Bloody Mystery (PG) Challenge 135 1/7/12

[darkstarrising]

My little offering for the challenge...

The usual disclaimers....don't own the characters, just having fun with them.

Bloody Mystery

“Lila, honey, what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“The paper, Ray…..it can’t be true!”

“Let me see….’Local Man and New Bride Missing and Feared Dead’….Hotel Wilshire…..Saturday night….Michael St. John….Coraline DuVal…..recently married……blood soaked bed…. Jesus!”

“Why would anyone want to kill Mick and his wife?”

“Says here that robbery might have been a motive….there weren’t any clothes or other possessions found in the room. No bodies, either.”

“You know Mick didn’t have much….”

“Maybe this Coraline did.”

“Maybe they’re not dead. Maybe they’ve been kidnapped and were hurt putting up a fight.”

“With all that blood, it must have been one helluva fight.”

“You don’t think they’re alive, do you?”

“I know a man can lose only so much blood before he dies, Lila. With what they’re saying in the paper, one of them is probably dead.”

“Only one? What are you saying, Ray? That Mick killed his wife? You know him better than that!!”

“I thought I knew him.”

“Ray, I thought we put what happened with Mick behind us.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. The Mick you and I grew up with wouldn’t hurt a fly, but war changes folks, Lila. They see and do things they’d never have imagined in their worst nightmares. I know I did. Mick, too. Maybe something happened on Mick’s honeymoon and he snapped.”

“You honestly believe Mick suddenly became some kind of monster and murdered his wife?”

“No, honey, not a monster. Only a man haunted by his past.”

[jen]

DSR

Yes, Coraline was definitely not very neat when she Turned Mick. i guess Cleaners don't do Cleanups for situations like that.

I'm glad Ray and Lilah were at least concerned about Mick but I sense an undercurrent of...something in Ray's observations. He is totally correct, as I think the experience of being in combat changes a person and not always for the better.

Fabulous answer to the challenge!

Thank you!

[MickLifeCrisis]

Wow, that was excellent!

[Marigold]

“I thought I knew him.”

“Ray, I thought we put what happened with Mick behind us.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. ..."

I guess Ray did find out about Mick and Lilah.

Mick's turning was a tragedy, not only for him, but also for his family and friends. It must have been absolutely awful for them to not know what ever happened to Mick.

Thanks, dsr! This was a great response to the challenge!

[Fleur de Lisa]

Super and unique response.

You always write well, but these limited word drabbles are really your thing, aren't they?

[francis]

This is great writing. There's a world of mistrust, friendship, hurt feelings, tragedy and sadness in these few words. Ray thought he knew Mick but he has been proved wrong when he came back and knew Mick had been with Lilah. That must have really broken his trust. Now Mick and his new wife vanished and there's a lot of blood. Ray must have seen good men snap from what they saw in war. His assumptions aren't correct, yet in a way Mick has become someone who would kill people. They will never know the truth.

[allegrita]

Oh man, honey. This is absolutely gut-wrenching. So much was said in so few words. Poor Ray. Poor Lilah.

[Lucy]

whoa....does he really mean that?? WOW, Ray is as haunted as he thinks Mick is!

[maggatha3]

Geez!! One haunted man talking about another one! And Lilah in the middle of all! That was a great response to the challenge and gosh, how do you write so greatly in such limited amount of words???

[darkstarrising]

DSR

Yes, Coraline was definitely not very neat when she Turned Mick. i guess Cleaners don't do Cleanups for situations like that.

I'm glad Ray and Lilah were at least concerned about Mick but I sense an undercurrent of...something in Ray's observations. He is totally correct, as I think the experience of being in combat changes a person and not always for the better.

Fabulous answer to the challenge!

Thank you!

Thanks, Jenna Very perceptive - Ray has shared some horrible experiences during the war with his best friend and probably knows what each man is capable of, if the occasion arises. Yet Ray can't let Lila think that he'd ever hurt her, so his answer to her is very carefully worded.

Wow, that was excellent!

Thanks, MLC Glad you liked it!!

“I thought I knew him.”

“Ray, I thought we put what happened with Mick behind us.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. ..."

I guess Ray did find out about Mick and Lilah.

Mick's turning was a tragedy, not only for him, but also for his family and friends. It must have been absolutely awful for them to not know what ever happened to Mick.

Thanks, dsr! This was a great response to the challenge!

Thanks, Marigold Not knowing what happened to Mick was certainly hard on his family, but for Ray and Lila, there was no closure either. If you're of the opinion that Robert was Mick's son (and I am), then Lila must have been torn between wanting to see Mick again and not wishing to hurt Ray. Ray himself might have wanted to 'bury the hatchet' with Mick, if he had come to terms with the affair between Mick and Lila.

Super and unique response.

You always write well, but these limited word drabbles are really your thing, aren't they?

Merci, ma Fleur These last two challenges have been very explicit in terms of set boundaries (word limit, style), so it makes you focus.

This is great writing. There's a world of mistrust, friendship, hurt feelings, tragedy and sadness in these few words. Ray thought he knew Mick but he has been proved wrong when he came back and knew Mick had been with Lilah. That must have really broken his trust. Now Mick and his new wife vanished and there's a lot of blood. Ray must have seen good men snap from what they saw in war. His assumptions aren't correct, yet in a way Mick has become someone who would kill people. They will never know the truth.

Thanks, francis While Ray and Lila may have put the affair 'behind them', once trust is lost, it's very difficult to regain. Ray can't fault his wife for the affair, as Lila thought he was dead, but still, the male ego is such a fragile thing. But for Ray's best friend to step in and give Lila the child he can't - that's got to hurt.

Oh man, honey. This is absolutely gut-wrenching. So much was said in so few words. Poor Ray. Poor Lilah.

Thanks, alle Mick may be gone, but his presence will haunt them both for the rest of their lives.

whoa....does he really mean that?? WOW, Ray is as haunted as he thinks Mick is!

Thanks, Lucy Ray has his own demons, he just has them under control. But somehow, if he thinks Mick really did snap, could he snap as well?

Geez!! One haunted man talking about another one! And Lilah in the middle of all! That was a great response to the challenge and gosh, how do you write so greatly in such limited amount of words???

thanks, maggatha Both men grew up together, went to war together and came home, neither of them the same. Not only does the war haunt them, but so will the shattered dreams each man had with the woman they both loved.

[cassysj]

That was amazing. Poor Ray he is right about war changing people and it wouldn't make sense considering Mick didn't have any money why anyone would murder the two of them. I can certainly understand why Lilah wouldn't want to think the worst about Mick.

[darkstarrising]

That was amazing. Poor Ray he is right about war changing people and it wouldn't make sense considering Mick didn't have any money why anyone would murder the two of them. I can certainly understand why Lilah wouldn't want to think the worst about Mick.

thanks, carol Lila would always want to see Mick as a friend and loving man. Ray, however, could see how their experiences oversees might have changed his friend, and perhaps himself.

[Luxe de Luxe]

Great response to the challenge, dsr. There is definitely something underlying Ray's response to the news. He knows something, has seen Mick at his worst during the war. That's something Lila wouldn't understand. The irony, of course, is that Mick DID become a monster, but it wasn't in the way Ray feared.

[jmc]

What strikes me, too, is that Coraline didn't just take away Mick's mortal life. She took away his good name, his reputation. No one reading the same article in the paper would ever think the wife did it. He was a young, healthy man and penniless; he must have done it. I bet his bandmates thought that and they don't have the extra incentive that Ray does.

Thank you, dsr! How do you get so many ideas going in so few words?

[SharonC]

Oh Ray and Lila if you only knew the word monster meant so much to Mick in this context.

What a fantastic POV to read, how did the friends of Mick deal with his disappearance, especially if they were closely connected.

It must have been tough for this couple to get through everything but they did as we know and Mick was a good friend to both of them so of course they would be upset over this.

Thank you DSR