“Welcome home dear,” called Audrey's mother. “Your sister baked a cherry pie, would you like me to cut you a piece?”
“Ah, sure!”
In the kitchen, Audrey's mother was at the at the table with a cup of tea, her father in the next seat, intently reading the newspaper as usual. Kate, Audrey's sister, was rushing around the kitchen. And right on the table there was a slice of delicious cherry pie waiting for Audrey.
“Hey!” called Kate. “You'll love it, I guarantee the flavor! There's a knife with the rest of the pie on the table if you want seconds.”
“Wow, what's gotten into you today?” asked Audrey.
Kate laughed, “I've ended up on Food Network while surfing TV a lot lately.”
“If only you could focus that energy on your studies,” her father remarked.
Kate sighed, “Give it a rest already, I've already decided I'm not going to college.”
“I don't have to accept that my daughter intends to waste away her life,” he retorted.
“Now, now,” Audrey said, trying to break the tension. She sat down at the table and grabbed her pie. Audrey's mouth was already watering, the cherries looked much more red and juicy than she expected.
Wait, isn't this too much red?
“DEAR! KATE! OH GOD!!”
Audrey's mother's screams shattered the moment instantly. Audrey looked up to see her father's throat slit across, blood rushing out across the table.
“Ah geez,” Kate started. “You really need to learn to shut up. And what's with that uncaring attitude of yours? Is the paper really more important than your wonderful daughters? Such an obstinate man.”
Audrey was in shock, unable to move. Her mother was in panic, fumbling around with the kitchen phone.
“What are you doing?” Kate said flatly. “All I was doing was grabbing hold of my happiness. This old fool wouldn't stay out of my way. Ah, I know. He was your happiness wasn't he? I won't be mean. Here, you can join him, then you'll be happy together again, right?”
Her mother already dialed 911, but dropped the phone as Kate approached her. She tried to scramble across the floor, but Kate reached down and grabbed her mother by the hair, jerking her head up.
“Good night mother. I loved you.”
“Kate...” Audrey started.
“Don't worry Audrey, you're my ally right?” Kate said. “Now, we have to clean up this mess before the officials get here. Ah, such a pain. I'll turn the stove up and make it look like something burned.”
“Mom... Dad...”
Kate walked over and hugged Audrey from behind, “It couldn't be helped right? We're a family, we're supposed to support each other's happiness. It's not the end of daylight for us as long as we've got each other right? Now hush, close your eyes, big sister's gonna make everything better again. I promise.”
Inspector Gammon looked over the crime scene again. Audrey was outside with the medical crew. She didn't show more than bruises physically, but it was obvious that she had heavy emotional scarring.
“Sir, the autopsy report. Death for both parents was via knife wound to the front of the throat.”
“That much was obvious,” grunted Gammon. “What about the other daughter?”
“It appears she suffered a severe blunt concussion to the back of the head. The time of death is just over thirty minutes before her parents.”
~M~
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