Cases From Anon

Bellatrix sat in front of her window, waiting patiently until she could see the bright white full moon.

Patiently isn’t the right word to describe her, actually. Because if anyone saw her at this moment, they would see her legs shaking, her nose running, and her palms sweating.

Yeah, she definitely wasn’t patient.

Full moon was the monthly moment where Bellatrix got a new mission. No, not a mission to catch the wolves howling. Not a mission to see the mermaids acting stranger than their norm. But it was a mystery mission that came upon her doorstep every full moon. Well, to be clear, no one knows who exactly the mission was for, but she liked to assume it was specially gifted to her.

The subject of mystery was her favorite since childhood. Reading stories about Sherlock Holmes and how he was able to crack open every case with pure intelligence, watching Criminal Minds and observing their intriguing sense of teamwork, and growing up with her own parents who were both detectives. She practically lived with mystery. Mystery lived with her.

That is why she has been so excited to see the full moon. She wanted another mystery case to come upon her to prove to others that she was, in fact, an equal to Mr. Holmes. To prove that she was sneaky, smart, patient, professional. To prove to the people, to her, that she was one of them, one of those snazzy-looking group of detectives.

           “Three. . . two. . . one. . .”, Bellatrix counted. The full moon appeared. Her new mystery was awaiting her now.

           “Did it happen yet?”, her sister Moxie asked.

           “Yes, yes, yes! It’s even brighter than the last one!”

           “Woah, what could that mean? Maybe it’s even a more dangerous mystery you have to solve”

           “Maybe. . . Well, whatever it is, I can’t wait! Having an even harder one will make it so much more fun.”

           “I know the last two full moons brought you these new cases, but are you sure this one will too? I mean, I don’t think you should get your hopes up. How lucky could you really be to have another mystery to solve? Don’t you think it is a little odd that two puzzles, that were surprisingly easy to solve, came to you? Not the police, not our parents. . . to you. . .”, Moxie said with extreme caution, in case she might ruin the day that her sister was patiently waiting for for weeks.

           “C’mon, Moxie. Why wouldn’t the cases come to me? Look, I know I just became your stepsister only few months ago and maybe you still don’t trust me because of the sudden change. But I was meant for this. I love mysteries, and they obviously love me back. I know a case will come, I know it will.”, said Bellatrix with a hint of offense.

           “If you say so. . . just don’t get too disappointed if things don’t turn out as you want, okay?”, Moxie replied as she was leaving the kitchen area.

           “Disappointed? Please, that word isn’t even in my vocabulary.”

Cases, as far as she assumed from her past mysteries, came to her a few hours after the full moon. At first, Bellatrix thought it was weird as to why these mails came to her, and no one else. But her self-pride took that worry away as she reminded herself that solving mysteries was what she was born for.

Regarding her past cases, the first arrived as a form of a letter which stated someone’s address. That same address held a woman who was murdered by a hammer. Her blood was gushed out everywhere and the killer was no where to be found. That day, Bellatrix learned that one, mysteries aren’t pretty, and two, solving things are  as TV makes them look.

But eventually, she was able to solve the case. She actually was able to solve it really easily because the killer’s fingerprints was smudged right on the doorknob. It was a dumb move by him, she thought.

The second came as a text message. “Please come to the grocery market in 34th street! There has been a robbery!”. She scrammed as quickly as she could to the mourning shop owner. She searched, learning from her first case, for any signs of a fingerprint but found none. Then she went to the next easiest route and looked through the footage captured by the security cameras. Bellatrix laughed as she immediately saw the car plate number of her suspect, making this another easy case once again. Too easy, but she didn’t believe it. The case was solved quickly because she was good, she told herself.

           “Bellatrix? What are you still doing home? I thought you would be on your way to your mission by now”, Roxie said.

           “I thought so too, but today’s might come a bit late, I guess”, Bellatrix replied.

           “Oh, okay. Well, can I join you today? I know you told me no the last two times, but please? You’re not the only one who likes murder mysteries”, Roxie asked as she crossed her arms.

           “Just because you like to play horror video games doesn’t mean you are capable of a real life case. . . sorry, but my answer is still no”, Bellatrix said sternly.

           “Please, please, please! You never let me have fun!”, her sister replied.

           “No, no, and no. No is my final answer. Go do your homework and stop whining”, Bellatrix warned.

Roxie stormed off, leaving Bellatrix alone in the living room. She couldn’t stop pondering about what her sister told her earlier. A case might not come to her this full moon? That would be the most depressing thing that could ever occur because to Bellatrix, no mission meant no passion. And no passion meant her life would be a waste. Aiming for things that were difficult to reach was who she was, and without a mystery job, she didn’t have anything to live for.

And thus, she wanted a case really bad. She needed a case; she swore to the full moon that she would be patiently waiting for it.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Bellatrix rushed to the door, paused to take a deep sigh, and opened it. There it was: a package. A brown sealed package on the doorstep, just for her. It looked like gold, to her at least, shining brightly right in front of her. She grabbed the package carefully and opened it up.

It was another letter. Another address. Another home to find.

Could it be a pattern of this mystery case deliverer? A letter, then a text, and then a letter once again? It didn’t matter now. The mystery was here, and that was all that mattered to Bellatrix at the moment.

“6734 West Cranberry Drive, New Orleans, Louisiana”, it said.

“Oh my goodness! It came!”, Bellatrix yelled, hoping her sister didn’t hear.

Without even thinking, Bellatrix grabbed her car keys and went straight for her car. But after a few seconds, she paused, wondering if she should bring along Moxie for another great adventure. She did like the fact that Moxie aspired to be like her but was too overshone by the fact that her sister was young and inexperienced, making her a drag, not an asset, to the team.

Moxie wasn’t worth it, she thought, as she drove her quick 15-minute ride; she arrived shortly.

The house that laid upon her looked. . . oddly normal. It seemed like a regular 2 story house with the usual amounts of windows, doors, roofs- it was nothing special, unlike the house that belonged to her previous mission’s address where trees and big black birds were eating the property alive.

Bellatrix calmed her both excited and scared nerves down and decided to step inside the house.

“Hello? Is anyone here?”, she said as she accidentally knocked down a flowerpot standing on a table. She shrieked, initially thinking there was another human being in the same house as her. With that incident, the house felt much smaller, much more dangerous.

Bellatrix continued to walk around, searching for any signs of code, number, letter, blood, voices, and more of those detective sounding items.

None. There was none. The house was practically empty, containing only a bed, a toothbrush, and a towel. It seemed like this house was untouched for years. Maybe even centuries.

But there was no way there could be nothing. There was always something, at least there was the last two times. There was no point in staying at this house anymore. Bellatrix, as much as she didn’t want to, decided to go back home.

           “Back so soon?”, Moxie said as Bellatrix walked through the doorsteps.

           “Not now, Mox. The full moon tradition is over. I found nothing there”, she replied.

           “Wait, what?”, Moxie yelled worriedly.

           “Relax. . . why do you care so much?”, Bellatrix questioned.

           “Oh. . . nothing. Just worried about you”, Moxie said, trying to hide the screeching in her voice. But what she was not able to hide was the sweat dripping down her forehead. Bellatrix noticed it but thought nothing of it.

           “Thanks. . . do you think this is the end for me?”, Bellatrix cried.

But right as she finished her sentence, the doorbell rang again.

It was another mail. Another letter. Another address. The mission wasn’t over after all.

           “What came!?”, asked Moxie.

           “Looks like another package. The same thing came earlier. . .”, Bellatrix replied.

           “Maybe it wants you to go back?”, Moxie said as her sister was opening up the package.

           “I don’t think so. . . this time, it’s a different address. . . 3527 Rosewater Blvd. Harahan,   Louisiana”, Bellatrix said with caution.

           “Wow, sounds creepy. . . just how I like it! Can I come now?”, Moxie begged.

           “No, it’s late at night. It’s too unsafe for you out there. Head to bed, alright?”, Bellatrix said as she grabbed her car keys.

Bellatrix didn’t get to hear her sisters reply due to the loud, creaky sound of the door closing (though she could have probably guessed that Moxie reluctantly agreed).

Once again, she drove to this unknown address and went inside the house.

           “Hello? Is anyone here”, Bellatrix asked, though she was sure that the only person that would reply would be the ghost of any dead figures that could have been possibly murdered.

No reply. This house, just like the first, looked normal. But normal with a atmosphere of immense uneasiness, kind of like the feeling that someone’s watching you . . . very. . . very. . . closely. . .

Bellatrix’s experience at this second location was nothing different than the first. The house was practically empty and no evidence of any crime or mystery-related object was to be seen. There was nothing she could do but go home, once again.

However, this time, as she was walking down the pathway to her car, she saw a tall, black figure down the street. It seemed like he was waiting for something, or. . . someone. Someone to kidnap, someone to enslave, someone to murder. Someone like Bellatrix.

Her instincts told her to run, run as fast as she could, away from this man, but as she knew from reading many, many mystery novels, it was never good to run because it shows fear, and fear was something Bellatrix swore she would never express. She had no choice but to get in her car, act normally, and drive home safely.

Bellatrix continued to walk to her car, very slowly, pretending like the black figure wasn’t there. And finally, she made it. She had reached her car. And finally, she let out a breath of relief after escaping the possible terror that could have happened. But the breath came out too early, too soon, because right as Bellatrix was about to open the door, the hands of the masked figure grabbed hers and all she could see within the next 10 seconds was pure darkness.

She. Was. Captured. The masked figure had taken her, trapped her in the trunk of the car, and started to drive to a location. And it only took 5 minutes until the car stopped, and Bellatrix was forcefully carried outside.

           “Hello, there.”, said the masked man as he was setting Bellatrix down on a chair, tied to ropes all around her body.

           “Let me out”, she demanded.

           “Shh. Oh, poor thing”, he replied.

           “Don’t baby me. I’m serious. Let me out”, she cried.

           “On one condition. Leave my family alone”, he said.

           “Huh? What family? I don’t even know you”, Bellatrix yelled.

A few moments later, the masked man revealed his face.

Bellatrix was wrong all along. It wasn’t a man. It was a girl. It was Moxie.

           “Moxie? What do you think you are doing”, Bellatrix screamed with horror flooding her eyes.

           “I’m giving you what you deserve”, Moxie said with a huge grin.

           “What did I ever do to you? I’m sorry I didn’t let you go on a case with me. I just wanted to protect you”, Bellatrix pleaded.

           “You are so dumb, aren’t you? Your silly little full moon tradition isn’t real. It doesn’t exist!”, Moxie said.

           “What. . . of course it does. . . I- I solved them all”, Bellatrix said.

           “You still don’t get it? I planted those cases for you. You think real mystery crimes are that easy to solve? Why do you think you found the culprit in a day? It’s because I purposefully made them easy for you! So that your love for solving crimes grows and grows”, Moxie said.

           “Why would you want to make me feel good about what I do?”, Bellatrix asked.

           “To make you keep following the breadcrumbs. I wanted to keep leading you on to this moment to finally teach you a lesson. You see, ever since we became step sisters, my dad has been horrible to me. He stopped making cupcakes with me, he stopped helping me with homework, and he stopped being. . . a dad. It feels like he’s not my dad anymore, Bellatrix, because you stole him from me. He buys you everything and anything and all he talks about is you. How he’s so grateful to finally have a daughter who enjoys crimes like he does and how he is so lucky to have such a passionate child. And so, after I heard that, I wanted to prove that I liked crimes too, that I was just like him. But you denied my pleads of joining in cases with you, and you ruined my chances of being his child again”, Moxie said with tears dripping down her eyes.

Bellatrix was speechless, both shunned with fear and sorrow.

           “So now, I captured you so I could finally end you for all. To end all the sufferings you made me go through”, Moxie said again.

           “Moxie, I’m so sorry. I. . . didn’t know. . .”, Bellatrix said quietly.

           “Of course you didn’t. No one pays attention to me anymore”, Moxie said.

           “Moxie, I love you”, Bellatrix said suddenly.

Moxie’s eyes widened, both shocked and confused by the unexpected comment.

           “I love you; I always have. I’m sorry I was being so overprotective. I’m sorry I stole your dad. I just wanted him to like me because. . . I’m not that used to being a perfect fit in new situations. And it’s okay if you aren’t either. Let me free, and we can fix this together, okay? Can’t we start fresh”, Bellatrix said calmly.

           “You. . . you love me?”, Moxie asked, as if the only sentence she had heard from her sister’s mouth was those very words.

           “I love you”, Bellatrix said with certainty.

Those three simple words were all it took to survive. Moxie came to her senses, finally, and Bellatrix was free. That day, they both went home, said nothing, and slept in the same bed together, holding each other for safety and comfort.

What Bellatrix learned that day was that passion was important to pursue goals, but that passion means nothing if it didn’t come from the heart- if it didn’t come from love. Because love is powerful, and nothing could beat it. And the only way to gain this power is through patience.

           “Bye, full moon. It was great knowing you”, Bellatrix said in her head as she soon drifted off to sleep.