"Mr. Pierre, can we have movie night?" Khristina asks, swinging Miracle's hand.
Opening a bag of potato chips, Pierre shrugs.
"The hell is that?"
"But I wanna play Call of Duty!" Prince says, running into the living room.
"Lil' man, I already said you were too young."
"Kazimir let me play it on his laptop once!"
"He did what?!"
"No, Mr. Pierre; that's not movie night!" Khristina yells as she crosses her arms. "Movie night is when we build a blanket fort with pillows and sit under it and make popcorn and have candy and soda! You're just being a lazy bum!"
"I WANNA PLAY CALL OF DUTY! LET ME PLAY! LET ME PLAY!"
"You can't use the T.V., Prince." Khristina says, turning to the boy. "It has to be used for movie night."
Stomping his foot, Prince sticks his tongue out.
"You don't own my T.V., know-it-all."
"Neither of you own MY T.V.." Pierre adds, switching through the channels. "Y'all go outside and play. Make a treasure map and find something."
"Okay!" the three reply in unison.
Running out of the back door, Prince, Miracle, and Khristina run into the backyard.
"Let's go further into the woods." Prince says. "I've been lots and lots of times, so I know where everything is!"
"Have you ever seen a sparkling lake with fairies?" Miracle asks.
"Yeah, but it's further in the woods. I even talked to one!"
"You're lying!" Khristina says, picking up a stick. "A fairy wouldn't even sprinkle gold dust on you!"
"And one wouldn't even fly near you!"
Walking into the woods, Prince and Khristina look around in awe as Miracle stays back a bit.
"What if we come across a bear?"
"There's no bears in this city, Miracle. My papí said so."
"Mr. Kazimir said your daddy likes to lie a lot, so he's probably lying about this city not having bears."
"That's because Kazimir is a jealous, poopy-head who hates papí because papí has everything that Kazimir wants."
"It's getting dark." Miracle says, looking up at the sky. "We should have brought a flashlight."
"I can see in the dark like how I see in the daytime, so I'll lead the way." Prince reassures, walking forward. "And I can-
"Prince, get down!" Khristina interrupts as both she and Miracle hide behind a tree. "Stranger danger!"
The little boy turns his head and quickly ducks as a car pulls up beside the woodline. A middle-aged man gets out and opens his trunk, chucking a purple suitcase in the woods before slowly driving off.
Khristina and Prince turn to each other, smiling ear to ear.
"Treasure!"
"Mommy said not to go near stuff that makes me feel weird." Miracle says, rubbing her arm.
"But it doesn't make me feel weird!" Prince exclaims, running over to the suitcase. "See, it's just filled with clothes 'cause a shirt fell out!"
Khristina smiles as she looks down at the shirt.
"We can play dress-up! Me and Miracle will be the two princesses and Prince can be the mean dragon who tries to eat us!"
The little boy shakes his head as he unzips the suitcase.
"No, we can sell them and make money. We can split the-
Opening the suitcase, the three stare down at both a young woman's and a young man's body bound together by a rope. Both of their heads had been severed from their neck and placed at the bottom of their feet.
"I don't think I wanna play dress-up anymore." Khristina says, backing away from the suitcase.
"What if that man saw us and we're next?!" Miracle asks, grabbing both Prince's and Khristina's hand.
Prince shakes his head as he begins to take pictures with his phone.
"He didn't see us. You two need to stop being scared, this type of stuff is always in the movies! I'm gonna show this to all the 5th graders when we get back! They're gonna all be like; "Prince, you're so cool!" and I'm gonna be all-
Interrupted by a loud cracking noise which came deeper from the woods, the three run back to Prince's house, immediately shutting the door behind them.
"PAPÍ! PAPÍ, A CRAZY MAN IS OUT TO GET US!"
—————-
"Jeez, it's been a night."
Unlocking his front door, the exhausted male walks in and turns around to place his keys on the hook. After switching the light on, he turns back forward and stares over at the only remaining son, nephew, and cousin of the family he murdered.
"I'm not going to ask why you killed my remaining family because I'm 100% sure I know the reason. They all meant a lot to me, you know; got me through the ups and downs of my short lifespan."
Lifting his head, Kazimir watches as his colleague puts a gun to his forehead.
"Congratulations, Caio. I finally let you catch me. Now, shoot me."
"Cizetto, I could've easily killed you in-
*SWOOSH!*
*BANG!*
Snatching the gun from the man's hand, Kazimir watches as a bullet he fired pierces Caio's shoulder.
"But you can't do that, can you? You know Nia will be sad when she finds out that I'm dead. You know she won't open up to you as easily."
Placing the gun on the chair, Kazimir picks up a paper cup beside him and takes a sip of the drink.
"That pot of hot chocolate you have in the refrigerator is actually pretty good."
*BANG!*
With another gun, Caio shoots the cup and watches as the bullet pierces through Kazimir's hand.
*BANG! BANG!*
Kazimir quickly jolts up and runs behind Caio who ran towards the front door and begins to open it.
*SLAM!*
Grabbing his shoulder, the younger man pulls his colleague backwards a bit and begins to knock the gun into his head.
"This is what you get for killing my family and making my life a living hell."
Once Caio had been knocked unconscious, Kazimir walks outside to pull the borrowed car from Pierre up to the front of the house and opens the trunk.
Walking back inside, he pulls the unconscious man by his arms and throws him in. Closing the trunk, the detective looks down at his hand and sighs.
"Looks like I should get this checked out."
Getting in the car, Kazimir drives down the quiet road, looking over at the houses on each side. He had to admit that it was a very beautiful neighborhood and decided to add it to his list of neighborhoods in hopes of finding a decent house with decent neighbors.
After 20 more minutes, the detective finally reaches the hospital and parks the car. Heading inside, he walks up to the front desk and a man greets him.
"Hello. What can I do for you, sir?"
"Hey, so I was cleaning my gun and accidentally shot myself in the hand."
The receptionist looks down at Kazimir's hand and raises his brows.
"Yes, that doesn't look good. Have you ever been to this specific hospital before?"
"When I was around 17."
Kazimir watches as the man takes a tablet from under the desk and hands it to him.
"While you're waiting on a doctor, could I get you to fill that out for me? It's just information about yourself."
"Yeah, sure thing."
Taking a seat, the young man begins to fill out the information on the digital tablet before being interrupted by a toddler.
"Hi!" the little girl says.
"Hey."
"I'm Laui!"
"I'm Kazimir. Nice to meet you, Laui."
"What happened to your hand? It looks weird."
the small girl asks, sitting next to Kazimir.
"Oh this? I was just testing my fire powers and it got a little out of control."
"You have fire powers?! Can I see you use them?"
"Nah, it's a secret."
"So can you show me in secret?"
"Laui, what have I told you about going up to these random people? Some people will take you from mommy because they're mean!"
The little girl's mother gives Kazimir a rude look and he shrugs.
"Maybe you should start keeping an eye on her since there's a lot of sketchy people in this world."
"You're exactly right." the woman says, tapping her foot. "I've never seen someone with dyed, white-hair and red eye contacts. That is just horrifying to look at. Looks ridiculous."
"Well, ma'am, this is how I came out of the womb. Why don't you turn to that mirror and tell me what's wrong with your appearance?"
"There is absolutely nothing wrong with the-
"I need you to be real with yourself. You say I look ridiculous based upon my appearance that I can't help, but I'm not the one walking around with fried hair and way too much surgery around the lips."
The woman's mouth drops and little Laui laughs.
"Mommy's frying!"
"Mommy is not, sweetheart! That man is being extremely disrespectful!"
"I mean, you did start making fun of me first." Kazimir says, shrugging.
"Mr. Cizetto?"
Looking to his right, Kazimir stands up and walks over to the nurse and follows him down a long hall.
"How're you today, sir?" the man asks, opening the door to a room.
"Kinda tired."
"Hey, I understand. You in school?"
"No, I'm a detective for the Claiza City Special Forces Department."
The nurse nods as he checks Kazimir's eyes.
"Ahhh. I hear you guys are down on your luck when it comes to the police officers. Almost every other day, one is killed. Sad to see."
"Just like everyone else, they're just trying to make a living. At the end of the day, they have families to feed."
"Yes and whoever's doing that needs to be found quick. It isn't right that we have a psychopath roaming the streets of this city."
"Sometimes, I'd like to believe that if the news stopped giving this guy attention, maybe we could finally catch him." Kazimir says, watching the nurse scribble something down on a clipboard.
"Unfortunately, that's how they get their views and that's probably the reason why that man gets a kick out of killing innocent officers. He loves the attention."
The young detective shakes his head while the nurse had been distracted by the computer.
*"He's doing it for revenge, dumbass."*
"Okay, Mr. Cizetto. The doctor will be in a few."
Staring at the wall, Kazimir sighs as he begins to remember his stay in the mental hospital.
After a few minutes of waiting, the young detective watches as the door opens and a woman steps in.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Nai Tashiro. You must be Kazimir."
He nods, watching as she walked over to him.
"This poor hand. He must be hurting a lot."
Taking a pair of tweezers from her coat pocket, the older woman carefully extracts the bullet, making sure not to hit any veins.
"Now to disinfect the area."
Kazimir winces a little in pain as the doctor cleans his hand, removing any bacteria that may have gotten in.
"And finally, stitches!"
The older woman grabs a needle and thread from a cabinet, along with a bit of numbing cream.
"Uh, is there an alternative to the needle?" Kazimir asks, holding his hand slightly back.
"Oh my. You don't like needles? And here I thought I was talking to a big, strong young man."
"It's not that I don't like them, it's just that I don't trust them. What if it's poisoned?"
"To be this young, you're a little paranoid, aren't you? However, I won't put it past you; why don't I let you watch me wash the needle off?"
Kazimir nods and the woman smiles, turning the water on. Putting a little hand soap on the needle, she happily washes it off and dries it with a cloth.
"Now, ready for your stitches?"
"I guess so."
The young detective cautiously puts out his hand and watches as the woman carefully threaded the needle.
"Don't worry, you'll be in good hands. I like to sew in my free time."
"My aunt used to sew clothes for me when I was younger. Once, she made a Pikachu costume for me for my school's Halloween party. I have to admit, it was kinda cool."
"Do you like Pokémon?" Dr. Tashiro asks, as she threads Kazimir's skin.
"I used to be obsessed with it when I was younger. Sometimes, I'll occasionally check out the figurines and trading cards."
"My son is crazy about that show. That's all he spends his birthday and holiday money on. I get that he's 7 years old, but still; it's actually frightening to see."
Kazimir chuckles and nods.
"My dad used to get mad at me for buying the cards everytime I got birthday money. He told me that I could only buy one card collection every six months. At first, I was mad at him, but then my sister and one of her friends took me to a car show one day and that's when everything changed; I found a new obsession."
"Ah, cars. I have a brother-in-law who hosts shows for vintage cars. He also resells cars as a side job. What's your favorite car, Kazimir?"
"My favorite car was my Hyundai Genesis Coupe." the young man says, picking up his phone. "Here's a picture I took before I sold her."
The woman takes a long look at the photo before raising her brows.
"You know, that car looks extremely familiar. As a matter of fact, I think I may have seen it on my brother-in-law's lot."
"For real?!"
"Yes, I think I saw it with a license plate that was the name of a story I read back in high school. My goodness, the name is literally at the tip of my tongue."
"Did it read "Black Beauty?""
"Yes! That's it!"
"That's her." Kazimir says, smiling. "If you don't mind me asking, may I have the name of your brother-in-law's business?"
"Certainly. I'll give you a business card as soon as we finish with your hand."
With a few more threading and patience, Kazimir's hand was finally done.
"Perfect! You're all set!"
Turning to her clipboard, Dr. Tashiro picks up a piece of paper and hands it over to the young man.
"This paper just says what you can and can't do with your hand as well as the date for when you can get your stitches taken out. Oh, here's my brother-in-law's card, too!"
Kazimir looks over the card and nods.
"I wanna thank you for everything tonight, doctor."
"No need, it's what I do." the older woman replies, giving him a smile. "You have a good rest of your night, young man!"