‘Hell of a way to start the new year.’

Samson looked round the room. Everything was red. Decorations, walls, the clothes on the victim, the pool of blood on the floor, the spatter of blood on the wall.

‘It’s the contradiction, you see?’ Cheng explained. ‘The colour red. Chinese New Year is celebrated with the colour red. 2017 is the year of the Rooster, the Fire Rooster. Red is an unlucky colour for Fire Roosters.’

Samson shrugged. ‘It sure was unlucky for this guy.’ He motioned to the body. ‘We got a name yet?’

Cheng consulted his notepad. ‘Mr. Dingbang Kam. Owned this place. Born in 1957, the last year of the Fire Rooster. Married, three daughters.’

Samson knelt by the body. He noticed something sticking out of the mouth. A feather? Rigor mortis had set in. He managed to prise open the jaw.

Samson recoiled at the sight of the rooster’s head stuffed inside the mouth.

An officer came down the stairs looking pale and shaken.

‘Sir, I think you need to take a look upstairs.’

Written as part of Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers. The challenge is to write a flash fiction story, in around 150 words based on the weekly photo prompt. For more information visit HERE.

To read other stories based on this week’s prompt, visit HERE.