Morbid

Kelly laid in bed and she almost shook from anxiety. One week. She thought. I've been gone for a week and Arnold's already hurt. She sighed and rolled onto her side. If it wouldn't upset mom and dad so much, I'd move there officially. She shook her head. No, even in the fall I can't tell them that I'll be living with Arnold. That would be too much for them to handle.

Kelly didn't realize that not living with him was starting to be too much for her to handle.

*

My poor Arnold! Annie thought as she stared up at the unfamiliar ceiling in the spare room at Kelly's house. He fell and banged his head! He's never done that before! She hugged herself. Maybe... maybe I... no, not maybe. I want to be closer to the college. She thought. Two hours away is much too far to be away from my boy!

Her decision made, Annie resolved to look for a cheap place as close to the campus as possible. The repair work on the house had already started and the estimate the construction foreman gave was another week. The damage wasn't as extensive as they had been worried about and Annie was glad for that. Only parts of the walls, the floor in the living room, and part of the hallway had to be replaced.

Unfortunately, the insurance agent had been right and the porous surfaces in the entire house had to be removed and treated. Almost nothing survived. Kelly's prom dress and Arnold's prom suit were among the worst casualties... as was Annie's wedding dress. She had been saving it, just for the potential, and she was deeply saddened that it was never going to be used, especially since Arnold had found a great girl that deserved to wear it.

The rest of Annie's clothes didn't really matter to her, mainly because they were easily replaceable. Those rare outfits on the other hand were almost irreplaceable. She had told the insurance agent this and Sharon completely understood. She had entered them as treasured items into the inventory of damaged materials and adjusted the insurance claim appropriately.

Of course, the beds and bedding all had to be removed and replaced, as well as all the towels, linens, blankets, pillows, and even the plush cushions on the kitchen chairs. The house looked like it had been gutted and it hurt Annie's heart when she had been led through it on Friday. She had the distinct feeling that it wasn't going to feel like home anymore, and now she knew why.

She had already decided to let it go.

With no Arnold there to keep her grounded, there wasn't much point in staying there. He wasn't going to be living there for years to come, assuming he moved back home after college, and Annie knew she didn't want to wait for years to find out that she should sell it and get a smaller place. It was then that another thought occurred to her.

Maybe Kelly and Arnold will want the house for themselves. Annie thought. It's a good size, especially for a new couple, and it had a second bedroom that could eventually be a child's room. She caught her breath. Children! She hugged herself tighter. They might have children. She thought. Maybe I won't sell it after all.

Annie drifted off to sleep with the happy thoughts of seeing a little Arnold running around.

*

Brad's father was beside himself. He had worked very hard all week as he lobbied the police chief, several lawyers, and even the judge... subtly, of course... for leniency for his only child. It was his first offence of this kind and punishing him by giving him a criminal record with two felony charges was too much for a young man like him to handle. He was an upstanding citizen of the community and was just starting out with his life and didn't need that blotch on his record.

Of course, he didn't believe any of that for a second. He knew what his son was like and had even encouraged him on occasion to let off some steam by going out on the town and having some fun. He was only going to be young once, and what was the point of youth if you weren't going to be a little reckless?

That didn't mean he didn't love his son and he also wanted the best for him. He just hoped that he could mitigate the damage this was going to do to his boy's reputation and that his impassioned plea for a very lengthy term of community service instead of jail time would be accepted. He would find out in the morning and he sat at his desk in his home office and took another drink of bourbon. He sat back in his chair, crossed his arms on his belly, then closed his eyes.

*

Spending the week in jail had been hell for Brad and his friends. Or so they thought. They hadn't ever been treated like common thugs their entire life and it was definitely an eye-opening experience for them. Who they were and their self-important opinions of themselves didn't matter one bit to police officers paid to contain them or to the other people in jail who were actual criminals.

Brad was a little concerned that he didn't see a lot of the others, even though they were being held in the same police station. He was occasionally put into the same holding cell during the day with one of the others, almost as if the police were playing hide and seek with them, then he was brought to the single cell each night and slept on a fairly comfortable bed. He was nervous, because his arraignment was in the morning, so he didn't sleep much.

*

Cissily laid in her bed and wondered how her mother was doing. She didn't want to call, because she didn't want to wake Arnold, not realizing that would be exactly what he would need. She had stared at the poor guy's peaceful face and the huge lump on his forehead and she really wanted to stay there to take care of him.

That was an odd feeling for her, especially since she didn't really know him. She knew his situation, though. No home, working to support his family, had a prudish girlfriend that wouldn't give him the pleasure that every guy wanted, and he was a nice guy. Nice as in the guy next door that you took home to meet mom, because he was respectable and clean cut. He was the kind of guy that any girl would be lucky to marry.

Cissily chuckled at the thought. I'm not just any girl! I'm Cissily Thomas! The best bitch on campus! She thought with amusement. After a few moments, she let out a sigh. Still, I wouldn't mind comforting him for a few nights... or maybe even a week. Yeah, a week would be good. She smiled and closed her eyes.

*

Amy laid in her bed and she wasn't looking forward to work in the morning. Cissily had told her about Arnold falling and hurting himself, with a potential concussion, and that her mother was looking after him. After he worked his fingers to the bone all week and then also going in to work on Sunday, he hurt himself and now he might not be able to work for a day or two, assuming he didn't have a concussion. If he did, he could be off work for a lot longer.

Amy sighed, because she felt responsible, mainly because she had been agonizing over working Arnold so hard all week and she hadn't done anything about it. She hadn't talked to the professor to try and retract her statement about Arnold liking to work so hard. In fact, she didn't even try to reduce the impact that statement had on the professor's attitude towards Arnold.

She reached for her nightstand and opened the small drawer and took out the over-the-counter sleeping pills. They only worked half the time she took them and she hoped that they worked this time. She took two and set her alarm for the morning, then she tucked herself down into bed and closed her eyes as she waited for them to kick in.

*

Officer Charlie Hallman laid in bed and was fast asleep. Unlike everyone else, he had a good day off and hadn't had any troubles. No crisis, no pressing matter, and no worries... except for one. He had wondered how he could casually run into Annie Strickland again.

He formulated several scenarios where he would just happen to meet her near a coffee shop, or coming out of the grocery store, and several others that were a bit ridiculous in their contriveness. He had laughed at them all, dismissed them, and decided to play it by ear. If he just happened to meet her when he was over checking on her house... in an official capacity, of course... then he would strike up a conversation with her and perhaps ask her out.

*

Detective Tanner on the other hand, was in her dining room and stood in front of the white board she had there. On it, she had a nice picture of Arnold in the center. He had intrigued her by not being shaken at the sight of his father's mangled face, and she just couldn't get him out of her head. Everything seemed to remind her of him, and that bothered her. A lot.

Above his picture were two pictures, one of his mother and one of his dead father's mangled face. She needed it as a reminder as to what happened. Their names were written in black marker and lines connected them to each other and to Arnold's picture. Below Arnold's picture was a smattering of other pictures, empty boxes with just names, and lines and arrows all over the place.

It had taken her weeks to get this much from circumstantial evidence, then her talk with Heather Bradshaw cleared up a lot of things and gave her the best background she had on him. Detective Tanner was almost in awe over all of the things that Arnold was either involved in, both directly and indirectly, and all of the other things that revolved around him.

This latest incident where he incited his bullies into committing a felony break and enter, was a master stroke. She wasn't sure how he had figured out that they would incriminate themselves, though. She had to assume that they would have tried to assault him and it was just dumb luck that he wasn't home when they decided to do it.

Detective Tanner smiled at that. He was actually supposed to come home every weekend, according to his friends from high school. She thought and tapped the pictures of the three girls that had been happy to talk about their good friend Arnold. So, he knew he wasn't going to be home. According to Officer Hallman's report of the house incident, his mother and girlfriend came home from the college to find the house in the state it was, which means he also knew his mother wasn't in danger because the house was empty.

Detective Tanner circled Brad's name in red marker and crossed her arms under her breasts. She stood there and looked over the board and all of the connections she had drawn between Arnold and all of the others around him.

It all started with that first fight over Heather and he's finally getting his revenge on you by setting you up for a fall. Detective Tanner thought and stared at Brad's smug face. Even though you deserve it, being elegantly trapped is what's bugging me so much.

She gave the entire board one last look and decided to go to bed. She had an early morning if she wanted to get some work done before she popped over to the courthouse to have a little talk with the prosecutor.

*

Heather laid in her bed and she couldn't fall asleep. She stared at Eric's sleeping face and she was really happy that he was there... mostly. She knew that it was because of Arnold, and she just couldn't get him out of her head. Eric was a pretty good lover and they definitely had a lot of fun; but, he wasn't anywhere near as good as Arnold was, even when she tried to tell him what to do and how to do it. He just couldn't make her feel as good.

She held in her sigh at the thought. Even though she and Arnold played around with each other a couple of times, they had only slept together once... and yet, it had been so much more intense than any other sexual experience for her and it had only been straight missionary sex. The problem was, she didn't know why it had been so good and she couldn't duplicate it with Eric, no matter how many times she tried. Oh, boy, did she try.

Heather smiled at that. She hadn't slept with someone so many times in so short a time before. She had always tried to pace herself, so she was wasn't getting too much of a good thing. She and Eric had used up an entire box of condoms in less than a week, when a box usually lasted for two months or more. She didn't mind that, though. They experimented and it was just different enough each time to keep it interesting.

What bothered her was how her mother had changed her own dress code. She only wore conservative clothes when she knew Eric was going to be around. Loose pants or long skirts were the norm, as were sweaters and tops that concealed her chest. It was really weird for Heather to see such a drastic change in her mother's behavior after years of seeing her not trying to hide her body like Kelly did.

Heather took in a sharp breath when she realized that was what her mother was doing. She's hiding herself from Eric! She thought in surprise. I don't know why, though. She's my mom. Eric would never... well, he'd look, since he is a guy... but... he wouldn't make a pass at her or anything.

It was then that she remembered Arnold and how he acted around them. Her mother walked around in loose clothing that showed off her bra all the time and in tight shorts that showed off her legs or pants that made her look great... and not one bit of it affected Arnold. He didn't react to it at all.

Heather finally understood what her mother meant about being careful about what she said and did around Arnold. He would accept it as normal and would ignore it, because they would want him to.

I even walked around bottomless in front of him and he didn't stare or anything. Heather thought, then she closed her eyes and let out her breath. Mom was right. She admitted, reluctantly. I really did miss a great opportunity by throwing Arnold away over a stupid kiss that he later explained in only seconds.

Heather tried to push her feelings for Arnold aside to make room for the guy she was with. It was a bit more difficult now, because of her revelations, and she drifted off to sleep with the slim comfort that she had someone that almost replaced him.

*

Claire laid in bed and she was very, very horny. Seeing another young man spend so much time in her house with her daughter was daunting, to say the least. She did her best to wear the most concealing clothing she could, so she wouldn't see any lust in her daughter's boyfriend's eyes. If he even looked at her a certain way for an instant, she was pretty sure that she wasn't going to be able to restrain herself.

Oh, god. Claire thought as she rolled around in bed, quite restless. Arnold, what did you do to me?

She wouldn't admit to herself that he had unlocked her desire to have a man in her life, because she had been without a man for so long and didn't realize she had missed having one. Arnold had been so accommodating and accepting of her that she had accepted being his girlfriend without even thinking about it.

Claire had hidden her deep sadness from Heather when she broke up with Arnold, because that had forced Claire to break up with him, too. She deeply regretted both things and now she didn't know what she was going to do. She wasn't someone that did casual sex with a stranger, so that was out. Going after Heather's new boyfriend was also out, since getting away with it once was once more than she thought could happen. Going out to try and date was also out, because men even close to her own age were not what she was looking for. There was only one thing left that she could do.

She had to go and visit Arnold.