Chapter Text
The woods nearby Nevermore Academy cast shadows that seemed to move when no one was looking at them.
It was a rainy day a gray and sad day. Wednesday Addams stood perfectly still next to a big, old oak. Beneath the wet branches lay the body of a Da Vinci sophomore named Oliver Carter.
He was nude, with merely a blood-stained towel covering his pelvis. A quill pen was clutched in his right hand, and a scribbled piece of paper was held in his left. His left arm was carefully positioned across his torso, while his right arm was sprawled on the wet dirt. In his chest there was a deep wound, likely inflicted by knife or any type of blade.
The rain dripped from the tip of Wednesday's braids to the cold ground. Her dark eyes studied the scene in front of her, to anyone else this was a gruesome tragedy, a waste of young hopefull talent but to Wednesday this was something else. It was a gorgeous painting, literally.
The Death Of Marat, 1793. It clicked into her mind, the angle of his death, the objects and the contrast of the crimson against the pale skin where the same. The killer had created an immaculate masterpiece that resembled the painting.
"It is almost beautiful" Wednesday murmured outloud. Her voice lacked of any grief, instead it was laced with cold. "The staging is flawless just like the original canvas."
"Wednesday! please tell me you didn't just call a dead guy beautiful!"
Enid Sinclair stepped out from behind Wednesday shivering under her bright pink jacket. She had insisted on tagging along for some reason.
Now she was clutching her arms tightly around herself staring at Oliver's body with wide watery blue eyes.
"He was in my history class Wednesday!" Her voice cracked with incredulity at her roomie's lack of empathy. "This isn't a museum it's a crime scene! Who would do something so SICK to Oliver?!" She covered her eyes.
Wednesday didn't blink "death is the ultimate form of art Enid, is the only one that truly lasts."
Before Enid could protest a gag at the macabre statement, Wednesday snapped her fingers two times and from the deep of her pocket Thing scrambled out, landing in the mud with a soft thud.
"Thing, inspect the body." Wednesday demanded, "check the wound for fingerprints marks, and see what's written on that paper without smudging the ink. Enid, let's go back to the dorm we are done here."
The walk back to Nevermore Academy was silent and tense the heavy rain washed away their footprints but it couldn't wash the images of Carter out of Enid's head.
Once in Ophelia hall Enid immediately threw off her wet fuzzy jacket and collapsed onto her bed.
Burying her face into the pillow trembling, not from the cold but from the sheer adrenaline from what she had witnessed. She hugged her pillow and watched over Wednesday as she walked over to her own desk and pulled out a black phone. Enid blinked, her eyes widening in suprise, Wednesday rarely ever touched that phone unless the world was actively ending.
She watched as her roomate's fingers moved quickly over the small keys typing a message
'Oliver Carter is dead. Found in the woods staged as David's The Death Of Marat. The weapon was a blade, Meet me tommorow at the usual spot. Do not be late.'
Wednesday turned off the phone with a click and slipped it into her pocket, her expression blank. Enid opened her mouth to ask who she was texting in such a hurry, but the gruesome memory of the rainy woods came crashing back into her mind, making her lose the tought.
"I need a shower" Enid muttered instead, she got up grabbing her towel and a pair of clean clothes. "I need to get this mud and...everything...out of my head"
Wednesday didn't reply, which was her usual way of acknowledging her. By the time Enid was finished and got changed her panick subseded into a dull ache of paranoia, she felt incredibly vulnerable and wanted comfort. She knew Wednesday just wasn't the type of hugs and emotional reassurance so her thoughts immediately shifted to her boyfriend, Ajax.
"Im going to head over Ajax's for a bit" she said still towel drying her hair. "I just really need to be around someone right now."
Wednesday merely gave her a slight nod, keeping her head fixed on the blank paper on her desk
Only after the heavy wooden door shifted shut did Wednesday finally let her pen rest. A strange unfamiliar bitterness spreader trough her chest, Sharp and uncomfortable. Ajax, she tought, A boy who possesses the intellectual depth of a slug and spends his days getting intoxicated.
It irritated her more than it should've had to, that Enid would seek comfort from someone so utterly oblivious. Enid had just witnessed a scene, no. A masterpiece of violence, a sight that should tie them togheter in shared horror, yet she was running to a boy that would likely offer no more than a mediocre game reccomendation. Wednesday gripped her pen tighter forcing the jelousy back down. She had a case to solve.
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Enid walked down the quiet corridor to the boy's dorms still feeling a bit hollow. When she knocked on Ajax's door he opened it with his usual relaxed vibe still completely oblivious to the horror that happened into the woods.
Ajax opened the door wider stepping back to let Enid into his room. He took one look at her pale face and the faint redness around her eyes, his relaxed expression dropped.
"Whoa, Enid," Ajax said, his eyes widening in genuine concern. "You look like you've seen a ghost. You good? What's up?"
Enid walked over to his unmade bed and sat down, pulling her knees up to her chest. Her still unsteady. "We were in the woods, Ajax. Wednesday and i we found Oliver Carter. He...was dead. Someone murdered him, and it was awful and there was so much blood and it was everywhere--"
"Wait, Carter? That Da Vinci? Ajax rubbed the back of his neck and then adjusted his beanie, blinking hard as he tried to process the news. "Holy crap, that's insane. Nevermore is getting crazy again."
He stood there for a few seconds looking stunned at the revelation. But as the initial shock wore off, the heavy reality of a murder felt to intense for his laid back brain to handle. He didn't know how to navigate Enid's raw trauma, so he naturally went towards his comfort zone.
"Man, that's heavy." Ajax muttered. Turning around and picking up his controller. The bright light of the television screen cutting trough the dim room
"Look babe you just need to chill and take your mind off it okay?"
Enid stared at him. "Oh."
He sat on the floor in front of the bed and pulled out a pre rolled joint from his drawer. He lit it calmly and took a slow drag. The thick smoke curled around his beanie as he exhaled. His eyes already tracking back to the screen game.
Without even turning around he reached out his hand backwards towards the bed. Casually offering the joint between his fingers
"Here" he said
"take a hit. I dont know how to fix...whatever it is that you have going on, but this shit resets your brain i swear, it'll make you forget all about the woods."
Enid stared at the joint, then the back of his beanie and then at the blue screen in front of her. She had came here for warmth, for a hug and comfort. Instead she was talking with the wall of obliviousness. Ajax wasn't being mean on purpose, he was just not equipped to handle the heavy trauma.
A cold shiver ran down her body as the vivid memory of Oliver Carter blood stained body flashed into her mind once again. Her stomach twisted. Wednesday's cold harsh honesty felt a thousand times more real than whatever Ajax was doing right now.
But she was so exhausted she just wanted her brain to stop screaming so she took it.
"Fuck it, sure." Enid muttered. She gently took the joint between his fingers and took a long, sharp drag, coughing as the smoke hit the back of her throat
Ajax leaned forward pressing another button on his controller, not really noticing her.
"See? Just vibe out baby."
Eventually Ajax movements turned sluggish as his controller slumped against his lap he fell asleep leaving Enid quietly staring at the ceiling,
She tought of Wednesday's black jet eyes staring back at her, Exaustion finally won, her eyes fluttered shut and she passed out on Ajax's bed, with the smell of rain and weed.