Friday, January 30, 2015

Channeling a Writer: Day 25

Word of the Day:

PLAY

I had hopped on the Interstate and headed back to the scene of the crime.  Not the first scene, but the scene in which I was shot.  The house was empty.  The cars that were lining the drive had been removed.  Yellow police tape surrounded the hollow shell of a house.  The door stood opened. 

I needed to know more. I needed to get closer and see for myself. Why would Danny's parents abandon their home?  I had so many questions swarming.  My phone started ringing, jolting me from my own thoughts.
"Kat."

"Where you at Stranger?  I stopped by, afraid you slept for two days again." 

I had to laugh. "You voice is thick with worry and I appreciate that. I am fine. I had something I needed to deal with this morning."

"Oh yea. What?"

"Mac, I just need to be with my thoughts right now and work some things out."

"Good old Kat is back. Your at Daniel's parents house then?"

How the hell did he do that?  "Wha. How do you do that?" I had to ask. You know they say Curiosity killed the Kat, at least they do in my department, since I have been visiting the damn hospital so much!

"I will be right there. Sit tight." 

I heard it in his voice. It was a command. I don't want to say that he was directing me like traffic, but yea, he was. 

I sat back down in the car and took out my notepad and pencil. I started to play out the scene, draw the events, as I remembered. I would have to have Mac check them out to see if they matched his play by play. 

He pulled up shortly after I had exhausted my brain. He hoped into my car with coffee in hand. Why I didn't marry him right then and there is a mystery.

"What are you working?"

"I am confused as to where Danny's parents have gone? Why the hell is the house standing vacant?  It is not as if shots were fired in the house, they were clearly fired out of the house."

"Daniel's parents are deceased." 

"What, no there not." 

"Yes, they apparently died together in 2009."
I looked at him suspiciously. "How did they die, um, together, you said?"

"Drug overdose." 

"OK, double homicide then." 

"No, prescription dosage matched what was initially prescribed for both. It was considered natural death."

I laughed out loud.  I knew I had to tell Mac, whether I wanted to or not, he had to know the real story, not the one I sugar coated to tell the world.

________________________________________________



Have a Great Thursday!

~Kel


Thursday, January 29, 2015

Life at Gray Gables: Let's Talk Recipes

Life at Gray Gables: Let's Talk Recipes: 1/29/2015 As we are getting ready to enter February , one of my things for the New Year (I dare NOT say resolution) was to bake and cook m...

Channeling a Writer: Day 24

Word of the day:


I woke up in my own bed.  It felt great. Like I was back to the old me.  I didn't have any haunted dreams of Charlotte or images of her in my mirror, with my morning ritual. Thank goodness. 

I was ready to go, heading out to my garage when I remembered that I had to turn off the security system that Mac had been so kind to have installed while we were at the hospital.  It was an added feature for the property is what he claimed, but I knew it was because the lunatic was out there, somewhere and if he could break in before, who would say he would not again, especially now that he had a gun.

I was alone.  It was calming and yet, very unsettling also.  The quiet surrounded me and left me uneasy as I got into bed the night before and caused the TV to be turned on, volume low for the remainder of the nightfall.  My car smelled still.  It had been sitting for the entire month, in the stag-net garage.  Luckily, it fired right up and out of the driveway we headed. 

I knew that work needed me. I knew that Mac needed me, but I had a mission to complete.  Research always calmed my nerves and these days, it was no different.  I had spent a good three hours late last night pulling information from the internet based on ideas and notions that I was collecting. I had kept a little steno book in my purse, at the bottom, since this who things began. I did not want to forget a detail, although details on the body were starting to go, but I knew I could not ask the guys in the Morgue to take pictures of what was left of my sister without sounding like a total wacko.  I had documents to back up things I saw and pictures that I had drawn, freehand and not well, with areas of concern.  That was all I had. 

This was not just a person after all.  Not that I think like that on a case. I am not that cold.  I take my job seriously because I know that the person who had been the victim lost their life in an inhuman manner and it was my JOB to find out why, who and where.  Char just hit a little closer to home because instead of just being a person, it was a person who I literally had grown with. I still tried to put this out of my brain, to push it all aside and focus on finding Danny.  I know knew what no one else could possibly.

We had been married young. To young in my own opinion.  We had thought that we knew it all, as most young people do.  You think that the person you are giving your life to, your soul to will be the one forever. It sounds great, until you want a career. I wanted to do something exciting, something that sang to me. It was not what Danny had in mind.  I remember telling him I signed up for Criminal law at our local college. The look on his face should have given me warning.  He told me that I was a slut and trying to pick up men. I was appauld by his behavior, his outburst and had no idea what he was talking about. I had just signed up to better myself, not replace him.  He had been so upset that he hit me, several times, bruising my ribs, my chest and my legs. I had noticeable bruises all over my body.  I remember being crouched in a ball, thinking to myself that this was insane.  I cried and thought that I had done something wrong.  I reached out to him to ask him what I had done. I was such an idiot. He treated me as if I had done something too.  That was the first time he laid his hands on me, the first time that I became an abused spouse. 

I had started the courses, even taking him to the community college with me to check it out. It wasn't until he met the girls who were also in Criminal Law, that he eased up on me.  I passed four semesters, with straight A's and he had been proud of me, not laying a hand on my in any way, shape or form.  I think that this should have been a sign.  

To celebrate he took me to France. It was so odd and cold.  He really did not look at me once on the trip and once we landed, I was on my own.  I was a single tourist in a different country.  He stayed behind, in the hotel room or went to some meetings, since it was his work that had paid for our travels.  I hardly saw him, day or night.  It was then, during this trip that we had gone our separate ways, I had went out to a little cafe around the corner from the hotel. I was getting into my Private Investigator courses and studying in my loneliness.  My mind was wondering about , as to what he was doing and why he was not showing me any attention.  Home was one thing, but he took me on this trip to a romantic place, I thought we were here to make babies.  It was in this thought process that I saw him.  His dark hair disheveled on his head.  He was with a woman, a tall blonde, a good foot taller than he was, they were getting into a limo.  She was carrying roses and he had his hand on her bottom.  He held the door open for her to get in, kissing her, deep on the mouth.  He even managed to look around to make sure no one saw him.  It was this day that my heart shattered.  I had already known.  Since the day he beat me, I knew it was about him, his fidelity.  He was having an affair and he was the only one that was aloud to. 

I grabbed my things from the coffee shop and headed back to the room.  He had not been there. His clothes were still as they were when I had left that morning.  I sat down and made a plan.  I was leaving. 

He walked back into the room a few hours later. I was watching TV and acted as if nothing was wrong. I acted as if I had not seen a thing.  He acted suspicious as hell.  

"Where have you been all day?" I asked in a casual tone. "Those meetings are taking away from the romance of this city." I said, as I got up to rub my hands on him. 

He just looked at me as he backed up.  He had rage in his eyes.  I felt his hand before I realized.  I was in a ball on the ground, trying to protect myself.  That is when I saw it.  He reached for something shiny.  It was a gun and I was it's target.  I had just learned some self defense moves in class and although I was not sure I was prepared to use them, I knew that I was going to. 

Somehow I fought him off, before the gun exploded.  I got my hands on it and I told him what was going to happen next.  He was going to shoot me. He had messed with the wrong bitch, was all I could think. 

It was when we returned home that the court filings were proceeded and we were divorced.  We parted ways cordially, happily, much to his demise.  I had the gun and I was not going to let him forget that I had fought him for it and was prepared to use it if he EVER laid a hand on me again. 

-------------------------------------------------


~Kel

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Channeling a Writer- Day 23

Writing Challenge:  

and the word of the day is...


hal·low
ˈhalō/
verb
  1. 1.
    honor as holy.
    "the Ganges is hallowed as a sacred, cleansing river"
noun
archaic
  1. 1.
    a saint or holy person.


It felt as if I had relieved this day over and over again. The air was still, the car quiet.  The traffic on the road was just as it always was, zipping through life on autopilot. 

"Feel good to finally be heading home."

"Understatement of the year, right there." I said, a smile crossing my pale, makeup less face. 

"Can you try to be more careful now?"

"Hey." I said, knowing he was joking.  As hellish as this past month had been for me, he had been living it by my side.  I was grateful and ashamed all in the same.  I had dragged him into this mess, this drama. He was a simple guy, he liked to live a quiet, carefree life. I seriously doubted that hospitals were a part of it!

"Your still pale.  I can honestly say that I am still worried. I don't know what the hell to think." 

I was grateful for him finally breaking the ice. I could tell that he had been holding things back at my sacrifice. 

"Speaking of that.  What happened with Danny?  Did he shoot me?"
I watched Mac wriggle in his seat.  Was he really not going to answer my question. 
"Please don't shut me out.  I am a detective too. I am going to find out, if you don't tell me." 

"Kat, listen.  There was a lot that happened when you were...shot.  The uniforms were running the show and there is reasonable cause that the shooter was Daniel, but..."

I looked at him.  I felt empty inside. I knew where he was going, what he was telling me, in his round about way.

"Wait...Kat, look at me." he said, his cold fingers grabbing my chin, forcing me to look into his piercing blue eyes. "I am not saying that there are not leads, I am saying that on that day, that day no one was caught."

So here is Danny...Daniel or what ever the hell he wants to be called...sitting here as a Hallow, a damn holy person, living his life, knowing he got away with it. He has gotten away with it all so far.  I felt the anger growing. I felt my blood boil inside my veins and I knew that this was it.  Last straw had been pulled and it was time for me to step up my pathetic ass and be the detective I had trained to be, the one I had given my life for.  This was the moment when it all made sense.  I was going to get him.  I knew.  I knew deep down that this was his handiwork.  I had left some information undisclosed to maintain a partial opinion.  It was time to let the cat out of the damn bag and show the world the Danny that I had grown to know. The one that had transformed before my eyes two short days after I became his wife.  The moment that I knew of the mistake I had made, and that I am sure Char learned shortly after her own nuptials to this Sadistic wolf in sheep's clothing.

--------------------------------

Whoo, that felt great!  I have direction and I find it amazing when that happens! 







Hi yall!  It's Wacky Wednesday in our house!  We are getting better...slowly but surely and having a funtastic day today.  
We are at 1 week till my oldest girl is SIX! That is exciting news!



How are we all doing with the writing challenge? 



Today's word was fun because I almost made the mistake of writing how Hollow Kat was inside - thank goodness for Webster, right!  Hallow...NOT Hollow!!




Our stories should be getting good!  We have 7 words to go!  

Brace yourselves!!

Until Tomorrow!  


~KEL

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Channeling a Writer- Day 22

Writing Challenge Word of the Day:

SHAMAN

I had awoken to the same stark white, bright room that I had been in before. Just a few days before in fact.  I saw Mac sitting by my side.  My hand felt warm, sensations coming to as I felt his hand move within my own, the warmth leaving before I felt the entire heat.

"You have got to stop doing that." Mac said with a smile lighting up his sleep deprived face. 

"What happened." I said through my groggy voice. "I don't remember." I said as I started to shift into a different position. I felt as if I had been lying in the same position for a month, bedsores starting to form on my backside.

"Sh." he spoke. His eyes were serious. "Kat, stay put please.  You were shot. You lost a lot of blood and it put you back into a coma."

Alarm shot through me.  Isn't one coma bad enough, let alone another one within an ear shot of the first, I wondered to myself. 

"You were out for three weeks. Three damn weeks." he said as he started to cry. His emotions were running full force and it was all my fault. I had never seen this man cry and we had been through hell and back since partnering up. 

I did a natural motion and reached for his hand, which was still lying on the bed.  I held tight, the guilt of this moment taking over me. 

"Where?" was all I could get out. 

He looked at me quizzically. "Right there." he said reach to touch my rib-cage on the right side.  It was heavy with bandages. "It was so close to your heart. The doctors were worried and with the blood loss, it was touch and go for you." 

"Who did it?  Who shot me? Danny?" 

He just nodded. My whole world had been flipped upside down in the month since everything had happened. My Sister could not have known any of this would happen, but it was her fault. My anger towards her was growing, desecrating my memory of a person who was an equal, my sibling. A person who I had grown up with, worried about, cared for and looked after. 

Before I could speak out loud, a Shaman came into my room. He had been called in by my Mother to heal my lingering soul. Obviously, with me awake, his services were not needed, nor did I think that Mac was going to let this fly whether I has come to or not. His face was twisted and distorted in all sorts of confusion by the sight of such a thing. 

"It is of my Mothers belief that when you are pained or hurt you have the Shaman come to your side and heal you from this pain. It is something that my Sister had done a lot growing up, as she just could not seem to get her sol aligned. Or so thought my Parents." 

I wanted nothing more than to leave this hospital room. A circus if I may.  I wanted to get my clothes and sneak out, stopping by McDonald's for something off the new Healthier menu and to pig out. I knew that I would never do this, I would wait it out for discharge, but I was ready, so ready.

-------------------------------

Well hello.  

It is yet, another crazy week in our household!  Drum roll please... 

I am sick again. YES, again. I said it.  Back to sore throat and losing my voice- round 3.  Guess who is grumpy as hell...RAISING MY HAND HERE!
It is getting ridiculous. (right!) 

Then, Hubby threw out his back late Sunday evening (unbeknownst to me) and just as it was feeling better yesterday (before he had to go to work) he put more wood into the Wood Boiler (scene of the crime the first time too) and threw it out AGAIN

Needless to say, he could NOT go to work, had to call his Doc who directed him to the ER- where he sat for four hours and got some muscle relaxers and a slip for 2 days off from work- problem is, where he works, he is now considered off on Medical and NEEDS a 5 day slip!   Oh the fun

So, he is off work. 




That is my DRAMA filled life. I hate drama- have I mentioned that before. BRING IT, I guess....




I hope you all are doing well! 


How is our word of the day challenging you?


So not going to lie, this one was tough.  I had to work it in, not sure if I am to confident with the how I did that, but I looked up the proper definition to make sure I used in within context. 

Keep in mind- we are in day 22 already! 


Keep Writing!


~Kel


Monday, January 26, 2015

Challenging the Writer- Day 21

Writing Challenge Word of the Day:

MOON

The moon was full as we headed out into the full parking lot. Our case was one of many and it seemed like the entire crew was on duty. It was as if I were a sitting duck. Waiting for the answers to fall into my lap like some needy person waiting to find out if I were getting a plus or minus on a pee stick. This would change everything.  If my sister had been pregnant, was it Danny's baby? Did he know? 

"You are lost in your own thoughts, Kat."

"Sorry. That obvious, huh."

"Yea, pretty much. You want to talk it through?"

I loved talking a case through to Mac. It was one of the highlights of being a detective, being able to see different angles and work out why they worked or don't work.  Mac had always been up for the challenge and was great at debunking some of my best works. He had a way about him.  It was as if we were completely in sync when we worked together. 

"I was just thinking that if Char is...was pregnant how this could potentially change everything. I mean, that could be motive.  Then I am wondering if Danny knew?  If he knew and he snapped.  That had been a thing in our relationship.  He was anti- kids.  It was a done deal and I was to understand from the beginning that there would never be any children. But, then I think that that was  a long time ago and things change. People change.  And it might have just been me that he did not want children with."

"It definitely would be a game changer. BUT, I don't think Dan knew.  I think that by his manner of tracking you down proves that he is scared to cross you.  He knows how good of a detective you are, even if he doesn't.  The man was married to you.  He knows you as a person and knows your determination. I think that he would have to be a damn fool to bet against you and kill your sister.  He would know he would never get away with it." 

"I guess.  He did not know this me though.  He always knew a girl who was shy and quiet and did whatever was asked of her for the good of the marriage.  I was focused on school but little else." 

Mac didn't say anything, he just smiled at me and shook his head. Maybe he was right, maybe that was enough. 

"If not him, then who?" I spat out to him, knowing the answer.

"That is for us to figure out, isn't it."  he said smiling bigger.  I knew that would be his response, as it was many times before. 

"Look at the moon tonight.  It is as if it holds all the answers, being so bright and full."

"It also means that the crazies are out in full force." Mac was always saying this. He insisted on the superstition that full moons brought death to many.  I can't say that I don't disagree, as the 9-1-1 centers were always much more busy on a full moon versus a new moon. 

The call came in shortly after two a.m.  We were paroling around the crime scene when we were dispatched to 57 Merry Lane.  Mac jumped with a start as he fired up the engine of our police issued black crown royal. Undercover marked. 

"Why are we being dispatched. I thought we were in our own investigation? How do they even know where we are?"

"They don't. I think this might be a break for us." 

I eyed him suspiciously. Did I know Merry lane?  I had to think.  I was thinking deeply as we rolled up on six police issued cruisers.  All were swarmed around a very nice home.  Guns were drawn, pointed toward the massive glass entrance way.  I tried to see what I could but was quickly pushed down to cover as six rounds rang through the air, echoing off of the grand houses in the upscale neighborhood.  Mac was by my side in an instant asking if I was OK. I looked up and saw why there was so much concern where I stood, as bullet holes were all around the door I had been placed inches below. 

"Any idea where we are?" I asked through my labored breathing.  The Officer next to me gave me a dirty look, rolling his eyes before walking, crouched down to another cruiser.
"Daniel's Parents house." Mac said. 

I looked out the shattered window above my head to see the big home of Mr. and Mrs. Greer,  my former in-laws and apparently my Sister's in-laws as well.  I caught a glimpse of something dark in the bushes out front.  Something that had a black object pointed at me. I tried to duck down as something fired.  I felt heat, unsure where I was hit, but knowing I had been.  I fell backwards. I felt light headed, as if I were floating. The moon was directly above me, shining for all to see. I don't remember closing my eyes, my eyes were affixed on the moon's light.  It was me and the moon in the world and the rest was dark. 

-------------------------------

Hi All! 

How was the weekend?  

Much needed?  

It was pretty quiet and tame here. I took a much needed sick day on Friday. Trying to get myself and my youngest healthy again. Easier said than done, I might add! 





We also adventured to a little antique barn and got a lot of ideas of my visions...and my not so much visions. It was awesome and I found a few neat pieces that have really put me on a mission





We also celebrated my Dad's Birthday on Saturday. It was good. Everyone interacted with everyone and we had a really good time - plus the cake was delicious! 



Back to the grind today. 


I have to get back to Billing and Coding too! 

I took a long weekend away from it, which is not something that I wanted to do.  I have to do this and make this happen! 


How are we all doing with writing? 

Are we still having FUN?



I can't wait until tomorrow! Our word of the day is a dozie too! 

Feedback is welcome, as always!






Happy Monday all!


~Kel 

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Writing Challenge- Day 20

Writing Challenge WORD OF THE DAY:

WASH

I was still processing all my thoughts when we arrived at the station. Mac still intently listened to me turn each new corner.  He had a plan, and I was grateful. 

We headed to the morgue. Stop number one. Hardy was working this morning. He was an older man who had nearly thirty years of service in and was just a peach. 

"Detectives, welcome to the walking dead." he said with a snicker that moved his jolly belly.

"Hardy. Boy have I missed you." I said smiling.

"Vacations pull me away from this place."

"And that, I don't blame at all. Welcome back, all the same." I said, still smiling. This man has that affect on people. 

"Miss Kat, I am so sorry to hear about your...Sister, is it?"

"Thank you. It is terrible and no leads to top it all off. Which is what brings us here.  Any labs back yet?"

Hardy moved to the desk, that was somewhere under the mountain of paperwork that had made it its home. "Agh, yes. Toxs came back.  She had Marijuana in her blood stream and alcohol. Nothing beyond. Looks like she was anemic."

"Pregnant?"
Hardy looked at me, questionably. "Kat, is this confirmed? There is a separate testing that needs to be done to determine fertility."

"I don't know for sure, but I am suspecting." 

"OK. I am going to go pull. I am so sorry dear." he said in his sweet, caring manner that makes him Hardy. 

We headed upstairs in the elevator. "Something about that place makes me want to wash up every time we leave." Mac said, holding his hands by his side. 

"Heeby Jeebies?" I said, smiling.

"No, just the dead and fluids freaks me out is all."

I had to laugh. He was such a tough guy but yet he was a wash up freak whenever we left the morgue. 



------------------------------

I kind of feel the same!  Last night my Mom was telling me about this show where they are undertakers but they like to wrestle? OMG. I laughed so hard and then she tells me she is recording it on the DVR. Hilarious!


How are you all doing with the writing challenge? 




Comments/Questions/Suggestions are always welcomed!

Happy Sunday all! Getting ready for yet, another week!


~Kel

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Writing Challenge- Day 19

Happy Saturday All!  I am so ready for this weekend...and the opportunity to SLEEP. (Yes, I got sleep too!) 

Today is my Dad's Birthday! We are getting ready to head over and celebrate with family and have a nice dinner and cake- of course! My girls are super excited- as my Dad will be getting a dozen HAND MADE cards. 



I hope you all have a wonderful Saturday as well!

---------------------------------------

Writing Challenge Word of the Day:
SUMMER
Leaving the hospital was bittersweet.  I was beyond ready to head home and so very Thankful for Mac being by my bedside during my stay.  He also helped carry all the flower arrangements to the car, bless his soul, because it looked like every single, individual person from the department sent something over during the week of my stay. 

I felt good. I had rested. I had recharged and I was more ready than ever to help Charlotte. I was starting to remember things.  Things from my slumber in the hospital that were going on behind the closed eyelids that were seen to the naked eye on the outside.  I was Charlotte.  She was showing me the way through her own being.  I knew that I could take it one of two ways. I could take it as a lesson that I was learning, or I could take it as a tragedy that I was reliving, experiencing through my sister. I chose to take it as a detective and learn from it, find the clues and figure out what the hell was going on and how someone did this to my baby sister.

"You're in your own head, Kat." he said, startling me from my own thoughts.

"Sorry." I said as I looked out the window.  We were heading to the precinct and I was excited and nervous to be back to work. "I was just starting to remember things...from the coma."

"Oh yea." he said, his eyes perked up as he intently listened. 

"It's weird to be in that place where you exist but your are not a functioning human. You know what I mean?"

"I can't speak from experience or anything, but I am fascinated with the human brain being in that stagnant place."

"Exactly.  That is what it is. It is a dark, lonely, still place. B I N G O." I said amazed that he got it.
"I went somewhere in the bathroom. I remember looking in the mirror, only the reflection was not me.  It was Charlotte. She had been beaten, battered.  The blood that was smeared was that of her. I touched her blood and swirled it on the vanity in disbelief.  It went further though.  I was her. I saw her walking outside.  She looked normal, like the Char that I had grown up with.  Her hair was shimmering in the summer sunlight, a smile dancing a crossed her face, like it would when she was in love.  It was as if I were watching her, not her. I was just within the shadows. I could not see what was making her so happy, but something was within her reach.  She grabbed at her stomach.  Wait..she was with child."  With this new piece of information I grabbed at my own stomach. I felt sick. "Pull Over."

Mac pulled the car over on the shoulder and I got out quickly.  He was by my side just as fact and held my hair as I lost the egg breakfast he had fixed me thirty minutes before.  He held me after I had finished and I let this linger a little to long.  

"Oh my god, Mac.  She was pregnant in the Summer.  Do you think there is any fact to these..experiences that I am having?"

"We don't know, really. Her body was in bad shape to be able to identify if there had been a baby."

"It makes me sick. Someone did this to hide something. Who does this." 

He didn't say a word, he just held onto me, keeping me stable in his arms. He left me work out my thoughts and listened, taking it all in. 

I would forever be indebted to this man, this gentle, kind, manly man who was here for me when no one else way. 

-----------------------------------


~Kel

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