| Scully picked up a scalpel and began opening the chest cavity. She expected blood to squirt from the body or at least get all over her friends but there was no blood whatsoever. Scully looked inside the entire body, shining a small light into the rib cage and arteries. There was no blood that could be seen anywhere. Scully arched her eyebrows but continued the autopsy knowing the results would be the only piece of hard evidence in the entire case. * * * * Meanwhile, Hannah and Piper were showing Mulder the playground where they had found Nick's body. They all stood next to the swing where Nick was found. Around it was taped off with yellow police tape. Hannah and Piper were worried after they saw Mulder use a key opener from his pocket to sever the lock on the playground gate. They had tried knocking on the school door to ask for a key but no one answered. “Is this legal?” Hannah wondered out loud unable to hold the worry in anymore. “Sort of.” Mulder responded. He went over to the swing and ran his gloved fingers over it. He brought his fingers to his face and looked at them. There was no blood or any material of any kind. “What are you looking for?” Piper asked. “To tell you the truth, I don’t really know.” Mulder responded. “Do you girls know of any enemies Nick might have had that would have wanted to hurt him.” “Neither of us were really good friends with him.” Hannah said. “If you wanted to talk to someone who knew him better you might try Anastasia.” Piper suggested. “She is…” “Was.” Hannah corrected knowing Piper’s tenses were wrong. “She was better friend with him than we are.” Piper said giving Hannah a glare. “Were.” She corrected, realizing Piper had again used the word are instead of the word were. She knew the death of Nick hadn’t really sunk into anyone’s lives yet. They all expected him to walk into class one day unharmed. “The police have already been here. They didn’t find any clues.” Piper said. She watched as Mulder kneeled down in the snowy sand. He pulled a small, metal instrument out of his pocket and began scooping the snow off the sand. “Obviously they didn’t look very well.” Mulder picked up a long, sharp material and showed it to the girls. “It looks like a fingernail…or a tooth.” Hannah said. “Yea, but of what?” Piper asked. The material didn’t look like anything she had seen before. It seemed to be made of ivory or some other white material but it looked to long and sharp to be human. “The killer.” Mulder finally answered. “Isn’t it possible that a child having a sharks tooth or some other kind of animal was holding it and dropped it while playing in the school yard.” Piper asked. “Why would it be under the snow if it was made by the killer? The snow fell a few nights before Nick was murdered. If this was left by the killer it would have been on top of the snow not buried underneath.” Hannah explained. “You know what I was thinking, how could Nick have gotten into the playground to begin with?” Piper asked. “He could have used that bench over there to climb over the fence.” Mulder said wondering what the girls were getting at. “No, Piper and I dragged that bench over when we saw his body.” Hannah explained. “There would be no way that he would be able to get over that fence.” “He could have jumped.” Mulder suggested. “No, it would have been impossible for him to jump a fence that high.” Piper argued. “Isn’t that what you two girls did to exit the playground?” Mulder asked. “Well sort of, but we had to climb onto the slide and then jump over. I think you’d find it impossible for someone of Mark’s size to have jumped over that fence.” Hannah said. “Not to mention the fact that he couldn’t even use his arm to help him over because he had recently broken it playing basketball.” Piper added in. “You guys both sound like Scully.” Mulder said jokingly realizing how scientific the two girls were actually sounding. Mulder took a piece of bag marked “evidence” out of his pocket. He put the tooth inside the bag and stared at it for another moment before putting it back into his pocket. Chapter 3 3:55 PM Rosalini residence Scully shifted her body on the hard, wooden floor. Her legs were wrapped underneath her. She turned to Mulder and gave him a weird look. He smiled and gratefully took a hot cup of coffee from a small, meek woman. Scully took one, as well, and thanked the woman by nodding. “It must be inconvenient that you’re sitting on the floor.” The woman said. “But that’s what we believe in.” Scully smiled at her and moved her ankle so the wood was pressing into her bone. Mulder stretched his leg out but then kicked a small wooden table. The woman sat down on the floor across from them and sat like an ancient Buddha. She smiled and looked at Mulder very strangely. She maneuvered her eyes to Scully and laughed. “You two are very serious.” She said. “Mrs. Rosalini…” Scully began. “Please, call me Juliet.” She said. “Juliet, I know this is going to be hard for you but…” “No, not hard…Nick is in a better place.” Her voice had a fake accent and Scully picked up on it immediately. She was becoming impatient that the woman kept interrupting everything she was trying to say. “He’s like Romeo and Juliet with no Juliet. The tragedy of two star-crossed lovers.” “Yes, well, have you ever seen this?” Scully asked. She pulled out the bag marked evidence and showed it to the woman. She looked at the object and fingered it slightly. “It’s a claw.” Juliet answered. “Yes, but a claw to what?” Mulder asked speaking for the first time. “It’s a monster called the Onomatopoeia. It’s a monster that kills its victims by sucking the blood out of their body.” She explained. “An Onomatopoeia?” Scully questioned. “The English word.” “Yes, this creature, he visits me.” Juliet explained. “He visits you?” Scully asked sounding a little concerned. She found the woman to be quite abnormal and fake. Everything she said was so unreal, Scully didn’t know where to begin. “All the time. That’s what killed Nick and it will kill again.” “Juliet…” Mulder began. Scully cut him off sharply. “Thank you, Mrs. Rosalini, we’ll be in touch.” Scully smiled and stood up. She stood up stretching her soar legs. She led herself outside and went into the drivers side of their blue rental car. She put her hands on the wheel and smiled secretly to herself. Mulder joined her a few moments later. They were silent until Mulder burst out laughing. “What’s so funny?” Scully asked. “Come on, Scully, the tension between you two. It’s obvious you were afraid I might end up liking her because she believes in the same things I do.” Mulder said. “You are so conceited.” Scully said. “Are you telling me that you don’t believe that Mrs. Juliet Rosalini saw the Onomatopoeia?” “I’m saying that the only thing that woman saw was the bottom of any empty beer can.” Mulder smiled. “Mulder, it’s obvious that she’s under the influence of some kind of drug or alcohol. Who talks like that, who dresses like that?” “It’s possible that she could be in touch with the spirit world.” Mulder suggested. “Yea, it’s possible.” Scully said not believing what she said. She started the car and pulled onto the road. “Where are we going?” Mulder asked buckling his seat belt as he spoke. “To pick up Piper and Hannah so I can talk to them about what’s happening.” “Are you suggesting I couldn’t do the job when I questioned them.” Mulder asked offended. “I’m suggesting that they might feel more comfortable speaking with a person of the same gender than talking to a tall, dark, scary man like yourself.” Mulder playfully hit Scully on the shoulder but she ignored him. * * * * 5:00 PM “Okay, so Truth or Dare?” Erin asked. She was sitting on a large, double bed with her legs tucked underneath her. She stared over at Hannah who was sitting across from her. “Come on Hannah, just pick.” Piper said growing impatient. |