MS - Rav's newest story

[Ravynlee]

“Something you want to get off your chest?” he wondered.

Mel shook her head. The gesture was too fast to be honest. Mike smiled at her. Mel’s insides swan-dived. If she didn’t know any better part of her was certain untouchable Mike Shinoda was actually letting his guard down around her - and only her. She didn’t want to accept the possibility of what that little gesture could mean. She smiled back. It almost hurt her face to do so.

“The city’s holding some… inaugural get-together next month, apparently my name was dropped. I think that little contribution I made lined the right person’s pocket. It’s supposed to be for the city’s elite, the higher ups, the big names, business men, that type of thing - Another charity drive. Shit, these people are fucking leeches. Give them the finger they’ll take your hand. Anyway, like they’ve asked me to attend.”

Mel nodded back.

Mike paused and licked his lips considerately.

“I want you to come with me.”

“Excuse me?”

“To this thing. I want you there.”

“What about your wife?” Mel blurted before she could stop herself.

Mike’s smile didn’t waver only his eyes, as he pondered his lap with his hands still behind his head like a man at ease with his place in the world, even if the look on his face suggested he were trifling with a slippery incline that was likely to get him into some trouble.

“I have a boyfriend you know.”

“Congratulations. I’m not asking to fuck you, Melissa,” Mike said raising his eyes alone to almost glare at her across the dimly-lit table top. He smiled again as Mel looked around self-consciously. The conversation was going places she wasn’t at all comfortable in going, especially with her boss of all people.

“Listen. My wife and I… we have an agreement. I leave my business here and I leave my private life there. I don’t mix the two at all where I can help it, saves for… insinuations down the track, if you get what I’m leaning towards… Now I love my wife, don’t get me wrong, but she knows what she needs to know, when she needs to know it-”

“Plausible deniability.”

“Exactly,” Mike nodded.

His grin was full of teeth and as leering as it was injected with righteous pride.

Mel smirked back bashfully.

“You can imagine what would happen if say… the wrong element found out certain things about me; my wife for one thing. They could use it against me, and I don’t like feeling vulnerable… makes me… I don’t like it. You looking to marry this guy Melissa?”

Mel shrugged.

“What’s his name?”

“Shwag. Daniel Shwagert. He’s a… well he’s sorta between jobs at the moment.”

“And you like this guy?”

“Of course,” Mel frowned, feeling an instinctual defensiveness rise up at the very notion her boss be asking such privy information as candidly as he was.

Mike however continued to sit and smile back at her.

“And what would happen if one day something happened to him? If this Greyfoxx got her hands on him and decided to send you a little message, or maybe me one, through him? What would that do to you?”

“He can hold his own.”

“I’d doubt it. But the question still stands.”

“What kind of a question is that? Are you threatening me?”

“Threat? Huh. No one ever listens anymore. I’m speaking to you, person to person. Cause I know what its like to lose someone you care about just like you do. I don’t want to have to do that again. Does that answer your question?”

Mel blinked back; her expression lost a moment despite the severe frown and scathing stare.

“So, you wanna go out with me?” Mike asked.

Mel scoffed. Mike laughed. It wasn’t so much malevolent as it was goading. His mouth full of beaming teeth and wrinkle-eyed expression made him look anything but menacing. For the first real time since making his acquaintance Mel actually didn’t feel painfully intimidated by him. Eventually she smiled back. It was the strangest of circumstances to think she was fast making herself friends with a man like Michael Shinoda when the rest of the city cringed at the very mention of his name.

 

---

 

That's it for tonight. I know, lots to take in as usual. This thing keeps unrolling like a giant ball of string here doesn't it? It's writing itself so hopefully it keeps going this way and making some semblance of sense... we can always hope anyway

Thanks as always for the persistent few that read the whole posts! Bless yas. Hope to pen at least a little bit more before work tomorrow. We'll see.

Thanks again.

 

:yes:

[crazy robster]

How can we not be persistent sis? We are honoured to be able to read what you write, these masterpieces !! You are the best!! Hmm let me ask something although I'm not sure cause I obviously don't listen to them that much but...is Dave the lead singer of Disturbed? I think he is the one who has a shaved head and pieces of metal on his chin. Haha more more more sis this is addictive it's great it...your descriptions kick ass!

[Ravynlee]

Yes sis to answer your question he is, and that was for two reasons. Well three. Aside from the fact my work colleague is a huge Disturbed fan (thanks to her I get 8hrs a day dose of them, give or take a few CDs in between, namely FM and occasionally LP in between, haha), Chester and Mr Draiman ARE friends, so that wasn't hard, and also well at one point our own real life Foxxy was something of a huge fan of his too so... she said she wanted to be a hardass in this piece I figured she may as well share the stage with one of her idols. Of sorts. And why not I say, I think he's intriguing in his own right, the little I know of pretty much anyone I write about here. All makes for good fiction if nothing else

 

As for the honors, well they are mine too. I love to write. If others like what I do its a thrill to me. Simply put really. And I'm touched you'd say that. I DO blush that easily, any writer knows there's a degree of vulnerability to anything you pen, so having people praise it makes me feel... content. Sorta. haha. You know me I'm insecure and over-analytical. But thanks my sweet. I think I might over describe things too much and not leave enough to people's imaginations but well... if it's a style of sorts it's my style I guess. Thanks again.

Will try and pen more as soon as I can

[crazy robster]

I don't want you to leave anyhting to my imagination sis! I've told you my imagination is a constipated ass when it comes to generating images so yeah..I'm actually thankful to you for being so over-descriptive!! <3

[Ravynlee]

Hahaha - sis there are some things I HAVE to leave to your imagination, its an all ages forum remember? Imagine what this would read like if it weren't...

 

:spiteful:

 

*muahahaha*

[crazy robster]

Haha I don't have to imagine... :spiteful: :spiteful: :spiteful: :spiteful: :spiteful: Buahahahaha!!

[Pheonix791989]

i love this damn it. *poke poke* write some more. *psst* when ever you get the chance mum gotta question i want to ask you. but yeah.... its reallly cool.

[andrea]

Wow! I fill bad for not reviewing for a while (*damn school*). I've been slowly reading it since I left off on my last review, haha. Finally I caught up. I just want to let you know that I'm still reading this, and that I love it, you have disappointed me yet, which I don't think you every will, haha. I really love the bust, makes me miss watching GH, haha, I have to work when it on so I miss it, but your story is make up for my mob fix, haha. Can't wait to read more .

[Friðbjörn]

nice to watch things unfold, can't wait for more

[Ravynlee]

i love this damn it. *poke poke* write some more. *psst* when ever you get the chance mum gotta question i want to ask you. but yeah.... its reallly cool.

 

What's the question? PM me if you get the time or sth. I'm here regularly enough, I'll certainly respond when I can, if I can

 

And thanks guys. I have another two or so chapters to post but will do so tomorrow when I sober up. Right now I am likely to omit pieces and mess posts up, and no one wants that! :lol:

Will update sometime tomorrow. Catch ya's then.

[Ravynlee]

---

 

“You okay?”

“Yeah… sorry, I don’t really like hospitals-”

“Not many people do.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”

Sarah chuckled and sipped at her coffee with a wry smirk pursing her lips. She waved her hand by her side, gesturing she had been attempting a joke of sorts. Around them the courtyard was busy with a continual stream of people and traffic. The sky was clear today but a chill wind persisted, lashing at their exposed hands and faces and they slowly walked. Both of them nursed their cups with their hands pinched pink, breathing in the steam that was fast being wrenched away by the frigid air. Snow was forecast in the next few weeks but the ground was already crunching beneath their feet as if ice had secretly started forming. Letting the moment pass in contemplative silence Sarah found herself studying the reporter with a sympathetic gaze. The Ravyn Harris she had long been reading in all those articles over the years didn’t seem to match up the physical reality of the woman walking pensively beside her now. She was short, round and carried herself like a feminine bouncer, if such a description was possible, her hazel eyes alert, even tentative as she studied everything around her from the dead leaves that strewn the asphalt to the cars idling past with a childlike wonderment. The almost vicious attitude she had come to associate this woman’s observations, especially when it came to her pet hate of anything that stank of governmental bureaucracy, was physically nowhere to be seen. Sarah raised her brows amusedly as she stole another sip of the warming beverage, trying to imagine what the world must have been like when the woman beside her had been married to the quiet mannered detective Bourdon. She snorted to herself, not so much amused by the physical discrepancies but by the amusing similarities of two such dry-witted personas sharing the one living space. It was practically no wonder Ravyn’s writing had grown more acerbic over the years, divorcing one of the city’s favourite sons would have a lot to do with it, she mused - not as if Sarah herself could speak from experience. Clearing her throat to mask the uncomfortable silence Sarah offered a weary smile and pointed towards a vacant bench at the base of a naked tree a few feet in front of them. Together the two women walked towards it and settled down, letting the continual ebbing and flowing of the hospital carry on like a restless sea all around them.

Eventually Ravyn sighed. It was the precursor to a confession that never made it to her lips beneath the doctor’s exhaustive gaze.

“Look, I don’t know what I can tell you that you might not already know, I just… I know, I’d heard you had been working on this case since your friend was killed, I just figured if anyone knew what would be going on it would be you.”

Ravyn pulled a face and scoffed at the towering skyline ahead of them.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No,” Ravyn shook her head and smiled back. The gesture was weak and not altogether convincing on her face. “Just… let’s just say a few people are getting a bit… anxious to see this story disappear that’s all.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Sarah noted. “City like this, conspiracy is its lifeblood. Zero Tolerance my ass. Rudy Giuliani was a great guy and all but just as misguided as the rest of them supposedly running this country. The politicians aren’t running this place; it’s the criminals that are. They didn’t stop crime they just moved it somewhere else. Look inside any county hospital within Manhattan alone and tell me otherwise. They don’t see what I see, what you see, Ravyn. Is it okay if I call you Ravyn? Strange name… I always wanted to ask how you came by that. It’s not a normal everyday name is it?”

“I guess not. And yes, it’s fine,” Ravyn smiled.

Sarah nodded agreeably and gave out a small embarrassed chuckle.

“I’ve always been a bit of a fan. The story you wrote on the Dysfunctional family of today a few years back still sticks in my mind. You were robbed of that award I think, that journalism award, what was it? No matter, that other upstart that won it, huh, kiss ass. Proves you don’t get anywhere at all in this world without greasing a few people’s palms. Talent doesn’t count for anything anymore. Pathetic isn’t it?”

Ravyn smiled. The two women shared an amused s****** as they sipped their coffees before they returned to their pensive silence, watching the world go by with a weary eye.

“So, what about this patient you were telling me about on the phone?”

“He’s a doctor, an intern. Actually I haven’t been able to get anything out of him since he woke up. He’s not talking like I’d hoped he would. I was hoping maybe you could, you know…?”

Ravyn nodded off towards the distance vaguely. She sighed as she sipped at her coffee that was fast growing tepid against the settling cold.

“I did some checking around after you called me,” Ravyn said still fixed ahead at the street bustling to the rhythm of flashing lights and traffic. “I rang the hospital where you said he was supposed to work.”

“Sacred Heart, yeah, so?”

“Thing is they don’t have a record of him. I checked the number you gave me on his ID tag. The strangest thing, they’ve never heard of him… What do you suppose that means?”

Sarah frowned back confusedly as Ravyn looked at her.

“I don’t - you mean to tell me he’s not a doctor?”

“Not there at least.”

“Do you think they’re telling the truth?”

“What the hospital? Why would they lie about it? He either works there or he doesn’t.”

“I don’t get it… huh, I guess it makes some sense now I think about it. I didn’t recall seeing him in med class back at college.”

“You know him?”

Sarah blinked back with her smile becoming nervous.

[Ravynlee]

“I knew him, sort of. Well I knew of him. If it is him, it’s a big city and all, so many people come and go through these doors. Some days I’m sure I don’t even recognise my own reflection in the mirror sometimes…”

“Yeah,” Ravyn smiled back, clearly seeing through the lie.

The young doctor smiled and quickly fell back into seriousness once more. “Look what I’m going to tell you could get me into a lot of trouble so-”

“Of course,” Ravyn agreed.

Sarah deliberated for a long time wrestling with her thoughts as her fingers gripped at her mug with white-knuckled apprehension. She smiled but it wasn’t a look of humour lacing her pain.

“I did some stupid things in college,” she admitted. “I was young, impressionable. I fell in with the wrong crowd. It was only brief but… I needed help staying awake for studies you know? I remembered seeing him a few times in the corridors and stuff. He was a visual arts student at that point making… strange art house type movies with another student there. Nothing major, very amateur - I guess they all are at that level - But very dark. Strange. Not my kind of thing at all. Anyway… I scored off of him a couple of times. It was a long time ago, and I have a little girl now that I wouldn’t-”

“Scored? You mean hits? As in drugs?”

“Yeah. Stupid I know I just… I felt a little overwhelmed you know,” Sarah’s smile became pained and vulnerable as her blue eyes shimmered beneath the bitter sky. “Anyway that’s how I met him. Him and this other guy… they… used to go to these parties off campus, they were totally frowned upon, I knew if anyone ever found out at the time I’d be disbarred and I’d lose everything but… I was young. You know how it is.”

“Yeah,” Ravyn agreed with a distant sigh. “Afraid I do.”

“Anyway… that was years ago. I hadn’t seen him since. Til the other night when they wheeled him in.”

“And this other guy, he not around?”

“Jason? No.”

“Jason?” Ravyn repeated blinking up from her coffee with sudden surprise. “Are you sure?”

“Sure what? That was his name. Jason-”

“Shinoda?”

Sarah frowned considerately.

“How did you-?”

“I have to go.”

“What, did I say something wrong?” Sarah wondered, watching the reporter suddenly get to her feet and toss her coffee aside in a nearby trashcan. Ravyn shook her head busily digging around in the handbag hanging off of her shoulder, her mind now clearly elsewhere. Sipping at her coffee the doctor continued to watch on, the frown not quite leaving her face.

“Look, you’re not going to tell anyone, are you? About-”

“No, of course. Listen, do you think I could go in and see this patient of yours? There’s some questions I’d really like-”

“Well he’s still a bit- from the concussion. He’s still a mess-”

“I understand, it’s just- I really need to speak with him. Just for a few minutes, please.”

“Ms Harris, Ravyn, I’m sorry. It’s just-”

“I know you have a duty of care-”

“No,” Sarah said and got to her feet to toss her cup aside too. The reporter had been walking off hurriedly and stopped now as the doctor approached her. With her voice lowered discreetly Sarah came to a stop before her and implored the shorter woman with her cool blue eyes.

“You don’t understand. He’s scared. I don’t blame him. The only person he’ll talk to at this point is me. I know you don’t want to hear it but he’s still my patient. I have to obey his wishes. If he says no visitors I have to comply-”

“Just for a minute. I swear. If it is the same Jason-”

“Jason Shinoda, as in Mike’s brother? It is,” Sarah said discreetly. “How common do you think Shinoda is as a surname around these parts right? I knew as soon as Jeremy said it. That’s why he’s not-”

“Please,” Ravyn practically begged.

Sarah wrestled with her better judgement momentarily, the war playing out in little spasms across her face and mouth. Eventually she relented with a sigh, her shoulders sinking with defeat.

“Alright, but just for a minute. If anyone sees me breaking protocol-”

“I know, I know- thank you, just- thank you.”

Together the two women walked towards the building with a hurried step, unawares of the figure sitting in a car parked in the hospital car park, watching on a few metres away.

The cell phone in his fist clicked.

With a push of a button the image of the two women captured by the cell’s camera was forwarded on to a second party. Reaching down the man started the engine and began to roll out of the car park. He waved aside to another raking the dead leaves on the other side of the courtyard. The orderly nodded back. A moment later the orderly laid the rake down and looked around, before he began to walk briskly towards the front doors and hurried inside.

 

---

[Ravynlee]

---

 

“You’re still coming aren’t you?”

Leaning down across the breakfast bar Joanna rubbed her brow as she held the phone receiver to her ear, frowning worriedly. The sound of music thumping behind her forced her to yell. She nodded as if the caller were miraculously able to see it. She groaned and pulled herself upright again, gingerly nursing her pregnant stomach.

“Well okay just don’t be long okay? I want you here. I miss you. Okay, see you soon. Okay bye.”

“What’s up?” a voice asked against her ear.

Joanna smiled slightly feeling an arm slip around her. Stealing a few chips from the bowl in front of her Rob stood back to drop them into his mouth. Joanna shrugged.

“Sis. She’s going to be late.”

“What else is new?” Rob wondered around his mouthful of crisps.

“I don’t know. I just… don’t feel right out there. I don’t know anyone. They’re all your friends not mine.”

“Well how are you going to get to know them standing in here?” Rob asked matter-of-factly.

He slid his arm around her back to lead her out whether she wanted to go or not. In the living room the music was a physical force pounding against Joanna’s temples. She nursed her stomach that felt unnaturally heavy tonight as she tried to keep the smile on her face. She stole a glimpse of her husband just behind her wishing she could be happy tonight if for no one else’s sake than his, wanting to make a good impression on his colleagues without the physical will to back it up. Rob was actually in a good mood for the first time in what felt like too long. The feel of his arm around her however was too brief as he stepped around her to meet some man in their back yard with an outstretched hand.

“Hey, there he is!”

“Hey.”

“Happy Halloween brother. What are you supposed to be anyway?”

Rob shrugged as he looked down at his casual wardrobe ensemble of dark trousers and a button up shirt and s******ed back vaguely.

“Business man.”

“Different.”

“See that movie with all the zombie’s in it? I’m the before the infected part. Haven’t turned yet.”

“Yet. Give you a few beers.”

“Yeah.”

“Conceptual. I like it,” the man in the Fedora winked.

“And what are you supposed to be?”

“Me? Shit, I’m a rock star man. Look at this, all blinged out-”

Together the men chuckled as they inspected the brass knuckles swinging from the long chain around his neck. Reaching around the shorter man in the baggy Misfits tee and black Tripp pants embraced his taller counterpart with a slap to the back before he stepped back to acknowledge Joanna standing nearby with a smile.

“Wow. Some costume,” the man acknowledged, his dark eyes tracing her round stomach beneath the sky blue slip. “Now that’s dedication. Real?”

“Yes,” Joanna smiled a little bashful beneath his stare as she dipped her eyes to her stomach and nursed it with a sweeping palm. Rob s******ed amusedly.

“This is my wife Joanna. Babe, this is Joel. Madden. NEU Team leader. Well, one of them.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah you too,” he said. Joanna offered her hand and found it being drawn up beneath the other man’s lips to kiss. She raised her brows amusedly and rolled her eyes aside to gauge her husband’s reaction. Rob grinned amusedly and slapped the other man’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, he’s harmless. Hey, slip out of character a minute. You’re like a rock star not a pimp or something.”

Joel’s shoulders danced as he laughed. Releasing Joanna’s hand he winked back at her over the rim of his drink. Joanna felt heat suddenly spring up out of nowhere and infuse her face. She was transfixed by the sight of his forearms slipping from beneath the sleeves of his shirt with black and grey tattoos of what looked to be Jesus and Mary against a dizzying myriad of others she couldn’t discern as he moved in the shadow of the back porch. The white skull on his shirt was a stark contrast behind the religious iconography and the gleaming silver set of miniature brass knuckles over that seemed just as out of place as the rest of him. She didn’t know what to make of her husband’s colleague at first glance. He looked physically menacing, not as tall as his counterparts but solid none the less with a strongly cut almost boyish face. Beneath the shade of the Fedora’s brim his perpetual smile was framed by a tentative growth of stubble. His voice was quiet, respectful, even with a hint of old worldly charm as he exchanged pleasantries, but it was his eyes alone that stayed with her. Even as he was distracted in brief conversation with Rob beside her Joanna found herself staring into them again feeling her heart suddenly halt and kick up a missed beat from seemingly out of nowhere. Joel was smiling at her. Though he was probably only being cordial Joanna felt like he had reached in with an invisible hand and squeezed the air from her lungs. Suddenly dizzy and weak she tugged Rob’s arm and excused herself to go and sit down. She hurried off with a nervous chuckle feeling eyes upon her all the way back inside.

Tucked away back in the kitchen she pretended to busy herself with preparing more trays of food against the already cluttered assortment she had previously prepared. She wasn’t a huge fan of Halloween and part of her was still unconvinced about the idea of having a party here of all places, but part of her was just as relieved to have people around her to fill the house with life, even if she really didn’t know anyone else to mingle with besides her husband. Smiling to herself amid the internal aberration she glimpsed down and with a shaky hand rubbed her stomach gently.

“Everything okay?”

Blinking up Joanna almost choked on her tongue to see Joel standing there once more before her. Worriedly she looked around to see he had evidently followed her in alone.

[Ravynlee]

“Oh yes,” she excused with a small chuckle. “Sorry just… get tired more easier now carrying this around all day.”

Running on automatic pilot she busied her hands rearranging snacks on a platter as voices and the relentlessly thump of music warbled from the next room. Rob could be heard at the front door apparently welcoming another handful of guests in. Lowering her eyes to the sound of his painfully familiar baritone she braved a look up to see him leading in another man and a tall leggy blonde to join the growing number of strangers gathering in her backyard already. Joanna tried to disguise her sigh behind a proprietary smile. She was starting to feel vastly outnumbered here, a black sheep amidst a growing herd of white. Where the hell was her sister? She was supposed to be here already, damn it.

“Nice place you got here.”

“Thanks.”

“Been here long?”

“Uh no. A few months.”

“Not from around here?”

“How can you tell?”

“Just… things.”

Joanna looked up to see the young man smiling back at her. Her hot face surely had to be the reason he was looking at her like that, half smiling, half thinking. Snorting to herself Joanna dipped her eyes again, reminded by the painful truth that he was just another cop here amidst a small sea of them doing what all cops do best by nature - assessing the situation in all it’s variables.

“So how much longer you got to go? You don’t mind if I ask do you?”

“Oh, no. A few months yet. Feels too far away sometimes.”

“Your first?”

“Yeah. You?”

“No. Not me. On the market but… oh you know what they say, all the good ones being taken and all.”

“Or handicapped. My sister says that all the time.”

“You have a sister? Wow, she like you?”

“Not really,” Joanna chuckled, sucking some chocolate that had been smeared onto her thumb. “She’s a writer for The New York Times.”

“Probably wouldn’t know her. I’m more your Hustler type of guy. You know me,” Joel s******ed around the lip of his can.

Joanna smiled along, unsure as to whether Joel was genuinely sincere or was playing with her or not. He seemed harmless enough despite the fact he physically looked a little rough around the edges. In fact it was almost hard to imagine him as one of the good guys when he looked almost stereotypically anti-establishment especially in his loose fitting rock gear, hat, thick chains and volleys, especially when she compared him to almost every one else she had been introduced to tonight that served on her husband’s team.

But who knows better than you that not everything is as it seems though, right?The thought suddenly struck her.

Joanna’s smile fell away awkwardly. She could just see a slice of Rob’s back as he stood joking with the big bald-headed man and the blonde woman in the clingy red dress and plastic devil horns hanging off her partner’s arm and her eyes fell to the floor dismally. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d heard him laugh like that, especially not when he was alone with her anymore, as rare an opportunity as that was. When it came to pretending she should have a litter of Oscars on her mantelpiece she thought to herself acerbically then forced the thoughts away with another bright beaming smile.

It was all too easy to pick at old wounds that didn’t rightfully belong to her in the first place. Picking up the tray she excused herself to carry it out to join the others. Putting down his drink Joel was quick to manoeuvre his way in front of her.

“Oh here, let me help you with that. You should be resting or something, right?”

Joanna smiled and shrugged as he slid the tray from her hands. Their fingers lightly brushed. Meeting his eyes Joanna froze. Again she felt like she was about to suffocate. Smiling back with a tiny chuckle Joel apologized and backed away leading her out with the tray in his hands like he were the host of the party. In part Joanna couldn’t help but wished he were. She came to a stop and watched him step ahead out through the sliding glass door that led out to the back porch, nursing her pregnant stomach and fingering the neck of her woollen blouse with a distant smile forming across her lips. He was the life of the party and the others seemed to appreciate the noise he was suddenly making. Joanna couldn’t help but chuckle back to herself quietly. Feeling eyes upon her she turned her head distractedly and her smile fell away. Rob was looking at her, then at Joel, with a small frown forming across his brow. Forcing a smile she acknowledged him with a nod before she dipped her eyes again and wandered back inside. Her will to socialise had been replaced now by the parallel urge to run and hide herself away in the relative sanctity of her bedroom until everyone finally had enough and went home. But even splashing her face with cold water in the bathroom a few minutes later didn’t dispel the unease churning away in her stomach now like hot lead. Dabbing her face with a towel Joanna huffed out heavy breaths to settle herself down. Meeting the brown eyes of the woman in the mirror all she could see in her mind’s eye was Joel. She gasped as she gripped at the basin. She felt like crying and didn’t know why. Her heart and her mind felt heavy now, burdened as if she had done something horrible and couldn’t quite justify what that something was. She waited, anticipating that any minute Rob would follow her in and demand to know what was going on - as if she had any answers to give him. But the moment passed as did the one following that and still she remained alone in the stark white sterility of her bathroom with her thoughts and her nervous reflection struggling now to face her. Rob didn’t come and she knew on some level he never would. He didn’t. That wasn’t the type of man that she had married. The ring on her finger felt heavy, like a tiny bear trap she would never be able to free herself from. Her whole life was a lie and soon she would be bringing a child into it. Slumping down onto the drawn toilet lid Joanna nursed the damp towel to her face and began to sob, the sound of her tears echoing back all by themselves was no competition for the pulse of the music beating away without regard on the other side of the closed bathroom door.

 

---

[Ravynlee]

---

 

“What the fuck is she doing here? - Mike.”

Leaning forward to get his attentions Mel motioned with her head towards the bar. Though it was teeming with people the flash of bright red hair beneath the swinging kaleidoscopic lights suddenly caught the club owner’s eyes with concerned interest.

“Want me to go check it out?” Mel asked over the din of the music.

The Prodigy’s ‘Smack my Bitch up’ echoed with a delayed bass beat over the chaotic buzz of a club packed to the hilt with patrons. Shaking his head Mike shifted in his seat to watch Fox stroll the bar with a drink in hand. She appeared to be searching for someone before she blinked up and raised her glass in a toast towards the ceiling. On the other side of the mirrored glass Mike smiled back from his seat with a small shake of his head.

“She’s got guts I’ll give her that.”

“Mike?” Mel prompted again.

Mike turned his head but he didn’t look at her. It was hard to tell whether the look on his face was due to the informal nature that Mel addressed him with or the way he stared so fixedly on the red haired woman weaving her way through the thronging mob below as if she were just another face in the crowd. Eventually he snorted and sunk back into his seat. Mel made to stand but he grabbed her on the leg and kept her seated on the side of his desk. Ryu, standing on the opposing side, glimpsed up from the gesture to the small woman’s dark eyes and pursed his lips scornfully.

“No,” Mike said at last and turned his chair around to face them. “Call the police.”

“You want the authorities here?”

“If she’s peddling her wares let them deal with her, if not,” Mike shrugged. “What’s the worst that can happen? Let her drink. It’s my booze she’s buying.”

Amidst the nervous spattering of laughter that eventuated Mike pushed himself from his seat to walk around and sit on the front of his desk like a teacher addressing his students. The handful of people that lounged about his office drank, ate snacks from rustling packets, played with their games on their cell phone and generally talked amongst themselves in discreet murmurs before the settling silence summoned everyone’s attentions. The big black man that had just entered the room with Takbir and Bam chuckled at him as the two men approached to clasp hands and embrace in a hearty backslapping hug.

“Sorry dog, my girl on the phone,” the man said in a slow heavy drawl as they parted.

He had a shaved head and wore large dark glasses despite the relative late hour of night as he drew himself over a nearby chair to sink down into. Mike resumed his perch against the edge of his desk casually. He watched the door close with only a select few remaining behind for the meeting. Mike smiled as close to genuinely as was possible.

“How is she?”

“Yo you know B man, she’s sweet.”

“Yeah.”

“And how’s your-”

“She’s fine,” Mike intercepted a little too quickly. He continued to smile.

On reflex Mel looked down at his fingers encircling the edge of the desk to note his wedding band was missing again. She blinked up to search his face but found Mike was too busy passing cordialities to his new friend to pay much mind to her. Wandering over to the mini bar Mel fished out a can of drink for herself. Calling out Mike clapped his hands for one as well. His friend known only as ‘JZ’ agreed to one too. Shaking her head Mel wondered to herself if anyone in her boss’ immediate circle answered to any real names - or if they started numbering themselves when they reached to the last letter of the alphabet ad-nauseum.

“Sweet kid,” Jay said of her openly.

Mike agreed with a grunt.

Mel cringed and shifted her eyes aside over her shoulder. With one careful visual sweep she assessed the new man’s general height and weight and took note of the way his fat neck sat up high above his broad shoulders. In her head like a flash she could see herself creep up behind him, wrap her hands about his forehead and jaw and twist tightly, snapping his neck and silencing his smart-assed comments just like that with no fuss or mess before anyone could even think to stop her. But the cool glimpse of Mike’s dark eyes on hers that instant halted such thoughts from developing into action. He didn’t say anything and nor did he have to. Though he was smiling on the outside for the world in general Mel knew with chilling clarity that her fate was tied intricately closer to his than anyone’s. After all she knew enough about his vulnerabilities to bring him down but he knew almost all of hers - it was how they had met and how they had bonded as the memory of blood on her hands made her close her eyes briefly. The face of that little girl in her mind cried tears that would never be heard by anyone but Mel’s ears alone as she fought to push it and the deeds of her misgivings - before and since - as far from her mind as she could. Distributing drinks around she returned to her place at Mike’s side with a vacant look on her face.

[Ravynlee]

Mike smiled at her and slung an arm around her shoulders to tug her close like a manly gesture of affection. He scuffed up her hair before he pushed her away. Mel chuckled but only because she knew it was expected of her. Smiling back at the big black man in front of her Mel let her smile fade away in it’s own time. It was clear very quickly that he was a man that had her employer’s respect and as such she knew her place when it came to him. Remaining silent and observant she sipped her drink quietly and pretended to let the woman with the red hair downstairs steal much of her attentions.

“So I hear you’ve been having a few problems man?” The man said. “Word on the street says you got one hell of a beef with the brothers on the east side?”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” Mike shrugged. “I’m taking care of things as we speak.”

“You know I believe you, man, but you know how it is, people talk, know what I’m saying?”

“People always talk. We’ve got whole industries built on nothing but talk, man. This fucking reporter has been dogging me for the last few weeks-”

“Yo get used to it man, word is you’re becoming the next mayor of the city or something. Fuckin’ Mikey Giuliani. You’re getting more press time than that terminator mother-fucker governor of Cali back home.”

Mike s******ed. Against his tanned complexion he even appeared to blush a little.

“No man, I’m just doing my job.”

“Yo I feel you. Fuckin’ war on terrorism. War on crime. War on drugs, you name it, only thing we respond to anymore as a race has to start with a war in front of it. It’s the only way to get people to listen man. I feel what you’re doing, I do, you know what I’m saying, it’s just…”

“I know. You don’t have to say it.”

“Well some of my boys are getting nervous man. I mean when it’s underground this shit’s okay, you know, but you know, what you’re doing, bringing it out into the open like this, giving that money away like you did, people are starting to call you a sell out man. Saying you’re in too deep with the boys in blue if you know what I mean.”

Mike shook his head and huffed out a sound of irritation. His thoughts played out silent on his down turned face. He smiled but it wasn’t humorous.

“Selling out,” Mike snorted before thumbing himself in the chest. “I’m stepping up, that’s what I’m doing. You don’t see anyone else out here standing up trying to make a fucking difference. I’m making myself a target and I know it but someone has to, man. This shit can’t go on. The fucking government won’t stop it. The cops refuse to. There’s too much money to be made, too much profit to be fucking had on the suffering of others and I can’t stand it. Who else is going keep turning a blind eye to this? You?”

“Yo man, chill, I’m on your side.”

“Then be on my side, or be against me, either way you support it or you don’t,” Mike declared, practically snarling with the last syllable.

He drowned out his mounting venom with a mouthful of drink before slamming the can aside. Sweeping at his mouth Mike stood to pace the room, his tread hard and heavy. Silence followed him, his little outburst dissipating like a minor threat against the backdrop of the music thumping away beneath them. Jerking his cap up Mike scratched at his head irritably. He wrestled with words to say but they barely made it past partial sounds before dying in the stultifying air.

“I’m sorry Jay, just… things.”

“No man, shit… I should’ve known better than to come here with this bullshit. I know you’re all right man, I know it, you’re like my brother man. I just don’t wanna see no bad shit happening to you is all, that’s all.”

“Alright.”

In a few strides the two men were backslapping again as Mel and Ryu watched on. The sudden knock on the door broke the lightening jovialities that were forming. It was Tak.

“Yo M, someone just tried to jack your ride man.”

“What?”

Before the word had even finished passing Mike’s lips the sound of a large explosion could be heard shaking the club to its very foundations. The music skipped a few beats as people screamed. The lights flickered. The smell of smoke suddenly wafted up the stair well.

“What the fuck was that?”

Hurrying downstairs as the patrons ignored their own safety and scrambled about in a blind panic like rats in some giant cage, Mike and his entourage made their way out through a side door and emerged in the car park to the sight of a car engulfed by flames. They licked at the night sky with bright orange angry tongues. The heat was incredible causing them all to back peddle with winces. It took Mike a moment to register that it was his car, or what was left of it, being devoured alive by the ravenous fire. Shielding his face with his forearm he managed closer and peered in.

“Who the fuck is that in there?”

[Ravynlee]

The vision of a charring body amid the white-hot inferno had people screaming in horror. There were screams for paramedics, as if they could do much now but bare silent witness as the rest of them. The sound of sirens could be heard against the smoky skyline.

“I dunno - I think it was G, man,” Tak said in his low timbre. Mike cursed loudly and threw his arms about in a fit of frustration and rage. “I left him here just a minute to go up and get you. He said he was gonna wait here, he must have tried-”

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

The rest of the team were gathering now with as much questions as the gathering crowd pouring out of the club’s front doors on the other side of the car park, all mortified and morbidly transfixed by the sight. As someone asked where Ribisi had gotten to Mike stormed off sweeping the cap from his head to rub at his brow in fierce indignation. He stormed up to Ryu and Tak.

“Get these people out of here,” he muttered lowly. He was snarling to the point he almost appeared to be leering with malicious glee. Stabbing a finger ahead at the people that had made their way out of the club, that by all outward accounts appeared structurally undamaged, Mike’s finger froze and redirected towards another face caught staring back impassioned through the flames.

“Her! That fucking bitch! Get her!”

“Who?”

By the time Mike tried directing everyone’s attentions to her Fox, and the smile she had been wearing quite proudly upon her face, were long since gone from view.

Letting out another angry curse Mike threw his cap onto the ground and stormed off with Jay back the way they had come. Tentatively and against their will the rest did as they were bidden and headed towards the crowd to instil some kind of order. With her eyes loathsome and scowling Mel struggled hard not to stare into the flames as they devoured the body of her compatriot of these short few weeks, preferring instead to study the faces of those she recognised around her against the backdrop of smoke and heat and chaos around her. The look on each of the other men’s faces echoed her sentiments back to her and amongst themselves. Irrespective of their personal relationship with the deceased, they were each in their own ways personally affected. The war, such as it had been toted in allegorical form, had now begun in earnest - and in such a public spectacle.

So be it, Mel thought with a defensive huff.

Her fists were clenched into tight white balls of rage and desperation on either side of her.

Let the games begin. She was ready.

 

 

 

---

Working on more. Hope to have it up shortly.

[Pheonix791989]

awesome update. *cheers* more pwease?

[Ravynlee]

Certainly.

Cause you asked so nicely

 

---

 

The knock at the door summoned Rashell from the living room. Groaning irritably she lay the television remote on the coffee table and strode out through the hall. The sound of urgent knocking again shattered the peaceable silence.

“Okay, okay! I’m coming.”

Tugging her sweater around her shoulders closer she hesitated on the other side of the door, groaning at the empty bowl just inside on a nearby buffet. She swept her hair back behind her ear and forced a smile to her face that didn’t physically exist.

“We’re out of candy, I’m sorry, I don’t-”

“Mrs Shinoda?” a woman’s voice asked dubiously.

Rashell frowned. The voice was too stern to belong to any of the neighbourhood kids whether they were playing a Halloween prank on her or not. Besides it was late. Most of the trick-or-treaters should have been long home now divvying up their sugar-laden spoils. Tugging the sweater tighter around her Rashell leant against the wood trying to discern just who would be calling at such a late hour on a night like this by sheer sound alone.

“Who is it?” she called.

“It’s me. Ravyn Harris, from The Times. We spoke the other day.”

“It’s late.”

“I- I know. Please, I know you said you didn’t want to talk to me but I really- I’m desperate. I’ve come across some information I really need to speak to you about.”

“My husband will be home any minute.”

“Please, it’ll only just take a few minutes. Please.”

Frowning to herself against her better judgement Rashell reached out and twisted the locks. Keeping the chain in place she gently peeled the door open. The woman staring back at her basked beneath the porch light looked familiar save for the curt smile and the strangely haunted expression she wore. Rashell didn’t recall seeing either one the other day. Even her movements were anxious and nervous. Seeing it the knot in Rashell’s stomach tightened its apprehensive grip.

“What is it?” she prompted.

She peered out at the street ahead of her as far as the gap in the door could allow.

Following her lead Ravyn too was looking over her shoulders uneasily.

“Please,” she asked.

It was an effort for her to maintain the affable expression on her face. With her brow furrowed in consternation Rashell pushed the door to a close before she released the chain and reopened the door to welcome the other woman in. Surveying the darkened street one last time she cleared her throat and closed the door. The lock snapped shut too loud amid the eerie pre-midnight silence.

“Can I offer you a drink or something?”

“No. Thanks.”

Rashell watched the reporter fishing inside her handbag with her heart knocking expectantly in her throat. She flicked her eyes aside at the clock on the living room wall. Outside cars could be heard lazily perusing the darkness. Rashell was all too aware that the other woman’s hands were noticeably shaking as they fumbled with the clasp on her bag.

“Look, I don’t know what more I can tell you,” she began, finding herself visually assessing her surrounds with a critical eye now as if the reporter had come here to berate her homemaking skills.

With a critiquing glare she saw the slight film of dust gathered across the mantle piece or the photo frames that graced the nearby walls or the way the hallway runner had curled up ever so slightly in the corner and tried to mask her unease with a placating pout. Her defensiveness was fast matched by a very real fear as she watched headlights sweep the front yard and pass again, expecting Mike would burst in through the front door at any given minute.

“I shouldn’t even be speaking to you,” she said.

She tried to smile with her fingers white around the hem of her pink cashmere sweater remembering their last meeting with dismal clarity. Mike’s mood following had been anything but jovial and it was not something she wished a repeat performance of if she could at all help it. The image of a man’s face held aloft on the cell phone in front of her made Rashell frown back curiously.

“Do you know him?” Ravyn asked.

Rashell shrugged. The light was poor and the fact she were looking the picture of a man obviously bruised and battered taken from a hospital bed made her frown back even harder. She shrugged and shook her head, taking a distancing step backwards. She didn’t like the notion a reporter had a camera phone opened and ready in her hand to utilize for her next expose in Rashell’s own home any more than she did the image captured upon it. Flicking her hand dismissively she walked back to the door again and began to unlock it.

Ravyn behind her was pleading for another moment’s audience.

“Are you sure you don’t know him? Look again.”

“I’d rather not. If that’s all-”

“His name is Jeremy. He used to go to college here with your husband’s brother-”

“Jason?” Rashell balked. She peeled the door open in one decisive swoop. “If this is another one of your pathetic attempts at accusing my husband of something, Miss Harris, I wish you would just-”

“I need your help,” Ravyn implored her barely an arm’s span away. Rashell bit her lip as she stared an infinite moment into the other woman’s eyes. Curiosity drove her to shrug back vaguely as Ravyn clutched the phone in her hand. Her wide eyes appealed her like a martyr.

“This man was beaten up the other night and left for dead by this group of people. I think they were trying to send a message-”

“What kind of message? And what’s this got to do with- with Jason?”

“May I?” Ravyn motioned, directing for a seat inside the living room nearby.

Tentatively they both sat. The silence resumed as a General Hospital rerun played mutely on the television screen. Smiling back awkwardly at the reporter Rashell drew in a deep breath and struggled to recompose herself beneath the other woman’s ever-observant and wandering stare. She waited for the conversation to begin again in earnest.

“Did Jason ever talk about any of his friends from back then? Any of the people he hung out with at campus parties and such?”

Rashell pursed her lips and shook her head.

“I didn’t really know him all that well. Mike and I hadn’t been married all that long when he… you know…”

“Do you mind if I ask Mrs Shinoda, how he-?”

“It’s Andrea,” Rashell said, wringing her hands together bashfully. She chuckled and fought to meet the other woman’s eyes.

[Ravynlee]

“I’m sorry?”

“Andrea. It’s my maiden name. I don’t go by… Mike’s surname. It was his idea. Sounds silly I know, but…” Rashell sighed heavily watching her fingers wrestle uncomfortably in her lap with a distant look on her face that was as much dismal as it was shy. “That’s why I was surprised when you came here the other day asking for him by that name. I just don’t hear it that often anymore - well I don’t anyway. I mean, Mike lives here he just… you know how these business men are all work, work, work.” She struggled to formulate the right words to say before eventually the expectant silence drew them out against her will regardless. With her timid eyes gleaming she confessed, “When Mike started the club he said it was- that there were some people who didn’t appreciate the competition. And, given the fact it’s far from a family environment,” she smiled with her cheeks darkening. “He said he didn’t want it to come back and reflect on me. It was his idea, to keep me… away from all that. I know he takes his business very seriously and I’d never do anything to jeopardise that…”

“That’s very understanding of you,” Ravyn told her.

Rashell shrugged, her silence betraying the fact she felt far from morally justified despite what her words had just laid claim to. She pursed her lips wanly.

“He’s a good man. He takes care of me. I couldn’t ask for a better husband. If you only knew him like I did.”

Ravyn smiled but it was far from convincing as Rashell felt her own conviction melt away in the never-ending silence.

“That club is his life. He’s poured his heart and soul into that place. He spends almost all of his time there I just-” Suddenly Rashell found herself falling silent. Her intended confession came seemingly out of nowhere like a bolt of lightning. Feeling anger rise in its place she drew herself upright to stare at the reporter evenly.

“It would kill him if anything ever happened to it, to his club, or to me. All those stories you people keep printing just to make a name for yourself, my husband doesn’t deserve any of it. He’s worked hard. His family came to this country with nothing. Everyone could learn a thing or two from him, from being around him, from his dedication to his work and his family. Family’s everything to him but you wouldn’t know anything about that would you? You reporters are all the same, you don’t care what lies you have to tell or whose lives get ruined in the process, you make me sick the lot of you, I just-”

“I assure you,” Ravyn implored as congenially as possible, “I’m not here to make any trouble for him or you I just - want the truth.”

“Truth? What would you know of it? The last time you were here you practically accused Mike of murdering that whore, that friend of yours. I hope you’re satisfied. You know what, he’s right. You have no business here now please leave-”

“Please, I just need to know. Did you know if Jason was involved with any type of drugs? Do you know of anyone he might have-?”

Struggling to make herself heard, albeit understood, Ravyn stood in a gesture of goodwill to follow Rashell out to the door.

Rashell was almost in tears. Her frustration simmered in her crystalline eyes.

“You are unbelievable! First you come here and accuse my husband of being involved with some hooker and now you’re after his brother, his dead brother may I remind you, about drugs? How the hell do you sleep at night? What kind of person are you? You call yourself a writer? Jesus Christ-”

“How did he die? Please, I can’t find any details about the night he-”

The slamming door severed her question as it blew a cool gust of wind in her face. Ravyn balked and fell silent, her question left unfinished to loiter beneath the dusky porch light. With sinking shoulders she stared ahead. A moment later she banged her fist once more against the door.

“Please, Mrs Shinoda… Andrea… Rashell, please… I just need to know what happened that night,” she said. She waited. With each passing second she could feel her best lead slipping away. With a grimace she rubbed her eyes and tapped the door lighter.

“Rashell?”

“Go away. I’m calling the police.”

“I- I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-”

With a momentary pause Ravyn began to speak again then stopped before she could finish. Part of her didn’t even know what it was she was feeling sorry for - the images of Jeremy’s bludgeoned face played over in her mind, along with Jammer’s, along with Phoenix and Lindsay and so many others. The list was steadily growing longer every day but still no one seemed to notice and no one seemed to care. Rashell’s pain only aggrieved her further. Though she knew her questions and her methods were harsh Ravyn could only sympathize in part with the woman who had just thrown her out - but only in part.

‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,’ Burke had said. How prolific his words had been and in a contemporary context still were - perhaps now even more so.

[Ravynlee]

Internalising a scoff Ravyn gave the door in front of her a considerate pause before she drew her shoulders up in a sigh and turned to descend the front steps. The sight of a dark car parked across the street suddenly peaked her suspicions. Though it was parked beneath the shade of a sprawling evergreen and was hard to distinguish from shadow she was almost certain it hadn’t been there when she had first arrived moments ago. With a frown Ravyn scanned the darkened street before she discreetly bowed her head and hurriedly made her way across the road. The feeling of eyes watching her now made her pace quicken considerably. Though she moved without direction she hurried as fast as she could, making her way towards a house with internal lights on and made her way quickly towards the door. With a sense of urgency she knocked. As the light snapped on above her Ravyn dared to peek a glimpse over her shoulder. The person inside the car had opened the driver’s side door. Ravyn banged on the door in front of her again.

“Yeah-yeah, I’m coming- who is it?”

“Police. Please. Someone’s following me.”

The door opened and the young woman inside eyed her over suspiciously. Her hair was haphazard and the robe that hung off her emaciated frame was faded and open. Ignoring the woman’s protests about the intrusion Ravyn bravely stole another look over her shoulder in time to see the tall individual in silhouette stride up the porch of Rashell’s house. Though he didn’t look back at her Ravyn knew with sickening clarity just who it was. With a jangle of keys the door had opened and the man had disappeared inside. Apologizing to the woman still waiting impatiently for an explanation Ravyn backed up and with a shaky smile and an equally flimsy story about mistaking the street address, she turned her back and hurried away. Her eyes never left the Shinoda house until she was in the back of a hailed cab and was safely pulling away up the deserted street.

 

---

[Ravynlee]

---

 

“About time-”

“I need to use your computer.”

“Nice to see you too. Sure come in, help yourself like-”

Watching his ex wife shoulder her way past Rob snorted disparagingly to himself before he drew the front door to a close. Joanna had just been entering the room as it happened. She met his eyes concernedly.

“Was that-? What happened?”

“How the hell should I know?” Rob snapped back.

He sipped at his drink before Joanna grunted a sound of irritation at him and too strode past. Rob rolled his eyes and snorted again not making a move to follow or to stop her. Striding down the hall Joanna peered in through a few opened doorways before the sudden blue light at the end of the hall drew her inwards. Ravyn was settling in front of Rob’s desktop with her attentions clearly elsewhere. So vested on her thoughts was she Ravyn didn’t even acknowledge her sister standing there in the doorway until Joanna snapped the overhead light on and called her name.

“You had me worried. I was beginning to wonder when-”

“Password. What’s his password? He never had a password on this before,” Ravyn muttered at the screen irritably. Joanna’s smile fell away in growing concern.

“What?”

Ravyn looked at her seriously.

“When I was here last time I got on, I didn’t need a password. When did he change it?”

“You were in my files?” Rob stated bitterly.

He emerged from the gloom of the hallway creating an almost vilified glare as he sneered at his ex wife over his current wife’s shoulder. Joanna turned to look at him, blocked in now by his imposing frame blocking the doorway. Whether residually tense from the look he had given her outside earlier after her brief exchange with Joel or from the tension suddenly festering between the once husband and wife before her, Joanna reached out to placate Rob only to have him sweep her aside with an arm like she were nothing more than a nuisance to him.

“I don’t believe you! I figured it out last time you were here something was wrong. I should have known it was you. You never did know when to keep out of other people’s business-”

“You want to talk secrets?” Ravyn fired back over her shoulder challengingly.

Tracing the keyboard with her fingers she began to press a quick selection of keys before Rob’s grip on her arm had her up on her feet and back towards the door with an indignant cry half-formed on her lips.

“Hey!” Joanna cried, but again she went virtually ignored by the only other two people in the room as they shuffled their way aggressively towards the door.

Wrenching her arm free from her ex husband’s grip Ravyn rubbed her bicep scathingly and glared back up at him as he set himself down in her stead in front of the computer screen. The blue light painted his face and his inherent frown in a ghastly monochromatic hue. Jabbing a series of keys with his fingers the computer made a whirring sound before the screen instantly went blank.

“What do you know about Jason Shinoda?” Ravyn snapped before he had a chance to swivel his seat around now to directly face her. “Last time. I found his name on your computer. That’s how I found out where his brother lived.”

“You went to Mike’s house? Again? After I told you not to?”

“What, wait a minute. Mike?” Joanna asked tersely, “As in Mike Shinoda? The MS Mike? That same Mike that’s always all over the news? Are you kidding me?”

“I warned you to stay away from that place-”

“Rob, Jesus,” Joanna snapped, as much to stifle the tone of voice he had used to address her sister as it was to get a grasp of the situation she could feel spinning suddenly and dizzyingly out of all control. “Don’t talk her like that!”

“Hey!” he snapped back, his scathing frown more vehement perhaps cast beneath the stark fluorescent light overhead. “This has nothing to do with you, this is between me and her-”

“She’s my fucking sister! And don’t you talk to me like that either! I’m not a piece of shit here Robert-”

Groaning into his palm Rob shifted the chair aside a fraction to refocus his attentions back onto the other woman lingering on the other side of the doorway with her arms folded across her chest gruffly. Her curled fingers still rubbed at her arm where he had grabbed her making him dip his eyes briefly as if in apology. When he looked up again the sentiment had barely stirred a ripple across his long agitated face.

“What is wrong with you, huh? Don’t you listen to anybody but yourself? I like told you last time to stay the hell away from this guy so what do you do? What do you do? You do what you’ve always done Rave, exactly the fucking opposite-”

“That’s it. I’m going out there and telling all your so-called buddies to pack it up and go home,” Joanna warned with her arm outstretched pointing down the darkened hall. “This party is over. No Rob, I’ve had enough. Either you go back out there or so help me-”

Intercepting Joanna’s frustrated tirade Ravyn slid her eyes aside to meet Rob’s stubborn stare with one of her own.

“How long have you known him?” she asked, watching him shift forward in his chair nursing his head in his hands before he groaned and looked upwards. He s******ed at the floor as if her question had stirred something keen and unfunny within him.

“Mike. How long have you been in his pocket? Makes so much sense now. All of it. Just like the rest of this city, like the rest of your department, I bet you even-”

“You’ve got no fucking clue what you’re talking about,” Rob muttered between his fingers. Groaning to herself exasperatedly Joanna threw her hands up and stormed out of the room. The door banged back against the wall with a loud angry crack. Both looking up to see the last sluice of her back disappear Rob and Ravyn eventually locked eyes before the big man shook his head and pulled an accusatory face at her.

“I should have you locked up, you know that? Invasion of privacy, breaking and entering-”

“Oh blow me,” Ravyn snapped back with a scowl. The fact her verbal vulgarity did not align to the literary sophistication her job required of her was not lost by her dour if not goading sneer.

Rubbing his shaded face with his palms Rob looked at her over the tips of his fingers and muffled a sound behind them.

“How did he die? I know you know, Rob. For some reason everything I keep digging up about his brother keeps leading back to Jason. I know Mike’s involved in this and I know you know more than you’re letting on. I just don’t understand why the big secrecy, why his name would even be on your computer in the first place if you didn’t have something to do with it. That’s it isn’t it? You’re involved and you don’t want anyone to-”

“That’s it.”

[Ravynlee]

Joanna was outside talking to Benji and his fiancé Sophie, blaming her moods unfairly on her pregnancy when she saw both Rob and Ravyn stride past. Though thankfully the music was too loud for most of the others to hear it, both Benji and the pretty blonde in clingy red dress on his arm looked up and caught the tail end of the unfolding drama just as she did. The sound of a slamming door stirred a strange curious current through the crowd. Struggling to remain affable despite her strained nerves Joanna smiled and gestured with her hands that there was nothing to worry about. Making her way inside she struggled with the last ounce of her being not to break down in tears as she saw Rob standing alone just inside the doorway and knew without so much as one word passing his lips what had just happened.

She shoved him and went to wrench the door open. Grappling her hands off the handle Rob ushered her backwards inside.

“Tell me you just didn’t! Rob, how could you!”

“This is supposed to be a party, I don’t need her shit right now-”

“She’s my fucking sister-!”

“I don’t give a shit, she’s fucking losing it-”

“Oh and you’re any better here Mr-”

“Yo, everything… okay in here?” a voice tentatively beckoned.

Glimpsing back to see Benji, Sophie, and Joel a measured distance away both Joanna and Rob exchanged stern looks before each bowing their faces respectively. Rob was the first to nod and walk off but Joanna glimpsed up facing the door then back at Joel in time to see her husband’s bulky frame skulk past as he wove his way out towards the back yard. Joanna tried to smile feeling her tears of earlier and fresh ones come anew upon her as she swept her face and nursed her stomach, feeling painfully stranded again amongst strangers - but arguably more receptive to their concerned stares now than she had been all evening. Benji was asking his teammate if everything was okay but it was Joel, and a sympathetically smiling Sophie that approached Joanna over the din of the music to make sure that she too was all right.

“Just… things,” she heard herself excuse, hating herself for not being able to spit the truth out as much as it ate away at her insides so. They just had so much to deal with at the moment with the baby coming, she started to say, and with his recent promotion, and the fact he still hadn’t grieved yet over the loss of his last partner of so many years and just…

“Maybe we should head off?” Joel mentioned though it obviously looked like it pained him to say so.

Joanna shook her head, letting the lie run it’s course to tell them that everything was fine where it clearly wasn’t and that all she needed was time to rest and things would be back to normal soon enough. The words practically choked her. Looking at Rob as he spoke now to the man introduced to her earlier as Karl Joanna forced a smile and thanked them all without elaboration before excusing herself to grab some fresh air. She was fine she told them. She didn’t vocalise much more beyond that. She watched them tentatively rejoin the party feeling the mood, if only from her point of view, irrevocably quashed. She hated herself, using her baby as an excuse from telling the truth when she feared the pain in her eyes showed like clear glass to all who looked at her. Running her quaking hand across her stomach Joanna peeled open the door beneath Rob’s acerbic gaze and stepped out into the front yard in search for her sister. She didn’t have the right words formulated in her mind that would make everything okay again but peering out across the sleeping darkness of the suburban street Joanna’s frown darkened. Despite the fact her sister was something of a hothead when it came to tempers Joanna had hoped to find Ravyn waiting out here somewhere blowing off steam in a tearful rage as she usually did.

Only an eerie stillness confronted Joanna in her sister’s place.

Ravyn, with all of her allegations and her lateness and her general disregard for her sister’s mingling guests and planned party, was now nowhere to be seen.

Over the din of the music still thrumming away from inside her house there wasn’t even so much as a set of retreating tail lights dissipating down the end of street to indicate at all just where her sister had run to.

Joanna’s shoulders fell with a dismal sigh.

Dipping her eyes Joanna turned her back and slowly retreated back inside. With a gentle click she closed the door securely behind her.

 

---

[crazy robster]

Comment number one and most important of all... If that were real and Rob had treated my beloved sister like this he would have gotten a kick in the balls for sure!! No one treats my sweet like that *comforting hugs for sis* Second, it was amazing as always my wonderful this keeps unfolding with brilliant coherence and accuracy when it comes to the characters' behaviour and reactions. It's like you have studied each one of the characters very carefully before writing anything my sweet and this is great!! Oh and I can sense the "bananas" moment coming shortly...hehehe I would love to read more!! <3

[Ravynlee]

Am working on more as we speak sis, hope to get it up and online as soon as possible. Before we talk next if nothing else Thrilled you liked it. As far as Rob's attitude to me goes I tried to rationalize things from his point of view. Though the details don't need to be rehashed here (esp if you've read this carefully from the start) and despite the fact I as a character am almost relentlessly asking for trouble regardless who I'm talking to (stereotypical 'reporter' attitude I adopted here, always need to know everything, just like the real me XD) if you think about Rob in this as a character whether he is on the right side or not he is still walking a very precarious line in almost all of his relationships in this. In essence his life is spinning out of his control made worse by extenuating factors, people, circumstances, and now I show up and practically accuse him of the very thing he is guilty of - with his peers just outside his back door. We've heard and can only imagine what would come of this if god forbid any of this did happen to play out in real life. I don't want to write it as just another melodramatic centralized piece of tripe that could be so easily dismissed like everything else I write. Sure the family was fun but really it wasn't a challenge. This is, that's why my head is into it so much - as if you couldn't tell

 

Maybe I over-analyze matters too much but I've said it from the start, though this is far from a work of realism or even fact, I try where I can to get inside of all the characters' heads, regardless whether I agree with their motives, actions, misgivings or not. I'm trying to tell a story yes but I appreciate stories more even from a reader's point of view if you can walk away from a piece at the end of the day and even for a moment wonder what things would be like if a certain scene were real or what I would do in real life if that ever happened to me.

I don't expect anyone to read as much into this as I do but at the end of the day I have to one be happy with what I write and two hopefully tell a story that will matter to at least someone out there. Without an audience what the hell are we as writers anyway?

It's kind of like one of those 'If a tree fell in the forest and no one was around, would it make a sound' (yes, d'uh) questions. I don't expect an answer. I'm just rambling. But if through any of this you got even the slightest piece more of an understanding as to how this all works (my mind or the story) then maybe it was worth it - and if not... well... at least you got to read a long overdue rant

Haha.

Thanks again and more soon (hopefully)