Brutal

I arrived at the building and stopped near the other detectives cars. I got out of my car and began power walking towards where everyone else was. My boss was pacing back and forth with his head hanging down. He gave me a weak smile when he saw me approaching and motioned me to go inside. As I walked inside the gigantic eerie abandoned factory, a foul smell hit me. It was a smell that after five years I recognized without any problems. Death. It was an odor that I’d at no time ever forget.

When I entered, the first thing I saw was a huge stage. It was a stage that you’d use for some sort of a performance. I could see a girl sitting with a slouch on the stage. The girl’s arms were being held up by what looked like barbed wire. As I walked closer I realized she had light blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes that were wide open. Her jaw was cut from the corners of her mouth up to where her jaws unhinged, but they were sewed up into what almost looked like a sinister smile. The barbed wire that was connected to both her arms and legs were hooked into her skin. I’d never seen a sight like this before. She looked like a marionette. The killer put the girl into a blue beautiful gown. Her hair was up and she had on a blue headband.

Something about this sight looked familiar. It wasn’t the dead girl herself that looked familiar but the way she was dressed did. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I moved the silky blue dress up above her knees and oddly enough she was wearing glass slippers. Suddenly it all clicked in my head. Cinderella. How awkward I thought to myself. Had anyone else noticed this or was I just nuts?

I decided to call over Jamie, the only other girl here. “Jamie, can I ask you something?” Jamie walked over and nodded. We both stood in front of the dead girl and looked at her. I was hoping Jamie would have an epiphany just like I did, but it’d been at least a minute and I had gotten no reaction from her yet.

“She looks like Cinderella.” I finally told Jamie. From my peripheral vision I could see Jamie’s face light up. So, I wasn’t the only one who saw it. The killer got a kick out of hurting princesses? No, that’d be too weird, because they’re just fictional characters. What could a man- or woman want with fictional characters? Was it safe to say that this poor girl would be his only victim? I had too many thoughts going through my mind at this point, so I walked away from the stage the girl was on.

In all my years of experience, nothing like this has ever come up. I didn’t know what to do or how to go about solving a case like this. Half of my mind told me to just quit now. I walked over to my boss. All I did was open my mouth, but nothing was coming out. I wanted to tell him I couldn’t handle this kind of case, but still nothing came out of my mouth. He stared at me with concern in his eyes, I knew I couldn’t let him down, but I think my mental health was more important.