| Fan Fiction |
by x.shuang.dao.x
“First it was the lollipop killer AKA Heather AKA Sarah. And now I’m becoming a victim of some sugar-lollipop-rose obsessed lunatic.”
Owodog sighed. “Maybe we’re destined to be plagued by lollipops. I think I might have plaque on my teeth, in fact. I need a visit to the dentist.”
“Quan! That’s not funny at all, you know,” Ashley said dryly.
It had been a long time since the two of them went out for lunch together. Or more accurately, ever since Monkey walked into Ashley’s life. Owodog missed those times. For three years, they had been a perfect team and an inseparable one. Basically, during those times, seeing one of them would mean the other was not far behind. They were almost the best of friends too, even after Owodog displayed his feelings for her out in the open.
That morning Monkey had dropped by their office to pass Owodog the shot of the sugar and lollipop and rose. Owodog had just nodded solemnly and took it from him, then Monkey said ‘thanks’ and left his office. They didn’t hate each other, but they didn’t want to talk too much about it when Ashley was in sight and might be in earshot. Monkey kissed Ashley lightly on her forehead then descended the building in the lift and drove off in his Mini.
Owodog had stared at the picture for a long time, trying to figure out who on Earth would do such a thing while savouring his cup of caramel macchiato. Of course nothing much came out of his deliberation, not when there was not even the tiniest clue about the enigmatic sender.
Monkey was meeting a client for lunch, so he called Owodog and told him he could have lunch with Ashley and perhaps discuss about the mysterious fellow. Owodog wanted to snort at that, but instead he thought about it in a positive way and said okay, he’d take care of Ashley for Monkey today.
Owodog waited to see if Ashley would continue talking about the lollipop loony. She did.
Ashley sighed, “Seriously, what do you think he’s trying to do?”
“Simple, he’s trying to get into your good books by acting all sweet and nice.”
“So… Does that mean I know him and he isn’t in my good books now?”
Owodog shrugged, “Possible. Well, anything’s possible. He could be some masochistic criminal who fell in love with the beautiful female detective and wants to be handcuffed by her.”
“Do you have any idea how irritating you are?” Ashley rejoined immediately, narrowing her eyes at her partner.
Owodog put his hands up in mock-surrender. “Hey! I was being perfectly serious! I swear!”
“Then we’re really dealing with a lunatic.”
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Kale fumed silently as he watched his beloved have lunch with that hateful detective. The worst thing was they seemed to be having a happy time chatting and laughing. Why! Didn’t she know that he didn’t like seeing her together with that pathetic lovelorn guy? Argh, he needed to do something about that.
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Owodog walked Ashley right to her doorstep. Monkey was still entertaining his troublesome client and as both of them didn’t see fit for Ashley to be alone at any time, Owodog volunteered to send her home. He stood wordlessly as Ashley unlocked her gate and door. “Come on in,” she said to Owodog as she entered her apartment, which she hadn’t been in for the past few days.
Sam and Luna were at Monkey’s next door, but Ashley thought if she was going to invite Owodog in it wouldn’t be so nice to go to Monkey’s.
“Make yourself at home.”
Owodog nodded as Ashley disappeared into her bedroom. He made himself comfortable in the red beanbag beside the couch and looked around. Nothing much had changed since the last time he was there. Then he spotted a card on the coffee table. Curious, he picked it up.
‘Dearest Ashley, why do you always look so troubled? Do you not like my flowers?’
Owodog dropped it in shock. He regained his senses and picked it up again, flipping it over to search for any clue as to where and whom the card was from.
Ashley walked out of her bedroom to join Owodog at the living room. “What’s that?”
Owodog showed her the card. He saw her eyes widen. “I don’t think you brought this home yourself, right?”
Ashley shook her head profusely.
“That can only mean one thing.” Owodog stated grimly as he looked at her.
She met his eye, “Mr Lollipop Loony broke into my house.”
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Kale was planning to take his anger out on the next victim. Whoever it was, was just plain unlucky that Kale had had to witness the pathetic detective together with his beloved twice in the same day.
After all, his clients never specified how they wanted their subject to die, they usually only stated that they wanted them to die a horrible death, and the method was up to Kale. Kale liked that idea a lot. It meant that he could experiment with different techniques each time and inventing new ones gave him a huge sense of achievement although he wouldn’t spend too long gloating. Besides, he needed new methods anyway. That would put those investigators on the wrong track, especially when he imitated another serial killer’s tactics.
Kale used to reside in England until one of his projects brought him across the seas to here, and he had stayed on because he liked the place. He was a little bored back in England anyway, so he thought why not have a change in environment instead of settling in one place all his life?
He liked the challenges his new location provided. And he was glad he moved here, for he would never have met Ashley if otherwise.
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His target’s black Mercedes-Benz C-Series pulled up in the porch of the four-storey bungalow. Kale watched him as he sat lazily on the deck chair by the pool. His .45 was strapped to his ankle. A Victorian army knife lay snugly in his pocket. It was usually for emergencies and Kale seldom used it. His typical weapons were his .45 and cables, which he liked to take from the victim’s house. It saved him a lot of trouble from carrying his tools along. He was especially delighted when his victim’s house had strange objects that made good weapons. For example, home entertainment systems. He wasn’t sure if they really made that good entertainment; but he was definitely sure that they entertained him.
There was once he rammed the fellow’s head into the woofer while the system was switched on. Hell, he even got to watch half of some animated movie before the guy came back and he had to sacrifice his movie-watching so the guy could die painfully. But it was worth it. He liked home entertainment systems ever since.
His current victim locked his car and went into the house. Kale grinned; he continued waiting.
Then he heard a shout from the second floor, “Hey what are you trying to do in my house?”
Kale smiled. He would wait for the man to come down before he started his work. Kale was half-glad that the man’s family had just gone on a holiday; it would save him a lot of work. But then again, he wouldn’t mind more work if it provided him with thrill and amusement.
The man finally came down. He had a baseball bat in his hands as he approached Kale by the pool.
Kale thought he was rather stupid if he usually tried to chase away burglars with a lousy bat.
“Mr Casey, I hope you remember Mr Stanley Hsu.” Kale stood up to face the middle-aged man.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Casey said indignantly, feigning ignorance.
Kale snatched Casey’s bat in swift movement and whacked his head. He smiled because he knew he was going to have fun.
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Ashley heard the gate being unlocked then the keys turning in the door’s lock. Then the door opened and Monkey stepped in.
“Hey.” Monkey greeted Owodog, who acknowledged him with a nod. Then Monkey continued, “Want to move your conversation to my apartment instead?”
“Sounds like a great idea.” Ashley confessed, she didn’t want to stay in her apartment anymore when she knew someone broke in there before. And she totally knew what Monkey would say when he found out about it. She wasn’t exactly looking forward to that part.
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Monkey was convinced Ashley’s job was going to kill her one of these days. But there wasn’t anything he could do because Ashley loved her job. She could see the worry in his eyes when she picked up her phone.
“Detective Ashley Wu.”
“Ashley, Matt here.”
“Oh, Matt. What’s the problem?” She glanced nervously at Owodog, whose ears pricked up at the word ‘Matt’. No, Matt wasn’t scary but Owodog always dreaded getting calls from their head.
“There was a murder at 67 Activus Drive, there’re already a few officers there and Chad’s going there now. Please get Owodog and yourself there quick.”
“Yeap, I got it boss. Bye.” She hung up abruptly before Matt could say anything. Then she looked at Owodog, “Murder at 67 Activus Drive.”
Owodog muttered a few curses under his breath. “Let’s go, then.” He gave a quick nod to Monkey and headed to the door of his apartment.
Ashley stood up and looked at Monkey. He had a look of resignation as he returned her gaze. Then after a moment, he said, “Be careful.”
She nodded then bent slightly to kiss him lightly on his forehead.
Monkey said nothing.
Ashley hastily went after Owodog.
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Chad was already poking at the fresh corpse when Owodog and Ashley arrived at the crime scene. “Gross,” Chad warned them as they made their way towards him.
Owodog agreed with that the very moment his eyes took in the blood and grey matter on the floor. “Eurgh, whoever did this must have a very strong hatred in his heart.”
Ashley was speaking to another officer, and when she turned to see the mess of mangled flesh and blood, she got slightly taken aback. “WHOA!” She blurted out. “That is real disgusting.”
The man’s skull was crushed and broken into fragments; they couldn’t even see his eyeballs. The brain was spilling out of the hollow that was once the man’s head. Grey matter and gooey red liquid were mixed and the sight was rather gruesome. There were no bullet holes or anything anywhere else. In fact, there wasn’t even the tiniest wound on the man’s legs, arms or chest. Every single blow, every part of damage, was focused on the head.
Then Chad plucked out something that he had missed due to the severe lack of light just now. “Hey guys, it’s your best friend.”
Owodog and Ashley halted their conversation to look at Chad’s find. It was a yellow rose petal looking sweet and innocent and clean despite the mess from which it was found. They stared at it for a moment, then met each others’ eyes again.
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Monkey was troubled enough as it was. That morning his partner and also his boss, Lucas, had discussed with him about his plan of opening a branch of their company in Japan. Lucas had already drawn up the perfect plan, including the amount of money to be invested, and everything else. All that was left was to come to an agreement with the rest of the shareholders. And everyone was all for this extension of the company. That left only Monkey.
Monkey wanted to give his consent but Lucas had said that if this plan really were to be carried out, Monkey would be the only one he trusted enough to head the proceedings in Japan. Which meant that Monkey would have to be in Japan for quite a long time, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to. He knew he was being selfish if he said no to Lucas but if he said yes he would have to move to Japan… Then what would happen to Ashley?
He tried not to think too much about it. He understood she had her own problems and he didn’t really want to discuss about this with her. But it seemed like it would be the best option.
Monkey lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, one hand idly stroking Luna’s soft fur and the other cradling Sam. He fell asleep while wondering when Ashley would come home.
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While Monkey had to spend the night alone at home except for Sam and Luna, Owodog was much luckier because Ashley was with him.
They had sat opposite each other in his office at his desk because neither was in the mood to go home and sleep. They stared at the Polaroid’s of the deceased for a long time, having been accustomed to the gruesomeness of the find. Neither of them knew what to do either. So they just sat there, in complete silence.
Kale Chou’s file had been taken out from the shelf and it now lay amongst the numerous Polaroid’s. Owodog had inwardly laughed at himself when he took out the file, for putting it in the shelf for closed cases in the first place. No, he should be snickering about his heads instead. But, really, what could they do if they couldn’t find the tiniest scrap of evidence? Perhaps the heads were right about closing it.
Owodog took a sip from his coffee mug and sighed. He spoke first. “Are you planning to sit here the whole night?”
Ashley glanced up at him. “Not if I can help it.”
“There’s nothing else you can do about this right now, right?”
“I don’t really want to admit that.” Ashley said.
“Maybe we should just go home.” Owodog said, knowing he would probably stay up the whole night anyway. Maybe he would spend his time wisely by cursing Kale Chou.
Ashley shrugged. “I don’t know what I want to do, actually.” She slumped in the chair until her butt was on the edge of it and it was barely keeping her on the chair. She closed her eyes and breathed heavily, letting out a huge sigh.
Owodog swallowed uneasily and tried not to look at her. He realized that he had been so preoccupied with being pissed with Kale Chou recently that his love – and lust – for Ashley had been pushed to the back of his head and hadn’t been bugging him this bad. Quiet moments do wonders for the brain, apparently. Now Owodog remembered why he had so often tried to avoid being alone with Ashley.
Ashley opened an eye to peek at Owodog. “Why aren’t you talking anymore?”
Owodog snapped out of his trance and focused his eyes on hers. “I was just thinking.”
“Of what?”
“Of stuff.”
“Of what stuff?”
“Just of some stuff!”
“Yeah, and what is that?”
“Goodness, Ash, cut it out, will you?” Owodog sat up and leaned forward with his eyes narrowed at her. He swore he would go crazy if she didn’t stop asking him ‘what stuff’.
“What did I do now?” Ashley retorted, sitting up straight in her chair now and leaning over the table to stare back at Owodog. Their faces were just inches apart now as they glared at each other in disgruntlement.
At that moment, Owodog had an uncontrollable urge to kiss her.
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->shuang.dao
alrighty that's chapter 3 for you! (: hope to see more comments. haha. (: