Channeling a Writer- Day 12

Writing Challenge word of the day:

D E C A Y

Life as she had once knew it no longer made sense.  Did Danny and Charlotte have something going on?  Why would she use his last name?  Where was Nathan?  Her supposed Husband?

"Can I take a few hours?" 

"Of course, take the day.  Are you OK?"

"Sure.  I am going to check some records out and do some research of my own, if that is OK?"

"Kat, be careful and don't start to soon.  That is all I ask.  I know you are stubborn and if it were my family, I'd be the same, but just pace yourself.  I have our best, besides yourself, working on this.  Mac has requested to assist you in your work, should you have it."

I nodded, knowing that there was more to this story than what I was being told at this point.  The "be careful" signaled that something had been found that was less than desirable. 

"I am going to run down to the Morgue, just to see if anything sticks out, since it is not fresh in my mind anymore." 

"Sure.  I will give Mac a call and send him down shortly."

~

The hallway to the Morgue was stagnate.  The smell of decay surrounded a person, smacking them in the face.  It was a smell that only one that had been accustomed to, could get used to. A mix between decay and chemical, that made a sweet and sour bitter smell fill your lungs.

"Kat, what can I do the pleasure?" 

Will was a younger guy, dark complexion, bright eyes and perfectly straight and white teeth, to match his incredible personality.  It made me wonder why he would pick this profession.  He seemed so social able, so engaging, but yet he worked with the dead, in the brightly lite, stark white room, alone. 

"Will, my favorite undertaker."  a joke we had between ourselves. 

"You seems in better spirits, any news?"

"Thanks, no, which is why you get my company today.  Everything seems so weird and I feel like I am starting to imagine things that I don't know were really fact or fiction. Mind games, of which I knew to well." 

I shared my thoughts with Will, who was more than obliged to listen,and listen intently.  

"Do you think you are imaging it all, or do you think, somewhere within yourself, you were missing the relationship Charlotte and Danny were having?"

"I feel, in my heart, I am missing it.  It would be to easy.  I mean, he traveled, often.  Charlotte was a live in the moment kind of girl.  I have no idea if maybe he took her with him?  What if he wasn't even traveling at all, what if he was jsut with her?  Do I sound crazy?"

"Not with the information, no.  How did the end happen?"

"It was amicable. It just wasn't working. We did not see each other, and when we did,  I did my thing, he did his.  We were used to our own space. We never argued, mostly because it wasn't right.  There really was not anything to argue about. We sat down to dinner one night, his phone rang, he stepped outside.  He came back in and we talked about our day. Somewhere in the conversation we started talking about living our separate lives and not really knowing each other anymore and without fighting, tears or much other emotion, we decided to break, clean, in half and move on."

"Seriously?"

"Right. Sounds crazy.  We were kids."

"Sounds like you were both more Adult than anyone I know.  My baby mama still gives me shit and we have not been together for six years."

"What, Kassidy is six already? No way."

"Lucky for you, no kids were involved and on a personal note, I might be out of line, but sounds like he already had a side piece and it might have been Charlotte."

I sat and thought about that.  Maybe I was not as crazy and I felt. 

"Do you want to look over the remains?"

"Oh, glad I got here before that." 

"Hi Mac. How are you doing today?"

"Good. how are you holding up?"  sincerity flowed from his voice.

"Talking out my thoughts with Will, who by the way is one excellent listening ear!"

I turned around, not ready to look at it...her.  Will had pulled open the cooler drawer.  I could hear the wheels of the metal tray pull out and knew she was before me. 

"Are you sure you want to look, again?"

"I need to, it's been a few days and nothing is fresh in my memory. Nothing."

I turned slowly, seeing the blacken bones before me, a bit of white lurking from where Will had taken samples and dusted for evidence. 

"Anything new here, Will?"

"I pulled two different fabrics from here.  It could belong to her, but it is something.  We also found hair, which was sent to the lab for processing.  Obviously, no prints, but we did find that she had died before the fire."

"It originated with her, though."  my question came off as a statement.

"Um, yes."

"OK, that is all I need.  Thank you Will, for taking care of her."

He nodded, probably not knowing what to say.  Being my sister made it a whole different dynamic, for everyone.

Back in the elevator, Mac by my side, I was lost in my thoughts.

"We should go back to the scene. Do some scaling of our own."

"Um, hmm." I shot back.  Who was going to want to see me....the grieving sister of the dead pile of debris found where a house once stood.  Of course, I kept this to myself. 

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I feel as if I might be moving to slow, then I remember that a word challenge a day is really helping me focus on the what that is going on.

 We are trying to solve a mystery people!

Anyways, I feel that my story is taking shape, we are uncovering new clues and meeting new characters.  

Who is hoping we find something out soon?

Come back tomorrow and let's see what we uncover!

Happy Saturday!

~Kel

Channeling a Writer- Day 11

Another day... Another page to write!

Today's Challenge Word is:

STORM

The question echoed through her mind.  Nathan... Where the hell was Nathan.  It seemed like an easy question.  One that she hoped began with DEAD.  Had he done this to her sweet baby sister?  

"I am trying to remember Nathan.  It has been years, before my career, before my tuned in abilities to know someone by their characteristics.  He was always quiet, reserved, but touchy, feel-y.  He would come over to my Parents, when Char still lived there and they would eat dinner holding hands, or his hand was touching her leg, arm, hair, back.  They were always together and close, canoodling, ya know." 

"Sure.  The thing is, he is not on our radar.  Seems that some of the neighbors do not even recall seeing him, ever." 

"What? What does that even mean?"

"Seems that the house might have had his name on it, but he has been missing, I will put that term lightly, since 2008.  We are reaching out to some numbers we obtained from her cell phone bill.  That was a fun search. Try thirty carries and a girl who could possibly have two names, plus we tried Nathan as a contact as well."

"Findings?" 

"Under Charlotte Rose Greer, age 24 from Sioux City, IA." 

I felt it brewing.  A storm that was so loud, so violent, boiling inside of my being.  I did not know how to take this.  I mean, my sister, the person I had grown up with ALL my life was not even the same person anymore.  It was scary, weird and a lot to digest.  My face fell pale, I could literally feel the color draining.  The darkness of the storm clouds were taking over.  An internal fight that only I knew was going on.

"Greer, huh."  it was all I could muster.  It was sickening. 

"Does that mean something?" 

"Oh, well, only my ex-husband's last name, that is all." 

I had spat it out, like it was the worst thing ever.  Why would she use Danny's last name?  What did that have to do with her?  Why did she not use Nathan's name, her married name? Or better yet, her maiden name?  Cale was not a normal name, not a name that stood out.  What the hell was Charlotte up to?  What the hell was she into and where did Danny fit? 

"Ex-Husband?  I had no idea?" 

"Sorry. Young and dumb and I thought he loved me.  Much to my surprise, we were to young to make it work and he was more concerned with his secretary than with his wife, who was trying to get her career launched." 

He got it, I could see it in his face. 

"Ties to him that Charlotte might have still had?"

"Let's go for none.  We had been married for a blink of an eye and he had not even had time to bond with my family.  The only time Charlotte even met him was at our wedding." 

It sounded bad.  I realized that.  It brought me back to that day.  It was white lace, expensive, classy and I had paid out of my own pocket to make it happen.  Stupid, young girl.  I had arranged every piece, paid for every part and acted like I was the happiest bride ever, even though moments before the walk down the isle I had been sick, as sick as I am today at the death of my sister. 

"I don't even think they said two words to each other at the wedding.  Charlotte had been my Maid of Honor, but she had been busy flirting with the Best Man."

"Now this one warrants more information then.  We ran a check on Daniel and found that he is a Banker in Perrysburg.  Did you guys live in Iowa at any time?"

"No. I can't speak for Char, but no, we were born, bred and have lived in Ohio my whole life.  What did you pull for Danny, for the past eight years?"

"Still working on that.  What did he do when you married?"

"We were married in 2001 and he was a Financial Assistant, straight out of college for a firm in Toledo."

The storm was coming back.  I had missed something.  I was thinking about our wedding.  I had been mixing and mingling, alone.  Danny was no where to be seen.  I knew he had drank a little to much, I could tell by the way he was hugging everyone we greeted, thanking for attending.  That was earlier in the night.  Now I was alone, thanking our guests for sharing our day...by myself.  I looked over and noticed that Charlotte had disappeared too. I know I made a note of that, because she had been like a leech on the Best Man, Robby.  Robby was sitting down at the head table, alone and Charlotte was out of sight. Danny was too.  I knew my head was just playing tricks on me.  I knew that because of this new piece of info, my mind was putting pieces together that had no business, reason to go together. 

"Kat, are you recalling something?"

"No.  I was just thinking back to our wedding, Danny and my wedding and I remember greeting our guests, alone.  I couldn't find Danny.  For some reason I remember seeking out Charlotte and remember that she has disappeared as well, but her pursuant was still in the room. I can't remember when either of them returned."

"How was your wedding night?"

"Non-existent.  He passed out before we even got to the hotel and his best man had to carry him to bed."

It was going to play in my mind.  Had I missed the connection between Charlotte and Danny?  Had there been something going on behind my back and that is why the distance that had already been between Charlotte and me, had grown to be so much more?  What was Nathan in all this?  So many questions swarming in my head. 

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Well, I am SUPER excited to say that we MADE it to FRIDAY!  This week has been one for the books!  It has been a L O N G week and my family is going through round 3 of the sickness. Me and my youngest are on Antibiotics, but my Hubby and my ifve year old, who just got over Pneumonia, are getting the sneezes and running noses. 

I am so over this!

Needless to say, we are READY for the weekend! 

We are going to see how we are feeling, but going to try to head over to the Imagination Station for the girls.  We always have such a great time there!

Other than that- a quiet, carefree weekend.  Hopefully we can even catch up on some sleep! Oh, and some baking! (Everyone wants some cookies and monkey bread!)

~Kel