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A short comic mystery, part one. |
Prologue I suppose any good story starts with a character, and this story has quite a few. So, let’s get started: Meet Maud Werthers. Maud (27) struggles with her distant husband Lee Werthers and her only child William. She thinks, often, of running away from her drunkard husband, but her concern for William keeps the family together at their small home in Tulston, Ohio. Glinda B. Hauton was born two thousand, two-hundred and twenty-four days, four hours, and thirty-two minutes before the birth of her younger sister, Maud. Glinda, at age 18, legally changed her name to Gilda T. Great. She enjoys small amounts of fame from her job as a television psychic. "The Great Gilda" appears as a segment of the "T. Everett Show" every Tuesday evening at exactly 6:05pm. She takes her job seriously, although some in the studio treat her like comic relief. The two sisters haven’t spoken since Maud’s marriage began. Maud's husband, Lee, is an only child. After losing his father to murder and his mother to prison, Lee spent a short amount of time with his aunt, Linda Ewing, before meeting Maud. When Maud turned eighteen, they were married (despite her sister’s sudden deluge of ‘psychic warnings.’) Their son William was born 7 months later. The last characters you must meet now are the Dovers: Marissa, one son (Cameron) and one daughter (Lillian). The father of the two children currently resides with his wife, the newer more expensive model of Marissa. Marissa and her children live above the bakery that they inherited when Marissa's father died. Part One The “T. Everett Show”, on this particular morning, was running short, meaning “The Great Gilda” was awarded the rare privilege of a prolonged segment. Those watching at home would have seen Gilda as she threw her hands into the air and bellowed irrelevant questions in one direction then the next. They would have seen her climb onto her desk and perhaps most importantly; would have seen her proclaim that she would soon be re-united with her long lost sister, just before running off screen to prepare for this epic meeting. Unfortunately Maud didn't see the spectacle. Maud wasn't watching the T. Everett Show. Quite simply, Maud never watches the T. Everett show. Instead she dismisses it as an abomination of true entertainment. Holding this opinion solely based on the show's employment of her considerably crazy sister. She had no clue that William secretly wanted to be just like his aunt: jumping into the air, consulting magic. He’d never let his mother know. For some reason he felt a certain sense of pride in his keeping this secret, knowing that when the adults returned they’d just see a well-behaved and “unusually clean child” as Marissa often noted. Gilda ran full-speed out of the television studio in which she worked. She made her way quickly home, so as to consult with the spirit she kept there as her so-called spouse; Jude Ewing. In Jude's previous life he had been a songwriter and had lived in a small mansion. Now, his spirit is housed in a glass bottle, or so Gilda says, who treasures him as her greatest spiritual discovery. To reach her home at such a time in the day she thought it would be wise to walk, instead of bothering with traffic. The strong rain and wind would have normally convinced her to find another means of travel, but she couldn't be bothered with that now, not after her recent psychic discovery. The wind howled through the rusty, broken window above the Dover Family Bakery. It didn't seem to bother Cameron. He was who peering through the small space between the closed curtains. The small town of Tulston had nothing to offer on a dreary day like this. Soon, though, a tired Gilda Great ran past the window. Her heavy clothing was sopping wet. Cameron smiled and turned to go downstairs. He met his sister on the staircase. “I don’t think he’s coming back…” she looked up at her brother. “Grow up brat.” Cameron pushed his sister to the side and continued downstairs into the bakery. His mother was gone. “Don’t leave the house!” he yelled back up the stairs as he slipped on a jacket and walked into the rain. Marissa Dover stumbled out of the home of her unnamed lover. She avoided the rain for six minutes and fourteen seconds exactly by sitting in, and trying unsuccessfully to start, her car. The car and she had a long history of upset. Time after time she would become so superficially obsessed over cleaning the car that she would forget to make sure that it was in working order. It often broke down on the side of the road, but Marissa never had trouble finding a ride nearby. Almost anyone was willing to give Marissa a ride, instead she recognized this as the perfect excuse to stay with her dear lover. So she retreated back into the seclusion of his home and picked up the phone. Lee Werthers quickly answered the call, disappointed when he heard it for Maud. She didn't talk long before announcing that she must check on Marissa's children at once. She explained that Marissa had taken a brief excursion out of town, and was afraid to come back in such weather. She asked if William would like to come, but he politely declined. She went to her closet and picked out her heaviest coat before entering the family's beaten Buick and venturing out into the worsening storm. William darted to his bedroom to savor this moment of solitude. In minutes he had freed his minds of the bonds that his mother constantly laid upon him. He took a pen and notebook from under his bed and gave solidarity to every thought that came to his mind. Thoughts that had been running laps in his mind all day instantly began to flood onto the paper. This notebook was William's escape into his true character, but it would soon be filled. He had been using these spare moments to write in that notebook for little over a year. Lee Werthers watched anxiously through the kitchen blinds as Maud pulled out of the driveway. William had scurried off to his room, and now Lee was alone. He walked calmly into his bedroom and locked the door. He’d been waiting for this moment. Emptying his pockets onto the bed, he made quick work of finding the wadded piece of paper he’d been thinking about all day. The phone number was faded, but still decipherable. Lee closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and carefully dialed the number from his new cell. Letting it ring once before ending the call. “We have to go back!” Lillian protested, as Maud frantically circled the area surrounding the Dover family bakery. “We have to go back, we have to find him!” “Calm down Lily, we’ll find him. He couldn’t have gotten far.” Maud nervously replied, clearly just as panicked as the young girl. “He said he was going home,” Lily began to cry. “I asked him not to leave.” “You told me your brother-“ “NOT HIM! NECO! WE HAVE TO FIND NECO.” She screeched, and began sobbing hysterically. Maud, clearly distraught, began driving back to the bakery, hoping Cameron would be back. If not, she thought, at least there she could use the phone. After a moment the pair stepped out of the vehicle and ran towards the empty bakery, making a futile effort to shield themselves from the torrential downpour. |