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❝ the gods love to toy
with secrets and tragedies ❞
DEATH IN RENNWOOD, NY had two options: a) tragic and b) natural. If you chose option a) tragic, you were young and foolish, wrecking the new money steamed Mercedes Benz you got for your sixteenth birthday, overdosing on the drugs you got because you could; reckless decisions, reckless death. If you chose option b) natural, you died of old age, or some other less than sinister disease. You were a real winner, you stayed in this god-forsaken town for your entire god-damned life until you finally dropped dead.
Of course, you could always try and consider option c) murder, but that was hardly ever the case. Rennwood, NY boasted the lowest crime rates in the history of New York. The only crimes you could commit here was stealing a grandmother's purse. Though, it could be added that perhaps the only reason crime rates appeared so low was that small towns are better at hiding secrets in general. But murder, murder was unthinkable. Murder was the stuff of crime shows and wandering minds, such as the case of Imogen Li.
Imogen Li was not a native-born Rennwood citizen. She turned up two years ago, a troubled girl of fifteen with a keen eye and a curiosity that always got her into trouble.
Her father was the new police chief (the old one had ended up dying here of completely natural causes). Before Rennwood, he had headed the station in New York City, solving the crimes that lurked in its depths, but that was before he was replaced by a younger, more ambitious deputy. Now, they were here, for multiple clashes of reason and circumstance.
It became clear from the beginning that Imogen would never be able to fit in with a town that was predominantly white. Small towns came with large prejudices.
Not only was she a newcomer, but she was also Asian and female, a clear minority in Rennwood's hierarchy of the straight, white male.
Imogen Li was never one to stand on the sidelines so she jumped straight into the action.
At this point, one might add that Imogen's mother strongly disagreed with her daughter's viewpoints. Helen Li was a traditionalist, and 21st century or not, she had beliefs that would not be shaken. While Imogen tried to shake off her Korean roots, Helen spoke only Korean with her daughter for the next two years. When Imogen died her hair a bright, lapis lazuli color, Helen had nearly lost her head and dragged her to the hair salon to attempt to reverse the damage. When Imogen renounced going to extra tutors in favor of spending more time with her peers, Helen fully booked her schedule for the next 3 months. When Imogen started dressing more risque, Helen tried to enroll her in a school run by nuns.
Needless to say, Helen and Imogen hardly ever agreed.
Nonetheless, these acts had made her quite the starlet at school. Her fame was wide and endless, and in her own way, she climbed the hierarchy that was Langston Preparatory. Hated or adored, everyone grudgingly admired her in some way. Perhaps it was how she could command the presence of any room, or her natural witty comments. Her own unique beauty with glassy almond eyes hidden behind a sleek wave of hair, or even the way she earned A's with complete ease and charmed her way through life. It was practically no wonder that she finally caught Liam Waters attention.
If Imogen was fire, then Liam was most certainly ice. As the golden boy of Langston, and if not the entire town of Rennwood, he embodied the ideals of the town. The Waters family was old money, riches passed down through the generations. He was polite armed with devilish charm. Think Rhett Butler, from Gone With the Wind, Gregory Peck, beguilement from the olden days. People listened to his voice, deep, rich and throaty, it reminded Imogen of a rising storm. And, of course, he was gorgeous. The ever classic all American god. Brown close cropped hair, sharp eyes that you could lose yourself in, with a body that filled any room he walked into. Even Imogen got a little starstruck.
It certainly shocked everyone when fire and ice met. No one expected it to work out, no one thought it would end well, with one burning the other. But it did work out, almost too perfectly, like everything else in this town. He smoothed her out and became her rock. She brought out his spirit, made him fun. Together, they were a force to reckon with.
Imogen was madly in love with him, for reasons she couldn't fathom. For once, she, the great Imogen Li with countless of outrageous acts under her belt, was struck by this boy. The way he smiled at her, or threw his arm around her, or lent her his hoodie, which she never intended to give back. Soon it was always Liam and Imogen, Imogen and Liam, two peas in a pod. Two halves to a whole.
So, perhaps, that is why Imogen was so devastated when he died.
For like they say, fire and ice never did end well.
