Armand Eight: Foul Play?

The three story, split level, two bedroom, three bathroom house towered over us, complete with a two car garage and a patio with grill. It was the most unique house I had ever seen in my life, and it was just the thing Remy and I were looking for, close to campus, but yet far enough away that we wouldn't be disturbed by the majority of the college students. We got a deal on the price too because the seller had wanted to offload the property quickly. He was tired of holding on to the house since he wanted to start renting apartments out to people instead. The house was furnished already, so Remy and I wasted no time moving in and getting settled.

The first day of class came and went, and I had just finished my last class of the day, which was an art history lecture, after which the professor assigned a chapter reading along with an assignment where I had to answer the questions found at the end of it. I decided to stay on campus for the remaining daylight hours to do my homework in the courtyard that was in the middle of campus. It was gorgeous, well kept, and a very peaceful place to study, with multiple benches surrounding the perimeter of the patio, lined every so often with a picnic bench, and a beautiful fountain in the middle. I took my textbook out of my bag and sat down at one of the picnic tables, setting my frapuccino next to me, and putting my bag down by my feet.

"The history of art goes back to the Stone Age, when early man painted on cave walls. Stone or bone tools were used to scratch engravings into the face of the wall. There were some naturally occurring colors in the earth such as clay, manganese oxide, and iron oxide that the cave man would use to add color to their drawings."

"Hahaha! Oh wow, can you believe Professor Galia today? Assigning us four chapters to read? Those things aren't short either! It's only the first day of school, I mean, seriously."

A few girls came into the courtyard, giggling, and bitching about their professor, but I just ignored them because it was unrealistic for me to think that I'd be able to study here without anyone else coming in as well. They gathered over at one of the other picnic tables, while I just continued to read my book.

"Some ancient sculptures have been found from the time of cave paintings, many of them which appear to be female figurines. These figurines were often used in fertility cults and rituals. In the Neolithic period, cave men started to figure out how to do simple acts of agriculture and hunting."

Agriculture and hunting? I thought this was an art history class, not a history class... I guess I wouldn't put it past the university to combine text books for certain classes due to laziness and wanting to save money in their budgets. Or maybe I was just being dumb, after all, it's not like the textbook had suddenly stopped talking about art, seeing as it picked it up again quickly in the next paragraph.

"Metal started to become a popular tool for sculptures, and people started building large structures, such as burial chambers, temples, and monuments. Stonehenge was built during the Chalcolithic era, and is known as a Megalithic complex."

"Hey Reese, is that Butt-shot walking past us?"

"Oh my god, Sara, you're right, it totally is. Hey... BUTT-shot!"

"Look guys, she's scared. Are you scared, big fat Butt-shot? Why do you have such a long shirt on? Oh I know why, it's to cover up your muffin top. Your ass looks huge in those yoga pants. Why are you even wearing yoga pants, do you know what yoga is? You probably don't, or your ass wouldn't be that fucking huge."

"Ugh, why is her hair blue?"

"Good question, Beth. Why is your hair fucking blue, Butt-shot? Don't you know that only makes it look like you dipped your hair in paint? That's so stupid! It's not hip, dumbass. It makes you look like the idiot who forgot to rinse last year's Halloween Kool-Aid dye out of her hair! Is that what you did, Butt-shot? Huh? Poor widdle baby?"

"No... Please, will you just leave me alone?"

"Excuse me? What the fuck did you just say to me? Butt-shot? Did you just call me a bitch because I won't leave you alone? This is a free country, I can do whatever I want. Did you hear her, girls, she called me a bitch!"

"Yeah, I heard it, Reese."

"Me too."

"This bitch needs to be taught a lesson."

"Ow! Please, NO! Don't do that! Please!"

"What's the matter, BUTT-shot? Thought you'd have had enough padding in that monstrous sized ass of yours to take a fall to the concrete. But anyway, shut the fuck up. This is going to be fun, okay? Ready? Watch!"

"Please, DON'T! That's my homework!"

The sun was starting to set, making it hard for me to continue to read my chapter, so I decided to pack up, head home for the day to catch up with Remy, and probably eat dinner with him. As I got up, I just so happened to look over at the group of girls I had heard bitching earlier, but noticed that they now seemed to be crowded around another girl who was on the ground. Shit, were they going to beat her up? I should go help her. I quickly grabbed my bag and ran over to the girls, just in time to see Reese... pour coffee all over the blue haired girl's binder.

"Reese? What the fuck are you doing?! You don't pour coffee on people's shit! That's so rude!!"

"Oh my god, Armand! Hi, sexy!"

"What? Don't 'sexy' me! Leave this chick alone! What were you going to do, beat her up?"

"Oh god, no, I don't want to dirty my hands with bruises, no of course not. Want to grab a bite to eat?"

"NO, I don't want to grab a bite to eat! Jesus, Reese, are you nuts?"

"Ok, ok, whatever. Look, if you want to hang out with Butt-shot, be my guest. I'm done with her ugly big fat ass anyway. See you around, sexy Armand."

Reese threw the coffee cup on the ground and smiled at me, finally leaving the courtyard with her two bimbo friends, giggling as they walked away. I looked down at the blue haired girl and she had pulled her knees to her chest, sitting there looking defeated with tears running down her cheeks. I crouched down next to her, grabbing some tissues out of my backpack to try to blot the coffee out of her homework, even though I knew it was ruined, it didn't mean that she had to carry around a wet binder.

"You- you don't have to do that, you've already done so much. Thank you, Armand, is it?"

"Yeah, that's right. What were those girls' problems?"

"I'm not sure, but they were making fun of my last name, which is always pronounced wrong by teachers. My whole life, I've been bullied for it. Usually I get called something with the word butt in it, or butcher."

"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly is your last name?"

The blue haired girl sighed heavily, hanging her head, and for a second I thought she wasn't going to answer me, but she looked up and did.

"It's spelled B-U-T-C-H-E-T, pronounced byoo-shay. It's French, and no one here in America can say it right. I'm not from France, but my family kept the French pronunciation of the name because it sounds bad in English, as you witnessed today."

"Byoo-shay. That's a really pretty name."

I noticed the blue haired girl start crying again as I spoke.

"Thank you. No one has ever taken the time to say my last name correctly, let alone call it pretty."

"What's your first name, Miss Butchet?"

"It's Desiree."

I helped Desiree up off the ground and handed her the coffee-stained binder, which was now mostly dry.

"It's wonderful to meet you, Desiree."

"Thank you. It's nice to meet you too, Armand."

"All right, I was on my way home, are you okay now?"

"Yeah, those girls are gone, I should be fine. Thank you again."

"No problem, I'll see you around campus."

As I walked home, I lit a cigarette, thinking about Reese and how big of a jerk she was, shaking my head at the whole situation. We were in college, weren't those days of torturing people because their names sounded funny over now? I can't believe Reese was so cruel to ruin Desiree's homework. It was all so juvenile. I guess some people just never grow up. My thoughts then went to Desiree, and how I had felt this need to protect her even though she was a complete stranger. The whole situation vaguely reminded me of my mother, and how she and Carisa would gang up on me in a way and tell me I needed to look a certain way, or wear certain clothes, and I hated the sight of someone else being treated that way, so it made me feel this urge to help.. I guess I hadn't noticed soon enough, since Desiree's homework got ruined, but I knew I had helped her feel better emotionally about the situation. I don't know if I believed that Reese wasn't going to physically bully Desiree, but I did lean towards not since she just seemed more like the 'damage your feelings' kind of bully from what I saw and the things I had heard her say as I was walking up to them.

As I approached mine and Remy's house, I saw that the lights were already on, glad that Remy was home already. It was nice to have a friend to hang out with and talk to. Gradually over time, I had come to realize that being in my own head wasn't something that I needed to do because it was only hurting me. Once I got over the feeling that everyone was just going to scream at me if I told them how I felt, it became much easier to be friends, and I had found that Remy and I had become even closer because of it.

---

Meanwhile... at the sorority house, Chi Omega, two days later...

Reese goes into the kitchen of her sorority as usual, to make herself some breakfast. Everything seems normal until she sits down to eat. When she puts a bite of food in her mouth, it seems to be tasteless and textured like sand. Reese wonders if she forgot to put the sugar into the pancake batter. However, she cannot explain the texture. She picks up the pancake in her hand and it feels soft, like it should, she pulls it apart with her fingers, and it's reacting normally. She dips some of the pancake into the syrup, and eats another bite. Again, tasteless and gritty. Reese doesn't understand what is happening, making a mental note to go to the university's clinic in between her classes.

When she gets to the clinic, the nurse on duty does some routine tests, like taking her blood pressure and temperature. Reese tells the nurse what symptoms she has been having, and the nurse draws some blood, then leaves the room. In a few minutes, the nurse comes back with the results, which say that there are no toxins or artificial chemicals in Reese's body. The nurse says Reese probably just had some old flour in her pancakes or something and then discharges her. Reese doesn't really believe the nurse, but she has nothing else she can say or do to make the nurse do any more tests because she feels fine except for her seemingly losing her taste that morning at breakfast.

The rest of the day goes on, and Reese tries to eat another meal, having the same result as before, where she cannot taste her food, and it always has a strange texture. This time, her pasta she is having for lunch is hard as a rock, when it should be soft and chewy. The sauce she puts in it does not help soften it, and she knows it is cooked because when she picks it up on her fork, it droops down around the sides of the fork, showing that it is soft. Reese becomes frustrated with this meal and pushes it away in anger, sitting for a moment, pondering what she should do... Some other sorority sisters enter and eat food, and Reese looks at them savoring it, wondering what exactly is wrong with her. She decides to try sipping on a juice box, hoping that it will at least give her some nutrients. As she clamps her lips around the straw, the juice comes up in her mouth and she opens her eyes wide because she can taste it! It is a box of orange juice, and she can taste the oranges and sugar that are in the juice. Now Reese is really confused because she doesn't understand why she can taste juice, but not solid food.

At dinner time, Reese has a bowl of macaroni and cheese, and it has the right texture, but it tastes burnt. She knows it is not burnt because it is bright yellow and creamy. Reese starts getting frustrated, and wonders if she is going crazy. She asks her friend Sara to taste her food and her friend looks at her strangely, but takes a bite, saying that it's macaroni and cheese. Reese asks if it tastes burnt to her, and her friend says no, not at all, it's creamy and cheesy. All Reese can do is just nod and keep her mouth shut because she doesn't want her friend to think she is crazy, even though she feels like that is exactly what is happening to her. That night, Reese goes to bed early, hoping that a new day will give her a fresh start.

The new day never comes, however, because Reese never wakes up. Beth, her roommate, gets up the next morning and talks to Reese like she normally does, but unlike most mornings, Reese doesn't respond. Beth goes over to Reese's bed to investigate, only to find out that Reese is deathly pale, cold, and still. Beth calls Reese's name a few times and shakes her, then panics and calls 911. When the authorities come to Chi Omega, the coroner says that Reese died around 11pm the previous night. 

Her body is collected and taken away, while the detective on the scene stays to question Sara and Beth, who were Reese's closest friends. Sara and Beth are questioned separately, in case foul play was involved, the detective doesn't want the girls to work together to hide the truth.

"Girls, I'm Detective Balestrom, can I ask you a few questions?"

Sara and Detective Balestrom go into the living room to talk, while Beth is instructed to go into the bedroom.

"Sara, where were you around 11pm last night?"

"I was in my bed reading."

"When was the last time you spoke to Reese?"

"Around dinner time, it was about 6pm. Reese asked me to taste a bite of her macaroni and cheese because she said it tasted funny."

"What did she mean by funny?"

"Burnt. She said it tasted burnt. I was confused because her macaroni was yellow, and it looked fine, it couldn't have possibly be burnt. I tasted it, as she requested, and to me, it tasted normal."

"Did you notice anything else about Reese that night?"

"Hmm... she stopped eating the macaroni after I tasted it, but I just guessed she was frustrated from it tasting wierd. I saw her throw it away a few minutes after I had talked to her."

"Okay, thank you."

Sara leaves after being questioned and then Detective Balestrom moves on to Beth, Reese's other close friend.

"Beth, you shared a room with Reese, correct?"

"Yes, I did."

"Was Reese in bed already before you went to bed?"

"Yes."

"Did you interact with her before you fell asleep?"

"No, when I went into the room she looked like she was sleeping, so I kept quiet."

"What was Reese like throughout the day? Any odd behavior?"

"Yeah, I was done working out, and I went to eat lunch. Reese was sitting at the counter scowling at her food, I didn't know what was wrong, but I didn't ask. Sometimes she would get in moods, and the best way to deal was to leave her alone until she decided to open up."

"So you left her alone. Did you see her do anything strange with her food?"

"Yes, she basically dumped the entire plate of pasta in the trash, and walked away."

"In your years of knowing Reese, have you known her to have an eating disorder?"

"If she did, she kept it hidden, but I do remember her being very cautious about her figure. She always wanted to be fit, and she would often make fun of girls she thought were fat."

"All right, I think I have everything I need. Thank you for your time."

A few more days pass, and an autopsy is performed on Reese's body. Medical examiners find no evidence of foul play and the investigation is closed, with the results released to the media. News of Reese's death makes it into the university newspaper.

---

Guest Starring: Detective Victor Balestrom from my completed story, The Compound
Credits: Armand's textbook lessons were from the Wikipedia page about Art History, and I paraphrased some of the facts. The fake newspaper text was created using a newspaper generator at fodey.com.