' Having visions of my hands washing away your blood! '
NOW PLAYING ;; HUSH - Ari Abdul
Word Count: 1528
Content Warnings: Blood, murder, panic attack, flashbacks
Credits: Chlo, Ninja and Gold for being there for me throughout the process of writing this.
Authors Note: I spent. The better part of April writing this. Fucking help me please-
This isn't the greatest but I am!!! Tired of writing this and I'm very excited for chapter three. :3
════ 6:50 AM
Eclair sets up for museum
Gets call uh oh Roguefort panic attack
Eclair stood in his office, surrounded by an array of books resting atop the tiered shelves. A lamp, which sat on various books, illuminated the room in warm hues. His gaze was set upon the peeling wallpaper of the walls, mentally grimacing at the sight of it. He never loved the look of peeled paint, his distaste for it being fuelled by his perfectionism. And his perfectionism aside, who would even like the look of peeled paint?
He was so lost in thought, staring at the wall, that he didn't notice the sensation of his phone vibrating in his pocket until a few seconds after the person had started calling. Eclair reached into the pocket of his dress, quickly pulling out his phone with the intention of declining the call, hesitating when he read the contact.
The name of the contact read back at him.
Roguefort Cookie.
Panic rose in his chest, and rightfully so. Roguefort preferred letters and text messages over calls- they were only reserved for the most urgent of emergencies. They'd only call if something was terribly wrong, so wrong that they didn't have time to write a letter or text message. He braced himself for the absolute worst, the worst being the death of someone in the family...
Eclair picked up, shakily raising his phone to his head. Faint, choked sobs could be heard on the other end of the line, childlike wailing being audible in the background.
Roguefort hadn't cried since they were all children. This was even worse than what he had imagined. He was usually the family crybaby, not Roguefort... oh, oh no.
Silence was pierced by broken sobs, before a shaky voice came through Eclair's ears. The voice was one he knew well, it was Roguefort after all.
'Th- thank, thank the celestials- hic- that- that you, picked up-'
"Roguefort! Is... is everything okay?"
He exclaimed his siblings name in the same way he would during a family reunion after not seeing them for months [sometimes years], trying to put on a brave face through the phone.
'N- n- no it- Ecl- Eclair Earl Grey is-
he's de- dead- '
And even with his mental bracing, nothing could prepare him for those two words. The knowledge of Earl Grey's passing struck him like a bullet train. It'd only be a hypothetical scenario he had thought about when his mind drifted away from reality. He never expected it to become reality. He never wanted it to in the first place.
His facade quickly shattered as his grip on reality slipped through his fingers, the exisiting panic in his chest growing stronger as the words were processed by his brain.
Earl Grey.
His younger sibling, the man he was meant to protect. He was barely twenty seven, and now, he'll forever remain twenty seven.
"... R- Roguefort. This isn't funny."
'I- I'm- I'm not jo- joking he's- hes gone- he's been stabbed I don't know what to do-'
"I'm. I'm on my way, call the police while I'm coming."
Eclair's rushed footsteps echoed off of the silvan floorboards as he made haste towards the Grandmaster Hotel. Hell, he didn't even know if he could bring himself to step foot in that building [the building which held his brothers cadaver, mind you], yet he was still practically sprinting over to it.
He rushed throughout the relatively empty streets of Parefadeia, the sound of chirping birds and car engines filling the silence of the city. Another denizen that was walking by could easily be identified as Latte- her hair and clothes being a key identifier. "Oh! Eclair!." She took a second to analyse the other, watching as he gasped for air right in front of her. "Is everything alright?" "No, quite the contrary! NOTHING is alright! Anyway, may you please caretake the museum for today? I don't mind if you leave it closed and i apologise for the short notice!" Eclair pulled out the master key to the museum, taking Latte's hand and placing it into her palm. "Thank you!"
He continued on his way to the hotel, leaving a woman with more questions than answers. As he burst the doors open...
... the sight was far from pretty. Then again, no murder scene is ever pretty. It's a given. Bile rose in his throat as forcefully tore his sight away from the scene- he is not about to throw up on the carpet of the building where his brothers corpse is in.
What he saw?
Blood. Seeping through the carpet, making its way to the floorboards, crawling into the grains of the wood. It was a bloodied mess. And at the centre of it all, Earl Grey. Entirely lifeless, with two stab wounds and two siblings left with more questions than answers.
A question that would be answered, however, was if the police were ever going to show up.
And they, in fact, did.
Red and blue lights swarmed the outside of the hotel, mixing in with the orange blanket of warm hues that came from the freshly rising sun. A voice that Roguefort knew all too well rang throughout the somewhat silent building...
════
It had been reported moments ago, the caller was screaming an incoherent mess of words about how someone was stabbed. He recognised the voice of the caller, and that alone was a cause for concern. What they were reporting was enough to make him feel inclined to report to the scene and take on the role of lead detective in the case. And, unfortunately, Walnut had caught wind of the case and insisted on accompanying Almond for it.
He had warned numerous times that this wasn't just something out of her comic books and novels, that this was far more serious than any other case she had been involved in. And in spite of all that, she still insisted on going with him despite his best wishes.
It was only when they arrived at the scene of the murder that Walnut found out about the victim, Almond sparing the crucial detail about the fact Earl Grey had children.
Walnut burst the door open as Almond trailed in behind the enthusiastic juvenile girl, notebook in his hand. She took a few steps forward, looking around before her gaze locked on Earl Grey's lifeless, motionless cadaver, and the blood that surrounded the corpse. The blood... the blood that seeped into the grain of the floorboard. She knew this all too well- this is too familiar-
Walnut stopped dead in her tracks, staring at the lifeless body, as the world around her drowning out to nothing more than meaningless background noise.
Walnut hid in the closet, watching her parents from the slim gap between the two sides of the door. Hazelnut's lanky, pale fingers wrapped around the trigger of the handgun. "What about the child?" A far deeper, more gruff voice spoke. "She'll die eventually, sh- wont mak- i— far in the—-eal wo—- an-
"Walnut? Are you okay?"
Almond's voice spoke, pulling Walnut out of her trancelike state. "Yep! I'm fine." Her far sweeter voice responded, yet something about it seemed distant. As if she was half in reality and half in her own world. "If you say so. But if this is too much, I don't mind you waiting in the car-" "Dad, it's fine!" Almond saw through her facade as if it was a glass window, and Walnut knew fully well that he saw through her lies.
But, that isn't what he should be focusing on... yet.
Flipping open the notebook, Almond wandered around the crime scene, thoroughly and coherently documenting every piece of information that could be useful in the future. There were clear signs of a break-in; a shattered window, loose orange threads that seemed to come from a dress, a pastel yellow button, and other miscellaneous items that could hint towards the murderer.
Something deep down inside him was screaming at him. How this was more than a spontaneous killing that occurred out of the blue, and that there would be more murders to come.
════
"Where have you been."
String Gummy's voice was heard from across the room as he pushed himself off the wall he leaned on, stepping towards the other figure present in the room. "Ah, nowhere. Why is it any of your concern, String Gummy?" A far more feminine, sweet tone spoke back at him. He sighed deeply, furrowing his eyebrows. "There was a murder at the Grandmaster Hotel, and coincidentally enough, you were there last night." "And?... a mere coincidence, I wasn't involved in Earl Grey's death."
"...I didn't say who was murdered, Dark Fondue."
YOU ARE READING
Shattered Songbird
Fiksi PenggemarEarl Grey Cookie had been caught in a toxic relationship for years, getting the courage to divorce his partner on request of his family, who insisted that he was homosexual. He eventually listened, divorcing his partner, and moving on... ... but it...
