assignment for creative writing. prompt: describe a crime scene using these words (that's why some are underlined lol)
not my best work, but...
As I pick my way through the muddy yard toward the house of one late Marilyn J. Atkins, I shake my head in disgust. Who could have committed such a heinous crime? Walking up the white steps, I notice a strange substance that appears to be jelly. "Reyes!" I call to my partner, who is already inside the house. "Did you see this?"
"See what?" Reyes grumbles as they exit the house, cleaning their glasses with a wet wipe. "I'm mostly focused on the crime scene, not the victim's yard decor."
"What? No!" I huff. "Look at this, speared on the porch. It looks like...grape jelly."
"Grape jelly?" Reyes bends down and pull their mask off of their nose. They sniff at the purple goop for a moment before straightening back up. "Well, it definitely
smells like grape jelly. I'll get a sample of it so we can run it at the lab. Maybe there's some DNA traces in it..."
"Maybe," I muse. "I'm gonna head inside and see what I can see while you get a sample."
Reyes, already absorbed in their work, merely grunts in response.
The first thing I noticed when I step inside is the sheer amount of broken things. There are giant rips in the couch, and upon closer inspection, I realize that it is also covered in glass. All the pictures have been knocked off the walls and broken into pieces. Not only are the frames broken and the glass shattered, the pictures themselves have been ripped up. Strangely, more of the jelly is
everywhere. On the walls, on the floor, on the couch.
On Mrs. Atkins.
"Reyes, how did you not notice that?" I mumble to myself, shaking my head at my occasionally air-headed partner. After a few more moments of gazing around the scene in horrified wonder, I head over to the kitchen where the victim was discovered by a neighbor who was concerned when they hadn't seen Mrs. Atkins working in her garden that morning as she usually did.
"Oh, god..." I gasp as my eyes fall upon the body of Mrs. Atkins. Being in this line of work, I've had to learn to desensitize myself to these type of things, but wow. Occasionally, one slips through the cracks and affects me. It seems this case is one of those. Perhaps the most disturbing part of this is the silverware. There is a fork stuck in the victim's chest, a knife in her hand.
Wait a minute, I think.
More of the jelly.
I step back and take in the whole scene. I realize now that there are knives in each of Mrs. Atkins's hands, as well as through her feet. They appear to be stuck into the floor as well. And, drawn in jelly, is a cross. More specifically, a Roman cross. It is only then that I notice that the thing around the victim's head is not, in fact, a headband; rather, it is a poorly constructed crown of thorns. At least, that is what is supposed to be. It is actually made of crudely cut wood fashioned into the likeness of a crown of thorns.
"Reyes!" I shout as I hurry back to the porch where they stand, talking on the phone, presumably to Wilson, our boss. "Reyes! Did you see the symbol drawn behind the victim?""Ah, yes, it's Detective Harris. Give me just a moment, please, sir, she's discovered something...Yes...Okay...Okay, got it. Thanks...Bye." Reyes finally pulls the phone away from their face and hangs up. "What? What is it?"
"The symbol behind Mrs. Atkins!" I yelp. "It's a Roman cross. It looks like whoever killed her was trying to create some version of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ."
Reyes's brow furrows. "That's sick. Do we know if the victim was active at all in a Christian church?"
"Well, I'm not sure," I admit. "However, there was a bible among the wreckage."
Reyes hums in confusion before sighing. "Get ready, Harris. We've got a long case ahead of us."