but what she'd been told about
Clyde, Rose and Sara. What if the dead man in the
photos was John and not Clyde? What if Clyde had
killed Rose and John and staged it all to look like a,
his, murder-suicide and then had taken off with Sara?
Anna's mother had always been very vague about her
past. Anna knew next to nothing about her mother's
family. She'd never met her grandfather on her
mother's side of the family, and most definitely not
her grandmother on that side of the family.

Anna allowed these thoughts to fester in her mind as
she watched the deputy walk from the Inn back toward
the car. It didn't explain everything, but it would
certainly explain a few very important details. Anna
also found herself wondering....what if Sara wasn't
Clyde's child either? What if Sara was also the
product of Rose and John's elicit affair? What if
Clyde knew what was going on all along? What if....

Anna's reverie was broken by the snap of the deputy's
fingers in front of her face.

"Hey, you okay? You with me?" the deputy asked,
concerned that Anna's head wound was more serious than
he'd initially thought.

"I'm...I'm better," Anna replied, surprised to find she
actually meant it.

"Would you mind terribly coming with me to the
hospital to talk to the coroner? I'd rather not leave
you alone again, given everything that's happened,
and, well...your head looks like it needs to be attended
to."

"That'd be fine," Anna answered, realizing that
although she was starting to feel better she was still
suffering from a nasty headache, "But I'm starving, so
we need to stop off at the nearest convenient store
for me to get some snacks so I don't pass out from low
blood sugar."

"Sure thing," Deputy Kaelin replied as he started up
the car.

"You know, this is all Aaron Boone's fault," Anna
said, laughing.

"I'm sorry, who?"

"You don't follow baseball, do you?"

"No, I'm sorry, I don't."

"My divorce. The straw that broke the camel's back
between me and my husband, Ben, was game 7 of last
year's American League Championship Series."

"You got divorced over baseball?"

"No, we got divorced for many other reasons, but when
I had to throw him out of the house over his temper
tantrum when the Red Sox lost to the Yankees yet
again, I knew it was time. I guess that's what I get
for marrying an irrational Red Sox fan."

"And now you're knee deep in a murder mystery," Deputy
Kaelin said, pulling into the parking lot of the local
Seven Eleven.

"And now I'm finding out that sometimes life can turn
out like an episode of `Twin Peaks.'"

Guest Bloggist: Luke
As we await the next installment of PTI, an essay from the vaults that merited posting months ago....


Name: luke
E-Mail: seternalite@yahoo.com

Topic: What would I do if I had control of Fox Studios for one year?

Fox Studios is really no different than any other studio.

They dangle the mindless lemmings yummy little morsels laced with poison. The mindless lemmings having no mind, have no choice but to swallow the yummy morsels. And thus the phosphorescent minds of the masses are emblazoned; forever.

What would I do if I had "control" of fox for one year? Simple.

Help the ship sink.

Runway models wouldn't disappear when they turned sideways.

The Swan would take Hollywood A-listers and restore their "original" pre-fame looks. Breasts would shrink and sag. Muscles and lips would deflate. Wrinkles would magically appear. Morning rays of genuine character would break through.

Marriages wouldn't be like leases on a new car. Trade-ins wouldn't be accepted. You would be forced to see the mechanic and actually put some effort into building each other's character.

I would admit to all my viewers that I am in charge of collecting advertising dollars at all costs. If there is a big enough market for men who are attracted to sheep, I will find a way to exploit that market. I sell households crack, and that crack doesn't even make you feel all that good. It just fries your brain and buys me time to find out what I will throw at you next. I do not care about freedom, about expression, about art, or about beauty. I only care about what sells. Justification follows and wears different masks; in fact, whatever masks it needs.

I have no political affiliation accept the one that you have. I know you. I know what you want. I feel your pain. We are one. First thing I do when I wake, and last thing I do before I sleep is not tuck my children in, or kiss my wife, or say my prayers thinking of what lies ahead after this life and what I am hear for now. I check the Neilson ratings meter to see how many kiddos have bought my crack today. I wonder if I fooled the sheep lovers into thinking I actually love sheep too?

Don't be a llama America. Don't be a lemming. And for goodness sake, don't be a sheep because Fox and America's males may need your services.

BaaaaAaaaaaaaAaaaaaaaa.

- seternalite

Pardon the Interruption Part 18 by Curious Girl
The police cruiser careened down the main drag and then made an exit down one of Opelika's older roads. Riding inside, Anna still clutched the ancient police folder while the normally chatty Deputy Kaelin silently gripped the steering wheel and kept his eyes on the road. "Christ, this is getting ridiculous" thought Kaelin. Normally big excitement for Opelika meant bingo night at the community center, or a meat draw at the Elk's lodge. Certainly not the flurry of police calls regarding break-ins, temporary abductions, and now possibly worse. Much worse. So much for that afternoon nap.

Trees and fields whizzed by as the twosome headed toward the less populous outskitrts of town. As they crested a hill, Anna could see a large white structure below them. More noticable were the staccato blinks of red white and blue announcing the presence of emergency vehicles. Deputy Kaelin let out a low whistle as they pulled off the road and into the circular drive of the Opelika Inn.

A couple of cruisers, a car marked "County Sherriff", and an ambulance sat parked in front of the Inn, all with their lights ablaze. Numerous figures milled about, some looked official, others appeared to be curious rubberneckers. "Anna, I need you to sit tight while I find out what the story is" said Kaelin. "This could take a mighty long time". Anna nodded as the Deputy stepped out of the vehicle.

Anna stared out the car window at the building in front of her. Clearly, the Opelika Inn had seen better days. The building's once rustic charm had been replaced by a frayed seediness as evidenced by peeling paint and tired sags in the roof overhangs. Most noticably, part of the establishment's sign had come unhinged so that it read "Ope Inn" with "lika" hanging below at a crazy angle. Once a welcoming stop to highway travellers, the Opelika Inn was now most likely home to deadbeats and drug dealers. Not to mention a few roaches.

Her mind swirled with confusion and unease. It was all too much to take in. Who were these people? Could she really be somehow related to them? Who was it that was trying to prevent her from finding out? She struggled to remember... to fit some of the memories surfacing from her past with the new information she now had in her hands. Anna flipped open the thin folder on her lap and rifled through some of the papers inside. She let out an involuntary gasp as a handful of black and white photographs slid into her lap.

They were the crime scene photos.

The photo of the man who may or may not have been Clyde was ghastly. Made even more so by the stark contrast of the black and white. There was simply no face where a face should have been. She was only able to glance at it for a few seconds before looking away. It was another photo however, that made her stomach lurch. In it was the figure of a woman lying prone on the floor in a pool of blood. The sleeve & left shoulder of her dress had been yanked down.
Piercing the flesh above her heart was the lovely ruby pin. The very same image that had been pasted on her door above the bizarre tableau left on her porch.

Anna looked up just in time to see a flurry of activity from around the side of the Inn. Out came a couple of officers wheeling a gurney towards the ambulance. On it was a body bag.

Pardon the Interruption, Part 17 by Bard Sinister
Anna's words trailed off as her attention turned to the folder in her lap and the reports it contained. It was a remarkably thin file for a murder-suicide investigation. She quickly located the medical examiner's report Kaelin had mentioned.

"I understand why the coroner could not identify Clyde based on his dental records," mused Anna, "but why does the report make no mention of an attempt to identify him by his fingerprints? And what about the rifle? Didn't anyone dust it for fingerprints? Don't tell me no one bothered to match any prints on the gun to Clyde's?"

Kaelin shot an annoyed glance in Anna's direction, his fingers tapping impatiently on the steering wheel. "Opelika's a small town. Law enforcement here does not see any of your big-city crimes. Except for Sara's sudden disappearance, there was nothing mysterious about this case. Clyde found out Rose was cheating on him, and killed her, then himself. End of story."

Although still skeptical, Anna saw no point in arguing with Kaelin. Either some careless person had botched this investigation miserably, or someone had deliberately falsified the records. But for what purpose? Could this have something to do with those stories about local government officials accepting bribes from Clyde? Had one of them killed Rose and Clyde, then arranged the evidence to point to a murder-suicide? Some one had left that message in blood on her door for a reason, and Anna intended to find out why, with Kaelin's help or not....

Lily angled the pin in her fingers to catch the light from the lamp above her, the better to admire the red stone's sparkle. She smiled in satisfaction and she turned the pin over and re-read the inscription. "Omnia vincit amor-love conquers all. What a load of crock!" Lily's eyes shot to the figure of her father, snoring on the couch, a mostly-empty bottle of cheap bourbon on the coffee table beside him. Involuntarily, her left hand reached up and gingerly touched her cheek. It still bore reddened traces her father's handprint. Luckily, the bourbon distracted him, or Lily might have suffered far worse.

Loreena, Opelika's librarian, had translated the Latin phrase for Lily. At first, Lily had believed that the key to the mystery lay in translating that phrase. Now, she was not so sure. More likely, the pin itself was the key, which is why Lily was so determined to possess it.

Lying to Anna had been regrettable, but remarkably easy. After hours of practice before her bedroom mirror, Lily could turn on the waterworks at will. Grown-ups were such chumps for that gimmick.

The crunch of tires on the gravel driveway snapped Lily out of her reverie. Quickly, she stashed the pin under the cushion of the chair beside her, and rose from her spot on the worn, living room rug. Smoothing her skirt, Lily walked quietly to the front door to greet the visitor, before her father wakened, and interfered with her plans yet again.

(to be continued)

Part 16 by Mystery Guest Blogger
As Anna sat in the passenger seat in route to the Inn she pondered the irony of the fact that she had spent more time riding around in a police cruiser than she had spent in her own new home. Deputy Kato drove in silence, occasionally massaging his chin while her own head throbbed, making it difficult to have a coherent thought.

Her main concern was Lily. The pin had disappeared with the child as well, but at this point the pin was of no importance. Only the safety of the girl. In fact, as far as Anna was concerned, she hoped she never saw that cursed pin again.

The box on the dashboard came alive and roused her from her thoughts. "This is unit 54 in route to 411 Mockingbird Lane. Officer Buzz is on scene and reports that the subject child is present and unharmed. First accounts from the subject and subject's father state that the subject had been home or with subject's father all day. Subject did leave with subject's father around oh eight hundred hours to go fishin at the..."

"Oh for cying out loud, would you quit playin Dragnet and spit it out? Wait! No! Zip it! We know they're lying. Get your skinny ass over there and use whatever skills you learned during your one week stint at the FBI Academy and get the truth out of 'em. Don't call me! I'll call you!"

Deputy Kato turned the radio off and glanced over at his passenger. Wonderful! She was crying. "Ain't nothin worse than havin to deal with an emotional female!" he thought.

"I just don't understand!" she blubbered. "Is this whole town mad or am I?"

He decided to nip this in the bud before it turned into an Oprah episode. "Anna, listen to me. We will get to the bottom of this. Trust me. I will leave no stone unturned. Speaking of which..." He knew this would get her attention.

She stopped sobbing and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Yeeesssss?" she asked.

"Well, I tried to tell you this morning before you threw me out of your house. I found something of interest last night. Here." He flopped a faded, coffee stained folder on her lap.

"What's this?"

"Rose and Clyde's case file. I went thru the archived files last night and hit the jackpot right off. I haven't had time to look thru it all, but I did find something of interest."

"Really. What?"

"Well, I reviewed the Medical Examiner's report. The cause of death listed for Rose was a single gunshot wound to the head. They were both shot at close range, Rose from behind. Clyde apparently ate the end of a barrel. To be blunt, his face was blown off, completely unrecognizable. According to the report, the only way his father could I.D. the body was by his personal effects...the family ring he wore and the wallet removed from his clothing."

Anna looked puzzled, "But how could they know......."

To be continued

P.T.I., Part 15 by Ginny
Deputy Kaelin drew his side arm and strode toward the front door, checking with a quick dart of his head through the window for any sign of movement. He pounded on the door in the approved police manner. His heart also pounded, either with excitement, or from running up the long drive - he wasn't sure which.

"Anna! Anna! Are you in there? Are you okay? We got a call about a disturbance. Anna!"

He motioned for his backup to go around to the back. Boy, that training up at State had really paid off; the other officers knew just where to be, just how to move, just how to wait for his signal. His little department was all coming together in a rush, but first he had to look after Anna and make sure she was all right. He made as if to pound on the door again, but his wrist was grabbed and held by a large, furry white paw.

"Are you trying to wake the Dead?" said the Easter Bunny.

Kaelin stared in slack-jawed disbelief. The rabbit held up a basket full of jelly beans as proof, then knocked softly on the door.

"You have to call them softly, like this: 'Ooooo. Oooo-wooo. Ooooo,' and then they'll come back."

Kaelin thought it was the saddest sound he'd ever heard, but was outraged that he was being upstaged by a big white rabbit. Just then, the door opened with a bang, and Anna stood on the threshold wearing a blue dress with a white apron. Kaelin had to admit she looked kind of hot. In token of this he eased his equipment belt, the heavy leather creaking in a satisfyingly masculine way, and said nothing other than "Evening, ma'am." It seemed like the right thing to say, the right thing to do.

With barely a glance in his direction, Anna reached into the Easter basket and picked out all the red jelly beans, and began eating them with evident glee. She looked sidelong at him and walked back into the house, only now it wasn't her house, it was his living room.

He reached out for her and said, "Oh, c'mere, you. Gimme all the green ones."

*BANG!* *ring* *ring* *ring* *crash*

Deputy Kaelin found himself staring up at several wads of ancient chewing gum stuck to the underside of his coffee table. The phone was on the floor, a tiny voice issuing inquiringly from the handset, and his head hurt. He deduced that he had fallen off the couch again and sat up slowly, rubbing his neck. After a moment's thought, he remembered that he didn't like green jelly beans at all, and picked up the phone. It was Lewis, the duty guy back at the cop shop.

"Um, took you a while to answer. Y'all want me to phone back later, or maybe not at all?" Lewis was one of those guys that wanted to know about everybody else's doings, but he never dished the dirt in return.

"No, dammit. I was taking a nap. What?" Kaelin's tone indicated the truth about his well-oiled machine of a department; most of the guys were volunteers with no training and less sense. Yes, that had been part of the dream, too.

"Waaa-al, you might want to take a run out to check on that little lady Anna again. That little fussbudget Miss Lily was seen poking around in the bushes outside before she went in, and then later she came out of the house with some guy, and then they left in a big hurry. The neighbor lady - Mrs. Peabody, the one that runs the church socials? She seen everything.

"Anna? Anna left with some guy?" The last tattered shreds of his dream evaporated.

"No, Lily. The little girl. She left hollering and wiggling fit to bust and crying. And there's this other call about a fight at the Opelika Inn, but I thought you might could go check on things at Miss Anna's house, and I'll send Otis over to the Inn. Probably someone rolled a drunk businessman. Not important."

Deputy Kaelin struggled to get his equipment belt on while he juggled the phone and grabbed for his keys. "Never should have taken a nap," he thought numbly. "Now I'm all screwed up for the rest of the day." The leather belt was tighter than he would have liked, but he got it buckled in the end.

He tore over in his patrol car to the old house Anna had taken and took the steps two at a time. His heart pounding, he noted glumly that the girl's backpack was wedged in the door, as if it had been torn from her shoulders as she left. It was a blatant clue - "signs of a struggle," the next morning's paper would read. He knocked on the door and callled out.

"Anna! Are you okay? We got a call.." His throat closed up, dry as a bone, and the skin on his arms and neck was stung with tiny pinpricks of fear. "So this is deja vu," he thought.

The door opened with a crash, and he stepped into the most beautiful right hook of his life. It took him totally flatfooted - the irony was not lost on him - and dropped him like a sack of potatoes on the front porch. Anna stood over him, glowering and rubbing her sore knuckles.

"Depitty DAWG! You! Are! Going! To! Tell! Me! justwhythehellyouknowsogoddamnmuch about jewelry somebody bought years ago, and why you know all the details about an old murder case that should have been solved and forgotten back when Ike was running for President. And why everybody else but me in this goddamn one-eyed burg knows so damn much about..."

She collapsed, sliding slowly down the doorjamb to the ground.

"Me. He... they... someone took..." but the rest of her sentence was drowned out by the shrill squawk of Kaelin's walkie talkie, suddenly filled with chatter from every yahoo in town that had a CB, horning in on the emergency channel.

It was something about the Opelika Inn...something bad.


(to be continued)

Administrative Note:
To the many who've asked after us, and to the one or two who have asked how Rance is, thank you for your concern.

Rance reports: "a horribly busy first semester. Would blog more if not for blasted AP Chemistry. Trying to get my parents to let me drop and take Advanced Bio (a gut) instead."

The Administrative Staff is similarly busy, but with great peace of mind with the blog in the talented hands {wings?} of Associate Rance Rubber Duckie. The PTI essays are terrific. Please keep it up.

As to questions re: changes to the commenting feature, we have no idea but would imagine Tripod is doing this to better the product. They would no doubt value any feedback.

Cheers,

A.S.

Part 14 by J. Karma
The Opelika Inn, one of the oldest and proudest hotels in town, boasted "affordable, clean rooms with courteous staff". Loosely translated that meant if you were a tight wad, twenty bucks could get you a room that was not currently being used as refuse containment and your 'clean' towels would make it near your room by the 'courteous' staff who was limited, by management, to communicating with you solely in 'sign language'.

As the cart squeaked down the hall, Mark, one of the Inn's more prominent employees, tossed towels with one hand while taking drags of his Camel unfiltered with the other. The squeak, thud, thud, was muffled by the blaring music from his head phones. As he reached room 212, he stopped, turned off the music, extinguished his cigarette on the bottom of his shoe and tried his best to improve the appearance of the wrinkled and stained towel in his hand. Ignoring the "Do Not Disturb" sign, he knocked lightly. Raymond had told him the guest was a big tipper, which was a rarity in Opelika and even rarer still at the Inn. Mark figured the guy to be a dealer, which meant that if he got in good with him, money wouldn't be his only reward.

"Room service," Mark said with a phony smile. No one responded. He pressed his ear against the door, thinking maybe the guy was getting busy with one of the local 'ladies'. A strange humming noise sounded from inside, causing the hair to stand up on his neck and arms. "I, uh, I'll just leave your towels here. If you need anything ask for Mark...sir." He took a couple steps, paused, then leaned back toward the door. "Oh, and have a nice day." As he took a few steps forward he thought he heard laughter. A strange high shrieking laughter that simultaneously was so soft he almost thought he was imagining it, at least hoped.

"Mark!" The raspy voice sounded right behind him, but when he turned no one was there.

"Forget this, it's not worth it." Mark flipped off room 212 while muttering obscenities under his breath. He pushed the cart into a corner, lit up another cigarette and turned the music up. He took two steps and fell towards the wall, his head swimming. He had to get out into the parking lot for some air. He took one step, felt a stabbing pain in his head.

"Aaaaaaahhhh!" Mark reached out, groping, suddenly blinded. He took two more steps then collapsed to the floor, blood spilling out from his headphones into a pool on the floor.

Back at home, Anna was trying to calm an excited Lily who looked on the verge of passing out.

"...and now that I know I have other family who isn't...well, who is normal and nice and..." Lily's eyes got larger with every word. Anna led her to the couch and sat next to her, hugging her tight.

"Shhh, listen to me," tears threatened to spill from her eyes, "I am so very glad to have found you or you found me, I guess, but..." Lily stiffened up and turned toward Anna, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I screwed up, huh?" Lily hung her head in shame. "You don't want me around because I broke in and tried to take..." her words broke off as she cried into her hands.

"No," Anna told her gently, "that's not what I was getting to sweetie, not at all. You are welcome here anytime you want, okay?" Lily hugged her tight and smiled, wiping the tears away with her sleeve. Anna got on the floor in front of her and took her hands in hers. "Listen, we will work all this other stuff out later, but first, I need to know something...and, I want you to be completely honest with me, because I promise I won't be mad at you." Lilly nodded solemnly.

"Anything for family." Anna took a deep breath.

"I'm not accusing you, I'm just wondering because maybe you didn't really know what it was or maybe someone made you, but I won't be mad, I just want to know the truth. Did you leave bones and a gross picture and write 'memento mori' on the door earlier?" Lily froze. Anna stroked her hair softly. "Listen, you aren't going to get in trouble with anyone, I won't let it happen, but you have to come clean with me." Lily turned white as a sheet and started trembling.

"It's...it's...it's..." Lily stammered. Anna's blood turned cold. She slowly reached over and grabbed her purse off the end table, while holding one hand firmly on Lily.

"Lily, come on. We're going to get out of here...now" Lilly stared blankly, not responding. Anna led her to the kitchen table while she quickly scanned the room. "Where are my keys? Lily, do you remember seeing the car keys?" Lilly sat in shock. "Alright sweetie, stay right here, I'm going to run upstairs and check. Don't move."

Anna waited till she was out of Lily's sight then sprinted up the stairs. She found her keys lying on her nightstand in her room. She was sure they had been with her purse. She heard a loud shriek from downstairs.

"I'm coming Lilly!" Anna ran full speed towards the stairs, painfully aware of each staggered breath. Suddenly the house was plunged in darkness, her foot connected with the first step and she felt herself thrown forward. She heard Lilly pleading with someone as her face connected with the wall. Heard a car speeding off as she continued to fall, bouncing off each step and landing in a twisted heap at the base of the stairs. She noticed Lily's torn backpack wedged in the front door as she gave in to unconciousness.


To be continued....