The Writer's Games: Summer 2016 Edition ♡

The Investigators: Prompt One

Read through all five entries and vote for your favorite - only ONE!

Seventeen years have passed since that day and Marie remembers it all oh so clearly. It still haunts her every day. The mystery as to who killed her Nana, who this person was, crept into her mind every day, every minute, every second. Marie pledged to not give it a rest until she figured out who it was.

A thorn, with all its strength, jabbing at the strings of her heart, sporadically, catching her by surprise, with every ache deeper than before, describes the haunting, the burden she feels having those memories replay in her head. It burns, it aches. These memories resurface with every case.

Marie stepped back from the corpse as Leo, their crime scene photographer, took one last photograph before they passed it on to the pathologists. The two waited for Karen, Marie's personnel co-worker and closest friend, to finish discussing her collections. They would head back to the office for further instructions on the case. CSI definitely was no easy challenge. It took weeks, sometimes months or years, to solve even the least lethal cases. For a case this big, there seemed to be no end.

After three days passed, Karen, Leo, and Marie met with their head detective, Sam, in his office. He updated the three with new information. As he spoke, Marie trailed off, only absorbing few of what he discusses.

"Deep stab wound right in the lower back, reaching the aorta," Sam listed. "Victim's name was May Fleur. Grad student in her early twenties. Wounds were two hours subsided when found, so Fleur had to have died around 12:30 a.m.. Found traces of metal in the body. Metal from shears judging by the wound. Same as the others."

From hearing the specifics, flashes of her grandmother's body grazed her mind. The images placed her grandmother in the same description. She crouched down, squeezing her eyes shut, holding her head. "Marie?" several voices overlapped in her mind, repeating consistently, all full of concern. Why? It all seemed like disembodied voices until she eventually touched back with reality. It was her coworkers, staring at her on edge.

"You okay?" Karen frowned, placing a hand on her back. She rubbed it as the other two leaned in.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Marie nodded, "I just need to rest for the day."

Sam nodded, "Okay, you do that."

Marie returned home, fixing herself comfort food and aiming to cuddle up with Abigail and Anna, the kittens of Adam. They watched television until late at night. A sudden chill gave Marie the idea to check up on Karen. She could have more leads:

> 1:45 AM : Hows the investigation going? Any new evidence?

< 1:45 AM : The same since you left. Although I got an anonymous tip as to where the

killer is hiding!!! I'm leaving now!!!

> 1:46 AM : Okay do ya need back-up?

< 1:48 AM : I got this in the bag man. i dont need no back up

Karen is typing...

Marie sighed before standing up to fix herself some more ice cream. After settling down, she checked her phone, noticing that, even after forty-two minutes, Karen was still typing. Marie navigated through her phone to reveal Karen's location. She gaped. How could she possibly be here? This place was shut down. It was almost impossible to enter with the construction and hazardous material. There is no way.

Karen was in the old apartment that shut down years ago due to the massacre that the Beauty Queen Killer caused. The destruction made the place completely uninhabitable. If it was one thing Marie knew, it was that Karen's impulsivity would be the end of her. It's completely illogical to ever need to be there. Why would she still go?

Marie sat for five minutes debating whether she should assist her friend. She sighed, deciding to throw on some clothes, rush into her car, and head toward the apartment building.

As she arrived, she noticed Karen's car doors wide open, prompting her to stop the car and slowly examine the scene. She circled the car, slowly, ensuring nothing would pop out at her. There was blood stains on the seat. She snapped pictures of it on her phone. Shuffling away from the vehicle, Marie spotted Karen's phone on the ground. She snapped a quick picture before unlocking her phone. She discovered an unsent message:

'Stupid me! I'm meeting them at our old apartment complex. Although i was suppose to meet them alo—'

A flash snapped into Marie's head: the vision of seeing her grandmother driving, suddenly being taken away with all her remains left behind. Marie's stomach knotted as she clenched her teeth. She walked further to the correct unit building. Slow and steady steps, filled with trembling hands. Marie tried to put on her "professional face"—to keep her from whimpering. Before walking into the building, she recapped the prior events in her mind:

She left the office to go home to comfort herself. After a while, Karen—no—someone texted her the location of the Beauty Queen Killer from Karen's phone. She eventually found Karen missing but had clues as to where she could be. If everything is correct, she should be in their old place.

Marie headed up the stairs, pausing when she saw the door to one room open. It was theirs. She slowly made her way to the room, her breathing hoarse and slow. Upon entering, she observed the surroundings, gaping as her heart sank. Karen's body binded up on the wall. Beside her stood a short, brunette writing something with blood.

"You," Marie yelled, prompting the lady to turn, "You're her? The Beauty Queen Killer?"

The lady merely laughed. Her voice full of evil and wickedness, sending a chill up Marie's spine. She continued with her writings. In the opportunity, Marie reached for the recording device in her back pocket, finding the record button. Click.

"Ciao!" she spoke, "Have the police finally found me?" She said as she jabbed a knife into Karen's unbeating heart, "Girls as pretty as her don't deserve to live!

"How foolish of me to go uncredited for my evil mastery! You should know. It is I, Laurie Bookstrum, who committed these sins," she boasted while taking the weapon out of Karen's body. She twirled it around her index finger, "And now, for your end!"

Marie tried to push her body to move, but the sight before her sent her into an immobile panic. She couldn't breath. The knife plunged directly into her heart, causing her to fall to the ground.

"Sayonara," Laurie creaked before disappearing into thin air.

"The bodies of two missing investigators, Marie Topp and Karen Mies, have been discovered today around 5:50 a.m. by two urban exploring men," a reporter announces, "According to autopsy reports, they were both killed approximately twenty days ago and have now been part of the 'Beauty Queen Killings,' the case they were working against.

"Their deaths weren't in vain as other officers have found a recording of a woman identified as 'Laurie Bookstrum' who claims to be the Beauty Queen Killer on one of the victim's phone. The police now have her in custody as she awaits trial in two weeks time."