Event #3 - Wash Away (Tag: Anyone)

[Esmeralda Ortiz]

The blood from Madonna’s stab wound still lingered on Esmeralda's hands as she walked out into the plaza. The last thing she remembered before this was waking up in a corridor...before blacking out in the lounge. She had applied pressure to slow down the bleeding and others had helped her oversee the principal. After the breathing was better, Esme had fled the teacher’s lounge. She had to get some fresh air. She didn’t care about in raining, just something had to be better than wandering in the dark.

She inhaled the smell of rain. In New Mexico, rain was rare. Yet the smell was the same here. It was earthy and clean like a fresh sheet being laid on a soft bed. She would give anything for a bed right now.

Esme held out her blood soaked hands, watching crimson stained droplets of water fall and trail down her outstretched hand. All she wanted was to go home and pretend this never happened. But the reality was it was happening.

[Mint Kensley]

Mint opened his eyes. Where was he? He had grabbed hold of the entrance door when everything had started to shake. Everything went black after that, but now...? 

He was sat leaning against a tree in what appeared to be a park. It was raining. Were it not for his fancy fedora, he'd have his entire face covered in water, but that was luckily not the case. He was about to put his pipe to his mouth before he realized it was missing. In a rush of panic, he quickly searched through his coat. Notepad? Gone. Pen? Gone. Pipe? Gone. Tic Tacs? Gone. It was all gone! Rising up from his seated position by the tree, he scanned the park. Whoever took the items would be around, surely. That was crime investigation rule number 1: Search in the closest vicinity first. His eyes saw mostly greenery and flowers, until they found a girl. A young one too. Being the only other person there, she would have to have been the one taking his items. It was obvious! Fuming, he stepped closer towards the girl, ready to give her a piece of his mind.

"Who the hell do you think you are, young lady?" he shouted sternly, resisting the urge to locate his badge and introduce himself properly. Thieves needed to be confronted quickly and painfully, lest they think it was all okay to steal. "Don't think you'll get away with it, you thi- -" He paused, finally noting the red water running off her hands. No, not water, blood. In light of the new information, he quickly looked at her with fresh eyes. She seemed distressed. This was normal if she had killed someone, since that would certainly distress you. There was a distinct lack of blood for her having killed someone though. Only on her hands. If she had killed someone with her bare hands, she'd have blood on her clothes, but it was remarkably clean. A few specs, but not nearly enough to have been from a fight of any sort. Maybe... Mint cleared his throat. If she was capable of murder, he'd have to not antagonize her. He was older, sure, and a man, but murderous rampage beat skill too often for him to want to try his luck with that.  "... Ahem. Excuse my shouting. Mint Kensley, Private Detective. Who are you, and what has happened here?" He said, in a much calmer tone, hoping for a quick answer. Having been hired to investigate this something happening, he'd have to get started quickly. His items would, sadly, have to wait, even if the familiar nudge for a smoke appeared in the back of his mind. He pushed it away, smiling calmly to the girl. Smiles got answers, that was investigation rule number 7. Keep smiling, and the answers would come. Hopefully.

[Esmeralda Ortiz]

The rain judged washed it all. The blood was going away and Esme inhaled each fresh drop of rain. She was okay...somewhat. That robotic voice had taunted her, and she still remembered how the phone spazzed after she refused to kill Madonna. Why the hell would anyone want to principal dead? Miss Kishi had her job on the line. It would have been way too obvious for the drama teacher to be behind it all. It was stuff that happened in the movies! As Esme as starting to relax, she was startled,


"Who the hell do you think you are, young lady?"

Esme whipped around. Someone was stalking towards her. She had never met the guy, but he looked livid. She folded her hands down and stared levelly.

Don't think you'll get away with it, you thi- -" But when he saw her clearly still blood-watered hands, he stopped shouting. Esme felt annoyed. What did she do that was so wrong? Besides not let Madonna die? She continued to stare at him with her green eyes full of mistrust

“Excuse my shouting. Mint Kensley, Private Detective. Who are you, and what has happened here?"

Mint? What kind of private eye band was Mint? Well, he was better than a cop. Esmeralda wrung her hands, getting out as much blood water as possible. She ran her hands through her hair. Gosh what could she tell this man? Without sounding crazy? A raindrop hit her nose and she took one last breath before answering

“I’m a student in the drama club. We were at a meeting when this...earthquake happened. We’re all scattered around. One minute I’m trying to save a woman who stabbed herself, the next I’m in the hall closest to here.”

[Mint Kensley]

Sadly, answers did not come, just more questions. Always more questions. Her being a student was obvious, but there were more? Mint mentally slapped himself. Of course there were more, this was a school. The last thing she said was very interesting, and raised the most questions of all. Someone had stabbed themselves? Who did that? Why? It couldn't be... 

"Wait... Some woman had stabbed herself? That's nonsense, nobody would do that."  He couldn't let on how intrigued he was by this. Certainly, no one would stab themselves, unless there were someone pulling the strings. Maybe it wasn't a human that had phoned him, maybe it was an E.T. Mint shivered at the thought. He blinked before gathering himself again. "Think sensibly Mint" his psychologist used to tell him, "There's always a natural explanation." Right. Natural explanation. There would have to be one. The girl, she might know more. Lean on her. Yes, that would work. Possibly. You never knew what people knew before you interrogated them. 

"This.. Woman. Who is she?" He waited a bit, before suddenly remembering his manners. "Ah, may I have your name?"

[Esmeralda Ortiz]

"Yeah, well, she did...after I refused to follow a message on my phone asking me to do it."

She scrubbed her face in frustration. All of this was so much to absorb. The guy was a detective and probably just as lost as she was when it came to what was going on. Her phone was still in the corridor where she had woken up. She kicked herself inwardly for her sassiness. He was older than her and with a badge, meaning that he had way more authority than she ever would have. Madonna had nothing on him. Neither did...Miss Kishi. Of course...the letters. But she'd get to that once all the chaos in her head settled down. She took a shuddering breath.

"Her name is Madonna. She's the principal of the school. She said...something about leaving the students alone before..." she couldn't even finish it. "I applied pressure to the stab wound to keep herself from bleeding out. And..."

She was so scatterbrained. Mint asked for her name. Just say it, damn it.

"I'm Esme. Esme Ortiz..."