Okay, I know only about half of you said you would be interested in a psychological thriller, but I’ve whipped out a few pages and want to know what you think. Keep in mind this hasn’t been edited. You’re seeing the roughest of rough drafts. (And if you’re just looking for the book deals, you can scroll down to the bottom)
Chapter 1 - Lily
I stare at the blank canvas mocking me as rage runs througn my body. I thought these people were my friends, but I’m starting to realize that none of them are.
I squirt some green paint onto my palette, but it’s not what I want. My emotions are still too high, too raw. So, I squirt some red on the palette and dip my brush in it. Red - the most versatile and deceitful color of them all. When it comes in hearts and bows, it represents happiness and love. When it shows up in harsh words and scars, it depicts anger or hate. But it has another meaning too. One that most people don’t think about when they see it, but I do.
Blood.
I slash the brush across the canvas, smiling as the red splays out like blood. Maybe if I let them see this side of me, they wouldn’t be so callous. Maybe they would choose their words more carefully. After all, they don’t know what I’ve done. What I’m capable of. I smile as I imagine Diana sprawled across her marble floor, her blood pooling around her.
I move to another spot and spread more red around. Claire with her head on the steering wheel of her precious lamborghini, red dripping from a hole in her temple onto her pristine white leather seats.
Then one more splash of red for Susan, but I pause as I try to picture Susan. Of the three, she’s been the nicest to me. She was the one who introduced me to the group, and she has even admonished the other two on occasion, but she participated tonight and for that, she gets her own spat of red.
Though I think I’m done with the red, my hand adds another splash. Mine. My sins might be even greater than theirs, but no one knows about them. Well, one person does, but that person will never say a thing. I’ve made sure of that.
With the red finished, I add black and brown and a few other vivid colors to the painting. This one will never sell, but that’s okay. This one is for me. To tame my emotions so I don’t do something stupid.
When the last stroke is complete, I set the brush down and step back to admire my work. To the untrained eye, it would be chaotic, but to me it’s cathartic. It quiets the angry beast inside me.
I step forward to grab the brush to wash it out, but a knock at my door causes me to pause. Perhaps it’s one of the girls coming to apologize although I’m not sure I’m in the mood. The painting helped, but it didn’t get rid of all the anger.
My feet make a soft slapping sound on the tile as I cross to the front door. I throw it open and blink in surprise. “You? What are you doing here?” I lose my footing as I’m shoved to the floor and my head makes a sickening crack as it hits the tile. Stars explode in my vision and then a sweet smell fills my nostrils. And then the world goes black.
Chapter 2 - Madi
The phone rings and my stomach knots.
It’s bad news. I don’t know how I know that, but I do. Call it intuition, although I’ve never had much of that before. If I had, maybe my parents would still be alive.
My finger presses the button and I hold the phone to my ear. “Hello?” My voice sounds shaky, unsure.
“Madi Reynolds?” It’s a man’s voice, but not one I recognize. But then I didn’t recognize the number on the caller ID either.
“Yes.” I’m not usually so laconic, but the fear coursing through my brains seems to have strangled my vocal chords as well.
“My name is Officer Ramirez with the New York Police Department.”
My heart beats faster in my chest. It has to be about Lily; there’s no other explanation. What has she done now?
“I regret to inform you that your sister passed away this morning.”
Dead? Lily can’t be dead. Lily is young, vivacious, artistic. She can’t be dead. “How?” is what comes out of my mouth instead.
He exhales softly. “We believe she took her own life. We’re still in the early stages of the investigation and an autopsy will be performed, but we found a bottle of sleeping pills beside her on the floor.”
“Sleeping pills? No, that can’t be right. Lily has never been able to swallow pills. Not even baby aspirin.” This information that does not compute with what I know about my sister has loosened the grip on my vocal chords and the words come spilling out.
“I know this is hard to hear, and I’m truly sorry for your loss, but our preliminary investigation points to suicide.”
“Then your preliminary investigation is wrong. Lily wouldn’t kill herself.” Of course I don’t know that for sure. Lily and I had barely talked the last few months. She’d been so excited when she moved to the city and landed a job, but then the calls had come less frequently and the few times I managed to reach her, she’d always said she was too busy to talk. But had she changed that much?
“It’s natural to feel confusion and disbelief. Lily didn’t leave a note so we may never know what she was thinking, but we’re here to help you through this.”
She didn’t leave a note either? I have no reason to distrust this man. He probably hadn’t even known Lily, but just like I knew the phone call would be bad news, I know she didn’t kill herself and I know that the police aren’t going to help me. If I’m going to find out what really happened to Lily, I’ll have to do it on my own. “What do I need to do?”
“We’ll need you to come down to the station when you can, and we’ll talk more then. We’ll have a counselor available for you as well.”
“Fine, I’ll be there tomorrow.” I end the call and stare at my phone as if willing the last few minutes to be a dream. It’s not though and the realization hits me that I am now officially alone. Well, except for my boyfriend, Jared.
Chapter 3 - Madi
“I don’t understand; why do you have to go?”
I shoot daggers at my boyfriend as I shove a rolled t-shirt into my bag. “She was my sister. How can you even ask me that?”
His eyes drop to his lap. That was a stupid question and he knows it, but at least he has the decency to look chagrined.
I love my boyfriend, I do, but sometimes he drives me crazy. Like when dumb statements like this fall out of his mouth. He has a habit of speaking before he thinks, something that has gotten him in trouble more than once. In fact, he’s rather impulsive all around. Except when it comes to proposing marriage it seems. We’ve been dating for over two years, but still no question. Some days, like today, I’m glad, but on the whole I just wish he’d hurry up and do it.
“I just meant that she’s already gone, so why do you have to go out there? Why not just hold the funeral here?”
“Are you kidding me right now? I have to go to her apartment and collect her things. I have to put her apartment up for sale - that is unless you want me to keep it for you to use when you’re in the city for days at a time.”
Jared is a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company. A lot of his job he can do from home, but two to three times a month, he has to go into the city to attend meetings and meet with his larger clients there.
His face pales with my question and he shakes his head. “I don’t think I could stay there knowing what happened.”
And that’s the other reason I have to go. To find out what really happened. The police told me she overdosed on sleeping pills, but I know she couldn’t have. From the time she was little, Lily has had an aversion to pills. She couldn’t even swallow baby aspirin without choking, so there’s no way she could have swallowed enough sleeping pills to OD.
“You could come with me then.” I wouldn’t mind his support as going through my sister’s life on my own will be hard.
“I can’t. Sorry babe, but I’ve got to work close to home this week. You know I just had my time in the city a few days ago.”
That’s true. He did just get back from the city, but I don’t see why he can’t go back for a few days. Is his company really such a stickler that they wouldn’t give him a few days to help his grieving girlfriend?
“Yeah, I know. I was just hoping…”
He crosses to me and pulls me into his arms, patting the back of my head. “I know babe. I wish I could be there, I really do, but I’ll only be a phone call away. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, I know.” I give him a quick squeeze, wishing things could be different, and then I step out of his arms to finish packing my bag.
Half an hour later, I’m on the road. It’s not a long trip into the city, only a few hours, but that is long enough for me to get consumed in my thoughts. What really happened to Lily and who would want to kill her?
Chapter 4
My first stop is the police station, and I would rather be anywhere else. Not only is the outside of the building sad and brown, but the inside is too. There’s a smell that I can’t quite place, like a cleaner trying to mask the smell of urine but not quite succeeding, and the woman working the counter looks like she hasn’t smiled in half a century.
“Can I help you?” she asks when I step up to the counter. Her voice is low and raspy like the throaty voice of a chain smoker and the tips of her fingers have the same yellow color that my grandfather’s did before he passed.
“My name is Madi Reynolds. I’m here to see Officer Ramirez.”
She taps away on her ancient keyboard - is there no money to update their technology? - and then nods at me. “He’s expecting you. Just take a seat and he’ll be right out.”
She points to a row of chairs that probably used to be a bright red color but are now a faded hue of rust and I head that direction. I have no intention of sitting down however. Not only am I too nervous to sit, but I have no idea what’s been on those chairs and I can’t imagine touching them. Thankfully, I don’t have to wait long.
“Miss Reynolds, thank you for coming.” The officer is younger than I expected, tall and fit with olive skin. The smile he offers is sad, but it doesn’t change how handsome his features are.
But I’m not here to ogle the man. I’m here to find out what happened to Lily. “I said I would come, so what do I need to do?” My tone is sharper than I meant it to be, but I feel like a piece of broken glass - all raw edges and broken pieces.
“If you’ll follow me, we’ll go over everything in detail.”
Okay, so let me know if you’d read this book. Obviously, I haven’t gotten to the good parts yet, but I’m curious if it’s got potential.
And here are the book deals that I promised.