Battery (Part 4)

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Good morning!  I hope everyone is doing well today.  It is Friday so I’m curious if anyone has plans for this weekend.  Doing anything fun?  Before the weekend, we need to carry on with Nick to see what happens next in the story.  Will Nick get caught?  Will he have another victim.  Find out today in the next part of this Dark story.  Enjoy!

Battery

The body of Cyrus Byner was found in the middle of the street near 16th and Target Drive.  Her body was almost run over by a resident of the neighborhood, saying “I didn’t know what it was until I got close enough.  I thought it was a tree trunk that a kid threw in the road. That poor girl.” No word on if this death had anything to do with the murder of Bryce McEllis last week.  If you have any leads on either case, please contact the police department. She was survived by her parents, Bill and Cindy, and two sisters Emma and Laura.

 

Nick sat in the local diner eating breakfast.  He didn’t go there too often, only for special occasions.  He sat in the booth with a plate and coffee in front of him.  A hand grabbed his shoulder. “Hey hot stuff.”

He looked up to see his girlfriend sit in the booth across from him.  “Hey beautiful. What are you up to?”

She nodded at the waitress and waved.  “Nothing much. Just…school. As per usual.  You?”

Nick sighed.  “Uh…I’m working on a case with Adam.  It’s a mistrial for a murderer. But I can’t talk too much about it.”

The waitress walked over and dropped a plate of pancakes and some coffee on the table.  “It’s so nice to see you Tashia. Enjoy your food.”

Tashia smiled.  “Thanks Peggy.” She took a sip of coffee and looked at Nick.  “Have you heard about the murder of that girl? Cyrus…was that her name?”

Nick nodded.  “Yeah. I saw it on the news this morning.  That poor girl.”

Tashia shook her head.  “Did you hear that the person who killed her poured bleach in her mouth like they were trying to mask their identity?  Like, they might’ve kissed and the murdered didn’t want the police to see their identity. How sadistic do you have to be?”

“Yeah…”  Nick looked out the window.  “This whole situation is horrible.”

They finished breakfast and went their separate ways.  Nick went through his day like normal, trying to stay relaxed.  He had to plan his next murder, but he would have to wait a couple days.  He had just killed Cyrus the night before, he couldn’t kill this quickly.

 

*******

 

Nick drove through the town a week after Cyrus’s murder, trying to decide what to do next.  Who was going to be his next victim? Where was he going to meet him or her? He pulled up to the bar where he was planning on meeting his next victim.

He stepped inside the bar and walked up to the counter.  Nick sat on a barstool and gave his order to the bartender.  He sat for a while, contemplating if someone was going to come up to him or vice versa.

Nothing happened.

He sat the entire night in the bar and no one came up to him.  He only had one drink and left after 30 minutes. Maybe the bar wasn’t the right place to meet someone.  Nick walked out to his truck and got into the driver’s seat. He barely started the truck when there was a knock on his passenger window.  Nick turned to see a woman who was obviously drunk tapping the window. He rolled it down and she giggled. “Are you my Uber driver?”

“What?”

She giggled again.  “I’m looking for an Uber for Ashanti.  Is that you?”

Nick felt himself start to smile.  “Yeah. I’m your Uber driver. Get in.  I’ll take you home.”

Ashanti cheered and climbed into the backseat of the truck.  “So my address is 4344 Amelia Drive. But you can drop me off down the street.  My parents don’t approve of me coming home in an Uber.”

Nick nodded as he drove.  He didn’t know where he was going, but he knew it wasn’t going to be her address.  “So…were you at the bar with friends?” There was no answer. Nick turned around to see that Ashanti had fallen asleep in the backseat of the truck.  Perfect.  He kept driving around until he ended up in the next town over.  He stopped at a large field on the outskirts, very similar to where he dumped Bryce’s body.

He parked in the middle of the street and coughed.  “Uh…we are here.” Ashanti didn’t move. He tapped her leg.  “Ashanti?”

She jumped.  “What? We’re here.  Okay…thank you.” Nick watched her get out of the truck and quickly followed suit.  He walked around the bed of the truck so he met up with her. But he made sure to grab the bat out of the bed and keep it low by his side.  She looked at him. “Where are we? This isn’t home…”

Nick put the baseball bat end on Ashanti’s collarbone and pushed her back slightly.  He pointed toward the field. “Go.”

Tears started streaming down Ashanti’s cheeks.  “Please…I don’t want to die….I won’t press charges if you just let me go…please!”

Nick pointed at the field again.  “Go!” Ashanti started to walk toward the field with her hands up in the air.  Nick held the bat against the back of her head, making sure she knew he was still following her.  “Stop.” Nick made her stop before he made it to the dirt so he didn’t leave footprints behind. “Get down on your knees.”

Ashanti got down on her knees and whimpered.  “Please…I don’t want to die…” Her voice trailed off, losing any meaning as the air took it away.

Nick lifted the bat up and he swung harder than he had swung before.  Ashanti’s body fell sideways into the dirt, a small pool of blood forming around her head.  He watched her body for a few moments to make sure she was dead. When she didn’t move, he walked back to the truck.  Nick threw the bat into the bed of the truck and got in the driver’s seat to make his journey home.

What he thought was going to be an uneventful night, turned out to be a great night after all.

WW-Reports Don’t Lie, People Lie

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Good morning!  How is everyone doing today?  I have actually had the last 4 days off from work and it has been very nice to relax and not do much.  But, it’s another bright and shiny Wednesday and it is time to check in on how Winchester is doing.  I hope you enjoy this Adventure and I will see you on Friday!  Enjoy!

Reports Don’t Lie, People Lie

Winchester sat at the table in the conference room scouring all of the evidence and writing notes about it.  He looked at the photo of the victim’s body as it hung from the ceiling. The first thing that West looked at was how big the victim was.  Marcus was a large guy so it would’ve been hard for the victim’s girlfriend to kill him and then hang him from the ceiling. Unless she was a bodybuilder, which was a possibility.

He looked at the autopsy report to see that the cause of death was strangulation.  He nodded. “Well..at least that’s confirmed. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that it was from hanging.  Someone could’ve strangled him first and then hung him to make it look like a suicide.” He wrote that down in his notebook so he could check into later.  He looked closer at the pictures of the autopsy to see the wounds around his neck. There was a very noticeable red line by his jawline, presumably from the rope that he was hanging from, but West also noticed a less noticeable red line that was right below Marcus’ adams apple.  He looked closer at mark but he couldn’t prove it was actually something worth looking into.

The autopsy report also stated that there was some alcohol in his system.  Marcus wasn’t much older than 21 so he could legally have alcohol but he didn’t have much.  He had a BAC of .1% os he might have been a little buzzed. Or maybe he and the killer had shared some drinks before the murder happened.  It made West think that the victim definitely knew the killer. The reports said there was no sign of distress or of a fight and there were no superficial wounds on Marcus’ body to show signs of a fight. 

But the closer that West looked at the body he saw something on the victim’s chest.  The more he looked at it, the more it looked like a pooling of blood. Maybe it was nothing but he needed to know more information.  West stood up and walked over to his dad’s desk. “Hey. Can you call the coroner and see if I can go over there? I have some questions about the autopsy report.”

Anthony picked up the phone and pressed a button.  “One sec.” He quieted as the phone rang. “Hey Lacey it’s Detective West.  My son has some questions on the Marcus Fueler case and he was wondering if he could come by…uh huh…okay perfect.  Thanks Lace.” He hung up the phone. “She said you can go on over. You realize the morgue is next door right?”

West started moving toward the door.  “Yeah…thanks dad!” He walked out of the building and jogged to the next building.  He had never met Lacey but he had heard a lot about her being the best mortician in the state.  And he hoped she would give him the answers he was looking for. He opened the door and walked into a small lobby.

A short brunette chick walked around the corner.  Her hair was tied up in 2 pigtails and she wore large hot pink glasses.  She smiled. “Hiya. Can I help you?”

He nodded.  “Hi. I’m Winchester West, Detective Anthony West’s son.  I’m looking for Lacey?”

Her smile widened as she reached over the counter.  “You look just like your dad but much younger obviously.  Lacey Hyland at your service. Let me open the door and I will take you back to see the body.”  She disappeared for a moment before opening a side door and leading West to the back. “So do you go by Winchester or something else?”

He shrugged.  “Either Winchester or West, whichever you prefer.  I go by either.”

They turned a corner into a very cold room.  Marcus’ body was laying on the table with a sheet covering his bottom half.  Lacey grabbed some gloves and snapped them on. “So Winchester. What can I help you with?”

West felt himself starting to become a little uneasy.  He had never seen an actual dead body before and it was really strange.  It also stunk to high heaven. He composed himself before asking the question.  “Uh…did you notice this mark on his neck?”  

He pointed toward the faint mark under Marcus’ adams apple.  Lacey grabbed a magnifying glass and looked at it closer. “Oh yeah…I saw that but I wasn’t sure what it was.  It actually looks like he may have had his tie too tight. It’s the perfect width for a tie…I thought I put it in the autopsy notes.  Did I not?”

West shook his head and showed her the notes.  “No. I did see anything about it. That’s why I wanted to talk about it.”  He pointed to the mark on his chest. “What about that? Do you know what that is?”

Lacey looked at it and furiously shook her head.  “It’s just a pooling of blood from someone not breathing for too long.  Most bodies have it. But…” She paused looking at it closer. “I do have to say that it is larger than a normal blood pool.  I may be from him just being a larger guy.”

“What if…”  West paused, trying to make sure he had all of his thoughts straight.  “What if it’s actually from someone standing on him? You said it looked like a tie which is what I thought as well.  The size is perfect for the size of a tie. But this on his chest looks like someone was actually standing on his chest to help prevent his breathing.  Someone was standing there, on his chest, and pulling his tie tighter and tighter until Marcus just stopped breathing. It wouldn’t take much for him to stop breathing since he was so large.”

Lacey’s eyes widened and she took a step toward him.  “That…makes the most logical sense for this possible.  But I’ll take it a step further. There are no definitive feet marks on the chest so someone could’ve been standing, or sitting on their knees, on a pillow.  It wouldn’t leave footprints or knee marks.” She pointed her finger in his face. “I like the way you think Winchester West. You would make a good detective one day.”

“Thanks, but I have to let my dad know.”  He turned and ran back to the precinct. He quickly walked up to his dad’s.  “Dad. I have a lead. I think that Marcus was strangled by a tie while some was standing or sitting on his chest.  And Lacey confirmed that it was possible.”

Anthony looked at him.  “How can you be sure? The girlfriend was the last person to see him alive and his phone records don’t show him calling anyone.  Same with his internet records like emails and Facebook. We still aren’t any closer.”

Winchester sat down in the chair across from his father.  “Dad. Reports don’t lie. People lie. And these reports are saying that he was murdered by someone strangling him with a tie while standing on his chest.  I think we need to interview the girlfriend again.”

Trapped

~ 2catsandalaptop ~ 8 Comments

Good morning! It is Monday and I am still recovering from my weekend (kind of). I didn’t do much but I was recovering from a 10 day work week. So I spent a lot of time relaxing. But we are back with a new Grammy’s Grid post. This weeks prompt goes as follows:

As she looked out the window, she wondered if…

Before we get too far into this story, I do want to say that this is my dark retelling of an already known story. I wanted to try my hand at something new, so this is my dark version. You will probably be able to figure of what story I’m referencing pretty early on, though I did change the name for my version. This story is classified as Dark, so please, enjoy!

Trapped

Trapped
As she looked out the window, she wondered if she would ever leave the room. Rosie was stuck there in a tower, never having been outside of the small space. But the world outside the tower was scary and there were reasons she didn’t leave the space that she knew so well.
Rosie looked out the window at the darkness that surrounded the tower. The dark black sky loomed ominously overhead, making the world seem darker than it actually was. The strange swamp land surrounding the tower seemed to bubble up and down in random places, almost as if the land was breathing underneath the swampland. There were very few plants besides the reeds that were scattered around, but most of the land was bare. The tower stood out like a sore thumb in the middle of this land.
She sat in a chair in the middle of the room and stared at the window. Maybe there was a way to get out of this tower without her mother knowing. Her mother always made it seem like the world was scary, and honestly it kind of was. She had no way to protect herself and no way to survive more than a couple hours. Plus she had to find to get past her mother.
Rosie shook her head and came back to reality. Her eyes scanned the room to see if there was anything that might aid her in trying to escape. As she slowly spun around the room, her eyes landed on a sword. “Has that always been there? Have I just never noticed that there is a literal sword on my wall?”
As she reached for the sword, she wasn’t sure if she was doing the right thing or not. But at this point, it didn’t matter. She needed to find a way out. Her fingers gripped the handle of the sword and she pulled it down off the wall. It was a lot heavier than she had expected it to be. She held it in her hand for a moment trying to decide what she wanted to do next. And then it hit her. She had to cut her hair.
Her long black hair was trailing behind her everywhere she went. It dragged on the floor and was probably long enough touch the swamp if she let it out of her tower window. But if Rosie tried to leave the tower with all of her hair following her, that was a sure way to die. Rosie took the sword and held it under her hair and cut outwards to the rest of the room. There was suddenly a huge relief from all of the weight of her hair falling from her head. She rolled her neck and felt it crack. It felt good. She felt like she was starting to find her way out.
Rosie’s fingers slowly gripped the doorknob and turned the knob as quietly as possible. She pulled the door towards her body, praying that it didn’t make a noise. There was a slight creak that came from the hinges but it wasn’t enough noise for anyone to notice. Rosie slipped through the door, sword in hand, and made her way down the stairs toward where her mother stayed.
She tiptoed down the steps as she tried to listen to where her mother was. There was the faint sound to singing coming from the bottom of the tower, somewhere she had never explored before. Her mother had placed so much fear into Rosie about what was below her room in the tower that she never tried to explore it. Her footsteps softened as she approached the bottom floor, hoping to not make her mother hear her coming.
With one final step, Rosie’s foot touched the bottom of the tower. She slowed down and cautiously tiptoed to the door that she assumed her mother was sitting behind. There was a small gap in the door that she peered through, spying her mother sitting in a chair. Her mother seemed to be reading a book and not paying that much attention to what was around her. Rosie slowly pushed the door open and looked into the living room.
“What are you doing down here?” Rosie froze, she didn’t know her mother had heard her coming down the stairs. Should she answer? “I thought I told you that you had to stay in your tower.”
“I…” A whisper barely passed by Rosie’s lips. “I’m still in the tower. I haven’t left.”
Her mother shifted in her chair but still didn’t look at Rosie. “You aren’t in your tower. You are at the bottom of the tower. They are two different things.”
“But..I’m still in the tower. I haven’t left.” She inched closer, the sword held behind her back. “I know you aren’t happy with me, but I still haven’t left the tower.”
“You have disobeyed!” Her mother turned around in her chair to look at Rosie, and her eyes widened. “What…what happened to your hair? Where did it go?”
Rosie blushed. “I…uh…I cut it. Do you like it?” Her hands started to get a little sweaty as she tried to keep her cool.
“No I don’t like it.” Her mother let out a huff and turned back around in her chair to not face Rosie. “I can’t believe you would cut your hair like that. Without my permission at that.”
Rosie took another couple steps forward and moved the sword to her side. This was her moment to do something. “But I really like it. It’s much easier to manage and take care of. And it’s not weighing me down anymore.” She slowly raised the sword to her side and quickly sliced across the back of the chair.
Her mother’s head went flying across the floor.
Rosie looked at her mother’s head on the floor and walked past it. Her fingers grabbed the doorknob and turned it, opening it up to the dark swamplands around the tower. Rosie wasn’t sure what she was going to find out there. But all she knew was that she was now able to go wherever she pleased.
Her foot landed on the squishy swampland that was outside. She took a deep breath and continued to walk with the sword dragging behind her. Rosie never wanted to see her tower again and that was what she had wanted all along.

Battery (Part 3)

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Good morning everyone!  I think I’m going to make these openings a little shorter for the stories.  I want you guys to be able to hop right into the story and not miss anything.  So without further ado, here is the next part for Battery!

Battery

The body of Bryce McEllis was found in a plastic trash bag on the side of Nature Avenue.  He seemed to have been beaten to death by a large object. The coroners are investigating what object may have been the cause of death.  No leads have surfaced regarding a murderer or a murder weapon. He is survived by his mother and father, Patricia and Eric McEllis, and his sister Moriah, all of which live in Montana.

Nick sat at his computer as the news popped up.  He smirked, it had taken three days for Bryce’s body to be found and another day to identify him.  His face was so smashed in that it must’ve been difficult to make a good identification. It had taken Nick a full 24 hours to make sure that he had cleaned up all of the blood in the basement.

And he was ready to take on someone else.

He sat in his office at work, getting ready for head home for the day.  Adam walked into his office, gently knocking on the door. “Hey! It’s Tuesday!  You know what that means…”

Nick stared at his computer.  “Uh…I get to go home and enjoy the evening by myself?”

Adam walked into the room and sat on the edge of Nick’s desk.  “No! It’s $3 pizookie day at BJ’s Brewhouse! Dude! $3 pizookies.  Let’s go!”

Nick rolled his eyes.  “You like pizookies way too much.”

“Yeah but beers and pizookies?  That’s the perfect combo.”

Nick leaned back in his chair.  “You buying?”

Adam stood up and raced toward the door.  “If that gets you to join me, then yes!” He turned out of the office.  “I’ll meet you there in 15 minutes!”

Nick snickered as he stood up and got ready to meet Adam.  He closed up his office, picked up his briefcase, and walked out the door.  He met Adam for pizookies and beer and they enjoyed the little freedom from the office.

Adam stepped away from the table and their waitress brought their bill.  Nick smiled at her. She was gorgeous. She would be perfect.  “Hey.  You were great tonight.”

The girl smiled.  “Thanks babe. I could make your night even greater after my shift.  I’m done in 2 hours.”

He leaned in toward her.  “What’s your name pretty lady?”

“I’m Cyrus.  Yes…like the singers.”

Nick grinned.  “That’s cute. I’ve never met a girl named Cyrus before.  I like it.”

She smiled.  “Thanks. So…you…me…some fun?  You down?”

Nick grabbed a napkin and quickly wrote down his number.  “Here. Text me later.”

She giggled.  “I…I don’t have a car.  So you can come get me if you want.”

Nick shrugged.  “Sure I’ll come get you.  Text me when you’re done.”  Adam came back to the table and they finished up.  Nick raced home to get some things ready before Cyrus came over.  The basement and the wooden bat were completely clean, not that it really mattered.  Cyrus didn’t know what she was going to walk into, but that didn’t matter. All Nick knew what that he was ready for his second victim.

Nick checked his watch, he had 15 minutes until Cyrus was supposed to be off from work.  He jumped in his truck and headed toward the restaurant. He parked a short distance away so that way they were less noticeable.  He barely put his car in park when his phone buzzed. Hey!  I’m done.  Where are you?

Nick told her where his truck was and watched for her to come by.  He didn’t have to wait long, she came walking up and waved. She jumped in the passenger seat.  “Hey! Are you ready?”

Nick smiled.  “Yep. I’ve got a surprise for you when we get home.”  They spoke all the way to Nick’s house, talking about what they were going to do when they got there.  She seemed very excited, and Nick tried to convey the same excitement. He couldn’t give away what he was going to do.

They arrived at the house and Nick parked in the garage.  “Okay. So I’m going to blindfold you to take you to do fun things.  Ready?’

Cyrus leaned over the middle console and kissed him on the lips.  “Let’s do this.”

Nick got out and helped Cyrus out of the truck.  He put a blindfold over her eyes and quickly put on some gloves before leading her through the house and down to the basement.  He stood her in the middle of the room. “Okay. We are here. Give me one moment to get everything ready and then we can get started.”

He quickly took a couple steps back and picked up the baseball bat.  Cyrus was standing in the middle of the floor, swaying back and forth.  She was humming a tune that Nick didn’t recognize but he was glad that she was keeping herself entertained.  He took two steps forward and lifted the baseball bat, ready to swing. With all of his might he swung, making the bat connect with her head.

Cyrus didn’t make a noise as her body crumpled to the floor.  Nick hit her head a couple more times for good measure. He wanted to make sure she was dead before moving her body.  But there was nothing.

It was over, the deed was done, another one dead. 

 

WW-Questioning

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Good morning!  It is Wednesday and it is time for another Winchester Wednesday.  Question: do you guys like these openings?  Or would you rather just start the story and have no opening?  Let me know in the comments!

Questioning

Buzz buzz…buzz buzz…buzz buzz

Winchester reached out from under his sheets and picked up his phone.  He swiped up to answer the call. “Hmmmmello?”

“Bug?  I thought you would be awake by now.  I’m sorry for waking you up but I need your help on a case.  Would you be able to come down to the station as soon as possible?”

He looked at his alarm clock to see it was almost 11 am.  He groaned. “Uh…yeah dad. I can be down there soon. Do you want me to pick up some lunch for you?”

There was a slight pause.  “Sure. Why don’t you get some burgers from Mike’s.  You know what I like right?”

Winchester slowly stretched.  “Uh yeah. The California burger with extra avocado and onion rings with ranch and barbeque sauce and a Pepsi?”

“You got it.  And get whatever you want.  I’ll give you money to cover it when you get here.”

He slowly turned and rolled out of his bed.  “Thanks dad. I will be there as soon as I can.  Bye.” He hung up the phone and started to get ready for the day ahead.  West got dressed and combed through his blonde hair before grabbing his wallet and newly acquired keycard and walking out the door.  He got in his Camry and drove to Mike’s Burgers to get breakfast for him and lunch for his dad.

As he parked and walked inside, he noticed a couple of people talking very hushed in the restaurant.  It seemed a little odd but it wasn’t his business. He stepped up to the counter, ordered, and waited off to the side for his food.  He leaned against the counter and pulled his phone out of his pocket to check Twitter while waiting for his food.

“Did you hear about that teenager who’s been helping the police with different cases?”  West’s ears perked up. He tried to look like he wasn’t paying attention but of course he had to listen.  What were these people saying about him?

“Yeah I heard that he actually solved the missing girl case from last year.  Like…how could this teenager actually solve a case that the police can’t? Are the police that dumb?”  Winchester felt his heart sink a little. He was only trying to help.

“I heard something totally different.  I heard that he is actually from a different town and want to work with the police force as part of the Make A Wish Foundation.  The police in the town he’s from wouldn’t let him help so he had to come over here. So realistically he probably just happened to quote unquote help with a case.”

“Why would the police want help from a teenager?  All teens want to do these days are drink, get high, and get pregnant.  Teenagers are not that smart nowadays.”

“You’re right.  I doubt the police would ever ask for help from a teenager.  Besides, it’s probably a liability issue to get help from someone who isn’t actually on the police force.”

“West?”  He looked up to see the waitress behind the counter bringing him two bags of food.  “Here you go.”

He smiled.  “Thanks. Have a good day.”  He took the food and his drinks and got back in his car.  The harsh words from the people in the restaurant filled his head as he drove.  No matter how hard he tried, he could not get the words out of his thoughts. It hurt his feelings.  Maybe he wasn’t supposed to be helping his father with cases.

Winchester pulled up to the precinct and parked in the parking lot.  He grabbed all the food and drinks and walked up to the front door, trying very hard to not drop anything on his way inside.  He slid his keycard through the card slot and let himself into the pool of desks that contained officers. His feet lead him to his father’s desk where he placed the bags of food.  Anthony smiled. “Hey Bug. Let’s go over to the conference room. I have some of the info in there for you to look at.”

West let out a sigh.  “Okay. Yeah, I’ll look at it.”  They picked up their food and waltzed toward the conference room where there were 3 files sitting on the table along with a box labeled ‘EVIDENCE’.  West set down his food and looked at everything. “Dad…can I ask you something?”

Anthony started pulling food out of the bag and setting it on the table in front of him.  “Of course Bug. What’s wrong?”

“Do you like having me work with you?”

West could tell that his father was taken aback by the question.  “What do you mean? Of course I like having you work with me. Why wouldn’t I?”

He shrugged.  “I don’t know.  When I was at Mike’s there were some people talking about me and they were saying things like the police shouldn’t have me on board and that I was a liability.  It just…I don’t know if I should be doing this. Like, why is Chief Dyner actually letting me do this? Shouldn’t this be like…against the rules?”

Anthony put his hand on his son’s shoulder.  “Winchester. If you weren’t allowed to help us with cases, then why would we let you?  You aren’t an official officer, you are a…consultant. We have consultants help us on cases all the time so you are no different from them.  And you are NOT a liability. You have helped us solve 2 cases and you are going to help solve a 3rd. Plus…” He let out a sigh. “Plus I really like having you here.  It’s a nice way to spend time with you before you have to go back to school. I don’t care what people think of you working on the police force with us. You have become a huge help and that’s what should matter.”

Winchester nodded.  “Yeah…I just don’t want people to think that I am a burden to the force or that I am actually harming your work.  You would let me know if I was doing something wrong, right?”

His father wrapped his arm around his son’s shoulders.  “Of course I would Bug. I know you don’t like to be doing something wrong.  But for now…we need to work on this case.”

Winchester nodded.  “Yeah, of course dad.  What is this case?”

Anthony reached across the table and grabbed the first case file.  “It’s another murder, unfortunately. But this one is an unusual one.  It looked like an apparent suicide of the victim, Marcus Fueler. Some of the clues make it look like a suicide and other clues make it look like a murder.  I have talked to all of the victim’s family and they think it had to have been his girlfriend Ana but so far she’s checked out. I’m stuck at a dead end so I need another set of eyes on it.”

West grabbed the file and flipped it open.  “Give me a couple hours and I will see what I can find.”

The Parking Space

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Good morning!  Is everyone ready for this week?  I am looking forward to having the weekend off, so only 5 more days of work until the weekend!  Not that I have anything exciting planned, but I always look forward to having a weekend off.

This story is based off of a true story from my life.  It is kind of silly but honestly, I am still confused by what happened.  But, why not write a story about it and maybe you guys can figure out what happened.  Either way, this story is an Adventure, enjoy!

The Parking Space

The Parking Space.png

The sun was brighter than Ariel thought it would be and she wasn’t a big fan of it.  “Ugh…how could I forget my sunglasses!  Today of all days…”  She flipped down the sun visor of her car and continued to drive.  She was meeting a couple friends for dinner and she wasn’t exactly sure where she was going.  She knew the area of the restaurant but she wasn’t sure which restaurant was the one she was looking for.

Ariel pulled into the parking lot that housed multiple restaurants.  She had a 1 in 3 chance of getting the right one and she hoped she got it right on the first try.  Her hands turned the steering wheel, turning her car into a smaller parking lot behind two of the restaurants.  Ariel slowly cruised through the parking lot until she found a single parking space available.

“Wow!  How lucky am I today?”  Ariel swung her car into the parking space and slowly straightened her car.  As she pulled forward her car tapped something.  Ariel frowned.  “Huh…what did I hit?”  She parked the car, turned it off, and stepped out of the driver’s seat.

Nothing was there.

Ariel raised an eyebrow.  “That’s weird…maybe I imagined it.”  She looked at the front of her car and realized she was still very far away from the curb.  “I guess I’ll move forward a bit.”  She slid back into the driver’s seat, started the car, and pulled it forward in the parking space.

But as she did so, the car hit something again.  Ariel parked the car, turned it off again, and got out of the car to check to see what she hit.  But there was nothing.  She didn’t even hit the curb, her car’s bumper was sitting 2 inches above the curb.  This was baffling to Ariel, what in the world was going on?

She stood outside her car just staring at the front bumper.  There was nothing there.  There was no parking stop, nothing random that she hadn’t seen, and she still wasn’t hitting the curb around the parking lot.  “There’s nothing here!  I don’t understand!”  She turned to look at the restaurants that were behind her.  Neither one was the one she needed to go to.  “Ugh!  Seriously!  Of course I need to go to the restaurant that I’m not parked at.”

Ariel got back into her car and pulled out of the parking space.  As she backed out she looked at the parking space to see if there was anything suspicious.  But the parking space was completely empty.  As Ariel drove away toward the correct restaurant she was still completely confused.  She had no idea what she hit or what happened in that parking space.  But it was haunted, or possessed, or something.  Something was wrong with that parking space and Ariel should’ve listened when the car first hit something.  She should’ve left right away and gone somewhere else.

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Battery (Part 2)

~ 2catsandalaptop ~ Leave a comment

Good morning!  It is Friday!  Is everyone ready for the weekend?  I wish that I could say I was but I have to work all weekend.  But, enough about me, let get into the story.

Did you enjoy last weeks part one of this new story?  I hope so because I really liked writing this story.  I promise that the future parts (including this one) will be more exciting.  This story is Dark so I hope you enjoy!

Battery

Nick had to decide what the best route of killing would be.  He knew he had quite a few weapons but he had to pick which was the best one.  He didn’t want to use his gun because the police could trace the bullet back to him.  But he could use his knife to stab Bryce; that way he could keep the knife with him. It wouldn’t leave a trace but it may take awhile for the victim to bleed out.

He also considered the baseball bat that was abandoned in the garage.  That would be a quick blow to the head and almost an instant death. The biggest problem with a bat was the clean up after the attack.  Which would be easier to clean up: a stabbing bleed out or a baseball bashed over the head?

Nick decided on the bat; it would be a quicker death meaning less pain for the victim.

He waited on the couch until the doorbell rang.  He quickly stood up and walked over to the large oak door.  He checked through the peephole and saw Bryce standing on the other side.  Nick quickly threw open the door with more gusto than he was expecting. “Hey buddy!  Come on in.” He held the door open to let Bryce inside the large living room. “What do you fancy to drink?  I got some Jack Daniels, Jim Bean, some Fireball. Anything sound good?”

Bryce was staring at the large living room, his eyes as wide as saucers.  “Your place is stunning! I didn’t realize you had such a big house. And you live here by yourself?”

Nick nodded.  “Yeah. I have worked my way through the ranks to become a more popular lawyer.  I have put a lot of time and effort into I have been able to live my dream life.”  He handed Bryce a glass of whiskey. “Here. Jack Daniels is my personal favorite.”

Bryce cautiously took the glass from Nick.  “I don’t drink that often so I can’t say how I will act with alcohol in my system.  But…thanks.”

They sat down in the living room and Nick let out a sigh.  “So…what made you move here? Like, I know your job. But why did you choose…here?”

Bryce shrugged.  “I don’t know. My family lived in a very small town.  So growing up, everyone knows everyone and everything about everyone.  And so when I was given the opportunity to move away I took it. I mean…I moved 3 states away just to start over and start my own life.”  He finished his drink and set the glass down on the coffee table. “Thanks for the drink. I really needed it.”

Nick stood up and took the glass.  “No problem. Let me get you some more.”  He stepped into the next room to pour another glass and take a breath.  He needed to somehow get Bryce into the basement and smash his head with the bat.  Before Bryce arrived, Nick had taken the baseball bat down to the basement and hid it by the stairs.  It wasn’t a foolproof plan, but it may just work.

He walked back into the living room and set the glasses down on the table.  “Here you go. So tell me more about yourself. You got a girlfriend?”

Bryce took a drink and shook his head.  “No. I’m still so new here that I don’t know many people.  I haven’t really had time to go out to meet people.”

Nick nodded.  “That’s true. There are some awesome people in this town, you just need to go out and meet them.”  He leaned back in his chair and felt his heart start to pound. He needed to do something fast. “Hey…”  He coughed, trying to clear his throat to start the conversation. “I have a game room downstairs. You know, pool table, foosball table, some gaming equipment.  You wanna head down there?”

Bryce’s eyes widened.  “How did you get a pool table down to your basement?”

“Well I didn’t.  The movers did. I still don’t really know how they did it.”  Nick stood up and led Bryce toward the basement door. He opened it, showing Bryce inside.  Nick followed Bryce down the staircase to the empty basement. His eyes locked onto the baseball bat sitting next to the stairs but still out of sight of Bryce.

The two of them continued their decent and Nick swiftly grabbed the bat, putting it behind his back in the hopes that Bryce hadn’t seen it.  Bryce stepped down onto the floor of the basement and started to slowly turn around in confusion. “Uh…why is this room empty? I thought you said it was a game room.”

Bryce turned around to look at Nick, but his face soon met with the wooden baseball bat.  Nick swung as hard as he could and smashed Bryce’s face. Bryce flew across the room, his face connecting with one of the walls.  Nick continued to swing, smashing the bat against Bryce’s body until it stopped moving. He let out a breath and then let out a laugh.  

He did it.  He actually managed to kill someone.  And he didn’t feel bad in the slightest.  His heart was pounding as he tried to calm himself down.  As Nick stood there, he realized he needed to get rid of the body.  “Huh…now…how am I going to do this?” Bryce’s body was strewn across the floor and there was blood everywhere.  He could clean up the blood later, but the body had to go somewhere tonight.

Nick ran up the stairs into his kitchen.  He grabbed a trash bag from under the sink, some gloves from his cleaning cabinet, and ran back to the basement.  He put on his gloves and stuffed Bryce’s body into the trash bag. But as he did that, he started to wonder if he had touched Bryce.  “Okay…retrace your steps. You met him at the door…you didn’t shake his hand…you didn’t touch him with your hands…only the bat.  Okay…we should be good. If not…I’ll come up with something.” He kicked Bryce’s phone that was on the ground and smashed it with the baseball bat.  Nick gathered the pieces and threw them in the bag with the body. He tied the bag closed, carried it up the stairs, and walked to his garage.

He threw the bag in the bed of his truck and got in the driver’s seat.  Nick looked down and realized he wasn’t completely covered in blood. He was safe if anyone happened to see him.  The engine roared to life as the garage door opened. If anyone saw him leaving this late, he could always say he was taking Bryce home.  But then, why would be have ended up dead?

The truck drove out of the neighborhood and out into the countryside.  He stopped at a large field that didn’t have any houses or life around.  It was completely dark, the only light came from the moon and stars from the night.  Nick shut off the truck off in the middle of the road and got out. He walked around to the bed and took one final look around; there wasn’t a single soul out at this hour of the night.

Nick put on some fresh gloves, reached his hand into the bed of the truck, and grabbed a hold of the bag.  He lifted it over the edge and threw it into the ditch on the side of the road. The bag landed with a thud and slid down the hill to the bottom.  Nick stood there for a moment before getting back into his truck. He slowly turned the truck around and made his way back toward his home. But he wasn’t excited for what was to come at home.

There was a lot of blood just waiting to be cleaned up.

WW-Tell Me the Truth

~ 2catsandalaptop ~ Leave a comment

Good morning!  How is everyone doing?  I am very tired but I am very happy because I have just returned form Disneyland!  If you want to see what I did on my trip, check out my Instagram @2catsandalaptop. I posted a lot of pictures from the trip so feel free to see what I did.

And we continue on our trip though our Winchester story.  I won’t keep you any longer.  So I hope you enjoy this Adventure!

Tell Me the Truth

Winchester sat behind the glass of the interrogation room watching his father interrogate Melissa Hanaway.  This woman was an odd lady, constantly looking around the room to see if there was anything that could help her.  Her body shivered as she sat in the warm room, most likely from nervousness. West couldn’t tell if she was coming down from a high or was drunk but something really seemed off about her.  Anthony leaned back in his chair. “So…why did you decide to kidnap Gemma Edwards from her bedroom?”

Her eyes widened.  “We didn’t take Ginger…she came to us through the foster system.”

West let out a sigh, she was going to be a tough cookie to crack.  Anthony slammed his hand against the table causing her to jump. “No…she did not come through the foster system.  She has a family who has been missing her since she was kidnapped.” He pulled out the photo of Gemma before she went missing and placed it on the table.  “Isn’t this the little girl that you took before you changed her looks?”

A tear started to slide down Melissa’s cheek.  “We just wanted a little girl. We had out two boys but all we wanted was a little girl.  And Ginger was just perfect. She didn’t complain at all.”

“Are you sure she didn’t complain because she was good or because she was afraid to get hurt?  Or, maybe it was because you hurt her so badly she just decided that her life would become easier to just conform and follow what you told her to do.  This young girl was taken from her family, that lived 2 blocks away from you, and you just decided that she was going to be your daughter? Do you understand how crazy that sounds?”

Anthony stood up and did a quick lap around the room to cool off.  West could tell that he was angry and that his father wanted to just throw this woman into jail.  But he ended up sitting down across from Melissa and looking her in the eye. “Look, I don’t really believe your story.  But, if you tell me the truth then I can almost guarantee that you will get less of a sentence.” West knew his dad couldn’t guarantee anything but West hoped that it would cause Melissa to tell the truth.

She let out a sigh and tears started trickling down her face.  “Okay…it wasn’t my idea. I wanted a little girl but I was willing to adopt.  There are a lot of kids out there who need families and I was willing to give one of them a home.  My husband, not so much. He didn’t want to pay for an adoption fee and he knew it would be expensive.  And no matter how much I pleaded with him he wouldn’t budge. So when we met the Edwards family and saw their little girl, he knew immediately that she was going to be his daughter.  He planned the whole thing out, he bought the chloroform to knock her out, he was the one who actually broke into their house to take her, and he was the one who did most of the torture.  I just remember waking up to the news that she was in out basement.”

Winchester could feel the anger rising up inside of him and he saw his dad starting to get angry as well.  “So you just…went along with it? You just decided that it was a good idea to have a little girl in your house who wasn’t actually your daughter?”  Melissa nodded but didn’t say anything. Anthony let out a long breath and rubbed his hands over his face. “So how did you torture her?”

Melissa wiped a tear away from her eyes.  “Well…it was mostly my husband. But…we kept her in the basement and would spend hours with her just convincing her that he name was Ginger.  It took a long time but after some sleepless nights for her she finally started saying that her name was Ginger. We dyed her hair once a week to keep it dark and not show the red and she slept with curlers in almost every night to keep her hair so springy.  But we did glue her window shut when we thought the police were finally off our tails and locked her in her bedroom every night. We actually had a crib with a top on it for the first month that she lived with us so that way she knew she was ours and she was staying with us.  Once she finally started giving in, then she got her own bed. She knew what the rules were and by the time she had been here for a couple months she started abiding by the rules. We didn’t have to lock her door at night and she actually stayed in her room all night. She was such a sweet girl.”

Her eyes started to drift toward the corner of the room.  West could tell that they were close to losing Melissa. Anthony cleared his throat to bring her attention back to him.  “So…how long did you plan on keeping this a secret? What would’ve happened if she decided to go to the police when she was old enough?  Then what would you have done?”

She shrugged.  “We didn’t plan that far ahead.  We just thought that maybe as she got older she would forget what happened and just be happy with her life with us.  We wanted to give her the best life that she could have and that’s what we were doing.”

“Then maybe you should’ve left her with her family.  I think that’s what she would’ve wanted.” Anthony stood up and walked out of the room leaving Melissa to her own thoughts.  He walked into the side room and joined West. He let out a sigh. “This one’s tough.”

West nodded.  “Do you believe her?”

His father shrugged.  “I don’t know if I believe that it was all her husband’s idea.  I think that some of this was definitely her idea but she doesn’t want to admit it.  Honestly you see a lot of people turn on their significant other and throw them under the bus if that means that they don’t have to spend so much time in jail.  But I do believe that they didn’t plan that far ahead in their plan. I think they were just thinking about the present and that the case never got reopened.”

The room was slowly filled with light as the door opened.  Both men looked toward the door to see Chief Dyner standing in the doorway.  “There are some people here that would like to meet both of you. Could you come with me?”

Anthony and West followed Chief Dyner down the hallway to the lobby where the Edwards family was waiting.  Mrs. Edwards ran over to them and hugged both Anthony and West. “Thank you! Thank you for bringing my daughter home.  You do not understand how happy we are.”

Both Anthony and West took a step back and smiled.  Anthony smiled and looked over at his son. “He’s the one you need to thank.  Winchester looked at all the information from the case and found the one thing we needed to find Gemma.  We are just glad she is home.”

The family thanked them a couple more times before leaving with their daughter.  Anthony put his arm around Winchester. “This is why I do my job. I want to see families together and happy.”

Winchester smiled.  “I totally get it dad.  I hope I can help you more in the future.”

I Am Free

~ 2catsandalaptop ~ 5 Comments

Good morning!  It’s Monday and we are here with another short story for Grammy’s Grid.  That’s right, another one!  This time, the opening line is:

The summer breeze blew through my hair as I…

Now, this is a second part to Secretive and Haunted, so you may want to go read that one before reading this one.  So click here if you want to go back and read the other short story.  This story is a Paranormal story and I hope you enjoy!

I Am Free

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The summer breeze blew through my hair as I stood there staring at the house.  It was late afternoon and the sun was coming down toward the horizon. I was just about to head around the house to do my nightly patrol but something seemed off.  I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something seemed different.

I heard a noise coming from within the house.  I didn’t recognize the noise, it definitely wasn’t one of the new owners of the house.  It was an annoying clicking noise that didn’t seem like it was stopping anytime soon.

“Hello? My name is Ty.  Can you hear me?”

I flew into the house.  Who was Ty? I saw a young man wearing all black clothes standing there.  Who was this guy that was standing in the middle of the living room? I had never seen him before, so what was he doing here?

He stood in the middle of the room with a small device in his hand.  The device seemed to be where the noise was coming from but he seemed very concentrated on it.  Ty looked up toward the ceiling. “If there is someone here, can you state your name?”

I opened my mouth and tried to say something.  I stayed quiet most of the time because I didn’t want to scare the people who were living in the house.  But this Ty guy seemed to be wanting to talk to me. “Fr…Fran…Franklin…”

I watched Ty’s body freeze.  Did I do something wrong? He wanted me to state my name and now he seemed like he was frozen in fear.  Maybe he wasn’t actually expecting me to say anything.

“Okay…can you tell me what you are doing here?”

Honestly, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was doing in the house.  All I knew was that one day I was working and the next day I was floating around the house as a ghost.  I didn’t know what had happened but all I knew was that I was dead. So I guess that was the answer that he was looking for.

“Death…”

I could see Ty start to panic a little.  I really hoped that I hadn’t scared him into not helping me.  “Did you die inside the house? Or did you die outside somewhere?  And did someone kill you or did you kill yourself?” I felt myself starting to sink closer to the floor, reaching the same height as Ty.  I wasn’t exactly sure how to answer. I knew that I hadn’t killed myself but I still couldn’t be 100% sure. I had been dead for so many years I couldn’t really remember what happened.  I was brought back to reality by Ty clearing his throat. “I can’t help you if you don’t give me any information. So how can I help you?”

I knew where the bodies were.  I knew that I wasn’t the only one who had died, but I was the only ghost who was here.  I took a deep breath and opened my mouth to reveal our secret. 

“In…out…base…in…base…ment…”  

I felt ashamed that I couldn’t say any more but Ty seemed satisfied with my answer.  “Okay…so I need to go into the basement. Is the basement inside or outside?” I sat there a bit puzzled.  I just floated through the floors so I wasn’t exactly sure if the entrance to the basement was inside or out.  But I saw Ty nod his head. ““Okay. I will go find this basement and talk to you there.”

I followed Ty through the entire house, curious about what he was going to find.  I wasn’t sure where the basement was but I felt like a little puppy following his master.  I just followed Ty through every room until he walked outside and started stomping around. What was he doing?

Suddenly he stopped.  Ty stomped around in a small around and then started tearing the weeds away from the ground.  He found a door. Was this the entrance to the basement where my body was hidden? Ty gripped the handles of the door and started pulling on the door.  It didn’t budge.

I flew under the doors and pushed the doors open so that Ty could get in.  But I didn’t realize how powerful I was. Once I stopped I saw Ty laying on his back in the grass.  Oops.  I must’ve knocked him over.

Ty slowly stood up and made his way into the basement.  I followed him again. Once he saw the bodies, I felt something rising up inside of me.  I wasn’t sure what it was but I felt myself scream. I let out a blood curdling scream and I felt myself rocketing toward the sky.  I didn’t know what was happening but when I stopped I was in the clouds. I tried to go back toward the house but I couldn’t. I was free.  Ty had saved me.

And I was never going to be able to thank him.

Battery (Part 1)

~ 2catsandalaptop ~ Leave a comment

Good morning!  It’s Friday today which means it’s only 1 day until the weekend and then it will be time to relax.  I am very excited for that to happen.

But, before the weekend, we are starting a new story.  I had an idea to have a long series (this was before I started the Winchester Wednesdays) but I was planning on starting this series in January of 2020.  But, I shortly ran out of ideas on this kind of story and I shortened it to post on here.  So here it is for all of you to enjoy!

This story is categorized as Dark, so please enjoy!

Battery

The sun was setting over the horizon of the warm spring evening.  There was a slight breeze keeping the air cool and comfortable. Nick sat on his back patio, shooing away the crow that was sitting next to him.  “Stupid crow. Shoo!” He waved his arms at the crow making it fly away. He scoffed. “Thank you….geez.”

He leaned back in his chair and looked around his yard.  He lived in a large house in a wealthy neighborhood and had a large yard to relax in.  Nick was a lawyer in his town and everyone loved him. He was one of the more popular lawyers in the large city so he was working a lot.  But he was able to live a pretty lavish life by himself. His friends were all baffled why he was still single, but his answer was always that he was married to his work.

As Nick sat on the porch and the crow came back.  It landed on the porch and started walking near Nick’s feet.  Nick slowly reached into his back pocket and pulled out a pocket knife.  He slowly opened it and threw it at the crow. The crow cawed and tried to lift off the ground but his wing was stuck with the knife.  It flailed around before falling over, it’s chest stopping. Nick stood up and kicked the bird making sure it was dead before picking it up and taking it to the trash can.  

Nick realized his heart was racing.  But he didn’t feel nervous. He didn’t feel pain.  It was more like an adrenaline rush. Maybe that’s why he liked being a lawyer so much; the adrenaline of a trial and court was always exciting to Nick.  He didn’t have any remorse for what he did. Was this a good thing?

He walked inside the house and made his way toward his office.  It was almost identical to the one he had at his actual office. The large oak desk was in the center of the room with his laptop in the middle.  There was a large window with a bookshelf on either side, all the shelves filled with books and random art pieces.  

A couple of trophy deer heads sat up on the wall, displaying what Nick had done.  He was proud of those pieces and he was proud of what he had done as a lawyer. As he stood there admiring his trophies, his phone began to buzz in his pocket.  He pulled it out and looked at the screen, it was one of his best friends and law buddy Adam. He answered. “Hey buddy. What’s going on?”

“Hey…I have a favor to ask.”

Nick sat on the edge of his desk.  “Sure. What’s up?”

There was a cough on the other end of the phone.  “So, you know that murder trial I was working on last year?”

Nick nodded then realized he was on the phone.  “Yeah…the one where the guy killed 9 people?”

“Yeah that one.  Well…apparently it was a mistrial and one of the jury members was paid to vote guilty.  So it’s going to be a whole new can of worms. I just don’t think I’m up for it again. Would you be able to take it?”

Nick groaned.  “Seriously? I know nothing about the case.  You expect me to just take up this case with no prior knowledge of it?”

“Well…I could give you everything I have and go over all the notes with you.  I just don’t want to go through all the turmoil and emotional pain of it again.”

Nick snickered.  “Adam. I can’t take that case from you.  I am busy enough as it is and I have so many cases.  I’m sorry.”

There was a sigh on the other end of the phone.  “Okay…it was worth a shot. But seriously. I don’t think I’m going to survive going through it again.”

Nick looked up at the deer heads as he stood up from the desk.  “Well I’ll tell you what. If you need a second opinion on anything let me know.  I can definitely help you out. And when it’s over, I’ll buy you a drink.”

“Thanks man.  I appreciate it.  And I will take you up on the help and the drink.  Have a good night.”

“You too.”  Nick hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket.  “How hard would it be to kill someone? Is that a crazy thought?  It can’t be much harder than the deer, right?” He quickly left his office and ran toward his basement.  He threw the door open and bolted down the stairs to the dark room. It was empty but it was the perfect place to kill someone.  He had killed animals before but a person was different. What could go wrong?

Nick paced around his office.  “Nick…this is crazy. Do you think you would really be able to pull off a murder when you are on the other side of the law?  You are insane.” He fell into his chair and looked out the window behind him. If he did this and got caught, it was going to be the end of his law career.  Was he really going to give up everything that he went to school for to see if he could kill someone?

But there was this tiny piece of him that was curious.  He had hunted animals before and kept trophies of them in his office.  He was curious just how hard it would be to take a human life. Would he feel any remorse?  There was really only one way to find out.

As Nick pondered about his feelings, he felt his phone start to vibrate again.  He pulled it out of his pocket to see a familiar face. It was one of his church friends, a new guy who was still new to the church family.  He had no family in the area because he moved here for a job. It seemed like too easy of a victim. “Hey dude.”

“Hey.  I was wondering if you doing anything tonight.  I…I’m feeling kinda depressed. And…you’re one of my only friends here.  Would it be okay if we met up somewhere and hung out?”

Perfect.  “Yeah man.  Just grab an Uber and you can come on over to my place.  I got some good alcohol we can drink, if you want to anyway.”

“Okay.  Yeah, I can do that.  I don’t have a car so Uber is the only way to go.  I just need an address and I will see you soon.”

This was just too easy.  Nick felt an evil grin starting to form on his face.  “Yeah man. I’ll text you my address and I will see you soon.”

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