The little drummer boy.

Submitted into Contest #73 in response to: Write about a drummer going to a Halloween party for musicians.... view prompt

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Holiday Crime Mystery

"Um... Hi," I say awkwardly in the doorway. "Hi." the tall man says to me. "M-my name's Dasher I'm here for the holiday party with my band." I smile and pull out my small drum set "hehe Yeeeah" the man motions toward the door and looks me up and down "How old are you kid?" he asks "Uhh... I'm umm... fourteen m-my boyfriend is in the band, he's the lead singer." he nods and turns back towards the door I look around everywhere but I can't find them. I search upstairs, downstairs, even the bathroom. I call Dave's phone but he doesn't pick up. Finally, I give up. "I should have just stayed home with my mom, why did I have to come here on Christmas and spend my stupid time, whatever." when I was going to leave I heard a quiet voice from behind me "You didn't have to come you know." I turn around and hug my boyfriend "Hey, I was looking for you." I say, cuddled into his chest. "Yeah, we were looking for you too... I need to talk to you." He pulls me off to the side "We uhh... we found something." he says, looking around nervously. "Do I wanna ask?" I say, he shakes his head and opens the door to the kitchen. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO!!" I scream and he covers a hand over my mouth, "I didn't do it... I found him like that." in front of me was a man laying on the ground with a knife through the middle of his stomach was a kitchen knife. "Have you lost your bloody mind??" I whisper-yell "Probably, look, I had NOTHING to do with this." I take a deep breath "Ok let think about this rationally, you didn't do it... neither did I so that leaves us the... rest of the people here." he tugs on my sleeve and shuts the door quietly. "We didn't do it, and it was someone here, cause there is no door out of the kitchen except this one, it was around 6:30 when I found the body and the blood looked pretty fresh, the party started around 3:15-ish, there is no security in the kitchen so we don't know who exactly killed him but we can watch the security footage from outside the door and get some suspects." we dash upstairs to the security room but the door is locked "dang!" just then an employee walks by "Hey kiddos, need me to unlock that for you?" I nod and we stand there awkwardly as this guy helps us break into the security room, "Thanks." I say quickly as David pulls me into the security room. "It's dark in here," I whisper as he turns on all the security footage from the start of the party to when he found the dead body. After a few hours of people coming and going and passing the room, we found our suspect... David gasps. "Who's that?" I ask "An ex-band member, her name was Melanie, she was our old drummer, I wonder what she's doing here though." she walks into the kitchen and comes out a few minutes before David opened the door. "I'll bet she's who killed him she went in before he was dead and came out right before you... hey, what were you going to do in the kitchen?" he shifts in his seat and clears his throat, "I um... well I can explain, you see I..." I move away from him and dart for the door "It's not what you think I didn't kill him!!!" he called after me, but I ran as fast as my stubby legs could carry me and almost tripped down the stairs twice when I was stopped in the hallway by Melanie. "H-hi m-Melanie." I stutter "Hey kid, do you know where David is?" she asks and I notice the knife in her pocket, how she snuck it into the building I have No idea. "I saw you coming from the security room," she says, no longer concealing her knife, "Um... y-yeah." I nod and step to the side "And so you know I killed the chef." I back away slowly, and she smiles a devilish smile "Unfortunately I can't let you tell anyone." she holds up the blood-stained knife and gives me a crazed look David ran down the hallway "Melanie! why are you doing this??" he screams "I wanted to give you your Christmas present early." Suddenly what feels like water drips down my chest and neck I look down and the bright red blood dripping down my shirt, I hear a scream and suddenly realize it's coming from me. everything goes dark and all I can see is David's face "I don't wanna die." the words came out before I could stop them. "I know, I know." He mutters "Hello 911 whats your emergency..." I assume he called an ambulance, the next thing I remember is David trying to stop the bleeding, and reassuring me I'm gonna be ok, over, and over. "I'm fine." I say quietly, just above a whisper. The next morning I woke up to the beeping of a hospital monitor. "Dasher, do you know where you are?" I nod and cough a few times before opening my eyes "What happened?" I could see a doctor, a nurse, a few students, my mom, and David. Mom leans over my bed and whispers "Merry Christmas." David kisses my forehead and laughs "I'll tell you later baby, let's just say we'll have a good story to tell our grandkids." just then I remembered one last thing, "Did they catch the Murderer?" everyone turns around and The Doctor sighs "Yes, but not after going on a murder spree, we were waiting till you felt better to tell you but..." he shot a look over to the nurse, and she nods solemnly. "One of your friends got stabbed, he's in critical condition and I honestly don't think he's waking up."

*A year later*

"I got invited to a Christmas party," I say snickering, I carefully pat my stab wound. "I don't think there are any more of those in our future," David says shaking his head, he puts an arm around me and sits down on the couch. "Open my gift first!" I say indicating a small gift wrapped in snowflake wrapping paper. He tears off the paper and inside is a t-shirt with our band logo on it. "I was gonna give you this last year but you know." I punch his arm softly. "Man." he exclaims and kisses me "Thanks." "Merry Christmas."

December 18, 2020 20:45

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3 comments

Hi Alex! I am so glad I found your profile, and your story! Actually, I was directed to your profile by the 'Wednesday Critique Circle' and now I am actually very glad to have read your story! Though there were many story options to critique on, the title of your story interested me and I figured to read your story first...so yeah! I wound up here!! I am so glad to have read this story! Another thing I want to tell you before continuing this comment is that I really and truly cannot believe this is your fist submission! Your story quality w...

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Addie Summers
00:43 Feb 06, 2021

Thank you so much for your review! I most definitely will take your suggestions for my next story, I love constructive criticism, and I appreciate all the positive feedback I received. p.s. I Followed you and look forward to reading some of your stories.

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Oh, no problem at all Alex! I am so glad you liked the feedback! :) Aww, thank you so much! Will definitely read some of your stories too!

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