Leon Mitchell, the first two chapters. Options

[RiddleMeWonders]

Chapter One: Penelope



Penelope Mitchell had never been a very remorseful person. The fact that she caused her husband's demise was, in her eyes, a consequence of her spouse's carelessness. She determined that Henry Mitchell had not been responsible enough to take care of himself, so he was hardly needed or capable of protecting and being responsible for the well-being of his wife and son, Leon. In Penelope's mind this was nature or natural selection or something like that.


Leon Mitchell's mother had been a police officer most of her life. After his father died she soon began working nights and was always home when he got off the school bus in the afternoon. His father died before he had even started kindergarten, before his earliest memory. He'd been three years old and asleep when his mother stormed out of the house and into the garage one evening after a phone call from her sergeant. She got in the jeep and started the engine. When she put it into reverse she heard the crunch of bones and her husband's sigh.


Apart from growing up without a father, Leon experienced a very sheltered life. Penelope made sure that he did his homework right when he got home from school. Penelope did not allow her son to watch television except on Friday evenings with her. She also told him what books he could read, music he could listen to and screened his phone calls. Mrs. Mitchell did not allow her son to date; she perceived it as a distraction. He rarely got invited to birthday parties because he did not have any friends. Though, he did talk to the old man who ran the grocery down the street every once in a while or would some times bring a kid home from school with him. But only once did each child come. Twice a year, he and his mother would go to Sergeant Frank's house for his two children's birthday parties. But those children went to a different school than Leon , and so much of that time he was ignored.



It was Penelope who everyone was enchanted by. Leon had an olive complexion, much like his father's and dark brown beady eyes. He had his mother's nose and hair, a wheat color that was more attractive on Penelope. She had piercing grass green eyes that captivated the observed and observer alike. She was a short strong woman who charmed the various dangers out of her work with a ready smile and a loud mouth.


With one look, a perpetrator wouldn't need any other. With one word they would be hanging on the next, for her voice was calm and commanding and smooth. With one touch, just one gentle necessary hand, they were perfectly willing to surrender themselves into the custody of her station's demands.


Penelope, while considered friendly and radiant, was also very protective of her son. She would bring home co-workers to talk to her son about the different life lessons they had learned growing up. These lessons were usually met with a boy who was bored and lonely and impatient for the intruders to leave. His mother was stubborn though so he would be forced to endure those lessons with alert eyes and ears. Once or twice he asked a question, but most of the time he generally sat back and waited for it to be over. When they were, the men who were invited over lingered in the doorway hoping for a kiss or another invitation, or would even sit next to Leon, expecting their role in Penelope's life to be more than a role model to her son. However, each time she managed to rid her house of them and Leon went back into his room to read.



Chapter Two: Leon and Chelsea



On a November afternoon, you couldn't have asked for better weather for barbeque. It was Penelope's 52nd birthday and everyone, it seemed, was going. Leon left his house and headed out. He didn't live with his mother anymore; he had his own place on the other side of town. At 26 years old, he was a "catch." He smiled more often now as an adult; he'd needed the people skills to get into college. Now, as a young lawyer in the D.A.'s office, he even had a girlfriend. Her name was Chelsea Matthews and while she wasn't particularly beautiful she had green eyes like his mother and a disarming smile. Leon disliked obnoxious women and Chelsea was anything but. She was quiet, shy, yet well spoken. She was 24 years old and managed the bookstore her father had started when he was her age.

Penelope thought Chelsea 's butt was too big and her teeth were too large and her hair was too black and her skin was too tan. She argued that Leon would grow bored with Chelsea soon. But Leon and Chelsea had been together for nine months now and he was still enamored with her quiet yet humorous demeanor. They saw things the same way. Each time his mother pressed the issue Leon would shrug and steer the conversation in another direction. When his mother asked him in her skeptical way, "Do you love her? Is that why you won't listen to me?" He would tilt his head back and forth and wrinkle his nose and move on to something else saying, "I'm happy with my life right now."



But that day, the day of the barbeque, Leon experienced a feeling while staring at the minivan in front of his car that he couldn't define to himself. Chelsea was in the passenger seat as he drove the fifteen miles from her house to his mother's. Chelsea never talked in the car. She would watch Leon 's hands on the steering wheel or look out the window or listen to the radio. Today was no different. Leon's eyes darted from Chelsea to the bumper of the minivan in front of him. He wondered if she could sense what he was feeling. His pulse quickened. He wanted to ram into the back of it with his jeep, but Chelsea was there and could get injured. Then the van took a turn and out of impulse Leon followed. When Chelsea realized that his wasn't the normal route to Penelope's she asked in her soft way "I thought we were going straight to your mother's?"

Leon blinked and looked over at her, letting the minivan disappear into the next neighborhood as he pulled the car over to what he knew was a popular teen make out spot these days. Leon was amazing at improvisation. He gave Chelsea smiled that thrilled her to her toes and unbuckled his seatbelt.

"C'mon. I wanted to show you something before we go. You look really pretty in that dress, Chelsea."
Blushing, Chelsea got out of the car and they disappeared over the little bridge into the woods.



An hour later, they arrived at Penelope's smelling of pine. Leon 's mother pulled him aside, scolded him for being late and told him to run to the store for her.



He looked toward Chelsea, "You want to go?"



She started to speak but Penelope gingerly linked arms with Chelsea and laughed,

"Of course not, Leon, she only just got here. Come on dear; let's get you something to eat."
Penelope's eyes seared into her sons and mouthed, "Hurry up, my guests are waiting!"



Leon left the house and walked down the street to the grocery store he'd gone to when he was a kid. Mr. Wilkes no longer owned it but it still held its small town charm. He walked down the aisles, looking for what he needed. He stopped and saw a woman bending over to scold her son underneath the buggy. Leon overheard the woman tell her son to go out to the car.



He felt the rush again, and unconsciously his hands delved into his jacket pocket for his weapon, a letter opener Chelsea had given him for his birthday a week before that he'd never opened a letter with. It was made of some kind of metal and had his initials on the handle, engraved and then painted over with a gold tinted paint. He walked forward down the aisle, grabbed a bag of rice and stabbed the letter opener into the woman right beneath her rib cage. She never saw it coming. She fell, lightly, for he helped her down from behind and let her bleed, knowing that she would be dead in a few minutes. He continued walking and wiped the weapon on the inside of his jacket pocket, checked out, and returned to his mother's house.

He walked in, kissed Chelsea on her ear and asked her if she would like to leave. She blushed relieved and they left.