He Ruined My Shoes nosleep

"Hey, Anthony, knock it off," I snapped, watching my partner stuff his face with complimentary cheese and crackers. "We've got a case to solve!"

"It's okay, rookie," he sputtered through a mouthful of Swiss. "We just got to the site, we don't even know what happened."

I glared at him. "Seven human limbs were discovered in the refrigerator of this hotel. Did you even read the paperwork?"

A disgusting burp violated the air. "Nope, because I figured you, Mr. Theodore Over-Achiever, would." The tubby man downed another cube of American, and I could have sworn he didn't bother to remove the toothpick. "Work smarter, not harder."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I'll be the Bad Cop here, fine." I turned back to my phone, deciding to let him win the battle of the cheeses. I opened my email from my new supervisor and re-read the limited information we had on the case.

"Officers Anthony Drexhall and Theodore Abby report to the Mountainside Hotel. 7 limbs found on premises. Scout out area and report to Harry."

My stomach lurched. Seven limbs? What a way to end my first week on duty. Being the nephew of the chief had its perks, but sometimes I wonder if Uncle Harry thought a little too much of me.

"Where first?"

He belched again, his piggish face scrunching up. "Let's check out the fridge."

"Haven't you eaten enough?" I teased.

"Shut up."

"The fridge is in the basement."

He brushed past me, headed toward the basement. I meekly followed.

The basement was cold and full of shelves of linen and soap. We flicked on the light switch as we passed by, but only one lightbulb responded. An amber light above our heads, immediately attracting several flies.

"Maggots," I whispered under my breath, "flies already." My stomach lurched again. No one said anything about the arms decaying.

"How long would they have been there?" Anthony asked, apparently thinking the same thing. "We just got the report yesterday."

I shrugged. "Maggots show up not longer than a few days, and they turn into flies after a week."

"How do you know that?"

"I'm an author," I lied.

We approached the refrigerator. We liked at each other, silently daring each other to open it first.

I crumbled first. With a shaking hand, I opened the door, suddenly regretting going into this line of work. A putrid stench hit my nose like a sack of bricks, and I slammed the door shut.

Another odor wafted through the air, the smell of regurgitated Gorgonzola. I jumped, vomit hitting my brand new sneakers, nearly kicking Anthony in the face.

He looked up at me sheepishly. "I'm sorry."

"I understand." I kicked the vomit off my shoes as I walked away. "Don't open that yet, I'm sure there's something we can cover our noses with."

I pulled off two of the towels from the shelves. One, I used to clean the rest of the bile from my sneakers, and the other slung over my shoulder. Walking back to Anthony, I handed him my shoe rag.

"Open up," I said, my words muffled through the fluffy towel.

He protested.

I pointed at my sneakers.

Grudgingly, he opened the door. The stench made itself known, but my towel eased the blow.

Unfortunately for Anthony, his towel did not ease the blow of my body weight pummeling into him, his forehead slamming into the door of the refrigerator. He slumped to the ground, unconscious.

"An even eight," I noted as I walked over to a shelf, retrieving the carefully hidden saw blade. "That's what you get for ruining my shoes."

Submitted June 24, 2016 at 12:50PM by faux_tale http://ift.tt/28RdhXx nosleep