Chapter 1
Gyra squints as a light shines right into her eyes. "Are you trying to blind me?!" she says angrily as she tries to see the person behind the light who is speaking to her. Her forest green eyes try desperately to adjust to this sudden burst of light as Gyra stands up as if to turn around and avoid the light. "Ma'am, we're going to ask you again.... What exactly happened?" Gyra sits back down, searching desperately for a face in the room that would offer some comfort; a face that wouldn't eagerly accuse of being guilty, but there were none.
She sighs as she turns to face the innocent cop, who obviously hasn't been working her too long. "Look, I've told you this a million times....i was driving to my house. I saw a body in the road. I called 911. When the police arrived i left my car. I saw that the person was my (now deceased) fiancè. I did not hit Justin with my car." Gyra tries to force back tears that well in her eyes as she says those last few words. Of course she didn't hit Justin with the car. She loved him. They were going to get married. Plus, she was gone at a party for her friend, Kily. Justin had obvious stab wounds to the chest and she wasn't even there to do that.
(If you haven't already made a guess by now, then i guess you'll want to know where she works. She is not a CSI. she watches too much CSI, but she is not one. She works in a local convience store behind the counter. Nothing fancy)
Gyra stands up again. "I'm not under arrest, verdad? i mean, right." she says as she corrects her easy use of Spanish, "I want out and i'm going to see the body." Her stare moves over to the cop infront of the door, his badge gleams by the light from the lamp and that light (from the badge) reflect into his almost cornflower blue eyes. He looked her over slowly as she gave him a look as if to say, 'Move. or i will move you.' He hesitated, but quickly decided to open the door for this young woman, who had just lost her fiancè. He really didn't feel the need to make her life anymore challenging.
Gyra eagerly took the ticket out, almost running through the lobby at the police station. Grya was certain they were going to arrest her on crimes of tampering with homicide case evidence or some crap like that. Gyra immediately ran to the nearest phone booth and grabbed the phone booth. "coroner's office... coroner's office...." she said over and over again as if not to forget what she was looking for in the phone book. She found it. 4563 Tharo Street. "Damn," she thinks as she walks out into the street and realizes she has to hail a cab, "Shoot. why did they have to take my car? I didn't hit him; i told them that a thousand times." Gyra rolls her forest green eyes at the lack of trust in the government systems these days.
Gyra walks down a few blocks before hailing a cab. She knows that most cabs don't pick up over there in fear of the criminals that were just let loose. "Where ya headin', Miss?" says the cab driver under his heavy Jamacian accent. "4563 Tharo Street. Do you know where that is?" Grya asks cautiously; many of the taxi driver have kidnapped, raped, or killled there passengers. "Miss, I know this city like the back of my hand." he says as he turns the radio on to some oldies; Beach Boys plays.
"That's 49 dollars, Ma'am." he says as she gets out. Grya forks over a 50, outraged that he was still running the meter when he had to get gas, change his tire, and get out and talk to another cab driver. "Keep the change." she says harshly as she slams the door to his probably 4-year-old cab. "Be gentle now, Miss." the Taxi driver says as she walks off into the building. "Be gentle my a**," she mutters in response as she enters the building.
Opening the door, Grya is overcome by the smell of embalming fluid and death. Grya pulls her gray jacket over her mouth so that she can breathe more easily. She walks more into this room they called a "Lobby." To her, it looked more like holding cell; it had one small metal chair, no bathrooms, and metal floors. Maybe they make it so you don't stay here too long. "May I help you?" says a man behind the counter who she hadn't yet noticed. Grya jumped and took a few steps back before replying, "Yes, I think. I need to see the coroner."
She looks around for rooms that could be where they could keep the bodies. To the right, in the back she was picking up a lot of lost emotions. (Gyra was working on her physcology degree on the side on the side of her job. She was what they called in the movies a "feeler." she could feel human emotions that other wouldn't reconginize the presence of.)
"You're looking at him," he replied, laughing, "so...what can i do for ya?" Grya looked slowly into the man's eyes before saying, "I'm here to see the body of Justin Lavo." He looked at her with human sympathy, as if he already knew what had happened and what her relation to Justin was. "Ah....you must be Grya." he said like he knew something she didn't, "I'm so sorry for your loss." She looked him up and down, trying to remember if she'd seen him before. "....do i know you???...." Gyra asks curiously. She still can't figure this out. "No," he says, "but i know you. My name is Dr. Slock. Let me show you the body. Then, I'll explain to you what going on."
Dr. Slock leds her into the room she suspected of holding the bodies. Dr. Slock put on some gloves, offered some to Gyra, then pulled out a body from a metla drawer. Gyra winced, knowing this was all that was left of her wonderful fiancè, Justin. Just as Dr. Slock was about to pull the cloth back from the face so she could identify the body. "Wait...," says Gyra hesitantely, "May I...?" She looks down at the body. "Of course." Dr. Slock replies. Gyra's hands shake as she reaches down and grabs the white cloth. She pulls it back and sees the face of Justin. She tries to stay proessional. "This is him. now, how do you know me?" Gyra says while trying to avert her eyes. dr. Slock takes the cloth from Gyra hand and covers the face while he says, "Each coroner must take and investigate the body. We must also investigate all clothing and everything in or on it. Especially in homicide cases, like this one. Justin Lavo, here," as he pushes the body back into the drawer," had a letter in his pocket. It was for you. let me get it." Dr. Slock walked over to the desk and pulled out a clear plastic bag. He began to read...
"Dearest Gyra,
These last four years have been the greatest of my life. These last four weeks, of being engaged to you were 100 times better. You fill my soul with happiness everytime I think of you and everytime I hear your voice, My heart flies outof my chest and rises to heaven. The wedding is going to be held in the Flower Garden cafè, just where you wanted it. Even more special, it will happen on the day of the Autumn equinox at midnight. I know that Autumn is your favorite season and midnight is the time when you are between 2 days, in the middle, where you always stand. Gyra, I'd like to apologize, for the ring I got you. You may think it's beautiful, but the whole time I was shopping, I couldn't find a ring that shined as bright as your eyes. The stars must have come to visit your beautiful green eyes and decided to stay there. I can not wait to see you tonight for I am bringing you a present of our love.
For Now and Later, Justin"
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"I could not find a ring that shone as bright as your eyes..."