The Inkblot: Imk Novels Part 3
Disclaimer The Inkblot is a production of the Creative Writing Program at Green Hope High School. It is intended as a forum for students to share original work, including poetry, drama, short fiction, and creative nonfiction. Students often choose to write about issues and subjects that are personally meaningful to them, and potentially challenging for readers. Students may even adopt a fictional persona/perspective for the purposes of artistic exploration and expression. The views and feelings expressed in this collection do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of school administrators, teachers, or students.
Authors’ Note These excerpts we chose to include are samples of larger projects that we are creating. Every other week, we will choose something to upload to The Inkblot, expanding each of our mini-series. This is the third piece in the Grace’s Hotel series. (To see the first and second pieces, along with Lesbian Nights, see The Inkblot: Part 1 and Ink Novels Continued) Grace’s Hotel is a combination of excerpts taken from Haley’s independent writing project, a mystery novel. Each selection will focus on one specific person, the victim of the case, the investigator, or a suspect. This week, Lesbian Nights will not be continued, however it will (hopefully) appear in the next in the next issue.
We hope you enjoy!
Haley Newton (and Kristin Schmidt)
Last time on Grace’s Hotel… After finding the body of Grace Burnette in a family-run hotel, Nathan decides to find out who killed her. After being hired through the private detection agency he works for, Nate begins to investigate. He begins with Grace’s brother, Dustin. Grace’s Hotel: Part 4 Dustin is running late. Dustin is always running late, but today he is especially late. As in, over an hour late. First, there was the issue with the alarm. It had gone off, no problem there, he just had not wanted to get up. He hadn’t slept at all the night before, nor the one before that, and is quite tired. After laying in his bed for no less than an hour, he remembered that he actually had to be somewhere, and lazily stretched. It was already eleven twenty in the morning, and he was supposed to meet Nate at a pub for lunch around eleven thirty. However, the bus ride to get to Nate was a twenty minutes long. He ended up missing the first two busses, because he wanted to stop for coffee first. Grace had a Starbucks gift card, and he had taken full liberty of its use while he stayed in her apartment. It isn’t like she can use it now, anyways. So, when he eventually catches the bus, it is already noon. By the time he gets there, it was twelve twenty, and he stands outside, contemplating, for about ten minutes. Finally, he goes in. He can do this for Gracie. She had done so much for him, the least he can do in return is assist in revenge on her killer.
Meanwhile, Nathan is nearly ready to leave. After calling Dustin about four times, each with no response, he has almost given up, when a man is pointed in his direction. The man is barely a man, likely not even out of his teens. He has dark hair and a tanned complexion. He wears baggy clothes, and has a tall yet thin frame. His brown eyes look haunted, and he has clearly not shaved in several days. He is obviously not related to Grace, although he had been listed as her brother in her emergency contacts list on her phone. Nathan stands up to greet him, but Dustin sits down on the opposite side of the booth without a word or handshake. After a few awkward moments, Nate begins. “Mind if I record this? For future reference?” Dustin nods, and Nate hits a button on the top of the small rectangular object. The tape begins to spin inside. Dustin laughs nervously. “Sorry, I, uh, don’t really know where to start.”
Nate smiles reassuringly and asks, “Why don’t you start with how you know Grace Burnette.” After taking a deep breath, Dustin begins.
I’ve known Grace as long as I can remember. My mother died in childbirth, and my father had died a few months before. The only family I had was an aunt, who put me in an orphanage when I was only a few months old because she didn’t want to deal with a colicky baby. Grace was in the same orphanage. I don’t know what happened to her parents. She was six years older than me, and became my big sister. Nobody at the orphanage really cared about me, but Gracie did. She always found toys and food for me, even though there were nine of us inside the dark house. I don’t remember much about back then- just what Grace has told me. When I was four, and Grace was ten, a social worker came and moved us. I don’t know why. Grace told me it didn’t really matter, since we were together. We went to the same foster family, the Brightons. They liked me, but didn’t seem to care much for Grace. Grace began causing trouble, trying to get moved to a new family. When the Brightons finally gave up on her, I didn’t want to stay without her, but they wouldn’t move me. It was hard for me, once they took her. Eventually, I was moved to a new foster house. This one had lots of other kids. Grace wrote me letters, but I couldn’t read them, and nobody at home would tell me what they said. I still have them. Mostly, they talk about her coming to find me, and us running away and living on our own. However, after a while, the letters stopped. I was moved a third time, to the Angelos. They were really nice. I thought they were going to adopt me. I stayed with them from the time I was eight to the time I was fourteen. Grace showed up on the doorstep one day, I’m not sure how she found me, but I was glad to see her. After all those years, I hadn’t forgotten her. She was twenty, and had a job. She wanted me to come and live with her, but I was still a ward of the state, and they told her that she wasn’t in a financial situation to support a teenager. She moved closer, so I could see her more. Shortly after Grace came back into my life, Mr. and Mrs. Angelo had a baby, and I was given back to the state to be put into a new home. Again, Grace fought for me, but she lost. She lost every time. I got moved to the Marksons’ house in December, just before my fifteenth birthday. They seemed nice at first, but are some of the worst people I can think of being in control of my life. They wanted a perfect child, someone without any issues- someone I cannot be. I tried, I tried for three years to be what they wanted. I tried to make straight A’s, I participated in golf- what
kind of sport is golf, anyways? It’s even more boring to play than it is to watch, which is really saying something. I’d rather watch paint dry, it ends faster. The point is, I tried so hard to be what they wanted, I lost almost all of myself, Grace included. The Marksons banned me from seeing her, saying she was a ‘bad influence’. She was my sister! But I gave her up, for them to love me. It never worked. They continued to treat me like dirt, oblivious to the fact that I was struggling. They didn’t really care about me, so why should I care about them? I started rebelling, staying out late, getting drunk, the works. The day I turned eighteen, I left. I couldn’t take it anymore. Everyone always trying to control me, make me perfect without caring why I’m not. Grace is the only one who ever wanted me. She tried so hard to get me to move in with her, she was still trying when she… She was driving to Kentley, to see me. I don’t even know what I said, I was blackout drunk at the time, but it must have been really bad to convince her to come see me. She lives pretty far away, and was visiting her boyfriend at the time. She would drop everything for me. Grace was the only person who ever truly understood me. I don’t know what happened to her when we were separated; I never asked. I’ve heard some of the stories, and I don’t honestly want to know if they’re true or not. I don’t want to know.
“Can you think of a reason someone would have wanted Grace dead?” There is silence for a moment, while Dustin’s eyebrows furrow as he seriously considers the question. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I love Grace from the bottom of my heart, and nothing will ever change that, but she wasn’t… She… She’s not a particularly nice person. She doesn’t make friends easily, or trust others. She cheated on her boyfriend, and has made her fair share of enemies. I don’t know.” “She cheated on her boyfriend? What were their names?” “Hayden and Marcus. Marcus was the boyfriend, Hayden was the fling. Hayden’s a jerk though, Marcus is nice.” “Ok. Can you remember anything odd about that night?”
“No, nothing. I didn’t see anyone go in or out of the hotel, I was parked outside all night but I didn’t really sleep. I’m kind of an insomniac. All I remember is listening to music in the car, on the radio, and then watching the police come.” “Interesting. If you remember anything else or want to talk to someone, just give me a call, alright?” By this point the men have finished their lunch, and it is nearly time for Nathan to pick up Charlotte from school. Nate stands. “Well, it was good to meet you, Nate. Thanks for lunch.” Dustin says, surprising Nate. He is like a completely different person than he had been when they had met, but in a good way. “You too. See you around?” “Sure.” After picking up Charli from school a few hours later, she launches into the Spanish inquisition. “So, Natey, what did you do today?” “I met with one of the suspects on our case. Dustin, Grace’s foster brother.” “NATE!” Charli shrieks. Panicking, he slams on the brakes, looking frantically around the vacant side street they are currently on. “What?! What’s wrong?” Nathan shouts, still attempting to calm his heart rate down. “You went without me! We are supposed to solve this together! What if you missed something?” Charli whines. Nate rolls his eyes, and puts his foot back on the acceleration. “Char! I almost crashed the car! Don’t yell at me while I’m driving!” He yells exasperatedly. After a moment, Nate takes a deep breath, and apologizes. “Charli, I didn’t mean it. It’s not your fault, but please don’t scare me like that again. Alright?” She nods, noticeably perkier. Nathan may yell, but at least he apologizes. That’s more than her parents do. Nate makes Charli feel wanted, a feeling she craves. She knows her parents argue, and she knows it started when she was born. She hears them, despite what they think. “What did Dustin say?” She asks, changing the subject. “I recorded it, I’ll play it for you when we get home, alright?”
“Great! Was he nice? What did he look like? Do you think he did it? What color are his eyes? A person’s eye color says a lot about them. Did he look you in the eye while he was talking? People who are lying are more likely to look into your eyes, to make sure you believe what they’re saying, did you know that? Nathan, why aren’t you answering my questions?” “Jeez, Char! Give me a chance to answer, maybe I would! I really don’t think he did it, but who knows. He was kind of a jerk, at the beginning, but he’s had a rough life. He has really dark hair, tanned skin, and brown eyes. He looked around the room while talking, but sometimes looked me in the eyes. I don’t think he was lying. And yes, I did know, Char, about the eye thing. Did I answer all of the questions?” Nate smirks. “Oh. Ok. Are we almost there?” Nathan rolls his eyes. “Almost.” Charlotte spends the next ten minutes telling Nate every unimportant detail of her day; what she did during recess, what she colored in art, the comment that the art teacher made on her picture, etc.. Nathan just smiles and is reminded of how lucky he is to have his sister. He thinks of Dustin, and how he must feel now that Grace, his sister, is dead. If Charli had been the one to die, he would lose his mind. He wishes his parents could see how amazing Char is, how intelligent and beautiful and innocent.
“Charli! Want to listen to the tape?” He calls up the stairs after they’ve been home for a bit. Light footsteps thud down the wooden staircase, and she appears in front of him with two Barbie dolls in one hand and a sharpie in the other. Nathan looks at her oddly, trying to figure out why that combination of items would be in her hands. Eventually, she follows his gaze and blushes. “Giving your dolls makeovers?” Nate asks. “No… I’m the medical examiner.” She shyly shows him the dotted lines across the plastic doll’s body. One of her arms has been pulled off. “Oh.” Nate doesn’t quite know what to say to this. “Well, it looks like you’re doing a great job. Have you figured out the cause of death yet?” Her face lights up, and her blonde curls shake back and forth as she gestures ‘no’. “She’s been buried for a while, it’s made the body kind of indistinguishable, but I’m thinking blood loss from the cut off arm. It was definitely done pre-mortem.”
“Gotcha. Any suspects?” “The groundskeeper. I’m pretty sure it was him.” She scowls down at the Ken doll she’s holding, apparently the offending groundskeeper. “Of course. He does look very sketchy.” The doll is kind of creepy looking, with the painted on eyes and plastic smile. He even has teeth. What kind of doll has teeth, anyways? Creepy. To be Continued….
By: Haley Newton
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