Crimson Tears - Chapter 2 UP! Read it NOW!

[The Moon & Antarctica]

CRIMSON TEARS
Chapter 1: The Beginning

You never really want to entertain thoughts like that. But when you're put into that kind of position, you never really stop thinking about it. Eventually you "get over" the fact that it WILL happen, and you start thinking about WHEN it will happen. Can you live like that? What kind of a job will you be able to get?

After dismissing these excruciatingly important questions as "details," you begin to wonder about the petty things. Like exactly who will do it in the first place. Will it be some random stranger? Will it be someone you know? Will it be you?

Once you realize that these things really aren't worth thinking about, you try to push your brain back into a more "civilized" mode. You begin to think about what you'll be doing at the time. Will you be sleeping? Will you be eating? Will you be laughing? Will you be crying?

When it happened to me, I was shopping.

I was just about to up in the elevator. My cell phone rang, and I politely stepped out. I didn't want to bother anyone on the elevator, you know.

When I saw who it was, my heart skipped a beat and I held my breath.

"Hello...?"

When the police chief had told me the news, I immediately broke down, in the middle of the store. I let out a terrified cry of agony. I didn't know what to do, all those thoughts that I tried to push back all came slamming into me now. How was I going to live without you? How would I do anything without you?

The people around me didn't know what to do. They didn't know what was happening. They all just stopped and stared. And I didn't care. I had just lost my husband, my friend, my lover, my confidant, my everything. The police chief had said that he was shot while working undercover, and that I'd better get over to the hospital before he... you know.

I got in my car and drove as fast as I could. I had to get to the hospital to see him one last time. I tried to close my mind, I tried to shut off the memories, I tried to seal my tear ducts, but to no avail.

I made it to the hospital and parked in an "ambulance only" zone. They would probably tow my car but I didn't care. It was the closest spot and I wasn't going to search for somewhere to park while my husband was dying.

I slammed the car door shut, yanked open the hospital door, ran to the desk, and screamed at the nurse to tell me what room he was in. She faltered a little under my tirade and didn't even ask me if I was family, she just told me the number: 103. I'll never forget that number.

I sprinted down the hall and got a little lost, but then I realized that I was heading in the right direction anyways. My cell phone started ringing, but I ignored it and kept pushing on.

I finally came to his room and as I threw open the doors, I let out a cry of grief. I didn't need a doctor to tell me that he was already dead.

But there stood a doctor, with a sad face and a stethoscope, ready to hand me his bill.

"I tried to call you a moment ago but you didn't answer..." The doctor patted me on the shoulder in some strange attempt to connect with me and silently shuffled out of the room.

[The Moon & Antarctica]

I remember when we first met. I was out on a modeling gig in the middle of the trashiest place in the city. Full of gangs and everything, but finding a boyfriend was literally the last thing on my mind. I just wanted to stay alive, at that point.

Well, I was with this other girl who I hardly knew (and still don't know very well) and we were just trying to find the stupid alley where we were going to take our shots.

I looked across the street and that's when I saw him.

I'm not very shy and he was just so handsome that I needed to go meet him. I left whats-her-face on the curb as I ran across the street and almost got hit by a car.

We both stared at each other, until he said, "I'm Jack."

I said, "I'm Brit," and it was love at first sight.

Then he did something totally unexpected. He just jumped right on me and kissed me! Wow, he wasn't very shy either! I loved it. From then on, we were inseparable.

Our life together was great. I thought it would never end. He didn't really make that much money, being an undercover police officer. But at that point, I was becoming a top model, so we did ok for ourselves. He said he always felt bad that we had to live mainly off of my salary, like he should be bringing home the bacon, bein the man and all, but I never cared. Then whenever I told him that I could drop from the agency, he would always laugh and say, "Never mind. I really don't mind living off you..."

We were meant to be together. I remember the night that he proposed to me.

He took me out to dinner at our favorite restaurant. He had actually reserved our favorite table, also. The one overlooking the water. He told me to stand up. I was a little perplexed but did it anyways. Then, when he got down on one knee, I knew it would happen. I was so excited... I was so excited. Oh, Jack...

I remember how handy he was around the house. When we bought our new house with the big backyard and the brand new pool, he decided that he would make some lawnchairs and a sort of covering, for the patio. The night he died, I sat out there all night. I eventually fell asleep under the stars, just reminiscing about our life that was gone. I could almost hear him pounding away on one of the tables. He never had the chance to finish one of them. He was going to do it... this... weekend...

For nearly a week after his death, I couldn't do anything. I would laze around all day, feeling sorry for myself. I would get all showered and dressed up in the morning, then realize that I had nowhere to go.

Today, I decided that in order to be able to push myself back into society, I would have to face all my grief in one blow. So I got out the photo albums. I cried and cried and cried. There were pictures from our wedding, pictures of us with our friends, pictures of us on our honeymoon, and pictures of random things that we liked on our travels. It was almost too much to bear. I held my husband close to my heart.

And that's when I noticed it. A little slip of paper had fallen out of the album. I didn't recognize it and I didn't remember putting any plain paper in the album, so I reached over and picked it up. I turned it over and found this:

[The Moon & Antarctica]

I stood in shock for a second. What was going on?

I didn't know what to do. Was this some kind of sick joke? Or was it for real? I just stared at it, my blood running cold. How could this be happening to me?

I laid on the floor of the living room for the next twelve hours. I couldn't sleep. A whole bunch of random scenarios, each one more gruesome than the next, kept whizzing through my brain. Was I the reason why Jack was dead? Did he tell me something unusual? Something about the job? Think, Brit, THINK!

The next day rolled around. I knew I had to do something. I got all ready for the day. Then I walked into the kitchen. This room was always so lonely. Jack had chosen the colors for it. I wasn't too hot on the orange, but he loved it so I let him do it. I felt so close to him in this room, yet so far away...

I called the police department where Jack works... had worked, and asked to speak with the police chief. The man / secretery / person-answering-the-phones asked who I was, and when I told him, he connected me through.

I told the chief about the threat and he didn't seem very surprised or anxious, but he did seem a little nervous.

"Mr. Burlington, what the hell is going on? I have a right to know! He was my HUSBAND!" I was practically screaming at the receiver.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Capelli, it's an ongoing investigation and I can't tell you the details..."

"I'm not MISS Capelli, I'm still MISSES! Just because he's dead doesn't mean..." I broke down. I tried to bite my tongue to stop the tears and the sobs from erupting. It wasn't working. I bit my tongue harder, until I tasted blood.

"I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do for you." Click. The line went dead.

I screamed in frustration. What was I going to do? I needed some advice. So I called my best friend, Willow Brooks. She was the person I always called if I was in trouble or needed help. Well, this situation qualifies as one of those.

I walked out into the living room. Everything from yesterday was still laying about on the floor. I felt a twinge of pain in my heart at seeing all those pictures again. Then Willow picked up. Even during these drastic times, I couldn't help but smile when I heard her familiar yet eccentric voice.

She instinctively knew that something was wrong, and we agreed to meet at a small French cafe later that night.

About four hours later, we sat together at a corner table.

"How are you doing?" Her voice was full of empathy. I needed it.

"Not good..." I then proceeded to tell her about everything, from the day of his death, to the discovery of the threat note, up until my phone call with the police chief. "I can't find anything out! The police won't talk to me, and I'm afraid for my life, too!" I blurted out.

She looked at me. "Hmmm... too bad you're not on the force. Then you would have an inside scoop on everything. Well, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe you can go and befriend one of the detectives...? Maybe they can give you some files?"

But I wasn't listening at this point. All I had heard was the, "too bad you're not on the force." My brain was working overtime.

"That's IT!!!" I shouted in excited satisfaction. "I'll just join the undercover department! That way, I'll assign myself to Jack's case and really figure out what's going on!"

Willow looked at me in shock.

"WHAT?! Where did THAT come from? I don't think you should do that - I don't think you CAN do that... So let's say hypothetically that this does work - what if you get killed, too? What are you going to do then? NO! I won't let you do it! Besides, what makes you think that they'll hire you anyways?" She was trying to talk me out of it because she was only looking after my safety.

I looked at her with a sparkle of determination in my eyes. "They'll hire me because they're short one detective. And no, I've already made up my mind. I'm doing this!"

[The Moon & Antarctica]

Maybe I should have been a bit more careful about my voice level in the restaurant. Little did I know that there were a few too many ears listening to our conversation...

Later that night, I called the police department and tried to disguise my voice.

"Hello?" The same man said, expectantly.

"Umm... yes, I was wondering if there were any... umm... spots available for me... to, you know, work?" I could have slapped myself.

He seemed a little confused. "Umm... I don't think so..."

I decided to start telling my "story" right now. "Well," as I began talking, my confidence grew, "I've just been transferred here from the Chicago undercover police department, and I was just recently told that my file was lost in the mailing system." I held my breath. Was he going to believe it?

"OH! Yes, you must be that transfer that we were scheduled to get sometime this week. But I could have sworn that you were from Orlando..."

"NO! No, I'm from Chicago, believe me... If I was from Florida, I'd be all tanned... heheh..." Again, I almost slapped myself.

He let out a weak laugh. "Ok, well, you can come in tomorrow and we'll get you all situated, then! Be here at about 9:00, sharp!"

I stopped myself from emitting an earsplitting squeal of excitement. "Ok, sounds great!" I hung up and jumped around my living room for a bit. Then I realized how dangerous this actually was. I was going into a police department, lying to everyone about who I really was, to work in the undercover department of the Sacramento police department. Talk about double agent, geez!

I drove over to the library as fast as I could, in order to pick up some books about being "in cognito." I hadn't the first clue of what to do in order to make myself look confident, like I'd been doing this job for my entire life.

Checking out some books about spies, I went home and started reading them. I guess all I have to do is just act like I'm someone else. Hmmm... acting. Shouldn't be that different than modeling, right?

I woke up the next morning at about 3:45 and I couldn't get back to sleep. That's when I realized that I didn't know what to wear. Being a professional model, I didn't really have that many business suits. I had more flirty dresses or just plain skimpy things, and I couldn't wear something like a gold pallete bustiere and skintight black leather pants to an interview at a police department. So I dug through my closet and finally found a Dolce & Gabbana white pinstripe suit that was the closest thing to business that I had. It was a little revealing in the midriff area, but I planned to use my feminine wiles to get the better of the police chief.

With four hours left before I had to be at the department, I decided that I'd better dye my hair. After all, some of his fellow detectives had seen me at holiday parties. And at the funeral. It still didn't seem real. I was always just waiting for Jack to walk in the door and exclaim how much he missed me.

I disappeared into the cabinet in the bathroom and eventually disentangled myself, holding onto a box of blonde hair dye. It wasn't going to work very well, seeing as my hair was brown, but it was a start.

Three hours later, my hair was semi-blonde, my clothes were semi-professional, and my nerves were a complete mess.

I drove to the police department and got there 20 minutes early. I walked in and this is what I saw.

Not very attractive, is it? I saw peeling paint, scuffed linoleum, ancient computers, and some rather interesting employees. I didn't know what to do, I just kind of stood there. My mouth was dry and I felt extremely self-conscious. Remember, Brit - ACT.

I stood there for another few minutes, trying to ready myself mentally, when a voice intruded on my thoughts.

"Umm... can I help you?" I looked over to my right and saw this man with a sign-in sheet. He must be the guy who answers the phone. I smiled at him and signed in, telling him that I was the new "transfer."

He smiled back and told me that I was early. He then said that "the boss" was ready for me, so I could just go through the door on the far side of the building. I thanked him and started walking forward.

I could feel their eyes on my as I walked by their desks. They were all wondering who I was. They all wanted to know if I was any good in the field. I wondered which one of them would be my partner. Would I get a partner? Do undercover cops even have partners in the first place?

I stopped right in front of the office door. Well, here goes nothing. I knocked quietly, and a familiar voice cried out, "Come in! Come in!"

This reminded me that I needed to disguise my voice. I had, after all, argued with this man on the phone only hours ago. Well, this is it. I yanked open the door and walked in, closing it behind me.

"Welcome, new transfer! I'm Chad Burlington, the police chief of the undercover department of the Sacramento police. What's your name?"

My name? I hadn't thought about a new name. I couldn't very well say, "Oh yes, my name is Brit Capelli, I'm Jack Capelli's angry wife who argued with you yesterday, don't you remember?" I stammered as I tried to think of something. I glanced around his office, looking for any random word. There was a plaque on the wall. I read it.

"Hello, Mr. Burlington. My name is Charity... um... Wall." This time, I almost decked myself, instead of a slap.

He looked at me funnily, then laughed heartily. "Ohoh, welcome Charity Umwall! You are our newest recruit! How much experience do you have in undercover work?"

First off, my last name was supposed to be Wall, not Umwall. I only said "um" because I couldn't think of anything. Whatever. Second off, the only experience I have is reading a book about spies. I was ready for this question, though.

I answered him, "I have loads of experience, I've been doing this since I was eighteen. I can't really talk about my experience though, most of those cases are all still being investigated. So..."

"Oh yes, yes of course. Well, let's get you started. First off, let me be the first to say this: Welcome, Charity, to the team!"

[Dizzy]

WOW! That is a great start to a story. When are you going to update? I know it's a bit early to ask, but this is a really intriguing beginning and I want to read more!

[DejAng3l]

agrees.....this looks like a very interesting story.........would really love to see updates....

[Dizzy]

Although with all your reserved spots you took away our fun of talking between posts *sits and pouts*

[Shell]

Oh wow funami..cant wait to read the rest! Poor girl..she lost her hubby...(looks at mine..then again..woo hoo ) j/k. And agree with Diz, why did you reserve?

[The Moon & Antarctica]

lol i only reserved for the first chapter. There are about thirteen or fourteen, maybe more. But yeah, earlier it said, "Chapter 2, 3, 4, 5" but I wasn't thinking and I only meant to reserve for Chapter 1. Oh and by the way, I'm updating the rest of Chapter 1 right now!

[minilea3001]

Wow!!! That first paragragh really grabs you and sucks you right in!

[Kate]

Aw wow, this is fantastic! Can't wait for more!

[Dizzy]

OMG! She just up and joins the police force! I can't wait to see/read what happens next! Great chapter one!

[The Moon & Antarctica]

I'm so glad you guys like it! This is my first story, so I was a little nervous, but it's been received great! Thanks for all your support!

lol the only problem is that my graphics card is all of a sudden really sucky - you can see it kind of start to lose quality all along (like the kitchen shots??? EEEWW! What happened? The lines used to be so smooth and everything! AAARRRGH!). So i have to figure out whats wrong with it before i keep going. other than that, the update will be fairly soon, if i can figure it out fast!

[Dizzy]

Okay I'm not seeing this problem you are talking about! Your graphics are much better than mine. So now you have no excuse to not update soon. (Like very soon!)

[The Moon & Antarctica]

lol Dizzy, you always put me on the spot, eh? Well, i have the story all written out, i just need to get the pics... so probably sunday... hows that?

[Dizzy]

Sunday sounds good as long as your sunday doesn't fall after my sunday.

[The Moon & Antarctica]

lol, it might, and i'm not making any promises!!! just know that now! because i might have a lot to do tomorrow, like ALL DAY tomorrow, so it might even be late monday, i dont know...

[Dizzy]

GRRRR! Hey have you checked out how evil you are?!
go to Profess. Emi board to find out. then I can have my suspicions proved because anyone who teases about updates is pretty evil in my book! lol

[The Moon & Antarctica]

You Are 80% Evil



You are very evil. And you're too evil to care.
Those who love you probably also fear you. A lot.

How Evil Are You?

www.blogthings.com/howevilareyouquiz/

LMAO! Dizzy, you're right...

[Dizzy]

And now you are the most evil person on the site so far. Although shell did just come on, so we'll see where you stand after she does the test. (lmao)