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American Mystery Speculative

John Kazzer.


My foe,Β 


my enemy,Β 


my worst-friend ever in the history of why, Samantha-Jae, whyΒ 


why why why why why why why.Β 




Sick. I feelΒ 


sick when I see him




It's got to be him


It's got to be.





What happened:


Ellen's Sweet Treats


came up with a new recipe.


Then the


place was robbed.



Two hours ago:


I went to the scene of the crime (the


back kitchen)


and found that


after a careful search


only one thing was missing.


It was a red-orange powder, according


to Ellen.


A spice that she didn't


tell me the name of; the


secret ingredient



Only one person would have


taken from Ellen, from Joseph,


from their weirdo daughter, Chocolate.


John Kazzer.


Like I said, I was his friend.



Emilia, our town's


resident author, is

f

u

r

i

o

u

s

.


"WHO WOULD DARE TO TAKE

THE SECRET SPICE FOR THE

CARAMEL-CHOCOLATE-SPICE-LATTE?

MY WORST ENEMY, I BET! TRYING TO

RUIN MY STREAK! BITTER,

LIFELESS, TOAD-FACES! I'LL PUNCH

WHOEVER DID IT! OH, THEY WILL

REGERT STEALING FORM ELLEN'S."


It's hard to understand her, but I


think she thinks someone is


sabotaging her effort.





John Kazzer.


He was my friend,


but he sure isn't anymore.


I know that he got in a fight with


Emilia.


He is Suspect 1.


Only suspect.


Okay, Emilia is


overreacting. She's melodramatic. I think


She is only looking at her problems. Got to


see who hates Ellen's Sweet Treats enough


To ruin their business.




Answer: no

one in the world.


Np one but

John Kazzer, who I

can't believe I trusted

ever. Ever.


Why why why, Samantha-Jae.





Oh. Never


introduced myself. I'm


Samantha-Jae Willford, resident


detective.





I haven't found any proof that it's him yet.

Time for


INTERROGATION!!!!!!!!!!!


Did I mention

I'm melodramatic too, and

use too many exclamation points?

I think I should have. I love exclamation

points.





John Kazzer, outside his big,

pale-blue house with his mom' car. He's only 17, so

he lives with his mom. Like I did, before I ran away to

the only place I felt needed.


That's here.


I side up to him, running my finger across a line


of pollen on the cranberry


red Toyota.


"John. Why did you take it."


I say bluntly.


"Take what?"


"The spice."

"What spice?"

"The spice you stole from

Ellen's Sweet Treats." "I

didn't take that." "yes you did"

"I did not" "yes you did" "I did

not" "yes, you did."


"I

DIDN'T

TAKE IT!"


"YES

YOU

SO DID!"


I shove him in

his car and take the wheel.

"You can't drive!"

he screams.


"SO WHAT IF I'M FIFTEEN? I CAN DRIVE!"


"...Legally, you can't."


"You can't steal

secret spices.

Buckle up."


I slam my foot on the gas.


I'm short, and not old enough


to drive, but


I'm wearing black heeled boots


to look taller, and


I'm standing up in my seat.


This gives me an


extra few inches, I think.



The wheel looms


like a massive ship before me.


I grab it


and whisper a Hail Mary under my breath.


Then I push my long black hair out


of my eyes and


Take off.




Driving is harder than it looks.


I've driven before,

leaving my father's house, but

that was different.

For one thing, it wasn't a Toyota. For

another, I didn't have John Kazzer

in the backseat, yelling instructions.


I hit curbs, run red lights, and

go way over the speed limit just to scare

him. This is a small town,

but it's

easy to swerve lanes.


I did it before, when my brother followed me.





We reach the sweets shop/coffee shop.


Chocolate is waiting outside. She's twelve, and

a poet like me, only she

likes love poems.


"I think I know who took it," I

say.


"It's not him," Chocolate says.


"What?"


"He

didn't take it."


"Told you!" John Kazzer

shouts.


I roll my eyes.


"John Kazzer,

WHO TOOOOOOOK IIIIIT?"


"Eliza Ron."


Chocolate says.


I know her. She's obsessed with

baking.


But why? She's only twelve, like

Chocolate.



"She saw it

and asked if she could take it, and I said

we were still working with it. Later, I think

she snuck it out. She

realizes what she's

done.

She

won't do it anymore. She promised."

Chocolate says.

"She just gave it back. In

poetry club. Said

she was sorry for making it look like there was a break-in.

she fell down while we were goofing off and we

never cleaned it.

That was when she took it, I think... She said she's really sorry

and that she'll never do anything like that again."


*.*.*.



Utter failure.


No crime.


No punishment.


Just some kid's mistake, no


actually robbery!


Thus ends my career.


I can no longer solve crimes.


And I blamed John Kazzer.


John Kazzer...


John Kazzer. He

was my only friend.

I told him where I came

from and he almost betrayed

me, told everyone that I was a

runaway, hiding here because of

a fight with my stepbrothers, who

were worse than Cinderella's sisters

because they liked to fight, and I didn't.

I hid because I'd had enough. My father

didn't get it. He had a lot of brothers,

and they were always fighting, but

My stepbrothers fought with me

when I told them not to. They

laughed at me when I went

to punch them and missed.

They laughed when I locked

my bedroom door. Teased me

for not a being rowdy, crazy, sport

-loving boy. So I left. My life had never

felt better than when I was here. It feels bad

all over again, though. I don't know what to do. I

blamed

John Kazzer.


John Kazzer.


I had no reason to blame him

but my own hatred of the boy.

Or man?

Is seventeen old enough to count as a man?


Is it?





"Samantha?" An all-too-familiar voice


asks.


One that has haunted my dreams.


Ever since I ran away...


my stepbrother,


Mick.


How did he trace me?


How did he find out?


How did he--


oh.


It was my mistake.


My mistake, leading to my downfall.


Oh, no.



"Samantha, it's time to come back."

He reaches for my arm. I let him

take it, walking away,

feeling lifeless,

knowing

that it

was

me.


I got myself into this mess.


And now, he's bringing me back.


I step into his car blearily, like


I'm in a dream.


I left because


I didn't want to stay with them anymore.


Now I'm going back, and


it's

all

my

fault.


Why, why why, why, Samantha-Jae, why, why why.

ο»Ώ



December 09, 2020 16:49

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36 comments

Wow, wow, wow!! Emmie, this has to be one of the BEST stories in Reedsy I've ever read so far! I mean, I already knew that you had an amazing talent in writing, but I never knew that you were also talented in writing poetry! You're like an all-in-person! I enjoyed this story so much, and if I were to rate this story out of ten, I would give it a googleplex (if you don't know what that is, it's basically a number which has a hundred zeros following one...it is also bigger than infinity, at least I think) because I loved this story so muc...

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Thank you very much for the encouragement! I would give some of your stuff a googleplex, too! And I'll be starting a part 2 as soon as possible! (Maybe 15 hours? Is that how much longer it is until the next contest goes up? I think so.)

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No problem Emmie! Also, I would love to read part 2! :)

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I might do it from the point of view of another character... maybe Chocolate, or Emilia, who did the all-caps ranting, or maybe even a new character, one of Samantha-Jae's friends or someone. What do you think of a John Kazzer's point of view story?

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I'll think about that... the new contest just came in!

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Frances Reine
19:11 Dec 30, 2020

This was incredible! You're making me enjoy poetry much MUCH more! I read your bio btw and I'm also a Ravenclaw ;)

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Great minds think alike, I guess, or Ravenclaw was originally the House of Writers.

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Hey, guys! I'll be leaving Reedsy for a little while, so I won't get your comments. Don't worry, I'll come back in a week or two, but I won't be able to get your comments. If you want to comment please like this story and go to it later. (in a week or two weeks) Thank you!

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B. W.
08:30 Dec 12, 2020

Hola amiga

Reply

Hola :)

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B. W.
18:01 Dec 12, 2020

i cant even speak spanish to be honest, i was using a translator type thing :/

Reply

Me too.

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B. W.
19:43 Dec 12, 2020

I really only know like 5 things

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That's ok. The only full sentence I know in Spanish comes out like where is your cow milk or something.

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Thanks for the kind words, every body! I'll be sending in the third part soon! :D

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Ray Dyer
18:59 Dec 10, 2020

So much fun reading this! I loved f u r i o u s . followed by the capitalized rant. The descriptions from the young narrator, especially when she gets behind the wheel are hilarious. I love reading the way she sees things, and how sure she is of herself. Also like the end, with the symmetry of "Why, Samantha-Jae, why." I read that a couple times at the beginning, before it clicked, and then I loved that line completely. When it came back at the end, it really brought closure to the poem-story. Thank you for sharing, E...

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You're welcome! I wanted to add more to Ellen and Joseph's little world, so I set my new story in the same small town, the plot revolving around their bakery. I'm glad you like the ranting! That was one of my favorite parts to write. The name came to me almost instantly, and I think I'll make Samantha-Jae a continuing appearance in my next verse-stories, since I want them all to be set in a small town, like Ellen and Joseph's.

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Ray Dyer
19:06 Dec 10, 2020

I thought that was neat, too. I thought the names sounded familiar, but when I got to Chocolate I was sure of it...this is the same town. Nice touch! I like that this story works perfectly without having read the first one, but having read the first one gave a sense of unity between them. That's the best way to do it, in my opinion!

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Thanks! I plan to add a little more to their world every time.

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I'm probably going to continue this... I don't have a lot of characters, though. And even this is a continuation of Chocolate Kisses, so unless I introduce someone, like what I did with Samantha-Jae, I won't be able to go too far. However, I bet you all want to see what happens with Samantha now that he stepbrother's bringing her back home, after she hid out in a small town. What do you think? Does anyone want more?

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Does anyone want a continuation?

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