Sheila Holmes

Just a Normal Day Stalking Criminal Mannequins

9 months earlier

"You're under arrest Mr. Manny. You have the right to remain silent."
I looked up at Mr. Manny, who stood completely still, with his pale face emotionless. He probably didn't need telling twice to be quiet, but it was part of the whole talk to say so. I slowly walked up to the suspect, keeping my eyes on his hands incase they went to grab a weapon. Very unlikely, but I still needed to be careful. My own hands reached to my belt to grab the hand cuffs. Getting them onto Mr. Manny's hands would be more difficult than I expected due to the fact that he couldn't move.

A sound then came from behind me, surprisingly close. "Tori! Are arresting mom's old mannequin again? You know that was supposed to be mine until you convinced dad to give it to you." Shoot (No, not literally, please), I've been discovered. It's a police officer's worst fear to be surrounded. I slowly moved to the side, turning 90 degrees, but still keeping Mr. Manny in my line of sight.

I could now get the view of a new person. She was a few years older than me, with blonde hair matching mine. That seemed to be where the similarities ended. The young woman's hazel-speckled-with-blue eyes contradicted my emerald green ones. Her black jacket that she never left home without, was tied around her waist. She had her mother's thin nose while I had my father's enlarged and stubby one. People tell me that my nose is fine, but I would bet that they're just waiting to see me lie and have my nose grow even bigger.

After staring at each other for a few seconds, we both broke out laughing. My sister and I then laid down on my bed; Ryan had always been my best (and only) friend even if she was my older sister at the age of 22. I'm sort of a recluse when it comes to being around people. Ryan is enough for me, and no one really questions me about it. Oh, scratch that, Angelica and her group of wackos always seem to be on the hunt for something to make fun of me with. It doesn't get to my head though since I know that within two minutes of coming in contact with a computer, I can spill out their entire life stories to the school. But enough about that...

Ryan and I had just finished our laughing fit and Ryan got up so that we were now just sitting on my bed. "If you keep arresting the mannequin, you'll get tired of arresting people before you even get the chance to." "We both know that I've already had the chance."
Okay, let me backtrack a little. My father works in the police department and it's always been my dream to get a job there. About a year ago, he brought home a case that the whole team was having a problem solving. That night, I took a look at it, solved who the culprit was, and sent the police department a tip using a fake email at the library. I was obsessed with Sherlock Holmes at the time (and still am), so when they asked for my name, I took on the pseudonym of "Sheila Homes." Cringy, I know, but the best I could come up with on such short time. I solved case after case, and before I knew it, "Sheila Holmes" was a well known name across town.

My sister just nodded, and went to change the subject. "Are you ready for your freshman year? New school, maybe you can make some, 'gasp!' friends." "I've got a greater chance of dad finding out who Shelia is then that ever happening." "You never know, this year could be different, you could even meet a boy." She then elbowed me in the stomach, and went to push her off the bed, which lead to a huge fight. Ah, sisterly love. But she was right though, maybe high school will be different. Wait, what am I thinking? Friends only lead to heartbreak and unwanted drama.

Tonight, dad was working extra late, so Ryan and I had the house to ourselves. We ordered what we call the "everything-but-the-kitchen-sink pizza" and watched old movies the rest of the night. When it was time to go to bed, I had completely forgotten that the next day was high school. "Great." This was going to be a long year. At least I could finally get access to the chemistry lab to run forensic tests in. But other than that, I wasn't excited or nervous about the new school year. I had no idea of how much was going to change this year.

••••••••••

The next day I was ready for school even before my alarm went off. It wasn't nerves that got me up so early, I just liked to get up extra early on the first day of school to tripple check all of my supplies. Paranoid much? Just extra prepared. I had planned out all of my classes (for all of my high school years), and I memorized the map to the school last year.

The extra time was spent looking over the new case file that dad left on the kitchen table, before he hit the hay. Ryan and I knew not to wake him up on late nights, because we could never know how work had went. On good days, he would be smiling and as jolly as Santa, but when something wrong happened out in the field... You get the point. So sleep was really important to let him have.

I examined the case, first very briefly, and read about a robbery that had taken place a little bit away from here. I almost freaked when I saw the symbol that had been spray painted onto the wall. It contained the letters "GGF" with a red slash in it. The symbol was that of an old gang that had been unraveled near the beginning of my career when I found the identity of their leader. After that, they just sort of dissolved, until now. The gang had gotten into all sorts of trouble from robberies to kidnappings to who knows what. I never did learn what "GGF" stood for, but it never had mattered. They must have gotten a new leader, since the old one was still in prison.

I would have to look more deeply into the case latter, because Ryan had finally gotten up and we got the cereal out. I had seasonal allergies, but they weren't lethal, so I took my allergy pill and tried to grab the Lucky Charms. Ryan then pulled the box back and smiling, said, "Now that you're in high school you can't eat Lucky Charms, you'll have to eat oatmeal like an adult." Two can play at that game. I pulled back her Cocoa Puffs, "Your not the only one that gets to eat the 'children' cereal." "Fine! Truce! Just give my my cereal back." We traded boxes and dug in.

Before I knew it, I was riding the bus to the high school. Ryan would be getting her license this year, but till than I would have to ride the bus with *shudder* people. Julia, Ryan's friend, called my sister over, and I found a seat in the back that was unoccupied. As the bus started, the bus erupted in noice even though only half of the seats had been occupied. I plugged in my earbuds and tried to forget about the chaos around me.

-----AUTHOR'S NOTE-----
Sorry for the really short prologue. I also forgot to put an author's note in that chapter. Hope you guys have a good week, and I'll be thinking of different directions that this story can go. ✌️❤️