quoth_the_raven
Corpse
Ha, you guys were close...here is the next chapter! I call this chapter 'Sweet December':
December 20, 1984- 4:28 pm- Residence of Ted and Nancy Wilcoff
Sara sat up yawning and looked at the clock mounted on her wall. She cursed under her breath- she had just meant to take a small nap but it turned into almost a full-day's rest! She got up and straightened the sides of the sheets on her bed before heading to her closet to look for something to wear.
"Okay...something a little formal, but nothing too flashy!" she told herself as she looked through the various clothes hanging up in her closet. She rolled her eyes- almost everything in her closet was the same. She expected this to be the way her wardrobe would be when she grew up.
"AGH!" she screamed in frustration, but this time Ted and Nancy did not come into her room. She had been doing this a lot lately, and whenever Ted ran in with his baseball bat and ice cream spoon in hand, she got on them telling them that they were too 'over-protective'. She ran around the room looking for something to wear yet again- somehow her white t-shirt from 'Wally's Seafood Cuisine' and her torn blue jeans didn't seem to cut it. Call her crazy.
She looked through her drawers and grinned when she spotted a dark red sweater. It was perfect. She threw it on her bed and looked for some pants to go with it. She found a pair of brown slacks and she quickly slid the outfit on before fixing her bed-head back to her straight yet somewhat wavy hairstyle. She turned around and looked for the red gift bag containing Josh's gift and she sighed in relief when she found it. She picked it up and walked into the living room to find Nancy and Ted pacing back-and-forth.
"You two look nice," Sara said with a smile.
Nancy looked up from her nicely-done but overly-flashy hair as she smoothed out the edges of her purple dress and attempted to keep her black heels on her feet. She took a step closer to Sara and a strong wave of her perfume filled Sara's nostrils.
"Think you put on enough perfume?" Sara teased as Nancy shot her a look.
"My parents are very...judgemental," Nancy said. "Believe me, we look over-dressed, but this is nothing."
Ted walked out of the shadows looking at Sara. The mustache he had always been trying to grow out was gone and his black hair was slick and clean. He wore a dark green suit with a red tie and brown dress shoes. "Nance, can you help me with these cuffs?" he asked.
Nancy rolled her eyes and turned to Ted. She pulled the cuffs of the sleeves and fastened them tightly. She then turned to Sara. "So, we'll be gone for a while, just stay at Josh's house until we come back."
Sara nodded and smiled as the doorbell rang. She ran to the door to reveal a nicely-dressed Josh. He wore black dress pants and a white button-up t-shirt and black dress shoes. He held a large package wrapped in wrapping paper in his hands and he smiled at Sara.
"Hello, Ms. Sidle."
Sara gave him a cheeky grin. "Hello, Mr. Deckard." She looked at his attire. "I'm sorry I didn't pick out something more formal to wear."
He shook his head. "Nah, it's fine, Frankie insisted I wear this." He didn't want to admit that George had also mentioned to him that fancy attire was another way to arrouse the ladies.
"Okay, well...shall we go?"
He smiled. "Thought you'd never ask."
They walked off after Sara bid Ted and Nancy farewell. Josh smiled as he hooked his arm around Sara's and they walked down the street as if they were walking down the aisle at a wedding.
"You didn't have to get me anything," Sara told him.
He shrugged. "I wanted to, and..." he said motioning toward the bag in her hand.
"Ah..." she said nodding and looking at the bag. "Well, it's just a little something, I-"
"Hey, I don't care what you got me. You could've gotten me that bag for all I care," he said with a grin.
She smiled and they continued talking until they reached his church.
The building was old, but still looked quite nice. The outside walls of the building were recently painted a bright shade of white and the designs on the outside walls were very intricate. The sign positioned outside the building had a small cross in the center of the writing that said 'Tamales Bay Church of God'. There was a large group of people around the entrance of the building standing around and socializing with others.
"Here you are, miss." Sara didn't realize that they were actually at the entrance of the building until the woman standing at the door handed her a pamphelt. Sara thanked her and walked into the building with Josh. They walked over to a large white table surrounded with metal chairs. Sara took a seat and took in the beautiful interior of the building.
The ground was covered with a short green carpet. The walls were multi-colored earthy tones. There were colored glass windows with scenes from various books of the bible. There was a large painting on the far center wall of the virgin Mary. Around the building was an acoustic guitar, a piano, and a drumset, which Sara assumed were for the church band.
"So, Sara..." Josh's voice made her turn to him. "I want to thank you for coming here with me."
"It's no problem, Josh. I wanted to come, and besides, if I didn't come I'd have to spend the day with Nancy's relatives," she said with a smirk. He laughed as he looked over at the table holding the refreshments.
"I'll be right back."
Sara nodded and watched as he poured two drinks and came back handing her a styrofoam cup. Sara looked at the dark liquid inside the cup and took a whiff of it. She looked at Josh.
"Don't worry, it's juice," he said with a grin and sipped some of his drink.
"Hey bro- tryin' to get her drunk at 12?" George asked from behind Josh, Frankie at his side. Josh spit out his drink a little, wiping the juice from his face with a napkin.
"Shut up, George!" he yelled. George laughed and ruffled his little brother's hair as he winked at Sara. Sara giggled after the scene had unfolded and gulped down the drink in her hand.
"Sorry about him..." Josh muttered.
"It's okay," Sara said with a smile. "I don't mind, I enjoy the humor."
Josh sent her a look before grinning and looking around the building. "Well, looks like food's being served...I'll get your plate."
"Josh, you don't-"
Before Sara could finish, Josh had already grabbed her plate and was loading it up with food on the tables. She giggled as she watched him get chewed out by an older man about cutting in line and him insisting that he didn't cut in line. By the time Josh returned, Sara was in stitches.
"Laugh it up, Sidle," he muttered handing her her plate.
"I'm sorry," she said wiping a tear from her eye.
"No, it's okay, the old folks here don't like me," he said with a grin and grabbed his plate. He came back with a plate full of various foods- tri-tip, mashed potatoes, bread, green beans, corn, chicken...
"You going to eat all that?" Sara asked with a smile.
"Watch me," he said already shoving a forkfull of tri-tip into his mouth. Sara grinned and bit into her bread roll as she watched him pack all the food in.
After the meal, Sara was shocked. "I can't believe you ate three servings of everything and two pieces of cherry cobler," she said, eyes wide.
Josh looked at her, slumped back in his chair with a smile. "Yup, well...I can't believe all you ate was a bread roll, a couple of bites of mashed potatoes, and a few bites of tri-tip," he said with a grin.
Sara shrugged. "I don't eat much."
He nodded and got up, groaning. "Man, I ate too much..."
"No, you think?" Sara asked with a grin. He shot her a look and stood up, waddling off not unlike a penguin. Sara watched as he waddled off and then came back with his gift to her in his lap.
"Alright, Sara," he said with a grin. "I bet you'll never guess what I got you!"
"Nope, I guess I won't," she said with a smile. He shoved the present in front of her and told her to open it and she slowly ripped at the paper, feeling a little bad that she was ruining such beautiful wrapping paper.
"Open it, open it, open it, open it, open it!" Josh said, jumping up and down like a little kid.
She shushed him and she opened the gift. She tilted her head and then it hit her. She knew what this was.
"This isn't..." she whispered, butterfiles forming in her stomach. Josh just grinned smugly as he watched her open the gift further.
Sara's hands were shaking, her fingers were sending electricity through her body as she touched the gift and slowly opened the silver metal box. Her eyes widened as she took in what was presented in front of her.
"How...how did you know?" she asked covering her mouth.
"You told me, remember? Ms. Forensic Scientist?"
Sara wrapped her arms around his neck, almost knocking him out of his chair. The gift he had given her was actually a small crimes-scene kit. Inside was a box of latex gloves, specimen cups, fingerprint dust, an ink pad, tweezers, plastic evidence bags, a small torch, some swabs, and even some small little booties. Sara wasn't able to tell what else was in the box because of the tears forming in her eyes.
"Hey, hey, don't cry," Josh said.
"THANK YOU!" Sara yelled in between her cries of joy. The tears ran down her face slowly, but they were tears of joy. This had to be one of the happiest moments of her life.
Josh smiled and stuck a hand in the kit, careful not to touch anything important, but maneuvered his hand inside and pulled out a small bottle.
"Is that..." Sara said in a whisper.
"Yup!" he said proudly. "Phenolphthalein!"
She almost squealed as she slowly took it from his hands and held it in her tiny, still shaking hands. She turned to look at Josh who had pulled out a small spray bottle. "Oh no...you didn't get luminol..." she said with a grin. He nodded and handed it to her. "How did you find this?" she asked.
"I have a cousin in Texas. He's a forensic scientist. I pulled a few strings."
Sara hugged him tightly. "Thank you."
He patted her back. "No problem. I'll be looking forward to seeing you testifying with me in court, Ms. Sidle."
Sara backed away and then she picked up the gift from her. "Here."
"For me?"
"Duh," she said with a smile.
He grinned and slowly took out the bright yellow tissue paper. As soon as all of the paper was out of the bag, he pulled out the gift. It was soft, he noted. He pulled it out.
"It's all I really have, but I wanted you to have it. I've had it since I was little," Sara said with a smile.
He smiled as he looked at the small stuffed blue hippo in front of him. He put a hand on his shoulder. "I love it."
Sara smiled. "Really?"
He laughed. "Of course! I love hippos!"
She grinned. "You do?"
"Yes! When I was little I told my dad I wanted a hippo as a pet."
Sara giggled. "I'm glad you like it."
He smiled. "It's perfect."
As the night winded down, Sara got sleepy. Josh had to work to get her into George's car to drive to their house. When they finally arrived at their house, she sat down on the couch and closed her eyes falling asleep.
Josh watched her sleeping with a smile. He walked into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of orange juice. He walked back into the living room with his glass and smiled. "Sleep well my little forensic scientist."
December 20, 1984- 4:28 pm- Residence of Ted and Nancy Wilcoff
Sara sat up yawning and looked at the clock mounted on her wall. She cursed under her breath- she had just meant to take a small nap but it turned into almost a full-day's rest! She got up and straightened the sides of the sheets on her bed before heading to her closet to look for something to wear.
"Okay...something a little formal, but nothing too flashy!" she told herself as she looked through the various clothes hanging up in her closet. She rolled her eyes- almost everything in her closet was the same. She expected this to be the way her wardrobe would be when she grew up.
"AGH!" she screamed in frustration, but this time Ted and Nancy did not come into her room. She had been doing this a lot lately, and whenever Ted ran in with his baseball bat and ice cream spoon in hand, she got on them telling them that they were too 'over-protective'. She ran around the room looking for something to wear yet again- somehow her white t-shirt from 'Wally's Seafood Cuisine' and her torn blue jeans didn't seem to cut it. Call her crazy.
She looked through her drawers and grinned when she spotted a dark red sweater. It was perfect. She threw it on her bed and looked for some pants to go with it. She found a pair of brown slacks and she quickly slid the outfit on before fixing her bed-head back to her straight yet somewhat wavy hairstyle. She turned around and looked for the red gift bag containing Josh's gift and she sighed in relief when she found it. She picked it up and walked into the living room to find Nancy and Ted pacing back-and-forth.
"You two look nice," Sara said with a smile.
Nancy looked up from her nicely-done but overly-flashy hair as she smoothed out the edges of her purple dress and attempted to keep her black heels on her feet. She took a step closer to Sara and a strong wave of her perfume filled Sara's nostrils.
"Think you put on enough perfume?" Sara teased as Nancy shot her a look.
"My parents are very...judgemental," Nancy said. "Believe me, we look over-dressed, but this is nothing."
Ted walked out of the shadows looking at Sara. The mustache he had always been trying to grow out was gone and his black hair was slick and clean. He wore a dark green suit with a red tie and brown dress shoes. "Nance, can you help me with these cuffs?" he asked.
Nancy rolled her eyes and turned to Ted. She pulled the cuffs of the sleeves and fastened them tightly. She then turned to Sara. "So, we'll be gone for a while, just stay at Josh's house until we come back."
Sara nodded and smiled as the doorbell rang. She ran to the door to reveal a nicely-dressed Josh. He wore black dress pants and a white button-up t-shirt and black dress shoes. He held a large package wrapped in wrapping paper in his hands and he smiled at Sara.
"Hello, Ms. Sidle."
Sara gave him a cheeky grin. "Hello, Mr. Deckard." She looked at his attire. "I'm sorry I didn't pick out something more formal to wear."
He shook his head. "Nah, it's fine, Frankie insisted I wear this." He didn't want to admit that George had also mentioned to him that fancy attire was another way to arrouse the ladies.
"Okay, well...shall we go?"
He smiled. "Thought you'd never ask."
They walked off after Sara bid Ted and Nancy farewell. Josh smiled as he hooked his arm around Sara's and they walked down the street as if they were walking down the aisle at a wedding.
"You didn't have to get me anything," Sara told him.
He shrugged. "I wanted to, and..." he said motioning toward the bag in her hand.
"Ah..." she said nodding and looking at the bag. "Well, it's just a little something, I-"
"Hey, I don't care what you got me. You could've gotten me that bag for all I care," he said with a grin.
She smiled and they continued talking until they reached his church.
The building was old, but still looked quite nice. The outside walls of the building were recently painted a bright shade of white and the designs on the outside walls were very intricate. The sign positioned outside the building had a small cross in the center of the writing that said 'Tamales Bay Church of God'. There was a large group of people around the entrance of the building standing around and socializing with others.
"Here you are, miss." Sara didn't realize that they were actually at the entrance of the building until the woman standing at the door handed her a pamphelt. Sara thanked her and walked into the building with Josh. They walked over to a large white table surrounded with metal chairs. Sara took a seat and took in the beautiful interior of the building.
The ground was covered with a short green carpet. The walls were multi-colored earthy tones. There were colored glass windows with scenes from various books of the bible. There was a large painting on the far center wall of the virgin Mary. Around the building was an acoustic guitar, a piano, and a drumset, which Sara assumed were for the church band.
"So, Sara..." Josh's voice made her turn to him. "I want to thank you for coming here with me."
"It's no problem, Josh. I wanted to come, and besides, if I didn't come I'd have to spend the day with Nancy's relatives," she said with a smirk. He laughed as he looked over at the table holding the refreshments.
"I'll be right back."
Sara nodded and watched as he poured two drinks and came back handing her a styrofoam cup. Sara looked at the dark liquid inside the cup and took a whiff of it. She looked at Josh.
"Don't worry, it's juice," he said with a grin and sipped some of his drink.
"Hey bro- tryin' to get her drunk at 12?" George asked from behind Josh, Frankie at his side. Josh spit out his drink a little, wiping the juice from his face with a napkin.
"Shut up, George!" he yelled. George laughed and ruffled his little brother's hair as he winked at Sara. Sara giggled after the scene had unfolded and gulped down the drink in her hand.
"Sorry about him..." Josh muttered.
"It's okay," Sara said with a smile. "I don't mind, I enjoy the humor."
Josh sent her a look before grinning and looking around the building. "Well, looks like food's being served...I'll get your plate."
"Josh, you don't-"
Before Sara could finish, Josh had already grabbed her plate and was loading it up with food on the tables. She giggled as she watched him get chewed out by an older man about cutting in line and him insisting that he didn't cut in line. By the time Josh returned, Sara was in stitches.
"Laugh it up, Sidle," he muttered handing her her plate.
"I'm sorry," she said wiping a tear from her eye.
"No, it's okay, the old folks here don't like me," he said with a grin and grabbed his plate. He came back with a plate full of various foods- tri-tip, mashed potatoes, bread, green beans, corn, chicken...
"You going to eat all that?" Sara asked with a smile.
"Watch me," he said already shoving a forkfull of tri-tip into his mouth. Sara grinned and bit into her bread roll as she watched him pack all the food in.
After the meal, Sara was shocked. "I can't believe you ate three servings of everything and two pieces of cherry cobler," she said, eyes wide.
Josh looked at her, slumped back in his chair with a smile. "Yup, well...I can't believe all you ate was a bread roll, a couple of bites of mashed potatoes, and a few bites of tri-tip," he said with a grin.
Sara shrugged. "I don't eat much."
He nodded and got up, groaning. "Man, I ate too much..."
"No, you think?" Sara asked with a grin. He shot her a look and stood up, waddling off not unlike a penguin. Sara watched as he waddled off and then came back with his gift to her in his lap.
"Alright, Sara," he said with a grin. "I bet you'll never guess what I got you!"
"Nope, I guess I won't," she said with a smile. He shoved the present in front of her and told her to open it and she slowly ripped at the paper, feeling a little bad that she was ruining such beautiful wrapping paper.
"Open it, open it, open it, open it, open it!" Josh said, jumping up and down like a little kid.
She shushed him and she opened the gift. She tilted her head and then it hit her. She knew what this was.
"This isn't..." she whispered, butterfiles forming in her stomach. Josh just grinned smugly as he watched her open the gift further.
Sara's hands were shaking, her fingers were sending electricity through her body as she touched the gift and slowly opened the silver metal box. Her eyes widened as she took in what was presented in front of her.
"How...how did you know?" she asked covering her mouth.
"You told me, remember? Ms. Forensic Scientist?"
Sara wrapped her arms around his neck, almost knocking him out of his chair. The gift he had given her was actually a small crimes-scene kit. Inside was a box of latex gloves, specimen cups, fingerprint dust, an ink pad, tweezers, plastic evidence bags, a small torch, some swabs, and even some small little booties. Sara wasn't able to tell what else was in the box because of the tears forming in her eyes.
"Hey, hey, don't cry," Josh said.
"THANK YOU!" Sara yelled in between her cries of joy. The tears ran down her face slowly, but they were tears of joy. This had to be one of the happiest moments of her life.
Josh smiled and stuck a hand in the kit, careful not to touch anything important, but maneuvered his hand inside and pulled out a small bottle.
"Is that..." Sara said in a whisper.
"Yup!" he said proudly. "Phenolphthalein!"
She almost squealed as she slowly took it from his hands and held it in her tiny, still shaking hands. She turned to look at Josh who had pulled out a small spray bottle. "Oh no...you didn't get luminol..." she said with a grin. He nodded and handed it to her. "How did you find this?" she asked.
"I have a cousin in Texas. He's a forensic scientist. I pulled a few strings."
Sara hugged him tightly. "Thank you."
He patted her back. "No problem. I'll be looking forward to seeing you testifying with me in court, Ms. Sidle."
Sara backed away and then she picked up the gift from her. "Here."
"For me?"
"Duh," she said with a smile.
He grinned and slowly took out the bright yellow tissue paper. As soon as all of the paper was out of the bag, he pulled out the gift. It was soft, he noted. He pulled it out.
"It's all I really have, but I wanted you to have it. I've had it since I was little," Sara said with a smile.
He smiled as he looked at the small stuffed blue hippo in front of him. He put a hand on his shoulder. "I love it."
Sara smiled. "Really?"
He laughed. "Of course! I love hippos!"
She grinned. "You do?"
"Yes! When I was little I told my dad I wanted a hippo as a pet."
Sara giggled. "I'm glad you like it."
He smiled. "It's perfect."
As the night winded down, Sara got sleepy. Josh had to work to get her into George's car to drive to their house. When they finally arrived at their house, she sat down on the couch and closed her eyes falling asleep.
Josh watched her sleeping with a smile. He walked into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of orange juice. He walked back into the living room with his glass and smiled. "Sleep well my little forensic scientist."
Nvm, there's still Christmas.