Author: Lachiel Vaher

The Hook to my next MotW mystery, my group will be playing next week. [ Edited for Spelling “I suck”]

Hook “Blood In the SNOW”

Mystery Set in the fictitious town of: Bear Bone Alaska

They say that the Inuit People have over fifty different words for snow. Whatever the terminology may be, tonight’s dusting is thick, cold and wet, and the air is frigid with a sharp biting wind that comes in sudden and frequent arctic gusts, it is in fact, much like it had been for the previous hours, days and weeks, welcome to Bear Bone Alaska.

In the snow swept gloom, the parking lot of the Cariboo Bar, is hardly discernible from surroundings except for being bathed in the neon hue of the Cariboo Bar’s main sign hung above the clubs front porch. The only other illumination comes from a halogen street lamp several hundred feet away across the street from the parking lot.

The tranquil night and drifting snows are only disturbed by the low throb of base through thickly insulated walls, along with the muffled distant chatter of the evening crowd, carried away into the night by the Simi-constant howl of the wind between the buildings and surrounding pines, the only sounds that hang in the night air.

Suddenly the large wooden front door of the bar, a pine monstrosity that speaks of the decadence of ages past, just as it is suggestive of the low budget junkshop origin of a door that has broken and replaced countless times, burst violently open, spilling into the gloomy cold, subdued mood lighting awash in a verity of colors and pulsing, overly loud club music.

The bar’s bouncer, a burly Inuit man named Kuk’uq burst forth from the bar dragging behind him, a reluctant unruly drunkard by his shirt. Giving the man a surprisingly genital shove, and in almost the same motion, tossing him with his other hand, the man’s heavy down parka, Kuk’uq smiles with a friendly grin and says ” That will be enough Thomas!, now go home!, sleep it off,, you can apologize to Aput tomorrow”.

Thomas while not in the same weight class as Kuk’uq, is himself a very large fellow, this gives a slightly comical affect as he staggering about in the snow, trying to pull on his heavy parka on, succeeding with some difficulty to shield himself from the sudden and unwanted cold. Steading himself as best he can. Thomas starts to slur out what he thinks is an appropriately quippy retort, which in his whisky fueled mine, seemed quite eloquent, but in reality sounded more like “Ahh Guuu Blaa bla GrUg…st” then most in-eloquently he almost puked.

The stern look on Kuk’uq’s face told Thomas all he really needed to know, he was not getting back into the bar tonight, but there was always tomorrow, so and he sullenly turned with slumped shoulders and staggered off into the snowy night. Kuk’uq shook his head sadly with a frown, spun about and returned to the interior of the warm bar, shutting the massive pine door against the cold night, returning the snow choked parking lot to its previous Simi tranquil state, down the street, Thomas’s unsteady image fades into the haze of snow and night.

…

A little while later as Thomas’s unsteady feet rounded the ben onto German Street from Elk Road for the last leg of his staggering walk towards home, now the cold night was really starting to penetrate his outer cloths. He caught sight of the steeple lights of St. Angus Church barely visible through the snow as he began to shiver. The fringed night air aroused Thomas’s sluggish mind into something that distantly resembling sobriety, just as a sudden chill rand down his spine. It was quite. Too quite. The only sound the crunch of show beneath Thomas’s boots and his own heartbeat. . .

He knew somehow, though his alcohol clouded mind that he was being followed. Something unseen in the dark had triggered his fight or flight response even in this inebriated condition. Slowly, very slowly, painfully slowly, he turned about, Suddenly a look of sheer horror distorted haggard his face, A scream had barely escaped his lips as he faster than he could even manage sober, had already spun and began to, half run, half stumble as fast has his wobbly legs would carry him toward home.

[ cut to black ]

Shortly before dawn, Brian Casterson and his younger sister Enderly , were nearly ready for school. Enderly handed the last strip of thickly cut back bacon to her big brother with a smiled then grabbed her homework and stuffed it without ceremony into her school pack. Moments later they had on their parkas, goulashes and back backs, were braced against the cold and headed out into the predawn gloom.

Laughing lightheartedly as they teased each other about this and that, typical sibling banter about the topics so important young adolescent minds as they walked toward school. Their hand torch lights flickering here and there off of icicles and causing snow drifts to glitter like silver dust, their boots crunched in the snow as they walked, the air itself seemed to dance with thousands of point of white light where the beams of light passed. Suddenly as they rounded the corner onto German Street, their dancing flashlight beam fell on a unexpected and grizzly sight.

The beams first fell upon snow drifts splashed with large swaths of bright red, and then trailed slowly shifted to the steaming mangled pile of flesh and bloody cloth that lay in the road half buried in a snow drift.

Both children stopped in their tracks, Enderly issued forth a loud high pitched scream that only a 12 year old girl is capable of making.

As a fear the likes of which neater child had ever felt gripped them. The slowly backed away and turned towards home and began to run, then suddenly stopped in their tracks.

Out of the black/gray haze of blowing snow and sleet, loped the largest ugliest dog they had ever seen. Covered in long shaggy matted fur, the animal’s eyes burned like hot coal, it’s feted breath beat the cold air in billowy clouds away from this face, it’s razor sharp fangs bared in a vicious snarl, It growled like a shipping container being drug across pavement by a windstorm. The scent of rot filled the children’s nostrils, TERROR filled them.

Brian’s scream put his sisters previous one to shame. Enderly simply fainted on the spot and fell limp to the icy road at his feet.

[ CUT TO BLACK ]