Halloween Night at the Olin

*****WARNING*****This blog post contains violence. Reader discretion is advised. 
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The island of Alexandra bans Halloween every year. It's partly do to high crime rates in the month of October, particularly at The Olin Motel. Even with a banning of all things formally ghastly, Halloween just wouldn't be Halloween without a murder at the Olin.....


As the van taking the kids trick or treating lined up at the ferry, Ken Hall disembarked from the boat late, from when it had come in. He was keeping a low profile and walked through town with black hoodie, hood up and head bent down.

Heather is about ready to close the condom shop for the night. Business was very good and the pumpkin spice rubbers sold out completely. Taking one of the small tubes of pumpkin flavored lube, she began to close up the shop, planing to meet Tom after work. Closing up, she turns towards the bakery, planning to get a couple of cookies. The could celebrate in their own little way.

Tom sips at his water bottle after taking his hard had off in the locker room. Quentin lumbers in rapping something so fast Tom can't make out all the words. He slaps Tom on the back "Sorry about the wrench man."

Tom laughs "It's alright by. Just don't want a big bump on me head when I go home to my lady."

Quentin smirks "You two move in already? Splains why you're late so much. Too much morning loving going on."

Tom's cheeks go a little pink and he laughs "Eh...well we're almost all moved in. Few things back at the hotel to sort out today."

Quentin shuts his locker and points "Get down to it TONIGHT and be early tomorrow or Reinhardt's going to have your ass. Night Tom."

Tom watches Quentin walk away and chuckles "Night Quen." He ties up his last shoe and heads out after him totally planning to "get down to it tonight" as he buddy suggested.

Ken goes to the Olin, being very careful. He looks around warily and clomps up the stairs. He still has his key but maybe they changed the locks, maybe Heather's not even there anymore. Miraculously his key still works and he goes into room 9. Heather is gone but a few of her things are there. None of his though as he's a wanted man. The police must have it all. He finds some assorted clothing, a magazine and...a small vibrator. Oh she missed him! Ken smirks to himself. He'd make sure she didn't need that little toy tonight. He sits on the bed and notices the bedside table drawer ajar. He pulls it open to reveal a box of condoms, and not his preferred brand. Anger boils up in him. who the hell was she fucking while he was on the run? He starts tearing the room apart now, looking for more information and finds a business card for a condom shop. He flips it over and sees what looks like shifts listed on the back and Heather's name. He pockets the card and leaves the Olin, heading for the shop.

Heather comes out of Earthcakes with a small box of pumpkin cookies and a smile on her face. Plenty for everyone in the house. She doesn't turn her head right to look at the shop again, but left, moving past the shops and around the corner. Pausing at the cop shop, she taps the glass and waves at Sam Wright, who is typing like a stenographer. He waves back and she is back on her way, crossing and moving past the Town Hall and up the hill. She decides to wait for Tom just at the stairs, holding the baking box and swaying left and right, like a happy little girl ... and she IS happy.

Ken peers in the window of the shop on the card. It looks closed and there's no sign of Heather. As he turns he sees her come out of a shop down the street carrying what looks like a baking box and smiling. Narrowing his eyes he begins to follow her at a distance. She pauses at the police station and he ducks between two buildings nervously but then she just waves at someone and carries on. He forces himself to walk past the station and tail her to the factory where she appears to be waiting....Wait a second...there was a guy who worked at the factory in the room beside them at the Olin. He'd seen him coming and going in the coveralls. How long had she been screwing around behind his back? Sure enough Room 8 Romeo comes out to greet Heather. It takes everything he has not to just go break both their necks right now, but he decides to wait and watch.

Tom breaks into a huge grin when he sees Heather waiting for him. He scoops her into his arms and kisses her like they were the last two people on earth. After a while he lets he go and looks at the box "Well I'd say you're sweet enough but tell me what's in there anyway Love."

Heather beams and gets caught up in the kiss. Deep and beautiful and public. "Pumpkin cookies." she announces, holding the box up like a trophy. "For EVERYONE!" she elaborates. Leaning into him, she rests her head against his chest. "But I have little pumpkin lube I sort of want to taste." she giggles. "No Trick-Or-Treaters means no interruptions ...." she hints at wanting a nice quiet night ... nice, long and quiet.

Tom hears the words pumpkin lube and taste and moans at her, grabbing her for another kiss before joking "Good thing I like pumpkin. Hey Heather I was going to run our keys back to the Olin after I change at the new place. Then we're fully free...just us."

Ken had inched closer and closer, going around a ramp and staying hidden. He was hearing every word. This homewrecker was going back to the Olin. That would be his chance. Maybe he only had to remove the obstacle and remind her who was boss.

Heather leans into the kiss, but then groans. "I have some things to get also. I'm tempted to just leave it, you know? Now that I'm working, I can get condoms for a discount." she giggles. Then she caresses his face. "Free. That is such a beautiful word." she considers. "Tell you what. How about you go put these on the dining room table where everyone can see them ... while I go and get started getting the last of my stuff. Meet you there?"

Tom hangs onto her a little longer "I don't want to part...but it would be faster. I'll be quick as a bunny y'hear?" He reluctantly lets go of her after a last lingering peck and takes the cookies "I'll tell Gareth and Michelle to leave some for us eh?" With a chuckle he starts off for their new home.

Ken watches and then looks between the parting pair conflicted. He's lost the capacity to reason in his rage. He could try to follow the man and kill him but it's out in the open. He wants to kill them both, he wants Heather back, but he wants to make her pay....pay or die. Alive or dead? Twitching he waits for her to go, making her his target.

Heather giggles. "You know I don't like it TOO fast." she teases him, but grins and turns to head back to the hotel. Better to get this out of the way and put that terrible place ... and Ken ... behind her for good.

Ken seethes in his fury, shaking as he follows her. "You know I don't like it TOO fast." echoes in his head. That little slut. She'd pay alright.

Tom whistles as he walks and jogs up the front steps to the shared house he and Heather had recently become roommates of the others within. He unlocks the door and breezes in "Hallooo? Gareth? Chelle?" No one's home. He kicks off his shoes and takes the cookies to the kitchen before heading upstairs to change.

Heather walks with purpose to the Olin. Halloween in Alexandra looks a little like an evacuated city. No one on the streets. But she knew the cop shop was still open .. and the firehouse as well. She'd peeked Gareth in the firehouse on her way past it. Thinking of Kitty's apparent collection of uniformed men, she continues her walk, humming to herself the latest India Tor song. So romantic and it amused her that she had gotten to meet Aquistic Spirit, whose voice was included. At the Olin, she climbed the stairs to her room and unlocked the door. Looking around she heaved a large sigh and decided to just shove everything in one of the hotel pillowcases. She could always return it in the morning.

Ken walks softly after enough time has passed from Heather going into the room. He slowly grasps the door handle and pushes it open, seeing her packing. He steps into the room fully and announces his presence "Seems you thought you could forget about me?" His tone is calm, dangerously calm. He pulls his hood down and just stares into her coldly waiting for a reply.

Tom jogs down the stairs and grabs a hoodie from a hook by the front door. As he's about to open it, Michelle walks in looking exhausted.

"36 hour birth...Oh my god...." she steps out of her shoes and smiles tiredly at Tom before walking right to the couch and lying down "but everyone's happy and healthy..."

Tom laughs and bends down to tie his shoes "Good job Midwife. There's cookies in the kitchen, a gift from Heather. We're just grabbing the last of our stuff....see you in a bit if you're awake."

Michelle rolls over on her side and closes her eyes murmuring "Mmm that's nice...bye bye Tom...." and drifting off.

Heather almost dies of shock at the sound of Ken's voice. She spins around and looks at him like a rabbit staring down a wolf. "Ken ..... you're ... I ...." is all she can manage, as her body prepares for fight or flight ... not that either is an option in the claustrophobic motel room.

Ken smiles at her but cruelly "Who's your lover boy? I hear he takes it slow...like you like....you lying little slut." He steps back a bit, obscuring the door and pulls out a knife from his pocket, the switchblade he managed to keep from his escape "Why don't you call him over so I can show him how you really like it?"

Tom puts his hands in his hoodie pockets and heads towards the Olin. He says hello to a few people along the way, having really become a part of the town now. He walks past a mother and child and the child, a small girl drops her doll trying to catch up with her mother. Tom notices and frowns, picking up the doll and jogging back after them "Scuse me lil miss...you wouldn't want to leave your friend behind now eh?" He gets down on one knee, holding the doll out. The child runs to it "Ms Sally! How'd you get away? Thank you Mister!" Tom has a melting look and then gets a big grin from the mother as he gives them both a wave and carries on. Maybe that would be Heather one day with a sweet child of their own. Tom sighs, smiling to himself.

Heather's eyes remain wide. "What? I .. don't ... I don't know what you mean." her mind races. "I ... was .. you didn't dome back ... and ... I was ... going .. going back to Toronto." she sees the switchblade and begins to whimper. "I thought you ... abandoned me ... so ... I was .. leaving." she sobs. "Ken .. PLEASE!" she begs.

Ken advances on Heather with a wild look in his eyes "I would never abandon you Heather. You're mine. He can't have you." He lunges for her now grabbing for her throat, knife held at her rib cage level. The door behind him didn't hinge and swings open in the wind. Footsteps can be heard coming up the stairs.

Tom takes the Olin stairs as quickly as he can, eager to be rid of this dive and have a new start for he and Heather. As he approaches room 8 he sees the door it open and frowns. That doesn't seem like something Heather would do. He sprints the rest of the way and then stops short "No!!!! Leave her alone!!" he screams.

Ken looks back and smiles and then dives the knife into Heather's torso. It's nowhere that will kill but it will certainly hurt her, and that's his goal with the man who stole her watching.

Heather can only get out. "Ken! No!" before she is grabbed. She can see someone behind Ken. Tom? Her Tom. She tries to scream .. to tell him to run and leave her, but Ken's grip on her throat is tight. And then all she knows is white hot pain. She screams and goes limp.

Something in Tom snaps when he sees Ken stab Heather and she crumples. He runs at Ken and starts swinging at him.

Ken ducks down as Tom comes at him and pulls the knife out of Heather, wielding it covered in her blood at Tom's punches.

Tom looked down at Heather and fought like a madman, blocking the knife and getting cut all over both forearms. He found and opening and managed to punch Ken square in the mouth. Ken yelled and then spit out a tooth, blood streaming down his chin.

Their fight crashed them into walls and then out the door. Ken started threatening Tom " Heather is mine asshole...."

Tom pounds his fists into Ken's torso "Heather isn't property....but she loves me....she's WITH me now."

Ken kicks at Tom's left ankle and trips him up and then back hands him up the chin with the knife, slicing one side of his face. Tom cries out in pain and falls back.

Ken starts back into the room for Heather screaming "I'll kill you! I'll fuckin kill you!"

Tom sees and hears him and forces himself to run after him again and grab the back of his collar, yanking him back out on the balcony walkway. "Leave her alone!" Ton shoves Ken as he moves past him and then throws the hardest right hook he's ever thrown. Ken falls back into the railing and it breaks off.

Ken feels himself tumble back as the railing gives way. His eyes go wide and then he drops to the concrete parking lot with a smack. His body lies contorted and still, eyes wide open. Ken Hall is dead.

Lisa Candle is coming back from Perkatory with two large pumpkin coffees to share with her husband. Halloween here was so quiet. She can hear two men yelling as she crosses the street. As she turns the corner from the laundromat, she sees someone falling to the parking lot pavement and landing with a sickening crunch. Looking at the body, she opens her mouth and begins to scream, dropping both coffees.

Joshua Green is driving along on the usual nightly patrol. Everything is quiet, which is how they like Halloween in Alexandra. Then the silence of the evening is shattered by a hysterical scream. Josh turns the car onto First Street and quickly sees the screamer ... and the body crumpled in the parking lot. Pulling in, he calls it in to the cop shop and gets out of the car, looking up directly up from where the body has landed.

Tom stood on the railing in complete shock just staring down at Ken's body. The gash in his chin was bleeding down his neck and onto his hoodie and shirt. The arms of his hoodie were shredded in places with blood staining them from the gashes underneath. Right now he didn't feel any pain, just numbness. Then he remembered Heather inside and ran to her "Heather..." he called to her, falling to his knees beside her "Heather!'

Sam Wright got the radio call from the interim Chief and dispatched Frank Sharp to the Olin, then called the firehouse and Dr. McKinney. In seconds he heard all three sirens heading into Halloween night and blew out a breath. On nights like this one, he was hard pressed NOT to believe in the Curse of Alexandra Island.

Jasmine Paulina was on Ambulance Duty at the firehouse, with Nicodemus Cato, and the two of them hopped in the Ambulance and found themselves falling in just behind the Alexandra police car in response to the call to the Olin.

"Halloween madness at the Olin?" Nicodemus sounded a bit sarcastic. More than a bit. "Whuda thunk?"

Jasmine sighed. "Well, we couldn't hope to just eat like kids on pumpkin cake all night, now could we? It's Alexandra."

Dr. Susan McKinney got the call and dropped her spoon in her squash soup, running downstairs and preparing an exam room, but also calling into White Rock in case there was a serious enough injury to require a medivac.

Pulling into the Olin parking Lot, Frank looked at Josh who jerked his head towards the second floor and then headed in that direction. She remained on the ground, to deal with the hysterical woman who had been joined by a man who appeared to be her husband. She stood near the body to guard it, as a crowd seemed to be gathering.

Nicodemus and Jasmine followed Josh Green carefully up the stairs, in case they were needed.

Josh pulled out his gun as he approached the open door of Room 9 and the sight of a man came into view. The suspect was leaning over the body of a woman who was bleeding. "Hands up!" he demanded. "You are under arrest for murder." he had to get the suspect in custody before he could allow the EMT's access to the crime scene.

Tom was trying to stop the bleeding with the pillowcase Heather had planned to pack with. Arms and face covered in blood himself he said "Please....please I'll go willingly....just help her. He stabbed her......please I'll do anything..." His shoulders were shaking and he was crying, tears blending with blood on his face. He slowly rose one arm but kept the other on the pillowcase and looked back urgently at the cop.

Josh grabbed the arm the moment it was lifted, yanks him out of the room and presses him, face first, into the window of the room. He has seen the mans face and recognizes it. Always the quiet ones. "Tom O’Leary, you are under arrest for murder and attempted murder." he begins to read him his rights, knowing the EMT's were right behind him.

Jasmine and Nicodemus hurry in as soon as Josh and the suspect are out of the room, having donned their gloves on the way up the stairs. Jasmine begins to take a look to see what the problem is, while Nico gets on his hand held radio to the clinic, working quickly and professionally.

Tom doesn't resist arrest and keeps quiet. Blood smears on the window from his face as he's pressed into it. The cop's voice washes over him in a surreal dream like way. He knows he's being arrested. He knows this is bad, but all he can think of is Heather. He sees EMTs pass them as he's escorted out and breathes a sigh of relief, walking compliantly and silently to the cruiser. He sees Ken's body still lying there and closes his eyes as the door of the cruiser closes on him.

Josh is always glad not to have trouble during an arrest. he places the suspect in the back of his car and moves around to to Frank. "Get statements. I'll take him in and send you some help." he promises, then gets in behind the wheel to drive Tom back to the station.

Jasmine assures the girl that she should be alright. Thanks to work around the Olin she knows a serious wound when she sees one. It's bleeding bad, but it doesn't look like she needs to be evac'd. "Get the gurney, Cato." she tells him, and he heads down to get it. Five minutes later, they are on their way to the clinic, lights and sirens blaring, even though the streets are relatively empty.