Who Killed Marv? Chapter 2

This is chapter 2 of my novella, Who Killed Marv? To see the first chapter and start at the beginning, please click here.

When Spongy touched me on the head, it reminded me of when I was a kid. He used to do that all the time. I had forgotten. Now there was a vague familiarity to it. He opened my eyes to a world of things I had no idea existed. That's not entirely true. He jarred my memory to the things I remembered seeing as a child. My mom always said I had a vivid imagination, but in reality, I was describing what I was seeing thanks to Spongy sharing with me. I sat down and rested my head in my hands. I could feel the worst headache coming on.

My day began with a simple, leisurely trip to my childhood home to ascertain what needed to be done to ready the house to put it on the market. Now, I'm sitting in the attic surrounded by secret passages, windows, doors, and magical, imaginary creatures that only I can see, and one of those creatures turns out is my imaginary childhood friend. Now he wants me to investigate the murder of another imaginary friend called Marv. What is happening?

I continued to sit there holding my head wondering how I was going to handle this when Spongy appeared again and handed me a glass of water along with two Motrin®. I took them and said thank you, but not before standing up to look out one of the windows. When I did, I was amazed at all the different things I saw. It was an entirely new world out there with these new eyes I had. Everywhere I looked I saw things that I normally couldn't see. There were people and animals and things walking around like they owned the place. They had their own special entrances into buildings. There were cartoonish aircraft buzzing around a few feet off the ground that looked like they were ferrying people to and fro as busses do for us. I suddenly realized the world I lived in was indeed very crowded.

"Spongy, what did you mean we are running out of time and why do I only have 48 hours to find Marv's killer?" I said out loud.

There was no answer. I turned around to face Spongy. He had his back to me and was leaning against an open doorframe that led to who knows where.

"Spongy, why are we running out of time?" I repeated.

There was no reply.

"Spongy, I'm speaking to you!" I raised my voice although it wasn't necessary because we were the only two people in the attic since it appeared everyone else had departed.

I walked over to Spongy and placed my hand on his shoulder to get his attention. When I did, Spongy slumped to the ground and fell backward into my arms. I tried to break his fall, but I figure Spongy weighs at least 350 pounds and I barely weigh half that. We both fell over with Spongy coming to rest across my lap. There was bright blue and yellow "blood" coming from Spongy's mouth and he was coughing up glitter. That's when I saw the large silver and white dagger protruding from Spongy's chest. Someone or something had stabbed Spongy.

"Who did this to you, Spongy?" I asked.

He looked at me in my eyes and smiled. He tried to speak but couldn't. I could tell he was dying. I reached for my cellphone to call for help, but Spongy shook his head no. He was right. I mean, who was I going to call? No one else could see him. No one would know what had happened. I held Spongy in my arms until he passed. When Spongy closed his eyes for the last time, his body slowly disappeared. The only thing that remained was the dagger that killed him and a notebook that fell from Spongy's pocket when he collapsed on the floor. I gathered up the notebook and the dagger and walked back downstairs to the kitchen. I could still see the wonderful world that Spongy had gifted me with, but I was cognizant that I had only 48 hours to find out who killed Marv. Now I also needed to solve who killed Spongy. This case was personal to me now.

I remembered that Spongy said I should meet with a little girl. I think he said her name is Shiloh. He told me she would come to my office tomorrow morning to discuss Marv. I didn't want to wait that long but it looked like I had no choice. I decided to go back to my place, grab a bite to eat, and read through Spongy's notebook. I stepped outside and locked the door behind me. When I did, almost immediately one of the many imaginary aircraft pulled up and came to a complete stop. It was just hovering right beside me. This huge, bright yellow, shiny aircraft was floating in the air about a foot off the ground and it appeared to be waiting on me.

Finally, a side door opened and a slimy voice inside said, "Well, are you gonna just stand there or get in, Fitzy?"

I leaned forward to peer inside and when I did, something reached out and grabbed me and dragged me inside. The door slammed behind me and I could feel the aircraft take off at a high rate of speed. I found myself seated on a very comfortable, plush red leather couch between two large obese worm-looking characters dressed like they were 1940s gangsters.

"Who are you and where are you taking me?" I demanded to know.

The larger, uglier fella replied, "I'm Hip and that's my cousin, Poh. Spongy asked us to keep an eye on you and make sure you get anything you need while you figure out who killed Marv?"

"You two sure know how to scare a guy pulling up on me like that. I guess you haven't heard about Spongy yet? I told them. Hip and Poh shook their heads no and so I told them Spongy had also just been murdered upstairs too.

They looked at each other for a moment, then Hip told me not to worry. They wouldn't let anything happen to me.

"So, where are we going?" Hip asked me.

I told him to take me home. I was tired. I was hungry. And I had two murders to solve and less than two days to do it in.