Ch.1, Part 1: Shark not in the Water

(Note: a lot of the screenshots of Elder Sinbad will probably be repeated throughout the story, for the sake of being less of a hassle. I will try to use different pictures, though, to keep it creative and such.)

As I've said before, all I know about Shark's past personally is what he's told me. Of course, anyone with a brain cell, working pulse, or basic knowledge of this town would know what family he was from back then.

Know his last name? Before it became Rotter after marrying me?

Yup. He was Shark Racket, heir to the most notorious family in Twinbrook. I might've worked for his grandma at some point.

Still, no one knew what happened that day. And I'm pretty sure Shark didn't know, either.

From what I heard, there was a whole execution plan put out. Or...something. I was in prison for something minor and I overheard some, but not a whole lot.

Apparently, it was along the lines of, 'anyone found on the Racket Family property, unless considered children, must be executed. It didn't matter who, and it didn't matter if they were related or not. Anyone above a certain age found must be considered a criminal.'

That might explain why Lolly was...

Ugh. Back then, the thought made me shudder. Still does once in a while, now.

It was on the news. All of them had been drowned in their backyard pool. Pretty sure they call that "swimming with the fishes."

Kind of unusual for the cops to resort to that method. Then again, knowing that family and what they got into...I guess it was somewhat fitting.

What was also somewhat fitting was who carried it out.

Dudley...I kinda knew the guy. He was...He slammed my head against the hood of his police cruiser a few times when I was younger.

My guess is, when I heard him take on the job, you could say I had a feeling why. 'Cause it was personal.

Sometimes when I got landed in the slammer, and believe me, back then this was often, I could hear him muttering about the latest crime the Rackets committed.

Once he said that he wished he could punish his relatives for their wrongdoings. So when the chance came, he took it.

It might not have been what he really wanted, per se, but the assignment was out. It had to be done, like it or not. It may as well have been him to do it.

Goodwin went with him. Their boss demanded they bring proof that it was done, so Goodwin recorded it. I snuck a peek at it myself. Figured why not, what was I gonna do, tell others I saw a bunch of people die on video?

(What Sinbad saw of the video footage)

It's like I was watching some kind of weird snuff film. There they were in the water, struggling, and Dudley...Dudley just stood there.

Did he feel remorse for what he had to do? Regret? That, I'm not ever gonna know.

Maybe he personally felt awful, but at the same time, he was just doing his job. When they told the results, you could hear that...finality in his voice as he gave the report. He said a few short phrases.

"It's been done. All those found on the property are gone."

"All the Rackets have been executed..."

"Except one."

According to the rest of the report, Shark was nowhere to be found. Nobody remembers if he was at school, or if he skipped and went to the arcade or something. It was decades ago.

Whatever he was doing that day, it saved his life. He wasn't on the property, so he wasn't counted as a potential criminal. 

It's a bit disturbing, how he wasn't punished for possible misdeeds, but his younger sister was. What, did they think Lolly was some kind of accomplice or something?

Who knows.

When Dudley told the others that Shark was a no-show, you could almost hear the relief in his voice. He had a second chance to save the family name.

He made sure to do everything he could to change it all for the better, and give Shark a different future than what he was originally gonna have.

(A/N: End of Chapter 1, Part 1.)