Post by johncheese on Mar 11, 2018 12:52:35 GMT -5
Because post LoD I want to keep a foot in the DC 2000 group, here is a first issue preview of my new title.
Hope you enjoy
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Coldstream Juvenile Detention Facility, Bludhaven – 2017
“Your effects.” The bored clerk dressed in a prison uniform stated as the young woman walked up to the window, the pair of guards flanking her looking equally amused as she was. Only the prisoner seemed eager to move this along, but she had learned quickly to move at the guard’s speed and to keep her mouth shut. “One leotard – yellow, one pair of thigh high boots – yellow, one domino mask, five hundred dollars in cash, one locket inscribed with the letters DD and containing a portrait, artwork – multiple pieces.” The clerk announced as she placed the items into a bag and slid the locket through the gap in the glass.
“Thank you.” The prisoner stated, as she slipped the locket round her neck, her short hair looking almost identical to that of the woman pictured in the portrait.
“Miss Marceau, the bus is departing soon.” One of the guards stated, if you would change out of your uniform, we will escort you out of the facility and onto the bus. Nodding Aliki followed them to a set of changing rooms and quickly slipped into her costume. Emerging she kept her head down as the guards led her past the yard, a number of the prisoners she had been incarcerated alongside stopping what they were doing to glare at her.
“Hey freak go back to the circus where you belong!”
“Nice costume ballerina Barbie!”
“When I get out I’m making you my bitch!!”
Aliki ignored them all, quite honestly after the first month or two the others had largely left her alone. She had been afraid to be alone at first but in the end she realised it wouldn’t kill her and she adapted as best she could. Stepping onto the bus, she knew that life was about to become more difficult, her manager at the Cirque Sensational had made it clear over Skype that both she and Margot weren’t welcome in his outfit. Not that she thought Margot would worry about that, she hadn’t visited or written in her two-year incarceration, leaving Aliki to come to the conclusion that her sister was likely dead. She hadn’t cried when she came to this end, but when she got to somewhere private, somewhere outside the prison she planned to do just that.
The ride into Bludhaven was boring, the city was just as wild and untamed as it had been two years earlier, although it appeared as if Blockbuster had moved north of the river into the territory vacated by the Penguin, leaving the south side open to a new crime boss. Disembarking at the train station, Aliki felt exposed, eyes were watching her with a lecherous sparkle to them. Walking briskly and keeping track of those watching her Aliki walked a block and a half before turning into a thrift store. She had no attention of being confused for a street walker or stripper, so any clothes within reason would do.
**
Memory drew Aliki back to the location of her arrest, the house she had snuck into now listed as derelict, as was most of the street. Walking round the side to the edge of the storm drain, now flooded after the spring storm season, Aliki looked over to where she had last seen her sister and sat down, arms wrapped round her legs, tears running down her face. She had always entertained a slither of hope, some wild fantasy that Margot was still alive, holding out somewhere, but now she’d left Coldstream that slither had been quashed.
And would Margot even recognise her now? Aliki had grown another two inches during her incarceration, she’d cropped her hair since her braid had become the favourite target of a number of inmates. On top of that Aliki wouldn’t have been seen dead in the beat-up sneakers, worn jeans and t-shirt branded with the logo of the 80s goth rock band ‘Black Siren’. Turning away from the storm drain Aliki walked up to the door she’d snuck through years ago and forced the tape open before slipping inside.
Like most Bludhaven properties the house had seen better days, but it seemed sturdy enough despite what the tape had advertised. Camping out on the second floor Aliki pulled out the five rolls of paper the clerk had returned to her and unrolled them one by one. During her time in Coldstream, Aliki had tried her hand at sketching, and with a little tuition from Shawn Tsang, former art student who’d been incarcerated for tagging billboards, she’d become quite good at drawing faces.
“So you five are the people who killed Margot.” Aliki told herself as she studied the faces she’d drawn from memory. Between the man with the crash helmet that looked like a demon, the insect faced figure in grey, the cowboy, the figure dressed in a stapled monster costume and the thuggish man with a burn on his right cheek they were a varied yet dangerous looking group. “You’re the five people I’m going to kill.” She whispered as she looked out the window at the opposite side of the storm drain.
Hope you enjoy
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Coldstream Juvenile Detention Facility, Bludhaven – 2017
“Your effects.” The bored clerk dressed in a prison uniform stated as the young woman walked up to the window, the pair of guards flanking her looking equally amused as she was. Only the prisoner seemed eager to move this along, but she had learned quickly to move at the guard’s speed and to keep her mouth shut. “One leotard – yellow, one pair of thigh high boots – yellow, one domino mask, five hundred dollars in cash, one locket inscribed with the letters DD and containing a portrait, artwork – multiple pieces.” The clerk announced as she placed the items into a bag and slid the locket through the gap in the glass.
“Thank you.” The prisoner stated, as she slipped the locket round her neck, her short hair looking almost identical to that of the woman pictured in the portrait.
“Miss Marceau, the bus is departing soon.” One of the guards stated, if you would change out of your uniform, we will escort you out of the facility and onto the bus. Nodding Aliki followed them to a set of changing rooms and quickly slipped into her costume. Emerging she kept her head down as the guards led her past the yard, a number of the prisoners she had been incarcerated alongside stopping what they were doing to glare at her.
“Hey freak go back to the circus where you belong!”
“Nice costume ballerina Barbie!”
“When I get out I’m making you my bitch!!”
Aliki ignored them all, quite honestly after the first month or two the others had largely left her alone. She had been afraid to be alone at first but in the end she realised it wouldn’t kill her and she adapted as best she could. Stepping onto the bus, she knew that life was about to become more difficult, her manager at the Cirque Sensational had made it clear over Skype that both she and Margot weren’t welcome in his outfit. Not that she thought Margot would worry about that, she hadn’t visited or written in her two-year incarceration, leaving Aliki to come to the conclusion that her sister was likely dead. She hadn’t cried when she came to this end, but when she got to somewhere private, somewhere outside the prison she planned to do just that.
The ride into Bludhaven was boring, the city was just as wild and untamed as it had been two years earlier, although it appeared as if Blockbuster had moved north of the river into the territory vacated by the Penguin, leaving the south side open to a new crime boss. Disembarking at the train station, Aliki felt exposed, eyes were watching her with a lecherous sparkle to them. Walking briskly and keeping track of those watching her Aliki walked a block and a half before turning into a thrift store. She had no attention of being confused for a street walker or stripper, so any clothes within reason would do.
**
Memory drew Aliki back to the location of her arrest, the house she had snuck into now listed as derelict, as was most of the street. Walking round the side to the edge of the storm drain, now flooded after the spring storm season, Aliki looked over to where she had last seen her sister and sat down, arms wrapped round her legs, tears running down her face. She had always entertained a slither of hope, some wild fantasy that Margot was still alive, holding out somewhere, but now she’d left Coldstream that slither had been quashed.
And would Margot even recognise her now? Aliki had grown another two inches during her incarceration, she’d cropped her hair since her braid had become the favourite target of a number of inmates. On top of that Aliki wouldn’t have been seen dead in the beat-up sneakers, worn jeans and t-shirt branded with the logo of the 80s goth rock band ‘Black Siren’. Turning away from the storm drain Aliki walked up to the door she’d snuck through years ago and forced the tape open before slipping inside.
Like most Bludhaven properties the house had seen better days, but it seemed sturdy enough despite what the tape had advertised. Camping out on the second floor Aliki pulled out the five rolls of paper the clerk had returned to her and unrolled them one by one. During her time in Coldstream, Aliki had tried her hand at sketching, and with a little tuition from Shawn Tsang, former art student who’d been incarcerated for tagging billboards, she’d become quite good at drawing faces.
“So you five are the people who killed Margot.” Aliki told herself as she studied the faces she’d drawn from memory. Between the man with the crash helmet that looked like a demon, the insect faced figure in grey, the cowboy, the figure dressed in a stapled monster costume and the thuggish man with a burn on his right cheek they were a varied yet dangerous looking group. “You’re the five people I’m going to kill.” She whispered as she looked out the window at the opposite side of the storm drain.