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theboywithburninghands · 6 months ago

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Hello and Happy Pride! I have the penultimate chapter of the murder mystery au for you. It’s a doozy, there’s romance and conspiracy and root beer. Enjoy!

T/W: Murder, suicide, mild surgery, emotional abuse, fantasy racism

Animals Ch. 4: Dogs

You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to

So that when they turn their backs on you,

You'll get the chance to put the knife in…

—

Pomni was dimly aware of a deep ache in her side. This pain wrestled her from sleep, and she blinked awake. She looked up, but instead of her apartment’s cheap popcorn ceiling, she saw a ceiling with visible oak joists and beams. She looked down at herself, and saw a red and black checkered wool throw blanket wrapped around her rather than her quilt. She looked around and saw herself in a wood cabin, sparsely decorated. A sturdy wooden table and chairs in the middle of the main room, a braided, dull-colored wool rug laid across the floor to keep one’s feet warm, a brick fireplace with a shovelful of still warm ash in the hearth. Tilting her all the way up, she could see a small CRT television sat on an end table, in front of a cheap brown loveseat with red chenille cushions. It looked like someone had slept there last night, the pillows stacked at one end and a rumpled blue blanket on the couch.

She raised her arm to check her watch. It hurt a lot. She saw that her arm had been wrapped up in elastic gauze, but her watch was still on her wrist, although the screen had cracked. 7:21 AM. She moved the blanket aside with her left hand, her good hand, to look at herself. She was in a black t-shirt too large for her that appeared to be ruined by a bleach stain, and what appeared to be a pair of red long johns, also too big for her.

She heard the flush of a toilet and a door open at the far end of the room, but she couldn’t turn all the way to look without aggravating the pain in her stomach. A heavy pair of boots approached the bed, and she thought about throwing the blanket over her head like a child hiding from the monster in her closet.

“Hey. You’re up.”

A deep and growly voice greeted her. Above her stood a burly rabbit-wolf hybrid in a white collared shirt, black dress pants and a pair of black suspenders. He smiled sheepishly, trying not to show too much of his enormous teeth. She recognized him. He was the butcher shop owner.

His name was… Jax.

“Sorry, I just got back from feeding my livestock…Do you remember what happened last night?” the rabbit asked.

Pomni thought. She came home, and she couldn’t get in her apartment, and then…

“You got attacked by a Nightwalker,” the rabbit-wolf said. “I’m not sure what happened before then, but I found it biting into your side right outside your apartment. I know you probably feel horrible, and I don’t blame you, but you actually got sorta lucky. Nightwalkers like to travel in packs, so you probably ran into one that had wandered off from the group. A juvenile or runt or something.”

Pomni looked at him with big eyes. He cleared his throat.

“We should get you to the hospital as soon as we can. I patched you up as best I could, but I’m no doctor. You prolly need stitches.”

He looked at her again. Neither of them said anything for a moment. Jax’s ears pinned back, and he scratched behind one of them.

“…Uh. You were freezing too, so I had to warm you up by the fire and get you into dry clothes. Didn’t want you to get hypothermia…” His ears perked up. “A-Are you hungry? I can make you some food.”

Pomni opened her mouth to speak, but an eruption of coughing came out of her instead. She winced at the pain that flared in her abdomen when she did, clutching at her belly after her throat was sated.

Jax looked away with a grimace. “I know, I’m sorry… hang on, I might have something for the pain and cough. It’s not much, but…”

Jax looked inside the first aid kit he left sitting on the table. There was a small packet of extra strength aspirin inside that he gingerly opened with his large fingers. He went into his bathroom and found some acetaminophen in the medicine cabinet, filling a small glass cup with water from his kitchen tap. He carried the pills in one hand and the cup in the other.

“Can you sit up? I don’t want you to choke.” he asked.

Pomni attempted to scoot up in bed, but the nerves in her arm flashed with a pain that cut right to her ulna and she whimpered.

“Here, I’ll be quick,” Jax set the pills and water on the table and gently put his paws under her armpits, sliding her up against the headboard. She whined from the brief pain, but she remained sat up as Jax brought a chair over to the side of the bed and picked up the medicine and cup again.

“Open,” he requested. She opened her mouth and he put the pills on her tongue, bringing the brim of the glass to her lips. “Easy…”

She drained the entire thing, panting and then coughing again, her face crumpling in pain.

“That's all I got,” he growled meekly, putting a paw onto her left shoulder.

Pomni panted, sniffed twice through a clogged nose, swallowed, and managed to speak.

“Jax… weren’t you in jail? Did you… escape..?” Her voice was raspy.

Jax smiled a bit, still doing his best to hide his fangs. “Nah, I got bailed out. No idea who did it. My dad’s never seen that much scratch in his life.”

“Zooble wanted to bail you out yesterday but they didn’t have enough money…” Pomni mumbled.

“Sounds like them. Nah, I got no idea who did it. But I’m glad they did, cuz that way I was in time to get that Nightwalker off you. What were you doing outside?” Jax asked.

“I got locked out… Slipped and fell on the steps… I lost my keys at Kaufmo’s house…” Pomni rasped.

“Kaufmo’s house?”

“I went yesterday… I wanted to see if there was…” Pomni had to stop to swallow, smothering another cough. “If there was anything that might implicate someone else for his… you know… murder.”

Jax tilted his head, letting out a short, breathy laugh. “That’s… Uh, why? I mean, thank you, but-”

“Because you didn’t do it. I know you didn’t do it. Those detectives… I saw the way they looked at you. It wasn’t fair…”

Pomni bit down on her left hand’s fingernails. “But… if you got bailed out, then it was for nothing, wasn’t it..?”

“No,” Jax leaned forward a bit. “That’s… I don’t think any stranger’s ever stuck their neck out for me like that. Thank you.”

Jax smiled again. It was too wide to hide his large, frightening teeth, but Pomni’s pale face became dusted with pink anyway.

“We didn’t find anything anyway before the repo men got there. Just a bunch of pills and a scrap of burnt up paper someone flushed down the toilet…” she wheezed.

Pomni coughed again, groaning at the pain it caused her. Jax rubbed her shoulder.

“We should go to the hospital. I’m not all that hungry right now… But I don’t know if I can walk.” Pomni admitted. “Is it cold out?”

“Uh, I can turn the weather on.”

Jax got up from his chair and pressed the power button of his television with a hollow tink sound. The screen hissed to life, and the audio kicked in.

“-surprised everyone yesterday when he posted bail for Mr. Kingston.”

Jax’s eyes widened somewhat, and he sat down on the loveseat. The same news anchor that was interviewing Jax’s dad on Main Street yesterday now stood in front of the police station. The scene cut to Autumnvale’s mayor, a teeth-humanoid in an impeccably tailored red suit jacket and yellow scarf, standing at a podium in front of town hall.

“The people of Autumnvale have made their stance quite clear. The persecution of crossbreeds is already intolerable enough as it is, and the demonstration out here has shown that Autumnvale is just as tired of it as I am. Therefore, due to my dissatisfaction with the investigation and the evidence, I posted Jax Kingston’s bail yesterday evening.”

The crowd erupted into equal parts cheers and shouts of protests. The picture cut back to the news anchor.

“Police informed ADC news this morning that Mr. Kingston was privately released at 6:15 last night to avoid a scene. The detectives who arrested Mr. Kingston, as well as Kingston himself, have yet to be reached for comment.”

Pomni couldn’t quite turn to look due to her injuries, but she heard Jax give a short, incredulous laugh.

“I’ll be goddamned… Mayor Mason actually did it.”

He gave another short laugh, switching channels on the television to the weather.

“Do you know him..? The mayor?” Pomni asked. She couldn't help but smile right along with the butcher.

“He saved me. He found me when I was a baby, after my fake parents abandoned me. He also helped these grow in.”

Jax showed off his entire maw of razor sharp teeth. Pomni couldn’t help but shiver, despite how kind he had been. When something had big teeth, it was scary, a primal feeling buried deep in her animal brain.

“Is that… a good thing?” Pomni asked.

“Suuure it is. I’m part wolf, meat’s part of my diet. Plus, if I didn’t have that passion, I never would have opened the best butcher shop in the country.”

Pomni smiled again. “Well, I’m happy for you. But we still don’t know who actually did it… Killed Kaufmo I mean.”

“That can wait. You need the hospital. The only issue is, it’s not getting above 23 degrees today, and your snow clothes got… really messed up.”

Jax picked up her puffer jacket with the massive hole ripped in the side from off the table, and in his other hand, showed her fleece and black long sleeved shirt, the blood had dried on both to the point that it would probably never come out in the wash, unless said wash contained antimatter.

“Ohhh… my mom bought those for me…” Pomni said weakly. “They were part of my going away present…”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know how to sew.” Jax replied. “Ragatha might, but I don’t even think she could fix a mess this bad… But the good news is, I’ve got spare winter stuff. I used to wear it as a teenager, but it’ll probably still be big on you…”

He went over to the wood trunk at the foot of the bed and opened it, the hinges squeaking. After a few moments of rustling, he got out an insulated brown leather jacket with cream fur trim, a gray trapper hat and baggy, dark green squall pants.

“It’s not Gucci, but it beats freezing.” Jax said.

“You know what? That’s fine with me-” Pomni had another coughing fit, clutching her midsection in pain.

“Fuck..!” she exclaimed.

Jax rose to his feet, putting the chair back under his table. “Yup, that’s my cue to get you to the hospital. You need help getting dressed?”

“Uh… no, I uh…” she stammered with a blush.

“Look, I already cleaned you up and got you changed into dry clothes last night, so it’s no big deal. I don’t want you torturing yourself over pride or anything.” Jax said, looking up at the ceiling.

“I mean… I can do it. Just… if I need help, I’ll… call you? I guess?”

“Sure. I can hang out in the bathroom. Just holler if you need anything, okay?” Jax said. He set the clothes down on his bed, tucked his hands into the pockets of his work pants and stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

It took a good fifteen minutes and a great deal of whinging on her part, but Pomni got herself dressed. The only thing that hadn’t been swapped for something dry and warm was her underwear, which she silently appreciated quite a bit. She examined the bandages on her belly, which were reddish-brown with blood, but otherwise fairly clean. The wounds on her forehead and back had been washed and bandaged as well, although a few locks of her hair were quite sticky with dried blood. She needed a shower when it was safe to take one.

“Okay, I’m done.” Pomni called out, sitting on Jax’s bed.

Jax exited the bathroom and smirked upon seeing Pomni.

“I know, I know, I look like I’m wearing my dad’s clothes.” Pomni sighed.

“You look cute.” Jax replied.

Pomni felt her cheeks warm up. “Th-Thanks… so, are we just gonna call an ambulance? Since I don’t feel strong enough to walk…”

“Haven’t got a phone. I can walk you there.” Jax said. “What would be the most comfortable way for me to carry you?”

“You don’t have a car..? Or a horse?” Pomni asked.

“Nope. I get everywhere on my own two feet. When you’ve lived in this backwater as long as I have, you get good at moving around quickly and quietly.”

Pomni sighed. “Okay, fine. I guess we don’t have a choice, really.”

“What? Are you worried I’ll drop you? I carried you all the way here before, didn’t I? While running.”

Pomni sighed. “Okay. But before we go, can we get my keys? I know they’re still sitting there under his back window…”

“I’ll get ‘em after I drop you off. Hospital first. Come on, upsy.”

Jax scooped Pomni up carefully, placing his hands around the gash on her back. Pomni made a faint squeak in surprise, but luckily, he didn’t aggravate her wound. He must have gotten really good at picking up dead weight over the years.

“Shit, you’re tiny. Like lifting a bag of corncobs.” Jax grinned. Up close his teeth were even bigger than they looked, each one about the length of a toothpick.

“Yeah, well… you stink.” Pomni shot back. “You always use bacon grease as soap?”

Jax laughed. His chest bounced. “As if you can smell anything right now.”

“I can smell you. You ever thought about bathing once every few years?” Pomni covered her nose, but her smirk betrayed a playfulness to the gesture.

He opened the door to outside, shutting the door behind him and locking the door. Impressively, he balanced her on one palm and still managed to keep his hand off her back wound.

The morning air was freezing, as expected. Pomni felt a wave of shivers roll through her body upon feeling the bitter winter cold again. She felt her body gearing up for another coughing fit and clapped her hands over her mouth.

“Don’t worry, I gotcha…” Jax said.

She let out a painful, barking cough into her gloves. She winced from the pain, which was only mildly dulled from the pill Jax gave her. As it finally subsided, she turned her head to the side and spat a gob of phlegm into the snow.

“Nice shot,” Jax chuckled.

“Mmmrrrrgh…” was the only thing Pomni managed to say. She rested her cheek against his chest. The warmth felt good.

—

While Dr. Wren’s office was the town psychiatric clinic, Autumnvale Regional Medical Center was where citizens were treated for injuries or sickness. It was a small building not too far from town, only one floor with twenty beds, five nurses and three doctors.

The nurse at the reception desk did a double take from her pulpy romance novel when a six foot tall rabbit-wolf entered the lobby, carrying what looked at first like a bundle of clothes, but was actually an adult woman.

“She fell down some stairs and got attacked by a Nightwalker. I did my best to patch her up, but she needs real medicine and stitches. It hurts for her to walk, too.”

The nurse narrowed her eyes at Jax before looking at Pomni. “You… fell down some stairs..?”

Pomni caught on immediately and rolled her eyes. “Yes, I fell down some stairs. He didn’t do this to me. He saved my fucking life, actually.”

She let out another barrage of coughs and groaned in pain, Jax smiling gratefully at her,

The nurse soon had Pomni in a wheelchair, taking her to the emergency room. The surgeon, a Persian woman almost as short as Pomni with rectangular glasses and bright red lipstick, tended to her. She applied some local anesthesia to Pomni’s belly and removed the bandages, Pomni only feeling a faint rip as her skin had gone totally numb.

“You know, these are cleaned and dressed quite professionally,” the surgeon said as she removed the gauze from the bite mark with a pair of forceps. “Your friend out there did a fine job. So, tell me what happened?”

Pomni thought a moment. It was easier to focus now that the pain had finally been put on mute. “There was this… I don’t want to call it a dog, it had hooves and no hair…”

“Nightwalker,” the surgeon said, picking up her suturing needle and threading it with Kevlar. “Awful monsters, they are. They come in all different shapes and sizes. Some of them move on two legs, like people. Some of them have too many arms and legs.”

“Uh huh. Well it came over and bit me, hard. It must have seen I was already hurt. But Jax… he got it with a knife and carried me to his house. I would’ve bled out or froze without him…”

Pomni coughed, the nurse giving her a menthol drop to soothe her throat so she wouldn’t jostle the surgeon’s needlework.

“Well, we’re all glad you’re safe. Did you ever find your keys?” the surgeon asked with a slight smile.

“No, but I know where they are…” Pomni said, sucking on the menthol drop. It felt great on her throat but tasted like chemical honey. “Jax said he’d go get them.”

“Well, that’s good. I’m glad you have someone who can look after you here, even if you’re from out of town…” the surgeon said as she cut off the thread with a pair of scissors before moving to the next bite. “Your wounds aren’t infected, but we are going to give you a tetanus and rabies shot just in case. I’m also going to give you some painkillers, are you allergic to any medication?”

“I have a sulfa sensitivity,” Pomni said. “Oh, I am on antidepressants though… I have the pills in my apartment.”

“We can probably give you some if we have any in the hospital pharmacy. I’ll have to check if they haven’t expired. Have you had anything to eat?” the surgeon inquired.

“No. Since my stomach doesn’t hurt right now, I could go for something to eat. I also need to call my parents. Man, they’re gonna be pissed…”

“Don’t be silly, they’ll be worried and relieved. I’ve seen it happen plenty of times.” the surgeon replied as she started on the next wound.

Pomni sighed. She supposed the surgeon was right, but she really hoped that her parents didn’t panic and want to take her back home. She was four hours away from the big city anyway, it wasn’t like it was a short trip for them. She had work to do as well, not just for school.

—

Jax sifted through the snow under Kaufmo’s back window. The drift wasn’t as heavy due to a colossal pine tree that had probably been here since before the town was even founded, but it was enough to hide a small object like keys.

Eventually, he found a few bits and bobs that might be in a lady’s purse buried in an inconspicuous patch of snow: a half eaten roll of breath mints, a bobby pin, and a ring of keys. Jax held up the keys between his thumb and pointer finger. It was one of those flimsy 99 cent things you could buy at any gas station, with two keys and a little charm dangling off one side. The charm appeared to depict a little blue smiling face with black eyes and sharp teeth.

“Hm. Cute,” Jax said to himself as he tucked the keys into his pocket. He looked into the window . So she had really gone in there looking for clues, huh? Brave of her, if careless. Well, now that the government repossessed all of Kaufmo’s things (he probably didn’t have a will), whatever clues there may have been were long gone.

That is, unless the cleaners hadn’t come yet.

Jax shaded his eyes and looked into the window. Too dark to tell. He tried the window. It was locked. He tried again, a little harder. It didn’t move. He tried again with his full strength. There was a loud twuuuuuung accompanied by the sound of metal clinking across a wooden floor, and the window slid open. Jax double checked to see if anybody was around, then climbed inside.

There wasn’t any furniture at all in the condo, really. The refrigerator in the kitchen appeared to be the only thing left. The hardwood was covered in gritty bits of crud that must have been under rugs, dust bunnies and a couple bits of loose change and chewed pen caps that had lived under couches and chairs for who knows how long. It smelled dusty and lonely. Jax rubbed his nose.

He took a brief look inside the bathroom. It was still a bit grimy, but otherwise empty. He checked the mirror cabinet. Empty. He opened the toilet lid, then closed it. Yeah, he wasn’t about to go sticking a paw in there, sorry Pomni.

He checked the last room, the bedroom. It was the only room with carpeting, and thus Jax could see where everything used to be thanks to the impressions in the floor. A bed, a dresser, something like a bookshelf or wardrobe. That was it. There was another window to the outside, but it wasn’t like you could take those out of the house too. Nothing in the closet either.

He turned to leave out the window he came through when his boot kicked something tiny on the carpet, about the size of a pebble you’d put in an aquarium. It skittered across the carpet and tapped the wall, coming to rest after rolling a short distance. Jax picked it up and held it towards the light filtering through the window.

A capsule, half blue and half orange. The blue side marked with a string of letters, TEBA, the orange marked with numbers, 7199. He sniffed it. Smelled like… the floor. His sense of smell was good, but he couldn’t pinpoint what a pill was for just by sniffing it once. He put it in his back pocket for later, then stepped out of the window into the snow. Maybe Pomni knew what it was for, or one of the doctors at the hospital. He crunched up the sidewalk back towards the hospital. He was always thankful for his fur, it was like having a coat year-round.

“KINGSTON!”

Jax’s long ears sprung straight up upon hearing a voice call for him. He growled and turned, expecting to see Trevor or some other goon waiting to pick a fight for “getting off easy.”

Instead, it was two people on a striped horse. The person in the rear clambered off the back and ran forward, a chess piece shaped fellow in a red flannel jacket and bucket fishing hat.

“Jax..! Oh, my boy!” Kinger threw his hands around Jax’s burly torso and pressed an ear to his chest, squeezing him with all his might.

“Dad..! Hey, I’m sorry I didn’t…” Jax began. He could feel Kinger’s breath and shoulders hitching.

“We all thought they were gonna put you away forever, Jax…” Kinger whispered, tears running down his face.

“…I did too, dad.” Jax replied tenderly. He hugged the old man back as tight as he could without hurting him. His real dad.

“I’m so glad you’re here…” Kinger sobbed.

“Me too… I’m sorry I didn’t call, really. Something huge came up, I- OOF!”

Jax felt a fist box him in the side. He looked over to see Zooble, their fist raised and quaking.

“Something came up, huh? It better have been life or death, you stupid! Meathead! Asshole!” Zooble punctuated the last three words with three more sharp blows to the side. Jax’s arms were still around his adoptive father and thus too preoccupied for a counter hit.

“Zooble, cut it out already, that shit hurts! Sorry dad…”

The cowboy relented with a huff and hugged Jax as well. The butcher rolled his eyes, but smiled and put an arm around them too.

“So what was so important you couldn’t let your friends and family know you were outta jail?” Zooble demanded.

“That art student girl, Pomni, she- I was on my to vi- I was on my way home and I saw her getting attacked by a Nightwalker. She needed help.” Jax explained.

Zooble withdrew and tilted up their hat incredulously. “Wait, Pomni? Seriously?! I just saw her yesterday, we were casing Kaufmo’s place over there for any evidence that might get you off the hook? She got attacked! Shit, man, I hope it wasn’t ‘cause I left her behind…”

“Good job son! Killing a Nightwalker all on your own… your mother would have been proud!” Kinger said, at last releasing Jax and wiping his eyes.

“I know she would’ve, dad… But no, it wasn’t you, Zooble. She lost her keys.” Jax held up and jingled Pomni’s keychain. “She’s in the hospital now if you want to see her. I had to keep her from bleeding to death last night…”

“Ugh. What a fuckin’ mess… Sorry, Kinger. I’m glad she’s okay though.” Zooble said, putting their hand and hook on their hips.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Jax,” Kinger said. “And good for you for helping a stranger. I raised you right.”

“You know she’s got a crush on you, right?” Zooble added, a smile in their voice. Jax arched an eyebrow.

“What? Don’t be stupid. She’s just thankful someone was around to save her skinny little butt.”

“Ohhhh no no, we figured it out yesterday. She’s got a huuuge crush on you. I bet she thinks you’re her knight in shining armor now.” Zooble elbowed the butcher in the side.

Jax scoffed, but there was an unmistakable shy smile on his face for a moment before it turned into a smirk.

“A crush, huh? You mean like the kind you have on Gangle?”

Zooble rolled their eyes. “This again? Don’t try and change the subject, man.”

“I’m not. I’m very much still on the subject of crushes. In fact, I think I was just thinking about what those flowers left by Kaufmo’s house were originally for. There was a card left in the bouquet.”

Jax removed a small paper card with elegant lavender cursive written on it from his back pocket. Zooble somehow turned even more pink.

“Let’s see, ‘To Gangle, From Your Secret Admirer,’ with two little hearts after it! How cute! Now who do ya think coulda left that there, hm?”

Zooble flicked the card out of Jax’s paw and pulled the brim of their hat almost entirely over their face, climbing up onto ZigZag.

“We’ll meet you at the hospital, FangFace. I’m gonna go tell Ragatha about what happened and hope she doesn’t swoon.”

“You better tell Gangle too. Unless you’d rather send her a card, ‘Secret Admirer.’” Jax leered, feral teeth on full display.

He ducked an apple thrown at his head, waved goodbye to his dad, and watched the two of them ride off into the distance.

Jax put his hands in his pockets, smiling a little less wickedly to himself. So, she had a crush, huh? He couldn’t think of a time anyone had ever liked him like that. There had been a few disgusting remarks thrown his way by some of the lint-brained, redneck wife-beaters that hung around the bar and hardware store. It must have been some kind of weird sexual racism thing, where you hate someone for their race but at the same time think they’re hot. Gangle told him about it once. He didn’t much care why. The mouths that issued those taunts now had significantly less teeth or tongues in their heads anyway.

But… he was alright with this. He liked her too, and it felt good. For ages, he didn’t understand stories with romance in them. Putting your mouth on someone else’s mouth and calling them cute things always felt weird and sort of childish to him.

But… Now he got it. Maybe he could try doing those things with her, if she was okay with it. He’d have to watch his teeth though.

—

Pomni had been on the phone with her mother for almost 30 minutes. The nurse, a sheep woman, had sat her in a wheelchair and trundled her down to the white corded phone on the wall.

“Of course I understand, mom, but I’m not going home… Because I’m okay on my own… I’m 25, mom! If something happens with my stitches, I’ll just call an ambulance… Yes, they have ambulances here, mom, they’re not Amish… Mom, I have insurance, you helped me set it up! I’m not going to max out my copayments, I- look, can I talk to dad? Well, when’ll he be home..? Oh, okay. You didn’t tell him I was in critical condition or anything, right? Thank you.”

Ragatha sat nearby, reading the newspaper. She had, of course, dropped everything and closed the café when Zooble informed her about Pomni’s ordeal, rushing over to the hospital to check on her. Ragatha had tried to call Pomni twice the previous evening to let her know about Jax being bailed out, and was nervous the rest of the night upon not getting an answer back. Sitting here and keeping an eye on Pomni helped curb some of the guilt she felt, however irrational it was.

“Everyone locks their doors around 6:30 or 7:00 around here, and now I kinda understand why… I’m only joking, mom… Um, I don’t know about tonight, it’s a four hour drive. Okay. Okay, well, if you’re dead set on coming tonight, leave ASAP, and book the room now. Like, now now. I know you’re worried, mom, but I don’t want you or dad getting hurt… Uh… Shoot, I don’t know the name of the inn. Do you want to talk to Ragatha? She can help. I need something to drink, anyway, my throat hurts... It’s just a cold, mom. Okay, here she is. Love you too, talk in a sec.”

Ragatha was over by the phone in a heartbeat, Pomni handing it off to her and wheeling her way down the hall towards the drink machine.

“Hi, Ella! Holding up okay?” Ragatha said in her sweetest voice. “Oh, I understand, all of us are shaken up. But she’s a tough girl, she’s doing awesome. Okay, you got a pencil?”

Pomni reached the humming drink machine and took her pocketbook out of her purse. She shook out a few coins into her palm, sorted out three quarters and poured the rest back in. She reached up to the machine’s coin slot gingerly and dropped in two quarters. The surgeon told her to not bend too far up or down to keep from popping any stitches, so she had to awkwardly push the coins in with the very tip of fingers to avoid stretching her arm out. The last quarter slipped off her finger and chinged onto the floor, rolling a few feet away before laying tails-side up.

“Goddamn it…” Pomni rolled her eyes and reopened her pocketbook. She didn’t want to risk ripping her sutures.

“Here,” a deep voice said.

Pomni looked up to see Jax picking up the quarter and sliding it into the coin slot. From her sitting position, he looked even taller.

“What do you feel like?” he asked, hovering a finger over the selection buttons.

“Root beer, thanks,” Pomni said with a smile.

Jax pressed the appropriate button with his thumb, the machine whirring for a moment before a silver can of Barker’s Root Beer clunked noisily into the vending slot. Jax picked up the can and cracked the pop top. He sniffed it and recoiled.

“Smells like medicine,” he said as he handed it off to Pomni.

“I just took painkillers, a decongestant and my anti-depressants, I know what medicine tastes like.” Pomni smirked.

She took three long swallows of root beer, the manufactured hyper-sweet taste like ambrosia after the pills and bland hospital food, the cold and prickly bubbles easing the dryness of her throat. She belched, grimacing in disgust and putting a fist to her mouth.

“Euck- okay, that tasted like medicine…”

Jax laughed a bit, then reached into his pocket and offered Pomni her keys. “These are yours, right?”

“You found them…”

As she took the keys , she turned over his large paw and placed a small kiss on his knuckle. Jax looked at the back of his hand like it had suddenly grown an extra finger.

“Sorry,” Pomni giggled, blushing. “Was that too much?”

“No, it… I just… I’ve only ever gotten those from my mother.” he replied distantly.

Pomni smiled. For all his razortooth smiles and talk of blood and butchery, there still existed something warm and fragile inside that bulky frame.

“I could give you one on the lips too, if you wanted.” Pomni said, keeping her gaze on the floor.

Jax’s moon yellow eyes widened somewhat. He scratched the back of his head and looked at the ceiling for a moment before looking back down with a short laugh.

“Why?” he asked.

“I want to,” Pomni answered without hesitating.

Jax opened his mouth to answer. He found he had no words. He gently gripped the armrests of Pomni’s wheelchair and lowered his upper body down to her eye level. Up close, he looked… fluffy. Downright huggable. His eyes, usually so laser-focused and piercing, darted about.

Pomni went for it. She leaned in carefully and laid a chaste kiss on the rabbit-wolf’s lips. Jax’s ears pinned back, but his eyes closed with hers for the moment it lasted.

The kiss broke, only lasting a moment or two, and the two of them stared at one another.

“My breath wasn’t bad, was it?” Jax asked with a sheepish, sharp-toothed smile.

“It can’t have been any worse than mine, I haven’t even brushed my teeth today.” Pomni replied.

The two of them laughed shyly, before Pomni touched her forehead with Jax’s and closed her eyes.

“Thank you for everything…” she whispered.

“Pomni, hun! Your dad is on the phone!” Ragatha called from around the corner.

“Coming!” she replied, her voice still slightly weak. She gave Jax one more grateful smile before turning her chair around and wheeling towards the corner.

“Oh! Pomni, wait! I found something at Kaufmo’s house.” Jax took hold of one of the push handles to keep Pomni from leaving, taking the capsule out of his back pocket. “Look. You said he dumped all his medicine, right?”

Pomni handed Jax her drink as she took the pill from his paw.

“Oh. Yeah, this is- this is like the kind I take! It’s Prozac. Or the generic version of it, at least. It-”

Pomni blinked, then held the pill closer to her eyes and squinted. She thought for a moment before she gasped and covered her mouth.

“What?” Jax asked urgently.

“I think I know what happened to Kaufmo.”

“What? Seriously? You’re not just-”

Pomni nodded feverishly. “I think I’m onto something. But there’s one thing I need you to do for me before we go pointing any fingers.”

Pomni handed Jax back the pill, whispered something to him, then wheeled forward, only for Jax to grab a push handle again.

“Wait, how am I supposed to convince them to do that?!” Jax demanded.

“Use their biggest weakness against them. Be scary.” Pomni said with a smile before wheeling around the corner.

“Ragatha! Do you have any idea how to get in contact with ADC?”

2 hours later…

The news anchor checked her makeup one last time before taking her mark, in front of the hospital by the double door entrance. The protestors from the previous day had gathered outside, some carrying signs congratulating Jax, others had signs asking for more justice to be served on the part of crossbreeds. The news anchor tapped her earpiece.

“We’re rolling? Okay- Thanks, Rob, many folks in Autumnvale, including myself, were floored to hear this afternoon’s story. 22-year-old Jax Kingston, proprietor of the town butcher shop, faced arrest on suspicion of murder only yesterday. However, Autumnvale’s Mayor Caine Mason posted Kingston’s half-a-million dollar bail out of his own pocket, citing ‘dissatisfaction with the evidence and investigation.’ And it would appear that Mr. Kingston did something truly heroic not fifteen minutes after he was released from the town jail.”

The footage cut to B-Roll of a young woman in a hospital bed talking to a nurse.

“25-year-old grad student Pomni Freeman found herself in a life or death situation at 6:30 last night, when she fell down the flight of stairs outside her apartment and encountered a juvenile Nightwalker waiting for her at the bottom.”

It cut to Pomni laying in her bed. She looked quite tired.

“It just walked up and bit me in the stomach. Like it was the most natural thing in the world…” she said.

“It must have been terrifying. Can you even describe how you felt?” the interviewer said from off camera.

“Like I was going to die. Alone, cold and screaming…” Pomni replied dourly.

The news anchor continued.

“But, in a miraculous stroke of luck, Kingston heard her screaming and rushed in.”

It cut to Jax being interviewed. He loomed over the entire news crew. The boom mic operator had to stand on a stepladder.

“I got the monster off of her, then I got her somewhere safe.” he grunted.

“How did you feel?” the interviewer asked.

“…Afraid.” he responded after a lengthy pause. “Afraid for her.”

It cut to B-Roll footage of the mayor, Caine Mason, at his desk, working on some important-looking paperwork.

“ADC was informed of these events via an anonymous tip just a few hours after the mayor announced that he bailed out Mr. Kingston, ”

It cut to Caine, at his desk, fingers knit together.

“Hopefully this will serve as an example of how crossbred people are just as deserving of our respect as anyone else. This is a landmark moment.” he said.

The camera cut back to the news anchor.

“But not everyone agrees, Rob. As you can see, some townsfolk have gathered outside Autumnvale Regional Medical Center behind me, some to celebrate Mr. Kingston’s achievement, others to-”

There was a commotion behind the anchor. The crowd appeared to be agitated by something occurring at the entrance.

A shape humanoid in a green and yellow poncho and cowboy hat had wrestled the megaphone out of Dr. Wren’s hand, shouting into it.

“EVERYONE LISTEN UP! Pomni Freeman has an important announcement regarding the…uh…”

They paused, looking at a nearby woman made of ribbons and a white mask for help. She whispered a few things to them, and they spoke up again.

“…regarding the encouraged suicide of Kaufmo.”

The news anchor waved at her cameraman, “Keep rolling, keep rolling!”

Pomni Freeman, still in her wheelchair but wearing a brown leather jacket and a gray trapper hat, both too large for her, and rolled over to take the bullhorn. Jax stood right beside her.

“Test, test… Okay. Uh. Hi, everyone. I can’t talk very loud, I have a cold. Uh, as you know, Jax Kingston has been the chief suspect in this case. But… I’ve uncovered some evidence that proves otherwise. I know I’m not a cop, and I’m willing to sacrifice my scholarship for the evidence I’ve obtained. The truth is… Kaufmo really did just kill himself.”

She held up a small blue and orange capsule.

“Uh, this is Fluoxetine Maleate, also called Prozac. It’s an SSRI that helps with anxiety and depression. Kaufmo took these just as I take them, every morning. The one I’ve got right here, it’s a fake. A placebo. I had Jax ask one of the doctors to check and make sure it was a real pill, pretending it was one of the ones I got from the pharmacy. I’m… sorry I lied to the hospital staff, but you wouldn’t have believed me if I had just asked you to analyze it. I have the proof right here…”

She held up some complicated looking paperwork.

“What tipped me off was the letters and numbers on the capsule. Anyone that takes generic Prozac will tell you the pattern on the capsules is always TEVA-7189. This one says TEBA-7188. It’s just a capsule of sugar.”

There was a murmur in the crowd.

“Kaufmo was on fake antidepressants. That’s why he killed himself. He was taking all different sorts of medication, but he wasn’t improving. So… he gave up. He decided to end it… Nothing was helping… But why? Why was it all phony?”

She turned slowly to glare at Dr. Wren.

“I know what you did, you twisted fuck.”

“What I- excuse me?” Dr. Wren replied.

“You call yourself a doctor? You gave Kaufmo placebos for who knows how long, so his depression got worse. Then, when the poor man offed himself, you dumped the fake pills, and replaced them with real ones in case someone ever tried testing them. I found all those pills you flushed down the toilet!

“But that wasn’t the only thing you flushed, was it? Nope. You burnt something and flushed it down the toilet too. Right? What was it? Something to push him over the edge even further. Hate mail? Some kind of threat? Something that would make him lose all hope. The final nail in the coffin for him to end it all.”

Dr. Wren had gone red in the face. “Young lady, these are completely baseless allegations! How can you say something so-”

“I’m not done! Then, when he hung himself from that pine tree, you slit his arms with one of Jax’s knives, hid the knife badly so the cops would find it and blame Jax, and then you waited for him to get arrested so you could send out a rallying cry to aaall these people who actually wanted to help, and you could look like a hero. Well, I hate to tell you, Dr. Wren. You’re not a hero. You’re a freak! All you did was bully a man that everyone loved into killing himself, then you made the guy who was already the town pariah into the main suspect because it looked good to defend him!”

“Stop this right now! You’re demeaning an entire movement with your lies! You don’t-” Dr. Wren let out an incredulous laugh. “You don’t have any proof that one word of your insane story is true!”

“You’re right… I don’t,” Pomni replied. “None of this has any hard evidence, there’s not even any proof that this pill came from Kaufmo’s house. Just my word. But guess what? You’re the only one that can prescribe anti-depressants around here, and I’ve got proof that these didn’t come from the hospital pharmacy and that they’re fake! I don’t care if you don’t get convicted! I don’t care if this all gets thrown out in court and you walk! You’re DONE. I know that you’re guilty! And now everyone else knows you’re guilty! Here in town and out in tv-land!”

Pomni pointed the bullhorn at the news crew, who were still rolling. She turned back towards Dr. Wren, whose face had bleached.

“Congratu-fuckin’-lations! You made a good movement look worse and you took a man’s life away! Was it worth it? Do you feel like a hero?!”

Pomni devolved into a coughing fit, dropping the bullhorn to the ground with a clatter. Jax held her handkerchief to her mouth, then wheeled her back towards the hospital entrance, the cowboy and ribbon woman following after them. A growing murmur began to rise in the crowd, Dr. Wren staring dead-eyed into space. The news anchor turned back to the camera and swept her hair out of her face, clearing her throat.

“Well. I guess that’s back to you, Rob.”

#the amazing digital circus #funnybunny #jax x pomni #tadc jax #tadc pomni #oh no cringe #the amazing digital murder mystery #rottentricks #tadc ragatha #tadc kaufmo #tadc zooble #tadc caine #tadc gangle #tadc kinger

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