MS - Rav's newest story
- Thread starter Ravynlee
- Start date
Pheonix791989
New member
I'm with Fribby... at first i thought oh **** dead fribby....then I was like *cries* aww dead ava. gotta love the bit with bam being well....bam. i just got done watching Bam's Unholy Union, hilarious. but great updates mum. today was a sucky *** day at work so the update was well welcomed. i was the only hostess working on a payday!! but good update you gotta write more soon. love it
Ravynlee
New member
Aww thanks guys! 
Glad you liked. More maybe tonight after work?
As for Unholy Union, yeah, that IS funny chit. I'm a bit of a Bam vid collector, so I have enough for inspiration if you catch my drift
And thanks Fribs, honestly I hadn't considered you would be the next one to go, well, there ya go. Maybe I should start thinking outside the box a little? *insert ominous laughter here* No... I pretty much have an idea for everyone now... all except the ultimate two being Chas and Mike. Dagnammit!
Oh well, am sure like everything else it will write itself. Just had an intense Dave Draiman dream though so... look out, inspiration comes from all different forms...
Glad you liked. More maybe tonight after work?
As for Unholy Union, yeah, that IS funny chit. I'm a bit of a Bam vid collector, so I have enough for inspiration if you catch my drift
And thanks Fribs, honestly I hadn't considered you would be the next one to go, well, there ya go. Maybe I should start thinking outside the box a little? *insert ominous laughter here* No... I pretty much have an idea for everyone now... all except the ultimate two being Chas and Mike. Dagnammit!
Oh well, am sure like everything else it will write itself. Just had an intense Dave Draiman dream though so... look out, inspiration comes from all different forms...
Pheonix791989
New member
NNNNNNNOOOOOOOO!!! dont kill fribby!! i beg of you not him!! if I gotta get on my hands and knees to not have you not kill him I will do it.
crazy robster
New member
News bulletin: "A sudden raise of the death toll among toddlers has been noticed after some Australian girl decided that DRAMA is the way to go!! So far, three young children named Anthea, Nicky and Ava have lost their lives at the sweet age of 3 and the number of victims is bound to increase as the creative fever of the aforementioned lady continues. Stay tuned! The more you read the more kids die! We'll just make sure you don't lose count! We'll keep you up to date ladies and gentlemen... "
Sis... my sweet... isn't this a bit too much? I mean, ok, I know, Anthea was in a previous story but don't you think you've killed enough kids already? I know reality is harsh, I know life ain't all lovey dovey but what's with all the killing of toddlers? I'm being honest with you. One death (Nicky) was already enough, I think killing two little kids in ONE story is somewhat TOO much. Reality is harsh but like too much happiness can make a story unrealistic, TOO much killing, especially of this kind, can have a negative effect as well I think. It just didn't sit right with me. You could have killed Rob, Chaz, Fox, anyone out of the people who are involved in the underworld that would be more plausible to me PLUS it would help you end the role of some characters because, as you very well put it in one of our chats the other day, you can't keep ALL the characters till the very end. Just some key characters make it to the end. I know it may sound too romantic again but this is my honest opinion and I never wanna lie to you my sweet. Other than that, the update was impressive and breathtaking as always. Can't wait for the next one!
"Sis... my sweet... isn't this a bit too much? I mean, ok, I know, Anthea was in a previous story but don't you think you've killed enough kids already? I know reality is harsh, I know life ain't all lovey dovey but what's with all the killing of toddlers? I'm being honest with you. One death (Nicky) was already enough, I think killing two little kids in ONE story is somewhat TOO much. Reality is harsh but like too much happiness can make a story unrealistic, TOO much killing, especially of this kind, can have a negative effect as well I think. It just didn't sit right with me. You could have killed Rob, Chaz, Fox, anyone out of the people who are involved in the underworld that would be more plausible to me PLUS it would help you end the role of some characters because, as you very well put it in one of our chats the other day, you can't keep ALL the characters till the very end. Just some key characters make it to the end. I know it may sound too romantic again but this is my honest opinion and I never wanna lie to you my sweet. Other than that, the update was impressive and breathtaking as always.
Can't wait for the next one!
Ravynlee
New member
Oh sis, I knew you wouldn't agree. But I'm not out to kill everyone. You really ought to know me better by now. I could argue that I wanted Rob to 'relive' his trauma with Nicky, have Chester now grieve and relate to Rob now who before that was his sworn enemy, I could even say I did it just to get a reaction, but bottom line is **** happens. And unfortunately having kids in this kind of environment it's gonna happen more freuqently. In some ways it was inevitable, if not by accident then maybe by Mike in his blood ****, maybe not.
The problem is as a writer as you know you usually end up bringing your own personal **** to the table under the barely disguised cloak of fiction, and you know the incidents I keep referring to in this story. It's by no extreme an autobiography but when I write sometimes it isn't until after I've penned something that I see the connection. Ava was not deliberate, I didn't plan on killing her from the start (truth be told it was going to be Sarah ) but to suit my selfish purposes to link Chester to Rob, and Rob to Mike, and now in that fatal shot Mike to Chester, I did what I had to do. One death now touches all three instead of just all these minor incidences... But like I said, I can justify it til I'm blue in the face, bottom line is it suited the story better. Heaven forbid sis after the general dark tone of this story someone actually gets out of this alive and lives any semblance of 'happily ever after'. They might in your story. They wont in mine.
Thanks again.
Regardless how it sounds there I actually do appreciate the feedback. It's healthy to reevaluate my thoughts, keep me in line so to speak. Thanks my sweet.
More later.
Oh and btw, don't think i didn't notice, but it appears sarcasm is definately a family trait
The problem is as a writer as you know you usually end up bringing your own personal **** to the table under the barely disguised cloak of fiction, and you know the incidents I keep referring to in this story. It's by no extreme an autobiography but when I write sometimes it isn't until after I've penned something that I see the connection. Ava was not deliberate, I didn't plan on killing her from the start (truth be told it was going to be Sarah
) but to suit my selfish purposes to link Chester to Rob, and Rob to Mike, and now in that fatal shot Mike to Chester, I did what I had to do. One death now touches all three instead of just all these minor incidences... But like I said, I can justify it til I'm blue in the face, bottom line is it suited the story better. Heaven forbid sis after the general dark tone of this story someone actually gets out of this alive and lives any semblance of 'happily ever after'. They might in your story. They wont in mine.Thanks again.
Regardless how it sounds there I actually do appreciate the feedback. It's healthy to reevaluate my thoughts, keep me in line so to speak. Thanks my sweet.
More later.
Oh and btw, don't think i didn't notice, but it appears sarcasm is definately a family trait
woodyloveslinkin
New member
**** and I thought it was another update....
woodyloveslinkin
New member
I did!
I missed the bus from uni and I came on here and I was like, hey! Another update to pass some time until the next hour or so until the next one comes! And then I was like nawww no update, I'm depressed now.
I missed the bus from uni and I came on here and I was like, hey! Another update to pass some time until the next hour or so until the next one comes! And then I was like nawww no update, I'm depressed now.
crazy robster
New member
Oh my sweet you certainly had your reasons for doing it, I'm not saying you did it for fun I'm just saying it's a matter of perspective and I myself as Joanna wouldn't have done it if I wrote the story, that's all. Opinions are purely subjective I was just expressing my feelings and my thoughts about what I read <3
Ravynlee
New member
No sis sincerely that's good! I appreciate the feedback I do, and I didn't mean to sound defensive, I reread my response and I know it sounds it, I just wish I could convey future plot without giving too much away! oh well, no matter... soon enough it will all come together then we an move on and leave it behind us for something bigger and better, 'eh?
Thanks again my beloved. I really appreciate the feedback!
And Sarah, sorry to disappoint again... no update tonight. Been at work, sorry... more later.
Pheonix791989
New member
understadable mum. im off work with nothing to do but sit around and watch disney movies all day. think i might watch nemo later or summat like that. i dunno. if I feel bored enough i might break out the Nintendo. im on vacation so yeah... just update when you can mum
andrea
New member
Okay. Wow, did I have a lot to catch up on, huh? Glad school is official over, so now I can stay up to date. For the review of the story I can't say anything because I'm speechless right now. And to let you know it all in a good way, lol. I love the sudden twist in the direction your going with the story. Can't wait for more to come.
Ravynlee
New member
Thanks guys! I'd love to write something endearing to each of you that reviewed personally but the sun is about to come up and my eyes are all screwy from staring at the computer screen for so long! I finally have an update for you, and while I actually started another chapter before this, this is the one I just finished, so I thought I may as well just share this one. It breaks a rule of mine where I TRY and intersperse scenes for each chararacter, so hopefully no one feels any more important than the rest, but it doesn't always work out that way, sorry.
So anyway, while I could go on I won't. I'll just post the update and pray it all comes together. Have been sick with pnuemonia for the last week so you'll have to forgive the tardiness. Oh and of course the end. I know some of you may read the end of this chapter and freak out... to be honest that one came out of the blue too. See if I can clarify what Rob meant when he exited the end scene (again this is NOT the end, just another very long continual chapter tonight - apologies again for the length... as always hope it ties in to the start. You guys might have a better idea than me at this point my head's all everwhere with this story... haha)
So yeah, thanks again and... more in a day or two!
As always feedback and comments welcome. Promise to constrain myself
Frib sunk backwards and huffed out a sound. It was one of shock mixed with equal amounts of awe.
“So…” he said carefully, “you’re telling me… you’re a… hit man, for the mob?”
Raising his eyes he turned his head towards the other man sitting on the other side of the room. They were in his bedroom and the lamp on the bedside table was casting an ominous gloom across his ex partner’s face. But Rob wasn’t looking at him. Though he had wiped most of the little girl’s blood off of his skin it still clung to his clothes tainting the air with its pungent odour. What little remained of the older man’s face beneath the haggard beard and dull shadows was still weighed heavily with grief and misery. His tears had long since dried but his eyes told another story. Sniffling into the back of his hand Rob lowered his eyes to the floor and nodded in acknowledgement.
“Were,” he clarified. He cleared his throat. “I was. Once.”
“How?” Frib wondered.
Rob shrugged. He stirred uncomfortably outstretching his long legs across the carpet. Over the sound of sirens forever wailing outside the window and the general noise of life the atmosphere and stillness of that little bedroom was like that of a morgue. In many respects it was. A few feet in front of them the body of Ava lay wrapped in blankets in the centre of the bed. It hadn’t been the ideal place to lay her but in hindsight Frib hadn’t been thinking clearly. With a head full of alcohol he still didn’t feel like he was. Having listened to Rob’s confession Frib felt the surreal quality of the night bearing down upon him even more than he had before. Part of him, in the back of his mind, still seemed to think that he was going to wake up in his oh-so-boring everyday life where all this was nothing but just some horrid dream, but on another level the young detective knew that it wasn’t. The sight, the smell, the overall knowledge that a young child lay dead a few feet away on his very mattress somehow made all those uncertain thoughts less tangible. Drawn by that morbid sense of curiosity Frib found his eyes roam towards her once again before he forced himself to look away. The visual imprint however was already scored into his mind as he impulsively thought to himself that he would never lie in that bed again, not after this night, not after what he had seen – maybe he would never be able to sleep peacefully again either. Beneath the bedspread the shapeless lump barely resembled anything that had once been human, let alone a once happy breathing laughing child. Tasting vomit when he swallowed Frib looked up again, at the blooming rosette of coagulating blood stained into the material. He felt the urge to hurl come and go again like a cresting wave.
Across the room from him he could feel Rob’s eyes turn to him briefly, but Frib could only look away. That growing sense of unease didn’t get any better when he felt Rob look away too. He cleared his throat again making ready to talk but the words when they came were hesitant and uneasy.
“How could you do that? You’re a cop, man. You were a cop, a good one. We all looked up to you; you know… what the **** happened to you?”
Rob shrugged. It was clear as expected as the question and that reception had been that his guilt still weighed on him heavily. For a big man Rob Bourdon couldn’t have looked more like a battered child had he tried. He shook his head again, clearly not knowing what to say. Maybe there was nothing he could say, as he continued staring off into the distance with his broad shoulders rising and falling soullessly.
“You’re telling me that ****’s real? Everything they said about him, all those allegations on the news and stuff, that was for real?”
“No,” Rob uttered. His voice was so low and so lifeless it could have been automated. He shook his head and raised a leg to relax against. “No. It’s not like that-”
“Then what is it like? Like Marlon Brando or the Soprano’s or something?”
Rob scoffed. Beneath the beard he even appeared to smile, but it was too small and too brief to be anything more than an impulse.
“No. It’s worse. So… much worse.”
“But how did you-?”
“You have to understand something Kris,” Rob said, taking his time to meet the other man’s eyes, “It’s not just about Mike. It’s not. It’s so much… bigger than him. If it was just one man do you really think…” he stopped and groaned. The sentence he had been formulating died along with it. “I tried telling you once but you wouldn’t listen.”
“I’m listening now.”
“Yeah, now when it’s too late.”
“What do you mean?”
“Forget it,” Rob dismissed.
With his fingertips he rubbed at his eyes. He appeared physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. When he looked up again he was staring towards the tiny body on the bed with a rueful pout. For an instant Frib actually wondered if he was seeing Ava or his late son and felt his heart sink along with his eyes towards the floor – the enormity of grief was bad enough but the young detective didn’t want to know what it must have been like for a parent to lose a child, but he was starting to get the idea.
“Did anyone else know?” he braved.
“A few.”
“How long?”
“A year. Bit more.”
“While you were still… in uniform? I mean, how did you get away with it for so long? Surely someone knew, didn’t they? I mean, how did he even-?”
“Draft me?” Rob intercepted with a cocked brow.
Frib nodded watching Rob sink back against the wall beside the door with another sigh. It was slow and heavy and burdened with the feeling of a confessional. In many respects that’s just what it was. The room was still and silent within as Rob took his time in answering. The secret he was about to share had been kept so long and so fervently that it appeared even as he spoke Rob was fearful about doing so. Staring across at Ava Rob drew in a breath as if ready to speak and for a moment he held it, clearly struggling on how to word it. Then the big man dropped his eyes to the floor.
“He… called in a favour. He gave me Chester… and he asked me to get rid of a problem… permanently… so I shot her.”
“Her?”
“Jammer.”
I'd love to write something endearing to each of you that reviewed personally but the sun is about to come up and my eyes are all screwy from staring at the computer screen for so long! I finally have an update for you, and while I actually started another chapter before this, this is the one I just finished, so I thought I may as well just share this one. It breaks a rule of mine where I TRY and intersperse scenes for each chararacter, so hopefully no one feels any more important than the rest, but it doesn't always work out that way, sorry.So anyway, while I could go on I won't. I'll just post the update and pray it all comes together. Have been sick with pnuemonia for the last week so you'll have to forgive the tardiness. Oh and of course the end. I know some of you may read the end of this chapter and freak out... to be honest that one came out of the blue too. See if I can clarify what Rob meant when he exited the end scene (again this is NOT the end, just another very long continual chapter tonight - apologies again for the length... as always hope it ties in to the start. You guys might have a better idea than me at this point my head's all everwhere with this story...
haha)So yeah, thanks again and... more in a day or two!
As always feedback and comments welcome. Promise to constrain myself
---
Frib sunk backwards and huffed out a sound. It was one of shock mixed with equal amounts of awe.
“So…” he said carefully, “you’re telling me… you’re a… hit man, for the mob?”
Raising his eyes he turned his head towards the other man sitting on the other side of the room. They were in his bedroom and the lamp on the bedside table was casting an ominous gloom across his ex partner’s face. But Rob wasn’t looking at him. Though he had wiped most of the little girl’s blood off of his skin it still clung to his clothes tainting the air with its pungent odour. What little remained of the older man’s face beneath the haggard beard and dull shadows was still weighed heavily with grief and misery. His tears had long since dried but his eyes told another story. Sniffling into the back of his hand Rob lowered his eyes to the floor and nodded in acknowledgement.
“Were,” he clarified. He cleared his throat. “I was. Once.”
“How?” Frib wondered.
Rob shrugged. He stirred uncomfortably outstretching his long legs across the carpet. Over the sound of sirens forever wailing outside the window and the general noise of life the atmosphere and stillness of that little bedroom was like that of a morgue. In many respects it was. A few feet in front of them the body of Ava lay wrapped in blankets in the centre of the bed. It hadn’t been the ideal place to lay her but in hindsight Frib hadn’t been thinking clearly. With a head full of alcohol he still didn’t feel like he was. Having listened to Rob’s confession Frib felt the surreal quality of the night bearing down upon him even more than he had before. Part of him, in the back of his mind, still seemed to think that he was going to wake up in his oh-so-boring everyday life where all this was nothing but just some horrid dream, but on another level the young detective knew that it wasn’t. The sight, the smell, the overall knowledge that a young child lay dead a few feet away on his very mattress somehow made all those uncertain thoughts less tangible. Drawn by that morbid sense of curiosity Frib found his eyes roam towards her once again before he forced himself to look away. The visual imprint however was already scored into his mind as he impulsively thought to himself that he would never lie in that bed again, not after this night, not after what he had seen – maybe he would never be able to sleep peacefully again either. Beneath the bedspread the shapeless lump barely resembled anything that had once been human, let alone a once happy breathing laughing child. Tasting vomit when he swallowed Frib looked up again, at the blooming rosette of coagulating blood stained into the material. He felt the urge to hurl come and go again like a cresting wave.
Across the room from him he could feel Rob’s eyes turn to him briefly, but Frib could only look away. That growing sense of unease didn’t get any better when he felt Rob look away too. He cleared his throat again making ready to talk but the words when they came were hesitant and uneasy.
“How could you do that? You’re a cop, man. You were a cop, a good one. We all looked up to you; you know… what the **** happened to you?”
Rob shrugged. It was clear as expected as the question and that reception had been that his guilt still weighed on him heavily. For a big man Rob Bourdon couldn’t have looked more like a battered child had he tried. He shook his head again, clearly not knowing what to say. Maybe there was nothing he could say, as he continued staring off into the distance with his broad shoulders rising and falling soullessly.
“You’re telling me that ****’s real? Everything they said about him, all those allegations on the news and stuff, that was for real?”
“No,” Rob uttered. His voice was so low and so lifeless it could have been automated. He shook his head and raised a leg to relax against. “No. It’s not like that-”
“Then what is it like? Like Marlon Brando or the Soprano’s or something?”
Rob scoffed. Beneath the beard he even appeared to smile, but it was too small and too brief to be anything more than an impulse.
“No. It’s worse. So… much worse.”
“But how did you-?”
“You have to understand something Kris,” Rob said, taking his time to meet the other man’s eyes, “It’s not just about Mike. It’s not. It’s so much… bigger than him. If it was just one man do you really think…” he stopped and groaned. The sentence he had been formulating died along with it. “I tried telling you once but you wouldn’t listen.”
“I’m listening now.”
“Yeah, now when it’s too late.”
“What do you mean?”
“Forget it,” Rob dismissed.
With his fingertips he rubbed at his eyes. He appeared physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. When he looked up again he was staring towards the tiny body on the bed with a rueful pout. For an instant Frib actually wondered if he was seeing Ava or his late son and felt his heart sink along with his eyes towards the floor – the enormity of grief was bad enough but the young detective didn’t want to know what it must have been like for a parent to lose a child, but he was starting to get the idea.
“Did anyone else know?” he braved.
“A few.”
“How long?”
“A year. Bit more.”
“While you were still… in uniform? I mean, how did you get away with it for so long? Surely someone knew, didn’t they? I mean, how did he even-?”
“Draft me?” Rob intercepted with a cocked brow.
Frib nodded watching Rob sink back against the wall beside the door with another sigh. It was slow and heavy and burdened with the feeling of a confessional. In many respects that’s just what it was. The room was still and silent within as Rob took his time in answering. The secret he was about to share had been kept so long and so fervently that it appeared even as he spoke Rob was fearful about doing so. Staring across at Ava Rob drew in a breath as if ready to speak and for a moment he held it, clearly struggling on how to word it. Then the big man dropped his eyes to the floor.
“He… called in a favour. He gave me Chester… and he asked me to get rid of a problem… permanently… so I shot her.”
“Her?”
“Jammer.”
Ravynlee
New member
Rob rolled his eyes aside to meet Frib’s directly. There was no change to his outward façade whatsoever.
“That one found in the park right? The prostitute? Why?” Frib shrugged. He frowned in consternation. “Wasn’t she going to testify against him or something? Wasn’t there some court case-?”
Rob nodded.
“But… why? Those charges were dropped. He was never going to go to jail anyway from what you told me, like before, before you went away. Wasn’t it all just a ruse? I mean, he has friends remember, the commissioner, the… chief. I don’t-” the young detective shook his head. He opened his mouth to continue speaking but for a moment no words came out. He winced, struggling to mentally, as well as verbally, process this information. “I thought she was Ravyn’s friend, your ex wife, remember? You knew her?”
“I did.”
“But- but I don’t-”
“You’re not supposed to,” Rob told the floor somnolently. “No one was. That’s how he is. It’s what he wanted. He called me up and told me what he wanted me to do and we arranged for her to come out and meet us. We made it sound like a business proposition, she was a… you know, hooker, after all,” Rob skirted with a sharp sniff. He smiled. It was weak and miserable. “Mike told her that he brought me along to watch. She was… always looking to please him. She was fanatical, crazy… she didn’t even hesitate. We went to this place. He told her to get on her knees, close her eyes. She did. He stepped back. I put the gun to her head. Pulled the trigger. That was it. Problem solved,” Rob uttered.
Bent over a knee he continued to stare at his lap sadly. Guilt was etched like gouge marks into his face. Even without the amplification of shadow and gloom coming from the surrounding environment Rob looked exhausted. Though only afforded a profile view of his face Frib could well see that his ex-partner was reliving the crime - undoubtedly there were countless others – but for now, for that one harrowing moment, the thought of that one alone was more than enough.
“You killed Dave Farrell and his family too didn’t you?” he asked quietly. “He found out so you had to silence him.”
He heard Rob sniff. He saw Rob nodding. He watched Rob rubbing at his face again but from what he could see there were no tears falling from his bloodshot eyes. There were no tears he could shed, this self proclaimed murderer, because they had already been spent on others. Rob had spent so long living a lie that he had effectively learnt how to distance himself from it, from the pain he had caused. But then Frib rationalised he had to. As a student of the criminal mind he had read so many times and from so many textbooks that it was basic human psychology, it was a self-defence mechanism, there was after all only so much trauma the human mind could take – and it set the distinction between a killer and the rest of society – but never in a million years had Frib thought it would apply to someone he knew, let alone once trusted so well. Feeling overburdened by this thought and of their implications and all that had transpired since until recent, the young detective could only stand there against the wall, feeling the cold glass of the closed window at his back, holding his face gravely.
“They trusted you, Jammer, Phoenix, Lindsay… Jesus Christ, they had a baby. How could you-?”
“I told you,” Rob said still speaking in that low dry monotone, “It’s what he wanted. It’s not like I had any choice-”
“You could have said no-”
“No. No one says no. Not to him. You can’t.”
“Yes, you can. The man’s a killer-”
“No. He’s not. I’ve known him for years. The man’s never taken another life since I’ve known him, even before that. He hasn’t. I have. That was my job. More than I ever wanted, than I… thought possible.”
“Rob,” Frib said. He spoke the other man’s name as if imploring him. Maybe he was begging him to see reason where there simply was none to save his own sanity, maybe he was begging him to stop. “How? Just- how? How could you justify it, any of it? So what, he did you a good turn, so you just pick up a gun and shoot whoever he wants you to? How does that make any sense? You were a cop for ***’s sake, it was your job to protect these people, you swore an oath, you made a promise, they trusted you-”
“Because I ****** up okay? I made a mistake! I don’t expect you to understand-”
“Understand what? It’s not like you can accidentally execute someone-”
“I cheated okay?” Rob barked.
His eyes were slitted, wet and dangerous. His scruffy jaw was set tight, his brow savage. For an instant Frib was back in that locker room back at the precinct around the time of the other man’s demotion, before he left, before any of this was yet to be brought to Frib’s attention. It was like a whole alternate reality had been coexisting along side him and Frib had been blissfully unaware if not ignorant of its existence, but with eyes locked across the room he was literally forced to confront it. Whether it was the shock news mere hours ago back at the club or the haunting distraction of a child’s dead body growing cold atop his bed, Frib felt as if the walls were starting to close in around him. With hands to his mouth, his fingers weakly smothering the bottom half of his face, the young detective began a slow and unsteady descent towards the floor as the sound of Rob’s voice followed him down.
“I had an affair, a woman; a dancer at his club,” Rob explained desperately, “her name was Vanessa. It was just after Nicky died. Rave was so cut off we were barely even speaking by that stage, not that it mattered. Like, everything always came second to her writing, me, Nicky, our marriage, you name it - It was dumb but I… I wasn’t thinking you know? She always made me feel like an idiot, like what I did was… wasn’t as important as hers, you know. I just wanted… I needed something, someone to connect to… I knew if Ravyn found out it would kill her. She’d already been in and out of therapy, cut herself and ****… By the time Nicky died she was so far gone I couldn’t reach her anyway… I think I wanted her to know, you know, get some sort of reaction. Like, I wanted her to hurt… but I couldn’t tell her, I don’t know why. I couldn’t tell anyone.”
“You told Mike.”
“I didn’t have to. He knew. She probably told him, I don’t know. I never saw her again. He took care of my problem, I took care of his, that’s how we were,” Rob said, drawing both of his knees up now to recline against and wrap his arms around limply. “We were friends. We were like brothers. We understood each other. More than anyone else I’ve ever known. That’s why I did it... and that’s why I left. He was already in my head. I knew if I stuck around too much longer I was going to end up just like him. I couldn’t hurt anyone else… I can’t.”
“That one found in the park right? The prostitute? Why?” Frib shrugged. He frowned in consternation. “Wasn’t she going to testify against him or something? Wasn’t there some court case-?”
Rob nodded.
“But… why? Those charges were dropped. He was never going to go to jail anyway from what you told me, like before, before you went away. Wasn’t it all just a ruse? I mean, he has friends remember, the commissioner, the… chief. I don’t-” the young detective shook his head. He opened his mouth to continue speaking but for a moment no words came out. He winced, struggling to mentally, as well as verbally, process this information. “I thought she was Ravyn’s friend, your ex wife, remember? You knew her?”
“I did.”
“But- but I don’t-”
“You’re not supposed to,” Rob told the floor somnolently. “No one was. That’s how he is. It’s what he wanted. He called me up and told me what he wanted me to do and we arranged for her to come out and meet us. We made it sound like a business proposition, she was a… you know, hooker, after all,” Rob skirted with a sharp sniff. He smiled. It was weak and miserable. “Mike told her that he brought me along to watch. She was… always looking to please him. She was fanatical, crazy… she didn’t even hesitate. We went to this place. He told her to get on her knees, close her eyes. She did. He stepped back. I put the gun to her head. Pulled the trigger. That was it. Problem solved,” Rob uttered.
Bent over a knee he continued to stare at his lap sadly. Guilt was etched like gouge marks into his face. Even without the amplification of shadow and gloom coming from the surrounding environment Rob looked exhausted. Though only afforded a profile view of his face Frib could well see that his ex-partner was reliving the crime - undoubtedly there were countless others – but for now, for that one harrowing moment, the thought of that one alone was more than enough.
“You killed Dave Farrell and his family too didn’t you?” he asked quietly. “He found out so you had to silence him.”
He heard Rob sniff. He saw Rob nodding. He watched Rob rubbing at his face again but from what he could see there were no tears falling from his bloodshot eyes. There were no tears he could shed, this self proclaimed murderer, because they had already been spent on others. Rob had spent so long living a lie that he had effectively learnt how to distance himself from it, from the pain he had caused. But then Frib rationalised he had to. As a student of the criminal mind he had read so many times and from so many textbooks that it was basic human psychology, it was a self-defence mechanism, there was after all only so much trauma the human mind could take – and it set the distinction between a killer and the rest of society – but never in a million years had Frib thought it would apply to someone he knew, let alone once trusted so well. Feeling overburdened by this thought and of their implications and all that had transpired since until recent, the young detective could only stand there against the wall, feeling the cold glass of the closed window at his back, holding his face gravely.
“They trusted you, Jammer, Phoenix, Lindsay… Jesus Christ, they had a baby. How could you-?”
“I told you,” Rob said still speaking in that low dry monotone, “It’s what he wanted. It’s not like I had any choice-”
“You could have said no-”
“No. No one says no. Not to him. You can’t.”
“Yes, you can. The man’s a killer-”
“No. He’s not. I’ve known him for years. The man’s never taken another life since I’ve known him, even before that. He hasn’t. I have. That was my job. More than I ever wanted, than I… thought possible.”
“Rob,” Frib said. He spoke the other man’s name as if imploring him. Maybe he was begging him to see reason where there simply was none to save his own sanity, maybe he was begging him to stop. “How? Just- how? How could you justify it, any of it? So what, he did you a good turn, so you just pick up a gun and shoot whoever he wants you to? How does that make any sense? You were a cop for ***’s sake, it was your job to protect these people, you swore an oath, you made a promise, they trusted you-”
“Because I ****** up okay? I made a mistake! I don’t expect you to understand-”
“Understand what? It’s not like you can accidentally execute someone-”
“I cheated okay?” Rob barked.
His eyes were slitted, wet and dangerous. His scruffy jaw was set tight, his brow savage. For an instant Frib was back in that locker room back at the precinct around the time of the other man’s demotion, before he left, before any of this was yet to be brought to Frib’s attention. It was like a whole alternate reality had been coexisting along side him and Frib had been blissfully unaware if not ignorant of its existence, but with eyes locked across the room he was literally forced to confront it. Whether it was the shock news mere hours ago back at the club or the haunting distraction of a child’s dead body growing cold atop his bed, Frib felt as if the walls were starting to close in around him. With hands to his mouth, his fingers weakly smothering the bottom half of his face, the young detective began a slow and unsteady descent towards the floor as the sound of Rob’s voice followed him down.
“I had an affair, a woman; a dancer at his club,” Rob explained desperately, “her name was Vanessa. It was just after Nicky died. Rave was so cut off we were barely even speaking by that stage, not that it mattered. Like, everything always came second to her writing, me, Nicky, our marriage, you name it - It was dumb but I… I wasn’t thinking you know? She always made me feel like an idiot, like what I did was… wasn’t as important as hers, you know. I just wanted… I needed something, someone to connect to… I knew if Ravyn found out it would kill her. She’d already been in and out of therapy, cut herself and ****… By the time Nicky died she was so far gone I couldn’t reach her anyway… I think I wanted her to know, you know, get some sort of reaction. Like, I wanted her to hurt… but I couldn’t tell her, I don’t know why. I couldn’t tell anyone.”
“You told Mike.”
“I didn’t have to. He knew. She probably told him, I don’t know. I never saw her again. He took care of my problem, I took care of his, that’s how we were,” Rob said, drawing both of his knees up now to recline against and wrap his arms around limply. “We were friends. We were like brothers. We understood each other. More than anyone else I’ve ever known. That’s why I did it... and that’s why I left. He was already in my head. I knew if I stuck around too much longer I was going to end up just like him. I couldn’t hurt anyone else… I can’t.”
Ravynlee
New member
Slowly raising his eyes up Rob was looking at Ava again but the look on his face had saddened. It looked as if mere will power was keeping him going in his exhausted state. Left sitting alone together as the silence and the stillness enshrouded them, the two men sat staring off distantly but not towards each other. Rob couldn’t hold Frib’s eyes and Frib was almost glad for it. There was too much now left to say that would never be said between them that Frib felt physically heavy and sick inside thinking of it. The man in front of him wasn’t anyone he knew, not visually, not mentally, not emotionally in any way. Mike Shinoda, and the crimes he had enabled another to comit for his own agenda, had driven a defining wedge forever between them. All Frib could see when he looked at his ex partner was defeat. It was failure. It barely seemed real to reminisce on the times at the academy and in his formative beginning in the force that he had looked at Rob like the once golden star he had reportedly been. It was a cruel and unforgiving burden he had been dealt to see that perfect façade crumble into dust in front of his very eyes and the illusion blow away. What was left wasn’t even worth pitying anymore. Rob was a ghost roaming the earth now utterly lost and incomplete. He was in all factuality the young detective’s enemy – but Frib could only flick his eyes up briefly and smile. His smile wasn’t one of genuine joy but grief. Rob was as dead inside as the little girl wrapped in the covers on his bed – the only difference was Ava really had passed on to a better place – Rob was forever condemned by his own hand and he knew it.
“So… what now?” he wondered eventually. His voice echoed off the dull empty walls with amplified importance as Rob pouted and slumped back against the wall with a shrug. “You know they know you’re alive, right? Word on the wire, I mean.”
“I figured it was only a matter of time,” came Rob’s matter-of-factual response. He swallowed loudly. “Joanna?”
“She knows too.”
“*** **** it-”
“Rob… there’s something you should know-”
“She’s with Joel now, I know, Ravyn told me.”
“No,” Frib said.
He was mirroring the other man’s body language with his knees drawn up and his arms draped around them, clutching at his wrist with his head back against the cool hard wall. He was marvelling at the subtle shift in Rob’s demeanour, how through the untamed beard and beneath the wild mop of hair that he had gone from miserable wretch to defensive with barely a shift of his brows, but for a moment Frib was at a loss to really say anything further. Was it his place to? How much should he really tell, he wondered, then decided against it. The sight of Ava lying mere feet away was like a mental smack in the face, reorienting him against the petty trivialities of life – as only death can. With a self-depreciating snort Frib sighed and looked at his lap, catching sight of his ex-partner’s hand in his peripheral vision. Something inside of him sunk like an iceberg to see Rob was still wearing his wedding ring on his finger – and with that Frib shook his head again sadly.
“Rob… I don’t know if it’s my place to say anything or not, but you should probably know… Joanna’s pregnant. To Joel. They think she might be carrying twins.”
Rob nodded. His head remained back against the wall with his face inclined towards the ceiling but appearing to visually see little of it. He nodded again, his mouth pursing tight to keep the words that he obviously wanted to say from purging out. Even distanced by a few metres Frib could see the muscles on his face twitching. He sniffed sharply, cleared his throat, and nodded once more.
“Yeah,” he said.
Frib waited. Nothing else was forthcoming.
“I know, I probably shouldn’t have said anything-”
“No. No, you’re… It’s all good. I’m supposed to be dead remember? That’s what she’s supposed to do, move on with her life. Marry, settle down-”
“Rob-”
“How’s Haily?”
Frib hesitated. “She’s fine. Good. She looks like you. Or she did, last time I saw her. It was at… some… work…”
His words trailed off watching as Rob rubbed at his brow again and a moment later smother his eyes with his palm. His shoulders shuddered. Then he sobbed. He was clearly struggling not to but the events of the last twenty four hours, if not months, had finally taken their toll as he broke down and began to cry. Frib just sat there unnerved but unable to say or do anything to console him. He was torn between obligation and loyalty, on one hand looking at the rogue cop as he was supposed to, as a criminal, as a felon, as a murderer that by his own admission had taken at least four lives and undoubtedly more, but beyond that Frib only saw him for what he was, a man in obvious distress and pain. His insides churned at the force of his thoughts and emotions, all exacerbated of course by the copious amount of alcohol still working it’s way through his system, as he looked away from Rob to the body of Chester Bennington’s daughter lying cold a few feet away. There was no relief as he pulled his head back to stare at the ceiling and try to mentally grapple with all that confronted him. That’s when he heard the melodic tune echo back from somewhere unseen and it took Frib a moment to realise it was the sound of his cell phone ringing out in the hall. He must have dropped it when he helped Rob and the cold limp form of Ava from the bloodied scene of the bathroom. Immediately he frowned towards the door and caught Rob smearing his eyes and glaring accusingly at him. Frib cursed. What was the time? The raid! ****! That was probably the captain demanding to know where he was. How long had they been sitting here? Instinctively Frib began pushing himself up on to his feet. Rob was joining him.
“Who is that?”
“I don’t know. Probably the team.”
“They can’t know I’m here,” Rob said.
His voice was still wretched and unsteady but the stern look on his face demanded Frib’s compliance. Frib nodded, making his way towards the door as Rob made his way over to the bed to delicately manoeuvre Ava’s body into his arms. Frib stared, his brow furrowed and his mouth agape in disapproval. He had a brief yet unsettling thought that Ava wasn’t dead but merely asleep (even with a sheet over her entire body and head) and that the events of the last hour or so hadn’t happened, but the nausea in his throat and stomach reminded him otherwise. He let out a wince rather than speak as Rob drew back upright nursing the child looking like a mummy in his arms. There were still thick pools of blood encrusted to his shirt and jacket and sleeves as he sniffed, wiped his cheek as best he could on his shoulder, and manoeuvred his way past his bewildered ex-partner.
“Rob, what are you-?” Frib began, following Rob out into the hallway. “We can’t take her- she has to go to the-”
“Her mother’s in the hospital,” Rob uttered.
“So… what now?” he wondered eventually. His voice echoed off the dull empty walls with amplified importance as Rob pouted and slumped back against the wall with a shrug. “You know they know you’re alive, right? Word on the wire, I mean.”
“I figured it was only a matter of time,” came Rob’s matter-of-factual response. He swallowed loudly. “Joanna?”
“She knows too.”
“*** **** it-”
“Rob… there’s something you should know-”
“She’s with Joel now, I know, Ravyn told me.”
“No,” Frib said.
He was mirroring the other man’s body language with his knees drawn up and his arms draped around them, clutching at his wrist with his head back against the cool hard wall. He was marvelling at the subtle shift in Rob’s demeanour, how through the untamed beard and beneath the wild mop of hair that he had gone from miserable wretch to defensive with barely a shift of his brows, but for a moment Frib was at a loss to really say anything further. Was it his place to? How much should he really tell, he wondered, then decided against it. The sight of Ava lying mere feet away was like a mental smack in the face, reorienting him against the petty trivialities of life – as only death can. With a self-depreciating snort Frib sighed and looked at his lap, catching sight of his ex-partner’s hand in his peripheral vision. Something inside of him sunk like an iceberg to see Rob was still wearing his wedding ring on his finger – and with that Frib shook his head again sadly.
“Rob… I don’t know if it’s my place to say anything or not, but you should probably know… Joanna’s pregnant. To Joel. They think she might be carrying twins.”
Rob nodded. His head remained back against the wall with his face inclined towards the ceiling but appearing to visually see little of it. He nodded again, his mouth pursing tight to keep the words that he obviously wanted to say from purging out. Even distanced by a few metres Frib could see the muscles on his face twitching. He sniffed sharply, cleared his throat, and nodded once more.
“Yeah,” he said.
Frib waited. Nothing else was forthcoming.
“I know, I probably shouldn’t have said anything-”
“No. No, you’re… It’s all good. I’m supposed to be dead remember? That’s what she’s supposed to do, move on with her life. Marry, settle down-”
“Rob-”
“How’s Haily?”
Frib hesitated. “She’s fine. Good. She looks like you. Or she did, last time I saw her. It was at… some… work…”
His words trailed off watching as Rob rubbed at his brow again and a moment later smother his eyes with his palm. His shoulders shuddered. Then he sobbed. He was clearly struggling not to but the events of the last twenty four hours, if not months, had finally taken their toll as he broke down and began to cry. Frib just sat there unnerved but unable to say or do anything to console him. He was torn between obligation and loyalty, on one hand looking at the rogue cop as he was supposed to, as a criminal, as a felon, as a murderer that by his own admission had taken at least four lives and undoubtedly more, but beyond that Frib only saw him for what he was, a man in obvious distress and pain. His insides churned at the force of his thoughts and emotions, all exacerbated of course by the copious amount of alcohol still working it’s way through his system, as he looked away from Rob to the body of Chester Bennington’s daughter lying cold a few feet away. There was no relief as he pulled his head back to stare at the ceiling and try to mentally grapple with all that confronted him. That’s when he heard the melodic tune echo back from somewhere unseen and it took Frib a moment to realise it was the sound of his cell phone ringing out in the hall. He must have dropped it when he helped Rob and the cold limp form of Ava from the bloodied scene of the bathroom. Immediately he frowned towards the door and caught Rob smearing his eyes and glaring accusingly at him. Frib cursed. What was the time? The raid! ****! That was probably the captain demanding to know where he was. How long had they been sitting here? Instinctively Frib began pushing himself up on to his feet. Rob was joining him.
“Who is that?”
“I don’t know. Probably the team.”
“They can’t know I’m here,” Rob said.
His voice was still wretched and unsteady but the stern look on his face demanded Frib’s compliance. Frib nodded, making his way towards the door as Rob made his way over to the bed to delicately manoeuvre Ava’s body into his arms. Frib stared, his brow furrowed and his mouth agape in disapproval. He had a brief yet unsettling thought that Ava wasn’t dead but merely asleep (even with a sheet over her entire body and head) and that the events of the last hour or so hadn’t happened, but the nausea in his throat and stomach reminded him otherwise. He let out a wince rather than speak as Rob drew back upright nursing the child looking like a mummy in his arms. There were still thick pools of blood encrusted to his shirt and jacket and sleeves as he sniffed, wiped his cheek as best he could on his shoulder, and manoeuvred his way past his bewildered ex-partner.
“Rob, what are you-?” Frib began, following Rob out into the hallway. “We can’t take her- she has to go to the-”
“Her mother’s in the hospital,” Rob uttered.
Ravynlee
New member
Emerging in the living room he turned to watch Frib approach and pluck his cell phone up from where it had obviously fallen from his pocket when he came home and kicked his shoes off. Frib began to argue it but the look on Rob’s harrowed face silenced him. The fact that Rob had been so candid recently persuaded the younger man that there was obviously no reason for him to lie now, as much as Frib wanted to believe otherwise. Too pressed for time, too anxious about whether or not to answer his phone still ringing, and unsure on what to say with Rob’s eyes upon him, Frib swallowed his arguments and simply agreed with him. He didn’t question as to how Rob knew about Sarah’s fate deciding after what he now knew of his ex partner’s criminal past that he didn’t feel comfortable asking questions anymore. But Rob was still talking. He mentioned something about having nowhere else for the child to go, but given the sudden frantic atmosphere from the wake of mere moments ago, Frib barely caught a word of it.
“It’s Benji. ****, man. The raid-” Frib said, glimpsing at the screen on his phone. Rob was frowning down over him, silently demanding answers. “We have to leave her here.”
“And if we do that and someone comes here and finds her they’re gonna think you did it,” Rob stated.
Frib rolled his eyes exasperatedly.
“Then another hospital.”
“Then they’re gonna think we did it. CCTV, remember?”
“Well what do you think? Where do we go?”
“How the **** do I know? That’s why I came here, remember?”
“Think, **** it, think! There has to be somewhere where we can go where we won’t be seen. Where’s the last place someone would think to look?”
“I don’t know,” Rob confessed. “But if you wander in off the street carrying her they’re gonna ask questions and what are you gonna tell them? That I did it? I’m not supposed to even be alive remember? They’ll lock you up in the funny-farm and throw away the key. Besides we’ve also got to worry about-”
“Chester,” Frib intercepted flatly.
He was looking at the white bundle in Rob’s arms at where her face would have been had it not been covered thankfully by so much material. The young detective swallowed loudly and raised his eyes up to face Rob’s. Rob had fallen silent. There was a strange kind of vulnerability about him then that put his previous credence as some cold-blooded mercenary in serious doubt – but all that was dashed by the sudden silence that had settled. Frib blinked down at the phone clutched tightly in his hand. He swore at the screen as if Benji had been able to hear it. Benji had hung up. He was probably on his way over now figuring Frib was too drunk to organise himself and berate him for not falling as he well should into line.
“What are we going do? They’re going to come. You know how they are. They’re going to think something’s wrong.”
“It is,” Rob said seriously. “Rave knows I’m alive. She’s the one that did this to Ava, I mean we did, even if it was an accident, and now she’s running straight to him. If word gets to him first he’ll kill her then he’ll come after me, and Joanna, Haily too. I can’t risk it.”
“So what are you going to do?” Frib asked. Feeling anxiety and adrenalin coursing through his veins he watched as Rob laid Ava’s body on the sofa. Frib rushed forward and grabbed his arm to stop him. “What the **** are you doing? No, man, you can’t do that! She needs to go to a morgue. You have to get the **** out of here. If anyone sees you-”
“Listen to me,” Rob demanded, shrugging his arm loose.
Laying Ava down he turned to the other man and dug a fist into his back pocket withdrawing a set of keys. He sorted through them and held up the appropriate one as Frib glared back, trying hard not to keep looking towards the front door as if expecting Benji of Joel or any one of the NYPD to come bursting through it and get the wrong impression about what was taking place here – Frib was almost certain were he not even partially inebriated he wouldn’t be able to deal with any of it himself. Rob shoved the key into his palm and slapped his other hand over it. The look on his face had changed again and Frib could only stare back indignantly. There was a car parked a few streets back Rob was explaining, along with the make and model.
“Take her, put her in there. Take the car to Sacred Heart. Leave it in the car park if you have to. Out of the way. Keep an eye out for security cameras-”
“Where are you going to go?” Frib asked, but Rob was already making his way towards the door.
“Where’s this raid?” he muttered, ripping his bloodied jacket off.
Frib shrugged. His frown continued to darken as he clutched the key inside his fist. He could feel himself shaking as much from adrenalin as the prospect of what lay ahead – and the fear of getting caught with the body of a missing child literally in his hands.
“Why?” he asked.
He watched Rob stop, study his stained shirt, then wrench that off over his head too. He scrunched it in his fist before throwing it aside. Frib watched it land on top of Ava. In true cop-style Rob wasn’t leaving such noticeable races of himself behind for anyone to scrutinise later. Bare-chested Rob was striding down the hall again making his way back into the other man’s bedroom. Anxiously leaving Ava on the sofa Frib quickly gave chase catching Rob rummaging through his closet as if he had every right to do so.
“Don’t suppose you have anything here that would fit me do you?”
Frib shook his head and repeated his question as to Rob’s next course of action, dubious as to whether or not he wanted to actually hear it and thinking of the repercussions if later it was discovered Rob had been here and Frib had willingly let him walk free. But Frib was too anxious to form much of this into coherent thoughts let alone sentences, watching Rob rip one of Frib’s long sleeved tees over his head and fist it from the inside to stretch it much to Frib’s annoyance.
“Look, Rob, if you go out there any number of people could see you, anything could happen, then what good are you?”
“I’m no better off sitting here crying about it,” Rob stated.
Tugging the shirt into place Rob made his way past and made a quick stop in the bathroom to compose himself. When he re-emerged a few moments later Frb was waiting for him. Rob came to a stop, blocked in the doorway by the smaller, shorter man and his determined stare. Rob frowned.
“Do you have any idea how many laws I’m breaking if I let you walk out of here?” Frib asked.
Rob pouted. He went to step forward but again Frib blocked him.
“I can’t just let you go like this.”
“You can’t stop me, Kris.”
“I don’t want to,” Frib said.
“It’s Benji. ****, man. The raid-” Frib said, glimpsing at the screen on his phone. Rob was frowning down over him, silently demanding answers. “We have to leave her here.”
“And if we do that and someone comes here and finds her they’re gonna think you did it,” Rob stated.
Frib rolled his eyes exasperatedly.
“Then another hospital.”
“Then they’re gonna think we did it. CCTV, remember?”
“Well what do you think? Where do we go?”
“How the **** do I know? That’s why I came here, remember?”
“Think, **** it, think! There has to be somewhere where we can go where we won’t be seen. Where’s the last place someone would think to look?”
“I don’t know,” Rob confessed. “But if you wander in off the street carrying her they’re gonna ask questions and what are you gonna tell them? That I did it? I’m not supposed to even be alive remember? They’ll lock you up in the funny-farm and throw away the key. Besides we’ve also got to worry about-”
“Chester,” Frib intercepted flatly.
He was looking at the white bundle in Rob’s arms at where her face would have been had it not been covered thankfully by so much material. The young detective swallowed loudly and raised his eyes up to face Rob’s. Rob had fallen silent. There was a strange kind of vulnerability about him then that put his previous credence as some cold-blooded mercenary in serious doubt – but all that was dashed by the sudden silence that had settled. Frib blinked down at the phone clutched tightly in his hand. He swore at the screen as if Benji had been able to hear it. Benji had hung up. He was probably on his way over now figuring Frib was too drunk to organise himself and berate him for not falling as he well should into line.
“What are we going do? They’re going to come. You know how they are. They’re going to think something’s wrong.”
“It is,” Rob said seriously. “Rave knows I’m alive. She’s the one that did this to Ava, I mean we did, even if it was an accident, and now she’s running straight to him. If word gets to him first he’ll kill her then he’ll come after me, and Joanna, Haily too. I can’t risk it.”
“So what are you going to do?” Frib asked. Feeling anxiety and adrenalin coursing through his veins he watched as Rob laid Ava’s body on the sofa. Frib rushed forward and grabbed his arm to stop him. “What the **** are you doing? No, man, you can’t do that! She needs to go to a morgue. You have to get the **** out of here. If anyone sees you-”
“Listen to me,” Rob demanded, shrugging his arm loose.
Laying Ava down he turned to the other man and dug a fist into his back pocket withdrawing a set of keys. He sorted through them and held up the appropriate one as Frib glared back, trying hard not to keep looking towards the front door as if expecting Benji of Joel or any one of the NYPD to come bursting through it and get the wrong impression about what was taking place here – Frib was almost certain were he not even partially inebriated he wouldn’t be able to deal with any of it himself. Rob shoved the key into his palm and slapped his other hand over it. The look on his face had changed again and Frib could only stare back indignantly. There was a car parked a few streets back Rob was explaining, along with the make and model.
“Take her, put her in there. Take the car to Sacred Heart. Leave it in the car park if you have to. Out of the way. Keep an eye out for security cameras-”
“Where are you going to go?” Frib asked, but Rob was already making his way towards the door.
“Where’s this raid?” he muttered, ripping his bloodied jacket off.
Frib shrugged. His frown continued to darken as he clutched the key inside his fist. He could feel himself shaking as much from adrenalin as the prospect of what lay ahead – and the fear of getting caught with the body of a missing child literally in his hands.
“Why?” he asked.
He watched Rob stop, study his stained shirt, then wrench that off over his head too. He scrunched it in his fist before throwing it aside. Frib watched it land on top of Ava. In true cop-style Rob wasn’t leaving such noticeable races of himself behind for anyone to scrutinise later. Bare-chested Rob was striding down the hall again making his way back into the other man’s bedroom. Anxiously leaving Ava on the sofa Frib quickly gave chase catching Rob rummaging through his closet as if he had every right to do so.
“Don’t suppose you have anything here that would fit me do you?”
Frib shook his head and repeated his question as to Rob’s next course of action, dubious as to whether or not he wanted to actually hear it and thinking of the repercussions if later it was discovered Rob had been here and Frib had willingly let him walk free. But Frib was too anxious to form much of this into coherent thoughts let alone sentences, watching Rob rip one of Frib’s long sleeved tees over his head and fist it from the inside to stretch it much to Frib’s annoyance.
“Look, Rob, if you go out there any number of people could see you, anything could happen, then what good are you?”
“I’m no better off sitting here crying about it,” Rob stated.
Tugging the shirt into place Rob made his way past and made a quick stop in the bathroom to compose himself. When he re-emerged a few moments later Frb was waiting for him. Rob came to a stop, blocked in the doorway by the smaller, shorter man and his determined stare. Rob frowned.
“Do you have any idea how many laws I’m breaking if I let you walk out of here?” Frib asked.
Rob pouted. He went to step forward but again Frib blocked him.
“I can’t just let you go like this.”
“You can’t stop me, Kris.”
“I don’t want to,” Frib said.
Ravynlee
New member
He looked more certain than he sounded, glaring up at the six and a half foot giant with his nerves firing anxiously. Rob snorted. He shook his head and took a step back putting a manageable distance between them.
“If I have to kill you I will. Don’t force me to do something I’m gonna regret.”
“I’m coming with you,” Frib said.
Rob’s frown, that had been darkening ominously, was now pinched with surprise.
“What?”
“I can’t let you go, at least not alone. If I go now people are going to ask too many questions. I have to know. I already know too much, don’t I? I can’t just walk away and pretend I don’t. Besides, I want him to pay as much as you do-”
“Who?”
“Mike,” Frib said, mirroring Rob’s incredulous smile briefly.
The young detective glimpsed over his shoulder, towards where the body of Ava lay, to where the rest of his normal average somnolent life still was, before he returned his attentions to his old partner. Rob was studying him suspiciously and Frib was doing his best to appease him. Confronted with the prospect he was standing in the literal shadow of a man that broke bones and blew holes in people at another’s say-so, Frib could only swallow his cresting anxiety and smile back in appeasement.
“He’s gotten away with it for so long, if there’s anything I can do to help bring him down count me in.”
“Who said I was going after Mike?” Rob asked.
His frown and conflicting smile hadn’t shifted as he stared back down over the other man with his arms now folded.
Frib stared at him. He blinked dubiously.
“But- what he did to- to Rave, remember. He tried to kill her. Don’t you want to make him pay for what he did to you? To your family?”
Rob opened his mouth to speak then stopped and shifted to the basin where he rinsed his face and the back of his neck again. He sniffed as he smeared his face with a towel. Tossing it aside he swirled it around on the floor with his foot. The blood beneath it rendered the towel red as Rob reached in to the shower recess within arm’s reach and turned the water on, washing the blood away. The room was infused by the applause of running water as Frib watched on in a kind of hypnotic daze. The pink-tinged water swirled as it gurgled down the drain. He only glimpsed up when Rob shut the water off. That’s when he had an epiphany.
“It wasn’t Mike was it, what happened to her; to Rave. All that work trying to make it look like a home invasion, all that water, the lack of DNA, only a cop would know how to do that, wouldn’t they?”
Clearing his throat Rob snatched a cap hanging from a brass hook beside the mirror and assessed himself putting it on in the mirror. He sniffed and sighed to himself heavily. Then he turned around and walked past his ex partner, without so much as a passing glance.
“You’re never gonna learn,” Rob uttered. “You always did ask too many questions.”
Reaching out Rob slapped at the wall, snapping off the light, leaving Frib alone in the darkness. For a moment Frib couldn’t move. All he could smell was blood.
Ahh... see, now it's NOT the end, still so much to explain! Haha. Yeah Vanessa deserved a mention there somewhere. I was hoping it might go some ways as to describing this tension that always seems present between my character and Rob - or him and just about every other female character in this story. That's a start anyway. Just came out of the blue too. Probably reading Sarah's story triggered that, **** you woman! haha, anyway, hope all's good. And how's Frib now walking that nebulous grey area with Rob?? Rebel! Yay for Frib, finally his eyes are open to the truth, but feel sorry for him now that he has been exposed to more information than he ever trully wanted (or asked for) Guess I can rationalise Frib's behaviour as empathy somewhat, and that in spite of Rob's past Frib still has those old bonds of 'brotherhood' that comes with being a cop. Aww. But you draw your own conclusions, I just write this chit, it's up to you to mentally process it. Hopefully it sits well with your collective conscience.
Anyway, more when I can manage it Must sleep now. Sky's getting light outside my window.
Thanks again.
Night.
“If I have to kill you I will. Don’t force me to do something I’m gonna regret.”
“I’m coming with you,” Frib said.
Rob’s frown, that had been darkening ominously, was now pinched with surprise.
“What?”
“I can’t let you go, at least not alone. If I go now people are going to ask too many questions. I have to know. I already know too much, don’t I? I can’t just walk away and pretend I don’t. Besides, I want him to pay as much as you do-”
“Who?”
“Mike,” Frib said, mirroring Rob’s incredulous smile briefly.
The young detective glimpsed over his shoulder, towards where the body of Ava lay, to where the rest of his normal average somnolent life still was, before he returned his attentions to his old partner. Rob was studying him suspiciously and Frib was doing his best to appease him. Confronted with the prospect he was standing in the literal shadow of a man that broke bones and blew holes in people at another’s say-so, Frib could only swallow his cresting anxiety and smile back in appeasement.
“He’s gotten away with it for so long, if there’s anything I can do to help bring him down count me in.”
“Who said I was going after Mike?” Rob asked.
His frown and conflicting smile hadn’t shifted as he stared back down over the other man with his arms now folded.
Frib stared at him. He blinked dubiously.
“But- what he did to- to Rave, remember. He tried to kill her. Don’t you want to make him pay for what he did to you? To your family?”
Rob opened his mouth to speak then stopped and shifted to the basin where he rinsed his face and the back of his neck again. He sniffed as he smeared his face with a towel. Tossing it aside he swirled it around on the floor with his foot. The blood beneath it rendered the towel red as Rob reached in to the shower recess within arm’s reach and turned the water on, washing the blood away. The room was infused by the applause of running water as Frib watched on in a kind of hypnotic daze. The pink-tinged water swirled as it gurgled down the drain. He only glimpsed up when Rob shut the water off. That’s when he had an epiphany.
“It wasn’t Mike was it, what happened to her; to Rave. All that work trying to make it look like a home invasion, all that water, the lack of DNA, only a cop would know how to do that, wouldn’t they?”
Clearing his throat Rob snatched a cap hanging from a brass hook beside the mirror and assessed himself putting it on in the mirror. He sniffed and sighed to himself heavily. Then he turned around and walked past his ex partner, without so much as a passing glance.
“You’re never gonna learn,” Rob uttered. “You always did ask too many questions.”
Reaching out Rob slapped at the wall, snapping off the light, leaving Frib alone in the darkness. For a moment Frib couldn’t move. All he could smell was blood.
---
Ahh... see, now it's NOT the end, still so much to explain! Haha. Yeah Vanessa deserved a mention there somewhere. I was hoping it might go some ways as to describing this tension that always seems present between my character and Rob - or him and just about every other female character in this story. That's a start anyway. Just came out of the blue too. Probably reading Sarah's story triggered that, **** you woman! haha, anyway, hope all's good. And how's Frib now walking that nebulous grey area with Rob?? Rebel! Yay for Frib, finally his eyes are open to the truth, but feel sorry for him now that he has been exposed to more information than he ever trully wanted (or asked for) Guess I can rationalise Frib's behaviour as empathy somewhat, and that in spite of Rob's past Frib still has those old bonds of 'brotherhood' that comes with being a cop. Aww. But you draw your own conclusions, I just write this chit, it's up to you to mentally process it. Hopefully it sits well with your collective conscience.
Anyway, more when I can manage it
Must sleep now. Sky's getting light outside my window.Thanks again.
Night.
Pheonix791989
New member
good update!! a great update and my very first pay check!! celebration time!! i cant wait to read more