F.L.Y.N.N [ Book no.1 of "The Fouling Damned duo"]

02: 12 | without neither pain nor truth

~ Tempest's POV, continuation~

I ANSWER IT, as I try to recollect my emotions and feelings into one ball of pain that I can toss out the trash-

" Hey, Ems."

" HEY HEY HEY GURL! So, the feast tis' over! And I was thinkin'— wanna unwind at the bar with me?"

" Uhh, w-why?"

" Gurl, hear yourself for a minute, will ya? Ya sound super DUPER DEAD with a capital D. What ya mean why? To relax of course! Come on, with all the commotion going on lately, we gotta get our minds out of the chaos even just for a bit-"

Chaos?

Is that what she thinks it is?

Commotion?

Is that all there is to this?

But to me... It's so much more than that.

Those monotonous eyes, while they've been eaten, carved out by the likes of man, killed for the sake of another, are just the beginning. The beginning of what? Of something inside of me, begging to come out, be it good or evil. If it's evil, what would be my answer?

" Okay, fine... Sure, Ems, I'll go with you guys-"

I sigh, and Ems twitters about some more, words of encouragement and excitement, and hangs up the phone.

But is it really the time and place to be celebrating? And... For whom, exactly?

****

Let's relax and unwind.

Let's forget our despicable reality.

Let's remember that life comes and goes, and there's nothing... One can do about it... In the end.

These thoughts haunt me, circling around my conscious like a crowd of crows taunting a dead animal before it would inject its sharp beak into rotten skin, picking at it like it was made out of stuffing; their doll, their object. Tis' the circle of life as it twists a humans' heart whole, and causes the brain to overthink and become twisted itself.

"I wonder... Just how can Detective Esmeralda Kim herself deal with all of the craziness... As part of her... Job? I just don't understand-" I tend to talk to myself when I'm either stressed or feverish...

I don't even know what empathy even means anymore.

****

Suddenly, I hear a rush of heels click-clacking across the pavement sidewalk leading out of the temple into the parking lot. A happy breeze floats within the air, and suddenly a wild Ems appears to give me a sudden jump-scare-esque bear 'hug.'

Welp, more like a jump scare that could've awoken the dead for sure. She sure gives me the jiffies!

"Boo! Scared ya' didn't I?!" The wild Ems makes her appearance, all decked out in her standard F.D.C, a.k.a, the 'Floyd Detective Corps,' getup, but make it catered to the wild Ems herself, with the long, chunky, French braid that ties up her voluminous, long dark locks in a high ponytail clipped with a small red ribbon clip thing at the end.

The usual F.D.C. getup consists of navy-black slacks and a matching long sleeved cotton blouse, for the ladies, and a polo for the mens. A single golden brooch with their last names etched in dark grey font is situated on their chest area, where their heart is. A standard set of certified small detective badges remain in colorful rows on their left side of their chest area, complete with gold embellishing.

Along with their black standard military boots, although, Ems wears hers with added two inch heels, and their silver and red striped belt, with the F.D.C. logo as their buckle, in the shape of a skull with two weapons, one a sword embellished with small diamonds, and one with a gun made of brass, the F.D.C, while a rather small company of detectives dedicated to tackling the unforeseen and grisly cases of Salisbury suburbia, is actually a franchise with other fellow connected F.D.C groups across New York City, California, Texas, South Carolina and even in some parts of Manhattan and New Jersey.

For the past two weeks that the ritual for Granny Dorothy and her husband's deaths have taken place, some detectives, policemen and policewomen, as well as sheriffs from across some of their respective branches have even made it to the temple.

Ems may not look like it, but, according to Sheriff Hernandez, one of her upper hand leads, as well as General Hubert, the head of the F.D.C in Salisbury, a man I have not met yet, but have heard some things about him; Ems was salutatorian of her graduating class in Buck Rodgington University, a well-known law and criminal studies university around Salisbury.

Also, Ems is a rather talented and gifted detective, utilizing key concept clues from rather difficult, explicit cases in the F.D.C in a matter of days, and her charm and wit can distract a suspect and can expose them of the truth behind their wrongdoings. Not that I am one to know as such.

I decide to go along with her playful, and exuberant attitude, and, attempting to mimic her actions and words, I exclaim, "Yeah! You did scare me fufu-"

She snorts, and lets out a hyena-like giggle here and there.

"Come with me, I want to take you somewhere!" She tells me, and pushes me in the direction of her car, on the opposite end of where my car is parked.

"Wait... Why?"

"Uhhh duh GURL! I gotta get ya prim and proper for the unwinding we gotta dew at the bar tonight!"

"Shouldn't the outfit I'm wearing right now be okay?"

She scans me up and down, with a look between disgusted and comical.

"Um... Gurl, if your saying that you wanna look like an office lady at the bar then sure, be my guest-"

"..."

Silence fills the air when I suddenly remember that I'm wearing that same outfit that I wore when I... Met up with Sheriff Hernandez and Detective Kim at the café... The same outfit that Granny Dorothy bought me at that fancy boutique at the galleria mall: on the night of her death.

"Well... What's wrong with looking like an office-" I start to say, however she cuts me off with a shake of her head all sassy-like.

"Nuh-uh girly. We ain't gonna deal with your wussy outfit tonight! Come, I shall turn you into a beauty! Get in the car!"

And with that, I am forced into Ems' police car with no questions asked.

As if I'd want to play Cinderella tonight.
Not like Ems had anything to say about that.

*****

Do I even have the right to be happy? What does it even mean to be them, the kind of people that smile and forgive and forget, the kind of people that can move on from a depressing moment in their life knowing that a brighter future awaits for them in the end?

The kind of people that don't have regrets, the kind of people without neither pain or truth. The truth be sought from others, the kind that can only be learnt from experiences and hard earned trust.

Would you believe it if I told you? That happiness is only what satisfies the living?