The Flesh and Blood

Part 2

2020

The shrill beeping of your alarm wakes you up with a jump. You groan and roll over, picking up your phone from the bedside table and hitting the snooze button before dropping it back down. You allow yourself to stay in bed for the next 5 minutes, but its not long before the alarm is reminding you it's time to get up and start the day.

An hour later you're ready and leaving for work. You close the front door of the cottage you live in and head down the hill toward the village high street, taking in the views of the sea as you walk. You've lived in this village for as long as you can remember, but the view still makes you smile.

The high street is one main road that runs through the small village and is lined with shops either side. As you walk down the street you greet various other villagers opening up their shops for the day. You hold your breath as you pass the butchers so you cant smell the scent of the uncooked meat hanging in the window. Then you pass the florist and take a deep breath, floral scents flooding your senses. You stop when you reach the local clothes shop and see the owner cleaning up shattered glass.

"Morning Roger" you say and he turns to look at you with sad eyes "what happened?"

"oh someone broke in last night. Smashed the window and stole the suit straight off the mannequin" he points to the naked mannequin left standing in the broken window display.

"did they take anything else?"

"Nothing. Not even a penny from the till. Just the one suit, thats it."

"that's weird. At least theres not too much damage though"

"I guess I should count myself lucky that it could have been much worse. Have a good day y/n" he says with a tired smile as he takes the bucket of broken glass inside the shop.

You pass a few more shops before you reach the door of the bakery cafe and swing the door open, the familiar scent of fresh baked bread and cakes fills the air.

"Morning Maggie" you call as you drop your bag behind the counter and head into the kitchen at the back.

"Morning love" She responds, looking at you over the top of her flour covered glasses as she kneads dough on the counter. Maggie is an older lady, with a friendly wrinkled covered face and greying curly hair which was currently contained in a hairnet. She had always been like a grandmother to you, and since losing your parents she was the only family you had left. Apart from being a bit of a gossip, she was a really lovely lady, and you love working for her and listening to her crazy conspiracy theories. "Did you hear all the drama last night?"

"Yeah, I've just seen Roger outside, he told me all about the break in" you respond, grabbing your apron off the hook and tying it around your waist.

"oh no I meant about the drama on the beach?"

"No? What happened?"

"oh it all kicked off. Helicopters, sirens, the works. You didn't hear any of it from up the hill?"

"Nope, must have slept right through it."

"you young people, you'll sleep through anything" Maggie says putting another batch of bread in the oven "well you missed all the fun. They dragged a body out of the sea and-"

"a body?!" You interrupt.

"Well according to Carol anyway. She said she heard from Jan that someone had reported a body on the beach. Her grandson works in the police so she finds out things from him. Anyway, the police raced down there straight away but when they got there the army had already arrived and told them to leave. Army outrank the local police apparently."