#This takes place in 1981 and I didn't do ANY research on how people spoke back then

[thechairanon]

"I'm getting writing ideas! I'll get back to you with something in a couple of hours" <- the voice of a mf who comes back with the product 17 hours later. But I do have it below the read more! @bookstackanon because you wanted to see :)

[Redacted] had just finished sanding the wood pieces for her new project when her doorbell rang.

She got up, brushed the wood shavings off her apron and pants, and sped over to her door to see who it was.

“(Removed)!” She exclaimed as she flung the door open. “And {Missing}! It’s so nice to see you again, it’s been too long! How are you?”

“Hey, Puppet Girl,” (Removed) said as he swooped his younger sister into a hug. “Are you still making chairs?”

“Oh, get off,” [Redacted] hissed as she wriggled out of her brother’s grasp. She brushed herself off again and turned to the other woman in the room to hug her. “Oh, how have you been?”

{Missing} smiled. “It’s nice to see you again as well. I’m excited to see what you’ve been working on! (Removed) has been too, he just won't admit it.”

“Don’t tell her that, she’ll start to think I actually like her,” (Removed) teased. “Are you excited for the family reunion?”

“Of course I’m excited. It’s the first reunion with {Missing}, and the whole family will be in my house by saturday. It’ll be nice to see everyone again.”

(Removed) ruffled [Redacted]’s hair. “Yeah, we just have to make sure Uncle --Unavailable-- doesn’t bring that freaky string puppet again. Oh, babe, did I ever tell you about how [Redacted] got her nickname?”

“Can you get out of my doorway before you tell your girlfriend about the time you traumatized me for life?” [Redacted] sighed.

“Traumatized?” {Missing} gasped. “You traumatized your sister?”>

(Removed) laughed and led his girlfriend into the living room, [Redacted] close behind them.

In the living room, {Missing} took a seat in a rocking chair, (Removed) sat on an older oak and [Removed] stood leaning in the doorway because there were no more seats left.

“Did you make this?” {Missing} asked as she settled into the cedar rocking chair. “It’s beautiful.”

[Redacted] smiled. “Aww, thank you! The rocking chairs are harder to make, so I don’t usually spend my time on them. The seat (Removed) is sitting in was made by our grandad.”

“Hello? Impatient boyfriend and older brother over here!” (Redacted) said.

“Go ahead,” [Redacted] said, inviting her brother to speak. “Tell your girlfriend about how horrible of a brother you are.”

“Alright, alright,” (Removed) rolled his eyes. “So get this, it was [Redacted]’s sixth birthday, right? Our weird uncle we only ever see for celebrations got her some creepy puppet looking thing he found at some antique shop.”

“It wasn’t a puppet, it was a marionette,” [Redacted] argued. “It had strings and joints and everything.”.

“Only someone named Puppet Girl would know the difference between a puppet and a mari- mar- whatever. The only reason he got the damn thing was because he saw it was double jointed like her.”

{Missing} cringed as she watched [Redacted] move her arms in ways they weren't supposed to go.

“Her knees are like that too,” (Removed) said. “But, uhh… yeah. [Redacted] was terrified of the thing. So I, the best big brother in the whole wide world, decided to move it next to her bed that night and make it look like it was watching her sleep. We woke up to her screaming her head off.”

“That’s horrible,” {Missing} gasped.

[Redacted] nodded. “Oh, absolutely. He told his friends the moment he could. Then his friends told their other friends, and that led to everyone I’ve ever known calling me “Puppet Girl”. The damn nickname has stuck for years. I mean, I’ve tried to get rid of it by taking up baking and solving mysteries and making chairs, but no! I get stuck with “Puppet Girl” for the rest of my life.”

“At least no one is calling you Chair Girl, right?” {Redacted} asked with a nervous giggle.

“Somehow, people just calling me “Chair” is better than Puppet Girl. And my stupid brother hasn’t made it up to me yet!”

“It’s been twenty-two years!” (Removed) objected. “And I have the perfect gift to make it up. I’ll go grab it.”

(Removed) got up and rushed out of the house. [Redacted] watched as he left.

“He doesn’t actually have a gift for me, does he?” She asked.

“No, no, he really does!” {Missing} answered. “He’s been telling me how much you love solving mysteries ever since he found them.”

“Found… what?”

{Missing} smiled. “I’ll let him tell you.”

(Removed) rushed back into the room and handed [Redacted] a cardboard box.

“I found these in the woods,” he said proudly, “thought you’d like to take a listen.”

[Redacted] sat down on the floor and lifted the lid off the box. In said box were an armful of tapes. There were… ten? Maybe fifteen? Tapes in total.

“Maybe you’ll solve a murder,” (Removed) said, grinning. “What do you think, Chair girl?”

Part 2 / Part 3