Cupcake Candule: A Short Story

Cupcake Candle exhaled. The smoke from his cigarette billowed into the stagnant office air."What we got here," he muttered, "is a good, old-fashioned murder." Lined Post-It Pad began to tremble. "Ain't been a murder in years, Candle," he whispered. "What happened?" Cupcake Candle sighed. "We all knew Blue Paper Mate .7 ran his mouth too much. It was just a matter of time." They stared at the body. Blue's lower half was severed from the upper. His innards, the long tube full of his flashy blue ink, lay a few inches away. The clicking mechanism at the top appeared chewed on. "What kind of monster chews on the body?" gasped Pad. Candle frowned. Pad was too sensitive for this type of work anymore. He'd seen too much, been broken too many times.

"We owe him that." They entered the Drawer. It was an after-hours type of place, full of arrogant stamps dependent on the Ink. Some were running low; those desperate types were dangerous. "Can I help you?" asked Entered AP. He was one of the twins, and his brother, Posted AP, was never far away. The brutes were huge, and always hopped up on too much red Ink. It made them wild, unpredictable. "We need to see E-Mailed," said Candle. He felt Pad quivering beside him. He nudged him roughly. Entered shook his head. "No time for you," he growled. "He's

His word was law. He was the definitive proof for the Woman, the final word in her documentation trail. "Been a while, Cupcake," E-Mailed grinned. "What do you want?" Cupcake frowned. "You heard about Blue?" E-Mailed stopped grinning. "Yeah, we all heard about Blue. But we all knew he had it coming. Couldn't keep his trap shut, always scribbling notes." Cupcake nodded. "All the same, he's dead. And we want to know why." E-Mailed stared at Cupcake. He was always business, this stamp. Business was his only modus operandi. "What's in it for me? We don't investigate your sudden surplus of Blue ink right after a murder." That caught Cupcake's attention. "You know the Woman isn't the only one at that desk, right?" "Tell me something I don't know." Cupcake replied with a sarcastic tone in his voice. E-Mailed smiled again. "Maybe you should look for something a little...different. Something a bit out of place. I'd check Keyboard if I was you." Cupcake turned to leave, Pad close behind him. "Cupcake!" E-Mailed called. Cupcake glanced back at the small stamp. "This isn't going to end well," E-Mailed said. "You're not going to like what you