Venenum Ad Mortem

TW: Alcohol, drug involved deaths

Mia Finn, 21:28

  Mia parked her car on the curb beside the house and made her way to where the loud chatter was coming from. She would have preffered to stay home and study for her math exam the next morning, but Sarah had begged her to come with, and just to get her to shut up she agreed to get one drink. 

  But as she circled the house she couldn’t find her friend's red Subaru, a very generous gift from her parents, so she knocked on the door to it being opened by a guy she had never seen before. But he didn’t even glance at her as he made his way out talking with a girl who followed him out. The door opening made Mia realise just how many people were in the giant house. She could see almost two dozen young adults talking loudly, drinking, smoking and even a small group playing spin the bottle. Ugh. she thought in disgust. She took the open door as an invitation, and made her way through the large living room then the enormous kitchen, not bothering to take her shoes off seeing as no one else did. Sarah had said that the house belonged to Alec, some rich kid whose parents owned a robotics company. Both parents were off at a conference for a few days so he invited half the school over. 

  Mia kept walking around, and when she couldn’t find Sarah, she made her way outside then sat on the grass and looked at the stars. “Screw you Sarah.” she whispered.

Ted Adams, 21:47 pm

  After finishing his third beer, Ted walked over where Alec loudly and drunkenly introduced him as “His future best-man.” to the people in the living room. Alec and Ted had known each other since before either of them could remember, seeing as their parents knew each other very well before. 

  “Hey, have you seen Beth? She was going to hook me up with some better stuff.” asked Alec.

  “Yep, I think I saw her out back, but in no way am I letting you go get some better stuff you’re drunk enough!” laughed Ted.The pair made their way to the kitchen to fill up the coolers with ice and to restock them with numerous beverages. 

  Around two hours later, when there were even more people in the house Ted stumbled out of the doorway and to the side of the house. He slumped down on the wall and enjoyed the quieter atmosphere. A hooded figure approached him and a male voice greeted him. 

  “Mind if I join you?” he asked. 

  Ted grumbled in response and waved to the empty imaginary seat beside him. He held out a ziploc bag with two blue round pills in it.

  “What is it?” Ted asked.

  “I would not take myself, but it’s good if you… hold a grudge with someone. There are so many people here no one would notice. And it’s yours for two hundred.” the man said.

  Ted had a look of repulsion on his face, but he put back a normal face, and said he was coming back. He ran to his car where he left his wallet, and took out all the cash he had. Ted was sober enough to realise that if he didn’t buy, someone else would, which means that something really, really bad would happen. But, if he bought them he would be able to get rid of them. For good. The man was still there, and they switched goods. After they parted ways and Ted went back in, he pocketed the small bag and forgot about it as soon as Alec and two of his other friends offered him another beer.

Charles Taylor, 23:58 pm

  Charles slumped into his desk where two large mounds of paper with various printings on them stood. One of the piles were open cases, and the other pile was closed cases. He looked at the nameplate that read Detective Taylor. Taking a large sip of his coffee, Charles sighed. 

  “Hey Dale you have a pen I can borrow mine ar-” started to ask Charles but was cut off when a pen was thrown into his hands. He thanked Dale then started to go through the pile that had not been touched. It was going to be another long, boring night.

Mia Finn, 22:13 pm

  After talking to some of her other friends in her chemistry class, Mia made her way back outside to get away from the noise. She sat by the edge of the pool, and looked around. There were still some people in the backyard, but not nearly as many as in the house. It was a very large yard, with rich green grass surrounding the pool and cement that was around it. 

  Mia suddenly heard a crash coming from inside the house, and as many others, she left her drink to see what it was. When she walked in the crowded living room, laughter surrounded two boys who were also laughing, and on the ground having slipped on some liquid that had spilled on the ground. She rolled her eyes but still couldn’t resist a smirk. 

  Walking out with lots of the other stragglers, Mia picked up her drink and looked at the few stars that could be seen through the clouds. She took a long gulp of beer and turned around towards the house when she felt something small and solid slide down her throat. She curiously looked at her beer and saw nothing in the bottle other than the small amount of liquid left. But when she tried to take a step forward she only managed to say “Oh.” before dizziness let her fall backwards, letting the beer slip from her hands and she fell into the water. The last thing she could see as she sunk down, not being able to move, were the few stars from before.

Charles Taylor, 6:53 am

  “Did the coroner get anything yet?” Charles asked.

  “Yeah, they found traces of some toxic substance in her bloodstream other than alcohol. They’re still trying to identify it but they said she died from poisoning before she actually drowned, so it’s something powerful. They also found ID, her name was Mia Finn. She was twenty and went to the University of Toronto.” said Dale walking over.

  It had been a little less than an hour since a death had been reported to the police, and a little more than half an hour since Charles arrived. There were already people in the forensics department there, officers controlling the witnesses and medical experts. They were lucky in the sense that it was early and in a fairly private place, so they didn’t need to control curious civilians, but they were unlucky that the body was in a pool, so it took a long time to take it out without affecting it in any way. 

  “Shit. What a mess.” he said.

  “Yeah. And the worst part is, it was a party. We have about thirty possible suspects. And we can’t eliminate the possibility that a complete stranger could have just blended right in with all the people. It took too long for anyone to notice since they were all too drunk to notice a body in the bottom of the pool.” another officer said.

  “That and it was already dark. Although the lights should have been on. What a freaking mess.” Charles said, while looking at the girl. What a mess. 

Ted Adams, 9:37 am 

  Ted suddenly woke up when a large crashing was heard outside. He groaned as his head started to ache. What time is it? he thought. He looked around where he was. Somehow, in his drunken trance from last night both he and Alec had made it to Ted’s room, Alec spread eagle on the bean bag, and Ted now realising he had managed to completely miss his bed by a foot when he went to lie down last night resulting in him sleeping on the floor. 

  The crashing was from a garbage truck having knocked over a garbage can which Ted could now see in between the blinds. He found his phone also on the ground but it had died, so he checked on Alec’s watch which he still had on. Oh shit.

  “Alec! Alec wake up your parents are going to come back soon! Wake upppp!” Ted yelled while shaking his friend. Alec didn’t even flinch, so Ted ran to the bathroom, got a glass of water and threw it on Alec. His eyes snapped open, but when he saw Ted Alec just closed his eyes and grumbled. Ted went back, got another glass but made sure to use cold water this time. It seemed to do the trick, and in no time both boys were biking to Alec’s house, worried that if they started driving they would fall asleep or puke on the steering wheel. Ted guessed his parents were at work but he wanted to go with Alec to help him clean the house. 

  But as they were biking, Ted realised just how much he had drunk. He couldn’t remember half of the night, and even just thinking made his head hurt. He felt extremely tired and had to drink water every few minutes from his water bottle. 

  But every time he passed a different object a new memory resurfaced, like a hard-drive collecting all of it’s missing information. 

  “Almost... there…” panted Alec, head bobbing with each pedal.

  “Fantastic.” replied Ted sarcastically. Fan-freaking-tastic.

Charles Taylor, 9:52 am

  “On my count.” Charles said. “One. Two. Three.” 

  “Go,go,go!” shouted Charles’s sargent as he kicked down the door.

  Guns at the ready, finger not quite on the trigger the five officers all of different ranks fanned out into the house. “Clear.” shouted one of the detectives from the living room. Several more ‘Clear’s followed suit, and in no time the house had been inspected from the top of the attic to the bottom of the cellar. 

  “Anything?” Charles asked the others, which got him several ‘No’s. 

  “Damn.”

  The house looked very normal, there was a master bedroom and a boys bedroom upstairs with blue walls and several basketball posters. There was a bean bag and what looked like a wet shirt in a corner of the room so he wasn’t the tidiest.

  The detectives had gotten a very fortunate lead when the owners of the house came back from their trip and once told what happened showed the detectives that they had security cameras in the back. 

  They replayed the tapes and saw Mia leaving her beer to see what the commotion in the house was, and when she was gone what looked like a seventeen year old boy wearing a black Dr. Dre hoodie, dropped a single pill in her unguarded drink. They uploaded the tape to the computers at the station and scanned the face of the man. In less than ten minutes, they found an ID, tracked him down, and due to the severity of the case, were granted permission to enter the home. 

  “All right let’s go back to the station, see if forensics came up with anything else. Taylor, Mull, I want you two to go back to the scene and try and find some more witnesses. The more time we waste the more time the suspect has to escape so move, move, move!” said the superior. And so, they all did what they were told.

Ted Adams, 10:01 am

  When they got to Alec’s house, both boys were shocked to see the police tape and several cars. “Pinch me.” Alec said, so Ted punched his arm. They walked over to the front lawn where the police tape started. 

  “I’m sorry but you can’t be here.” said the officer at the edge.

  Alec looked at Ted and they both knew what to do. It was a strategy they had often used if they needed one of them to go somewhere unnoticed or if they were going to steal something. Richie meltdown they called it. One of them was to act as a, no surprises here, spoiled rich kid... having a meltdown. Ted started to walk away and heard from behind him Alec arguing with the woman. 

  “Were not allowed here?! This is my house! You can’t tell me what to do!” he shouted. Ted laughed, and the best part was he could hear the officer arguing back. 

  Ted ducked under the tape, and was surprised that she was the only officer on patrol in front.While he passed the house another memory resurfaced, when he paid for the pills. But that thought quickly left once he made his way to the backyard, where he stuck out like a sore thumb. But he was too quick for the officers to register the fact he didn’t belong, and in no time he made his way to the center of what captivated everyone’s attention.

  “Mia!” he shouted in exclamation, and ran towards his ex-girlfriend’s body. An officer stopped him and started telling him that he wasn’t allowed here, but what looked like a detective (he had no particular uniform but still had a badge) went in front of Ted blocking her from sight and calmly asked if he knew her. After a minute Ted managed to explain that they used to date not too long ago before she cheated on him and she broke up with him.

  “I’m going to need to ask you some questions. Do you mind following me? I’m officer Lynt, but you can call me Michael.” said the detective. Ted nodded, and was led away from the scene, and toward the cars. When Ted tried to look back Michael said “Eyes straight all right?”and they walked past Alec who apparently managed to run past the officer and was staring at the scene dumbfounded, while both his parents tried to block him from the scene. 

Charles Taylor, 10:12 am

  “Taylor do you copy?” asked Detective Lynt over the radio.

  “Yeah I copy.” 

  “I've got another witness, he was at the party, didn’t see it happen but he’s her ex. Hey how old are you?” he said, the last question directed to someone else. 

After a moment, Lynt finished by saying “Ok he’s seventeen, wearing a Dr. Dre hoodie, brown short hair. I’ll bring him to the station.”

  But Charles had a bad feeling. It seemed familiar. Dr. Dre… Oh no.

  “Lynt! Arrest him! The person who poisoned her drink was wearing the same hoodie!” he yelled into the radio. 

  “Holy sh-” started Lynt, but the radio suddenly cut off. 

  “Lynt? Lynt! Hello?!” shouted Charles. He swore, turned on his sirens sped down the street.

Ted Adams, 10:13 am

  He was running. He didn’t know why, but he was running. Actually, even saying sprinting was understating it. Ted was flying. He had gone in the direction of the backyard because he could hear the sirens coming down the street and the other officers didn’t know it was him. Several shouts were exclaimed as he pushed his way through and let over the fence, years of track and field coming in handy. When he overheard Detective Taylor Ted shoved Michael into the vehicle and fled. And as he was going through the trees he thought of what Taylor said. He ran for a reason after all. The night slowly came back together.

  After buying the pills he talked with some of the people outside for half an hour, but heard the commotion inside. Intoxicated with alcohol but still capable of thought, he saw Mia heading inside, then the drink by the pool.“This… She…” he mumbled drunkenly to himself. “She deserves this. And it won’t… kill her. Pfft. Nooo. She’s gonna be sooo sick. And it’s… what… what she gets, for cheating on me. With oh so perfect Brian.” Ted then dropped one of the pills in her drink and walked away through the front to meet Alec inside.

  Oh my god. I did kill her. Ted stopped running and tears formed into his eyes. He went back.

Charles Taylor, 10:32 am

Charles jumped out of the car, not bothering to turn it off or close the doors. As he ran under the police tape and took out his gun, he shouted at whichever officer or witness was in his way. He met up with detective Lynt and several others who were all pointing their guns at something moving a few meters into the dense foliage. 

  “You okay?” he asked Lynt whose nose was bleeding.

  “Never better. The officers saw him running over the fence. Gotta hand it to him, it was smart going through the back. But it seems like he’s coming back out.” replied Lynt.

Ted Adams, 10:32 am

  It seemed that Ted was no longer in control of his legs. They kept marching back without him moving them. He climbed over the fence and stood on the edge of the pool, while the officers were on the other side. He then started talking to everyone present.

  “I remember what I did. I know what I did. And…” more tears streamed down his eyes as he caught sight of Alec staring blankly at him. “And nothing I can do will be able to change that. But…” he raised his hand out of his pocket with the second pill. “I can even it out.” The officers all yelled at him to put it down. “I won’t be able to live with myself. I shouldn’t be able to!” Two officers ran on both sides of the pool towards him. “She couldn’t.” he finished. Ted then swallowed the pill and let himself fall forward into the water. Well, I suppose we did get a happy ending after all, he thought sadly, and sank to the dark, grim bottom just like the one before him.

-Hugo Millaire