Scarlett Ch. 01

Scarlett woke startled from the intense dream that she was having, her face damp. She sat up from her desk and looked around for a towel to dab at her forehead. Finding one behind her, she grabbed it and wiped off the sweat about her face and neck. Looking at the clock on her desk, she sighed and clicked off her computer. "Another late night," she said as she grabbed her notebook from inside the top right drawer. Flipping it open to the next blank page, she began to describe the dream.

[Sept 21, 2008 2:30 AM

Journal Entry:

Again I dreamt about Ruby being murdered. We were at the homecoming game, and I couldn't find her. Then a week later her body was found, mutilated and naked by the Sash River, ten miles outside of town. Only a small strand of her hair could be found under her nails. Then suddenly I saw flashes of her being brutalized, I couldn't do anything, I screamed for her, I tried to stop the killer, but I couldn't do anything. It has been so long since I've dreamt like this.]

Just then the air around Scarlett got cold. Looking over her shoulder she saw a ghostly figure appear and start walking towards her. "Hello Ruby," she said, turning her attention back to her journal. Ruby's spirit stopped just behind Scarlett and she peered over her shoulder.

"Another dream huh," she asked in a wispy voice, taking notice of Scarlett's tired face.

"Yes, and more intense this time, I must be close, because every time I've dreamt this dream, I've broken through some block that was holding me back." Scarlett closed the notebook and placed it back in the top drawer, then gathered her purse and turned to Ruby. "It's late, I better get home and get some sleep if I'm going to make the break through that I need." She smiled at Ruby, closed her eyes, and stepped through the stretched ripple that formed behind her.

***

Just inside the doorway of Scarlett's condo the area stretches and Scarlett walks in. Tossing her purse on the table, she kicks off her shoes as she hangs her jacket on the hook. Looking in the mirror she sighed and walked into the kitchen. Opening the fridge, she grabs a Pepsi, as she closes the fridge door, Ruby appears behind it.

"Hey Ruby," Scarlett says as she walks into the living room and plops on the leather couch. Scarlett looked over at the 42" Plasma TV and it clicked on. Different images flashed on the screen, until it stopped on a movie channel that featured a movie about alien monsters that hosted in humans then killed them by breaking through their chest. With a flick of her mind, the info menu popped up and she read that it was called Alien. She'd seen it before, many times, but at the moment she didn't care. She was still thinking about the dream she had, and sighed deeply. Suddenly her arms filled up with goose bumps, and a shiver went down her back.

"Dang it Ruby, could you not do that," she said as a ghost appeared next to her, sitting on the couch.

"Haha, I'm sorry, I just love seeing you shiver, it's funny." Ruby drew back the chill that filled the room, and the temperature went back up to a comfortable 75 degrees.

"You still thinking about that dream you had?" Ruby said looking at Scarlett with worry.

"Yea, I'm so close to breaking through, but I don't know what I'm missing." Scarlett sipped her Pepsi as she thought about her project, her face scrunching with frustration.

"You know you shouldn't tear yourself up so much. You can't do everything all the time, you have to let it come to you. Stop pushing yourself, have some fun, go out." Ruby urged, knowing that Scarlett was going to work herself into the ground.

"You know that I can't do that. This project is the most important thing right now. Finding who killed you is the most important thing to me. When that scum is dead, then I can live, but until you are free from this place and are able to go and be with your father, there is nothing else that is important." Scarlett put the can of Pepsi on the living room table, and grabbed the thick notebook that lay in the center of the table. She flipped it open, going over all her notes. Everything that she's worked on to create the machine that will find her friends killer. Stopping at one page she examined it intensely.

"Aaaaha, that's it!" She grabbed a pencil and started jotting things down on the page. Ruby watched her with curiosity. Scarlett scribbled in her notebook ferociously, the theories spilling out of her head. "I knew it; all I had to do was recalibrate the controlling mechanism that synthesized the DNA." She said excitedly. Ruby watched her intently, excitement filling her face. "Now all I need to do is take the hair, splice it into three parts and set the calculations to plus ten thousand. That should pull out the entire DNA that is needed to create the image!" Scarlett jumped up from the couch, ran to the table in the hallway and snatched up her purse. "C'mon Ruby we have a killer to profile," she said as the room stretched and Scarlett ran through the ripple that was formed. Ruby faded away and followed her to the lab.

**

The room stretched and a ripple appeared. Scarlett jumped into the lab and sprinted over to the DNA Amplification Profiler. She opened the door to the freezer next to machine and slowly pulled out a glass vial. Twisting the top off slowly, she used tweezers and pulled out the small strand of frozen hair. Placing it on a square glass board, she cut a tiny piece off and then carefully placed it in the tray on the Profiler. Punching in some codes and pushing a button, the machine whirred to life and sucked in the piece of hair. Scarlett stared at the machine impatiently mumbling to herself for it to hurry up. Ruby appeared next to her, and stared at the machine too.

Scarlett had fallen asleep as she waited for the machine to beep, telling her that the results were in. Feeling cold, she jerked awake, wiping a little drool from her chin. She looked around and saw that Ruby had disappeared, and then noticed a flashing red light on the DNA Amplification Profiler. "Oh my god, it's done," she said as she pushed off the counter she had been leaning against and half ran to the machine. Pressing the flashing button, the machine whirred and lights started to move around the center console.

Along the graph lines formed and shapes started to appear. Scarlett stood, gazing in awe, she couldn't believe that after all this time she would finally see who it was that killed her friend. Just then the temperature in the room dropped, and Ruby appeared next to Scarlett. She stood there staring at the machine, and then turning to Scarlett. She had the most wonderful, shocked look on her face. All Ruby could determine was that the machine was working and they would finally get a face to the person who killed her.

"It's working isn't it Sam," Ruby said to her, not really asking a question, but stating what she already knew. Ruby could see the joy in Scarlett's eyes, which made her kind of sad, because she couldn't feel the warmth that seeped out of her as she watched the machine finalize the image. Scarlett watched in amazement as the lights turned into curves, and the curves formed a face.

The 3D image showed a man. He had a square jaw, with a scar running across the chin. His eyes were narrow and dark, and he had a nose that seemed to take up most of the middle of his face. His brows were large and bushy, and he had a huge mole on the right side of his forehead. His hair was short, but dirty looking and dark. His shoulders were broad and very muscular, like the male body builders you see on television. The look of his hands frightened Scarlett. They were abnormally large, and thick, they looked like they could crush anything with one squeeze.

After staring at the image, Scarlett pushed a yellow button and the image printed out onto photo paper. Tearing it off, she stuffed it into her purse and motioned to Ruby, telling her that they were going home. The room stretched and Scarlett stepped through the small ripple that formed.

***

Scarlett stepped through the ripple, pulled the image printout from her purse and tossed the purse on the table. She walked through the hall, staring at the image. Her body trembled with rage, as her hair started to change colors. She caught a glimpse of it in a mirror on the wall and cursed. "Calm down," she scolded herself. Walking into the kitchen, she tacked the print out on her tack board, then walked down to her bathroom, to melt her anger away with hot water. After her scolding shower, Scarlett climbed into her bed, and almost passed out, but drifted into a dreamless sleep.