The Truth Beneath the Rose by FadedSouls
Story Notes:
Written for BittyBang 2008.
Prologue by FadedSouls
The heavy winds were slamming the shutters against the wall, whipping the rain along with them. Thunder could be heard in the distance, and every now and then the sky would light up for a second or two, lightning flashing overhead. Inside candles lit up every room, the power out because of the storm.

In a small bedroom off to the side of the main room, two small children - maybe around four and six - were finally asleep, two hours after their bedtime. They parents, a blonde woman of medium build and weight who looked to be in her early thirties, and a thin tall man with dark hair, who looked to be about the same age, were sitting down in the living room, enjoying the sounds of the wind and rain against their windows as they watched the candles burned and enjoyed a glass of red wine in each others company.

Around them were a clutter of cardboard boxes, some opened and some taped shut, all of them marked with heavy red or green pen; ‘kitchen, living room, mom’s china, pictures, toys -> KIDS ROOM ONLY, daddy’s magazines, dvd’s’. The house had a definite ‘just moved in’ feel to it, yet the storm somehow made the two parents feel much more at home. So even as the storm sounded like it was about to take the shutters with it, and perhaps even the roof, they found the time to sit down and enjoy each others company, instead or running about trying to get the house in order. There were plenty of time for that another day.

As another lightning flashed across the sky, they could hear what sounded like the massive roar of an engine pulling up outside. The husband sat his glass down on the make-shift table, and walked over to look outside. A large black car had just pulled up outside across the street, and the driver was running towards the door, clutching something in this right hand. As the light in the car dimmed, he thought he saw someone sitting in the passenger seat, leaving their head against the window and looking up at the house.

Suddenly lightning flashed again, and he thought he heard a faint popping sound. Then something flashed again, but it wasn’t lightning he realized. The flashes of light came from the living room windows of the house across the street. Curious, he pressed his face closer to the window, just as there was another flash, followed by the same weird popping sound. But this time he thought he had seen someone else inside the room. Straining his eyes to see through the darkness and the rain, there was one more flash, and what he saw made him jump back from the window.

In a split second, as the flash lighted up the room, and he seen someone lying on the floor, and another person standing over them, pointing something down at the person on the floor. There had only been light for a second, but he was sure of what he had seen. The person standing over the other had been pointing a gun down. And with that realization came another.

The flashes of light. The popping sound.

He had just witnessed a murder.


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