Unmatched

Chapter One

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THE NIGHT OF APRIL 15th was supposed to be relaxing. It was a Saturday evening; the children were tucked in their beds and married couples watched romantic shows on the television, the smell of buttery popcorn surrounding them.

However, it was different for 28-year-old Irene Fox. Some mysterious killer assumingly broke into her house that night and stabbed her repeatedly 48 times. It frightened the peaceful county as there were not many crimes that took place there - let alone a murder. Families locked up their houses tight, schools closed, and news stations with rambling reporters played on many televisions.

So, detective Esmarie Rose was busy scribbling down notes, searching up any information about Irene, and making call after call. Maliah Rose, Esmarie's only child, was also quite busy upstairs in her room. You see, Esmarie had divorced her ex-husband 3 years ago, and he didn't seem to want anything to do with Maliah. Of course, she couldn't just flat out tell her daughter that, so she told Maliah to write cards to her father and she would mail it to him. Spoiler alert, she never did. Instead, she kept them in an old pink shoebox at the bottom of her closet, leaving Maliah unaware that she had no contact with her father whatsoever. 

Upstairs, Maliah worked hard on yet another letter to her father, listening to the soft mumbles of her mother rambling from downstair into the family phone about how drastic the situation was. Maliah's No.2 pencil moved rapidly against the smooth white paper, and she would have to stop to blow off extra dustings of led that laid around the neatly written cursive. Maliah enjoyed writing letters to her father, even if she never got one back. The truth was, she missed him dearly. Maliah didn't understand why he just left, or why her mother didn't do anything to stop him. 

About 15 minutes of writing later, Esmarie knocked on Maliah's door. "Come in," The girl said softly, still focused on the paper in front of her. She turned her head slightly to see her mother in skinny jeans and a black t-shirt. Her hair was in a messy bun and pieces of hair stuck out, which reminded Maliah of a haystack. 

"We're eating out tonight again, do you want chicken nuggets?" Esmarie asked her daughter, leaning over Maliah's shoulder to read some of her writing, which, in response, Maliah quickly shoved in a nearby drawer so Esmarie couldn't read it. "Yeah, that's fine!" Maliah said in a higher pitched voice, a forced smile drawn onto her lips. "You can leave now." She added, nodding towards the bedroom door. Esmarie stopped, wanting to say something for a moment before changing her mind, nodding, and turning on her heels to leave. Once at the door, she took one last look at her daughter and smiled before shutting it closed.

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END OF CHAPTER ONE