A haggard and burnt out man starts his day off with a roll out of an empty bed and into a small dingy crumbling bathroom filled with vermin. Jasper Inanis looks at his sunken gaunt face in the cracked mirror and wonders what he has done with his life for the past 5 years. A twinkled eyed young man freshly out of college ready to start his journey to become the next Carl Linnaeus. Jasper a Native Hawaiian man in his mid to late twenties, 26 was planning to become the most well acclaimed botanist of the 21st century. His dream was abruptly halted seemingly infinitely due to the untimely death of his mother Contessa Murus.
Jasper never really knew his father. Lars Inanis was always gone drinking or waking up in another woman's or man's bed depending on how he felt . He had his last name which he resented from what he'd been told by his mother he was a stony apathetic man who masked his emotional abuse to his mother as "Telling it how it is". His father took the coward's way out in a secluded forest on the outskirts of Alton, Illinois after causing the death of a 13 year old boy in a fiery accident . His mother fell into a deep depression after the two deaths, her being the only Coroner in the town she had to not only identify the burned body of her 13 year old nephew Waylen Beatitudo but she also had to identify the badly decomposed body of her missing husband found hanging from a Mulberry tree. Ms. Murus had a chaotic life but the death of the two was the climax causing a huge rift in her family all while she was just made a single widowed woman with a 6 year old son. She did her best though and Jasper was her only source of happiness at some points and the same for him. So the freak accident his mother was in truly broke him, her being crushed by a Mulberry tree in her bed on a stormy night. He was truly alone after the accident 20 years ago; his surviving family wanted nothing to do with him. She was the only Coroner and her being gone he had to take her place, her death conveniently being 6 months after his graduation. He was forced to leave his new life in Dallas, Texas and come back to the muted and gloomy town in which he was born, Alton, Illinois.
Jasper snapped out of his head trip and took one last look at his face and got ready for his lousy and revolting job. He walked out of his small apartment he refused to live in his mother house even though it was and hoped in his mothers old candy apple red Honda S2000 "She loved bright colors she was one spunky lady" he said to himself "Somehow this hunk of metal survived with barely a scratch on it but she didn't" he mumbled under his breath. He put his car in reverse and drove away from his nest "Mulberry Landings'' is what the sign read in his rearview mirror then began the 5 mile journey through the rotted gloomy town of Alton. Jasper was always in his head and one of the things that raced through his mind constantly even before his mother died was "Why does the Coroner's office get so many bodies in such an empty town and why were 90% of the dead people not from here?" Upon his arrival he spotted the distinct car of the town's sheriff David Sapiens. A wise and soft hearted man despite his life being a prime example of "Don't let your trauma label you". Along with the sheriff a mass of professional looking people with oddly terror-stricken faces even the gusty sheriff.
"Jasper we have to talk" Sapiens said
"This must be serious he never calls me by my full name" Jasper thought
"What's up Mr. S?"
"Jasper as you can see there is a very urgent case you need to attend to"
The sheriff hands Jasper a messily put together file that is a bit damp
The sheriff is called away by a very serious looking group of people he briskly walks away without another word and Jasper is alone again but this time extremely confused. He attempted to proceed in his daily routine of walking into the "Deadwood Coroners Office" ; he always thought it was a fitting name. He didn't make it six steps before a fluffy haired girl ran towards Jasper yelling out "DAD" while running away from two police officers from the neighboring town. At first Jasper thought that his wild day in college finally caught up to him until he realized what she was trying to do. She ran behind him and hid away. He was in a crappy mood today but he played along and yelled in a disapproving tone
"What did you do now?!"
"Is she with you?" an officer with fiery red hair asked
He'd sigh "Yeah she didn't feel too well so I let her skip school and come with me but now I see it was all a front"
"Yeah you should really keep an eye on your kid, she was trying to snap photos of the- wait are you the coroner" an east asian female office with piercing hazel eyes said
"Yes that's infact me and for your information I told to go snap photos of everything she saw
Seeing how she plans on following into my footsteps."
"Oh then we apologize sir just keep an eye out we wouldn't want her to get hurt" the female officer said with disdain.
"Is that a threat?! If you wanna rumble player?! You unproportional built rat" the girl said
"Hush!" Jasper said
The female officer smeared but was pulled away by the male officer
The whole situation made Jasper feel slightly jaded due to the fact that Jasper was a believable father figure. Did he really look that old? The job he started really aged him 10 years he thought.
"Thanks chap good looks well I'm off!" the girl stated then tried to run off but was grabbed by her collar
"Slow your roll you gremlin who are you and why are you here"
"Let go or I'll yell stranger danger."
"Wouldn't that blow your cover and wouldn't you be spending the night in the town's jail if you were caught?"
"Hm good point alright I'm Garcelle Gaudium what about you old man?"
"Firstly I'm nowhere near old I'm 26 secondly what are you doing here?"
"WHEW you sure??!"
Jasper felt a spark of anger in his chest
"You're really pushing your luck kid, answer my question."
"I'm here to find out what happened to the Flentes."
"The what? Listen kid, I don't have time for this, go read a book or something." Jasper said as he turned
"Yeah sure no problem." Garcelle tried to skip to the entrance of the Coroners office
Jasper's arm flexed in preparation to grab her but he saw the two police officers watching them with unblinking eyes he then decided to walk behind her. The only person that would know she was in fact not his daughter was the sheriff and he hadn't seen him since he walked off. Once they entered the building he told her to sit in the waiting room. He made his way to his office and touched the doorknob..."Why is it so cold?" Jasper thought. He twisted it and felt a bit of resistance as if someone was turning the knob the opposite way as he was trying to open the door. Jasper felt a deep and animalistic fear as if his lizard brain was yelling at him to get away from the door. He did just that with a sharp turn he sped back into the waiting room and saw Garcelle seemingly arguing with a police officer who looked Native American and was about 6'2.
"You can't be in here!" The officer said
"My dad works here!!!" Garcelle argued
"What's the problem sir?" Jasper said while walking in
"Oh uh is this your daughter?" The officer said nervously
"Yeah she is." He'd glance at her
"Oh well I uh- apologize" He began to walk away.
"Actually, could you help me? I just need to be escorted to my office. I know it sounds kinda crazy but I'd really appreciate it."
"No problem sir which way?"
"Through the hallway." He'd point to the hallway
"Well you might need some extra protection so I might as well come too" Garcelle proceeded to rush in front of the two before any of them could stop her.
They all walked through the doorway and Jasper stopped in front of his office door.
"This might sound kinda crazy but I'm getting a really bad feeling." Garcelle said while looking slightly concerned.
"Yeah, so am I." Jasper said while looking at the office door with a concerned mug
The officer had a stone cold face but Jasper and Garcelle could tell he was also scared by the look in his eyes.
"Well um are you gonna open the door?" The officer asked
"Oh! Yeah yeah of course" Jasper fumbled with the file and his bag and proceeded to turn the door knob but at the last second he let go because his bag began to slip
SCREECHHH...
