Slaughterhouse: Part 13 - The plot thickens
Part 2, written by @svashta
Part 3 written by @svashta, and Part 3 written by @braveheart29
Part 4, written by @braveheart29
Part 5, written by @svashta
Part 6, written by @braveheart29
Part 7, written by @svashta
Part 8, written by @braveheart
Part 9, written by @svashta
Part 10, written by @braveheart29
Part 11, written by @svashta
Part 12, written by @braveheart29
And before you is part 13, written by @svashta
When Bob and Clara had left his office and the magical brainwashing wore off, Charles realized he doesn’t even remember the conversation they were having. For some reason, though, he was holding the phone in his hand, with Jim’s number dialed in, and a bag with the $50.000 in the other hand.
For the first time in his 23 year long career he was going to do the right thing. For the first time after becoming a police officer he was going to serve justice right!
He called Jim and told him he’s retrieving the money he had taken as bribe. Needless to say, Jim wasn’t very fond of the idea, and offered $75.000 to try and convince Charles into reconsidering the bribe. When Charles didn’t budge, Jim had offered $100.000, then $150.000 and finally half a million dollars.
Charles didn’t even think for a second to take the money and told Jim a police car would be picking him up in 15 minutes.
”It’s all on tape, Jim. You’re facing attempted murder charges and bribing an officer of the Law. It’s not looking good for you, so I believe it’s in your best interest to cooperate with us and not try to run or do something equally as silly. I’ll see you when you’re brought to the Police station.”
Next, Charles had decided to look into the case of John Svashta.
John Svashta assured him he didn’t steal Jim’s cows and yet there they were, safely residing in his barn. John also told him that three of his own cows were stolen prior to the event at Jim’s farm. Charles knew there was something off about this case. He had to get to the bottom of the matter.
Charles drove to the hospital John was stationed in and right off the bat drowned him in a barrage of questions.
”Slow down, officer, I can’t think that fast. One thing at a time,” said John, lying in the hospital bed still weak from the gunshot.
”Oh. Sorry.” Charles sat down, caught his breath and relaxed. ”First things first. You said you didn’t steal Jim’s cows. Correct?”
”Correct,” answered John.
”Can you explain why they were in your barn?”
”I cannot. I didn’t put them there. I was sound asleep in my bed that night until that maniac came pounding on my door with a shotgun in his hand,” John coughed. He had strained his tired body too much when he nearly yelled out the words.
”Calm down, John. I’m not saying you did anything wrong. I’m merely trying to make sense of all this. If I recall correctly you said three of your cows were stolen a few nights prior in two separate nights?”
”Correct. And there was cow manure on my car both nights. Same thing happened to Jim. Only his cows magically appeared in my barn.”
”I see. Is there anyone who could confirm you were at home that night?”
”I live alone. There was no one but the cows. Unless you find a way to make cows speak, I have no witness to confirm I was home that night. I even sold all those cows to Bob and Clara earlier today. There’s no way I can take care of that many heads of cattle in my condition. Plus the price was good. How great are those two, huh?” John was still a little high with all the medicine he was receiving, and of course all the brainwashing.
”Yeah, they really are something! I wonder how come we never heard anything of them before. They just appeared out of nowhere. Surely a couple of their character would have been brought to our attention sooner. Anyway, John, is there anything else you remember of that night?”
”Not of that night per say, but… Jim had always been an up to date man in every department. And security was of an utmost importance to him. I once needed some potatoes and didn’t have any of my own and one of his security cameras caught me on tape, bending over and stealing potatoes. Boy was I in trouble then!” John laughed and immediately coughed afterwards.
”Security cameras, huh?” Charles mumbled into his chin. ”Listen, John, thank you for everything you’ve told me. I believe you. Now we just need to find a way to make the judge believe us. I promise I’ll do my best to get to the bottom of this.”
Charles stormed outside the hospital room and into his car with his newest discovery.
It was already 7 pm by the time he arrived to the police station, but that didn’t matter to him anymore.
”Working late, boss?” Asked the police officer while putting on his coat. His shift was just over.
“Yeah. A breakthrough in an important case. You brought in Jim Smith, right?” Asked Charles, in a hurry.
”He’s downstairs in the sobriety room. We didn’t know where else to-…”
”Perfect! Later, Conan!” Charles shouted already midway downstairs.
Charles stopped in front of the door to catch his breath. He didn’t want to appear in a hurry when he talked to Jim. No, he wanted to take his time and squeeze everything he could out of him.
When his breathing returned to a normal rate, he wiped the sweat off his forehead and entered the interrogation room.
”You know why you’re here, right, Jim?” Asked Charles with a calm and decisive voice.
”Because I shot that thief John Svashta, that’s why!”
”Well, yes and no. We already know you’ve shot him with intention of murder. What we don’t know, though, is he did indeed steal your cows.”
”Oh, please. There is nobody else in the area who breeds cows and nobody else stupid enough to do such a thing. He didn’t even try to cover up the evidence! My cows were right there in his barn for Christ’s sake! Does that not speak “I’m guilty” loud enough for you?” Jim got very upset. Had it not been for the handcuffs he would’ve probably been all over Charles.
”Tell me, Jim, did you check your security cameras?”
”I didn’t need to! I told you already, there’s no one else who would even consider doing this!”
”Mind if I take a look at those tapes?”
”What for, Charles? You don’t believe me?”
”Calm down, Jim. John being guilty or not guilty doesn’t change the situation for you. Not one bit. But if you cooperate with me now you can help yourself with your charges. I’ll ask you again. May I take a look at those tapes?” Charles remained completely calm.
”Right. I’m sorry about earlier. I’m calm, see?” Jim realized that Charles really have changed his ways and that there was no way he could talk or buy himself out of it. ”The tapes are in my office. You guys already took the keys to my house, so feel free to use them to get the tapes.”
”See, Jim, cooperating isn’t that hard, is it? Thanks! I’m sorry but we’ll have to keep you here over night before we decide what to do with you. I’ll have someone bring you a pillow and a blanket.”
Charles left for the door slowly, but the moment they closed after him, he ran to his car and drove off to Jim’s farm.
Charles unlocked the doors to Jim’s house and made his way to the office. It was locked with a different key and Charles had to try all the 7 keys on the key ring before he got to the right one, unlocking Jim’s office.
Screens upon screens upon screens. The computer was already running and it awoke when Charles grabbed ahold of the computer mouse. The files were all very neatly organized and Charles quickly navigated his way to the night of the incident.
He selected the video file of the first camera, inside barn number 1.
Nothing.
The second camera.
Nothing.
Third.
Nothing.
Fourth.
Nothing.
Charles was beginning to get frustrated when he clicked on the fifth’s camera video file.
The fifth camera was pointed outside of the barn number 3, the same barn from which the four cows went missing.
Charles sat down and watched the recording patiently. Should there be John or anyone else trying to steal the cows, this camera would have recorded it. Jim really was the tech enthusiast as all of the cameras offered both normal and night vision options.
Surely enough, the camera recorded movement on the night of the heist.
Charles jumped in the air from his chair. The footage showed something completely different than what he had imagined in his wildest dreams.
A flying cow.
Charles blinked a couple of times to make sure he wasn’t seeing things, but without a grain of doubt, there it was. A cow, suspended in mid-air, on a mission to steal Jim’s cows.
Not knowing there were cameras around the perimeter, the cow in question flew very close to some of them and got itself some very close-up footage.
Charles, not sure what to do, raced back to John Svashta to tell him he’s safe.
”Listen, John. I’m not going to say anything other than that you’re innocent.” Charles said hastily before he even entered John’s room properly. ”You need to watch this tape, and tell me what you think, okay? I’m not even sure anymore I’m not going crazy.”
”Okay?” Replied John, confused by what was going on.
Charles inserted the tape into the television in John’s room and the footage started playing.
”What exactly am I looking for? Oh. That’s Jim’s farm! You got the thief on tape?”
”Just watch, please.”
”What the? That’s Clara… Clarabelle! One of my missing cows! Why is she flying!? What is going on!? Did she steal my cows too?!” John had another one of his cough attacks.
”One of your cows?” Asked Charles, puzzled.
”Yes. One I’ve sold to the slaughterhouse already. But something went wrong with the transport and the cows broke loose.”
”Hmmm. Interesting. Definitely something I will look into. Thank you very much for your information, John, I’ll let you rest now.”
”Yeah. No problem. Tell me if you find out anything, will you?”
”Sure thing,” said Charles while taking out the tape from the television.
When Charles left John’s room, he couldn’t help but wonder;
”Clara… Clarabelle… I wonder why this name sounds so familiar...”
in the comments below leave me a clue,
an idea for a story you'd love to read,
a journey to the unknown my keyboard will lead.
If you enjoy writing yourself, I am hosting a constrained writing contest, where each week I limit your writing with various rules and force you to be creative in brand new ways! If you're not a writer yourself, check it out and see what others have come up with! :D
20
- #21 - The red star
- #22 - A terminally ill child wishes to meet a villain
- #23 - School trip
- #24 - Rebellious talking food
- #25 - Long-distance Relationship
Next writing prompt to be fulfilled:
Leave your idea in the comments below and have it turned into a story!
Okay... this was the fastest chapter release so far. The plot really thickens! I'm seeing a twist coming... who will end up being the real villain, and the hero?
All these just because @braveheart29 didnt want to kill off Clarabelle. 😂
I can't even tell how long it took me to write this, but it was below 1 hour for sure! Maybe 45 minutes?
It's the fastest I've ever written anything! haha :D AAAAND it's the longest wall of text that I didn't divide into parts. ~1800 words. Pretty awesome. :P
Ah yes, the options are open now, and frankly, we're going down the justice path.
John Svashta's heart is pure; you didn't think I'd jeopardize my own character now, did you? ;D No, no, no, I'm spinning the tale so as to make John Svashta the hero! Even if he's now turned into a vegan! :P
Hahhaa yeah! :D But still, it's amazing how far we've come (so far) off a "simple" writing prompt. It amazes me because we've introduced so many new characters, included so many new plots, and just... oh my.... It really shows the creativity, doesn't it? Taking one thing and going; "How about this isn't the end of it? How do I continue?" and then actually making it happen... It's amazing! :D
I'm also happy to have you back on board! And I'm happy you enjoyed reading! :D
You know I always enjoy your writing. And @braveheart29 is awesome too!☺
Hmm... John Svashta the hero? Will our dear @braveheart29 allow that? Well, it's her play next.
Thanks! I'm very very happy to hear that! :D
Let's hope she doesn't read these comments of ours and we pretend we know nothing bout John Svashta being the hero. What do you say? ;) haha :D
Sure! What Hero??
Hahahaha! 😂
I know nothing.
What is this entire post about anyway?
Ugh.
John is already a hero, he has gone vegan and is about to start soya bean farming!
I have to say that I am really enjoying our writing together. I’ll let you in on a little secret, I was never a writer of anything up until September, I considered myself more of an artist. When I lost my father in 2013, I stopped doing anything creative, until now. So thank you @svashta for helping to reignite my creative spark. I look forward to further collaborations. Great fun!
Also I’m not vegan, but I am an animal lover.
He's vegan for now. What if the entire fiasco about Clara and Bob goes sour? Does the mind control effect wear off? We can't know where the story is going just yet! ;P We need part 14! (And part 15 and 16 and 17 and .... after that! ;D)
I'm sorry for your loss and very happy to have helped! Hopefully I continue to "force" you into more creativity and collaborations! ^^
And I won't lie. Your comment made my heart feel real warm. Thank you. Very much.
I'll share something of my own, too ^^ I never wrote anything until August this year either. I was always the "science kid". I can draw stickmen, but that's about it. I had the imagination, but never knew how to convey it. Writing seems to do it for me ^^. And I'm happy to share it with somebody like you. In fact, checking my "stories" folder; I wrote my first story on the 19th of August.
I partly blame my Slovene (my native language) professor back in high school who downright hated me. I always got Cs and Ds for essays and whatever needed be written. Took my will to write. I guess it's also part of the reason I enjoy writing in English a lot more than I do writing in Slovene.
Nevertheless, the gratitude goes both ways. Thank you very much for creating this piece of art with me and presenting me with ever new challenges! I'm always happy and scared at the same time when I see you've posted the next part of Slaughterhouse. I like that feeling! ^.^
I'd say the same about myself! ^.^ I'm much like John svashta used to be. I love animals, but I'm surely not denying a good steak! ^^ So I guess John Svashta isn't completely fictional. :p
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