****Click here for previous installment of Vivid Black –> Not Sorry
The door was closed to Ray’s office. Henry, seated in the leather sofa matched the sunken, saggy, sad form. They discussed Cliff Lewis’ interview and it was tense and disheartening. Those bits of information put a clear-cut suspect in their radar.
Heavyhearted, Henry pondered, “Can you remember the moment? God, he was barely out of the Academy. Devastated. Dealt a big plate of crap. Didn’t think he’d get over it.”
Outraged, Ray responded bitterly.
“Did you forget that time? He laid Schweitzer out? Devastated is no excuse, and he got over it way to fast.”
“I know. He’s my partner.”
In my “busy-ness” I didn’t write last week. LeeRoy’s song choice for 100 Word Song this week has my brain racing with the potential. Lance made a great choice letting his robot alter-ego do the choosing. Indie Rock Band Free Energy’s song “Free Energy” is really. good.
I’m back with Vivid Black and there’s a lot of stress with Ray and Henry as they got a devastating lead from Cliff Lewis.
To read the entire Vivid Black series so far, Click HERE.
****Click here for previous installment of Vivid Black –> Misbehavin’
Head jerked to escape the vicious, painful memory. Doomed to his life’s chain of events, he leapfrogged to Kimberly. Dead Kimberly. Druggie cheating wife Kimberly.
Then Josh. Dead Josh. Cheating best-friend Josh. Kim, dead from an overdose. Josh, dead at his hands. Remorse didn’t mar the achieved redemption.
He thought “nothing is my fault.”
Head tipped back, eyes closed, smiling, he remembered the release, the satisfaction.
He exhaled, bent over and bloused tactical khaki’s over his Danners. He shrugged into his leather, and slid the shiny star onto his belt.
Vivid Black get’s it’s second post today with Lance and LeeRoy’s 100 Word Song. Dawn at The Dawnie Project chose this weeks song “Sorry For It All” by Dead Sara. I’m sorry to say I’ve never listened to anything from this band, and I’ve really missed out because this is a great song.
To read the entire Vivid Black series so far, Click HERE.
He liked to remember Sarah Jane best. That kill had desired release, plus eliminating Jacoby’s kid, an unexpected rebellion thrill.
He flinched, memories flashed backward. Outside, rain drenched, tiny fist pounded, mommy cackled, bad boyfriend thundered.
I’m giving you 33 words of creepiness to add to Vivid Black. I’m adding an awesome song, “On the Darkside” from one of my favorite movies, “Eddie & The Cruisers.”
To read the entire Vivid Black series so far, Click HERE.
Trifextra: Week Sixty – We are giving you three words and asking that you add another 33 to them to make a complete 36-word response. Our three words are:
remember
rain
rebellion This weekend’s challenge is community-judged. Read. Vote.
A shadow peeked from behind the cedar across the street.
“Bad bad bad! Not my friend – Not!”
He inspected the tip of his index finger and quickly stuck it in his mouth to gnaw at the nonexistent nail. He carefully leaned out, watched a few seconds then fell into the shadows unseen. He always savored, concealed in a secret place.
His mind churned endlessly. Love, sorrow, anger, hatred, regret. Then pleasure in his power.
“Love is careless in its choosing asshole. It’s not cool choosing what’s not yours. Looks like your ‘LOVE’ descended on you all defenseless didn’t it.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
Lance, with a not so gentle reminder from t at http://aslongasimsinging.wordpress.com/ chose this weeks 100 Word Song to honor David Bowies birthday. He chose the song “Soul Love” from Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust album. I worked this piece on lyrics alone. I’m sure I’m losing points with both Lance and LeeRoy when I say I’m not Bowie’s biggest fan.
****Previous installment of Vivid Black – Never the Same
Henry hung over Doc Jones’ shoulder as she pried the wad from the victims stiffened fingers then passed it to the CSU tech. Jones had Tom Petty’s “You Wreck Me” playing. Henry’s fingers tapped out the beat on his lip while the wrinkled clump was coaxed into shape. He leaned in closer, and watched each swipe and pull until six inches of mustard colored paper emblazoned with red blood-like splotches showed a line of letters and nonsense characters.
“ZGC Dec31 1115pm WSU.”
He mutter “feels like I only go backwards” as anticipation dissolved. Henry whacked the table and growled,
“Max”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Lance and LeeRoy tapped Rene from Not the Rockefellers to choose the 100 Word Song and she picked “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” by Tame Impala. I confess to being completely unfamiliar with the band and this song is a bit too Beatle-esque for my taste so I pulled up the lyrics to get inspired. I’m taking you back to Vivid Black and the Zombie Reaper serial killer. Poor Henry is not getting any breaks.
Max running off. Ray blowing up. Henry was losing focus. He pinched his nose between his eyes to clear his mind.
McKinley was still in his duty car. He wondered if that would go sideways too. The car, diagonal in a handicap spot had McKinley waiting. Tears flowed freely and her mascara ran. Henry opened the door and crouched down.
“McKinley, you wanna tell me what that was all about? Why were you with Max and why did he run? you tell me now, or we’re making a trip to the station. You chose.”
She turned to face him. “Whatever”
*~*~*~*
Two for one today. This in spite of the free flow of my nose and the incessant barking which are both making me miserable. I guess you can be sick and create too. Someone send me a can of Lysol so I can disinfect my keyboard when this crud leaves me.
I’m writing for Lance and LeeRoy at “My Blog Can Beat Up Your Blog” for the 100 Word Song which features the song “Criminal” as sung by Fiona Apple.
And I’m also writing for Velvet Verbosity’s 100 Word Challenge. This week we have the word “Whatever” to get the creative juices flowing.
****Previous installment of Vivid Black – Coming Down
The uniform with the bull horn did his best to keep the “zombies” and the rest of the crowd away from the crime scene at Wyoming State University. Several officers and a street crew worked to set up barricades and rolled out tape to keep them back. Henry stood over the body while McEwin crouched down to help the Medical Examiner look for ID on the male victim dressed as a zombie. It was hard to determine which slashes were “zombie” and which were real. The only certainty was what the coagulating, syrupy pool of blood meant.
Finding leads in this case was slow. The killer easily moved among Zombie Gauntlet events filled with fake zombies, victims, and a mock apocalypse completed with people who ran and screamed bloody murder. Over confident, the Zombie Reaper had become sloppy. Adrenalin surged through Henry as he saw the victims hand tightly clenched around something. A bloody knife next to a park bench along the Quad was like a late Christmas gift.
Anxious to get the scene tied up he tried to hurry Medical Examiner Dr. Janice Jones, but she had her own pace and procedures. She chose words and delivered them inca clipped tone as she informed him, “I could hurry or I could do it right. I’ll wait while you decide detective.”
Arms crossed over her 5 foot frame, she glared at him and waited for his response. His attitude was quickly dampened by the petite red head with the firecracker attitude.
“Uh, OK. Well, you do your job. CSU is still working anyway.”
He turned and shuffled away in a hangdog posture and muttered, “I’ll leave you alone. Maybe you’ll work faster that way.”
Walking to the yellow crime scene tape, he paced along the perimeter stealing glances into the crowd looking for expressions and behaviors that might give away someone who knew something. Hanging on the edge of the crowd, was Max, and Sarah Jane’s friend McKinley. Max was teetering back and forth from foot to foot chewing on a nail. McKinley was closed off, arms crossed, ashen with shock and fear.
Henry lifted the tape and walked under, winding his way to the pair.
“Max. You seem a little nervous.”
“Shut up man! You come up to me and ask questions in front of all these people and I’m gonna be the one they blame for all this crap!”
Henry shifted so he was at an angle facing slightly away from McKinley.
“McKinley, does your mom know you’re here?”
He signaled with his head “Why don’t you wander over to my car. The officer standing there will let you in.”
He caught the officers eye, indicated with a glance toward McKinley and slowly nodded. She looked up with vacant eyes and moved toward the car.
“Max.”
“What do you want?”
Henry stepped in front of Max and made sure he had his eyes.“You’re not telling me something.”
Max’s gaze shifted, and he sprinted away.
*~*~*~*
Gary Go–Open Arms – Official Video
Gary Go is out there quietly putting out some amazing music, lyrically and musically. This song just fit Henry and his situation as he deals with yet another murder from the now named “Zombie Reaper”.
*~*~*~*
Inspiration came from Write On Edge’s weekly writing prompt Red Writing Hood. They presented an “I Spy” image with 14 items and instructions to “choose one of the 14 items in this “I Spy” game and use it in a fiction or creative non-fiction piece….Word limit is 500.” I chose the police officer with the bullhorn as my inspiration for another installment in my Vivid Black fiction piece. This piece actually precedes the last one when Ray and Henry lock horns. It will be put into the lineup before “Experienced”
In my “busy-ness” I didn’t write last week. LeeRoy’s song choice for 100 Word Song this week has my brain racing with the potential. Lance made a great choice letting his robot alter-ego do the choosing. Indie Rock Band Free Energy’s song “Free Energy” is really. good. 
Day In and Day Out 