Miranda, despite only being in 4th grade, loved makeup. She was very much into costuming, makeup effects and just fashion and makeup in general. And her parents didn't see anything wrong with this, either. If anything, they loved seeing her so passionate about something, and even once or twice discussed amongst themselves whether it would ever lead to anything career wise down the road if nurtured correctly. This Saturday morning, Jason was making breakfast while Miranda sat at the kitchen table watching a video on Youtube about how to do makeup from a fairly popular influencer. After a few minutes more, Jason plated her breakfast and plopped it down in front of her, rubbing her head.
"You having a good morning?" he asked, and she nodded, smiling, picking up her fork and digging into her waffles; Jason walked back to the stove and started making himself some eggs, adding, "Listen, I have to go meet with someone today, so just stay in the house, keep the doors locked and I'll be home fairly quickly, okay?" "Okay," Miranda said, mouthful of waffle. Jason loved this. Sure, the situation it arose from wasn't exactly ideal, but he didn't realize just how badly he'd missed domesticity. After he finished cooking, Jason seated himself at the table and read the paper while Miranda, headphones on, watched her video on his laptop. Afterwards, Jason cleaned up the table, showered, dressed and finally started to head out. As he climbed into his car and looked at himself in the rearview mirror, he sighed. He was somewhat, understandably, scared to do this, but he did need someone to talk to. Even if that someone was the college student he'd ruined his marriage for. *** Kelly wasn't having the best day. Sitting outside Lawrence Mousser's home in her car, watching and sipping her iced coffee, she wanted to shake this bad feeling, but she just couldn't. These were the worst kinds of days, when one could feel something was off tonally, but couldn't do anything to alter it. Kelly chose, instead, to do her best to ignore it, which was proving harder than expected. Lawrence Mousser, as Kelly had learned, was not only the man who had ultimately dismissed Jason from his job after the incident, but also - as Kelly had recently learned - had met her father at a party they'd each attended and told him if Kelly was hoping to get into his school, he hoped her father would provide a generous donation. This rubbed both Kellys father and herself the wrong way, but only Kelly was gutsy enough to do something about it. Kelly had been tailing Lawrence for the last few weeks, watching his patterns, marking everything schedule wise down in her usual little black book, and coming up with just how exactly she would like to see him hurt. Today, however, he left the house earlier than usual, causing Kelly surprise. In all the weeks she'd been following him, he'd never once changed routine. Why now? Kelly started her car as he started his, and once he'd driven a bit down the road, she began to follow, keeping a good length behind so as not to arouse suspicion. After a brief drive through the city, Lawrence stopped at a building Kelly had never seen him stop at before, get out of his car and head inside. It wasn't in a seedy area either, it was just a little shop tucked away somewhere downtown. It was a seemingly perfectly ordinary spot to be. And yet...something about it made Kelly feel unease. She waited for a bit until Lawrence finally returned, got back into his car and then, finally, much to her delight, started on his usual routine. Following him, Kelly thought to herself that now, given this new information, if she really wanted to do this right she was going to have to have all the accurate information necessary beforehand, and this new stop really threw a wrench into that. Kelly almost felt like turning around and checking the building out for herself, but that was a bad idea, she knew, to put herself in a place her victim would maybe frequent. No. She needed to remain as detached as possible. Jason, however...there was no reason he couldn't explore it. *** "Sounds like things have been rough," Emily said, picking up a few chips and dipping them in the bowl of salsa on the table as Jason nodded, leaning back in the chair opposite her at their table. Jason and Emily had agreed to meet at a popular little Mexican place and, instead of ordering separate meals, just eating the chips and salsa and sharing a plate of nachos. "Don't get me wrong, I am happy," Jason said, "but I'm about as happy as happy can be allowed given the situation, you know? Like, realistically, I'd rather have just gotten back together with my ex wife and reconciling everything, but that was obviously never going to happen and I kind of feel like an idiot for ever believing it might've." Emily smiled as their plate of nachos were set in front of them. She sipped from her soda and then started to dig into the plate. "Well," she said, licking cheese off her thumb, "I don't think you're an idiot for wanting or believing that. I think it's sweet, and if there's one thing she and I can agree on it's that that's part of your charm. But, like you said, sick as it might seem to say, at least there's upsides. Now you're with your daughter again and that has to be nice." "It is," Jason said, scratching his stubble, "but...ya know...I feel guilty about being happy just because of the circumstances. That being said, you're not wrong, it is nice and I hate that I'm feeling bad about being happy. It's a double edged sword. Can't feel happy without feeling bad, can't feel bad without feeling bad for feeling bad when I'm happy." Emily laughed as she continued to eat nachos, Jason finally joining in after taking a long drink from his own soda. Honestly, Jason thought, this was nice. He never really expected to see, let alone talk to, Emily again. But this was nice. This was good. It was good for him to have a friend outside of Kelly, someone still attached to the life he continually yearned for. The life that made sense. The life where he didn't help kill people. But that was the thing, wasn't it? You can't go back in time. Jason felt his fingertips touch Emily's as they both reached for the same chips, and Jason pulled his hand away, laughing nervously, apologizing. "Either way, you recognize it, and that's more than most people would be capable of doing," Emily said, "so don't feel too bad, man." Jason hesitated, then cupped his hands. "What are you doing tomorrow night?" he asked, causing Emily to glance up at him and blink a few times, smiling nervously. "Uh...tomorrow night? Nothing, why?" "Because I miss having dinner with an adult," Jason said, sighing, "I've been spending too much time with children." *** Jason was excited. Today had been great, and he and Emily had a dinner metup set for the following night. Nothing romantic, either, just two adults being friends. Standing in his bathroom, brushing his teeth, Jason couldn't help but feel like, for the first time since his life fell apart, he actually was feeling good about himself for the right reasons again. Like things were returning to at least what could be considered semi normal. Jason finished brushing, put his toothbrush back in the cup on the sink, then headed out of the hall bathroom. As he headed to the kitchen for a glass of water before bed, he heard the light tapping on his front door and sighed. He knew that sound all too well. Jason walked to the door and, after unlocking it, pulled the door open to, as expected, find Kelly standing on his porch. They looked at one another for a moment, before Jason finally moved aside, allowing Kelly to enter and shutting the door behind her. Kelly put her purse on the kitchen table, following Jason into the kitchen so he could finally get his glass of water. "Didn't expect to see you today," Jason said as he searched for a glass in the cabinet. "Are you disappointed to?" Kelly asked, making him laugh. "No," Jason said, chuckling as he filled his glass with water, "not at all, it's good to see you. I feel like we haven't been connecting as much as we were. How was your day?" "...I need your help, Jason," Kelly said, causing him to sigh. "Yeah, I had a feeling you were going to say that. Alright, hit me with it, what's going on?" Jason asked as Kelly sat on one of the chairs by the table, pulling a nail file from her purse and getting to massaging her nails as she spoke. "Well, for one thing," she started, "I need you check out a building for me. Lawrence Mousser usually had a pretty strict routine, but today he made a stop at-" "Lawrence Mous...Larry? From the college?" Jason asked, now fully invested, setting his now empty water glass on the counter and coming around towards her, "Larry Mousser? That's who you're targeting? For what reason?" "Extortion. Told my father the only way he'd ever allow me entrance into the school would be if a large donation came along for the ride," Kelly said, "and, seeing as what he did to you, since you told me last month, I figured it'd be one you wouldn't mind getting some kind of revenge on." Jason nodded, hands on his hips, chewing his lip. "...where's this building?" he asked, and Kelly smiled. *** Kelly and Jason drove back down to the area she'd followed Lawrence to earlier that afternoon and parked across the street from it. Again, its storefront was innocuous. Completely innocent. Devoid of any and all sorts of things that might convey something sinister within its walls. Sitting in the car, eating the snacks they'd picked up at a nearby convenience store and watching the building for any signs of activity whatsoever, Jason couldn't help but admit to himself that he had, in fact, missed these little stakeouts. "How're things going with you? I'm sorry we haven't had the chance to hang out and work as much," Jason said as Kelly bit into a taquito. "It's alright," she said, chewing, shrugging, "I've been okay. Been doing a lot of therapy lately. Nothing too exciting." "...you know I can't keep doing this forever, right?" Jason asked, and Kelly slowed her munches, turning her head to look at him as he sighed and added, "I didn't know how to say it, but...listen, I'm forever grateful for what you've done for me, and...and I honestly don't know where I'd be without your pity, and I'm happy to have helped you get revenge on some quite honestly despicable people, so it's not a personal thing. But I'm trying to get a new degree so I can start a new career so I can raise my daughter better and...it's just...this doesn't fit into that schedule anymore." Kelly nodded slowly, eating the last bite of that particular taquito and wiping her hands on a nearby napkin. She cleared her throat and looked at the building again before looking back at Jason, who did have a genuinely sorry look on his face that made it hard to be mad at him. "I guess I sort of assumed that maybe you wanted to help me because you couldn't be there for your own daughter," she said, "like, maybe you were making up for something. I'm happy she's important to you, as she should be. I'd be nobody without my father, so I get the necessity of having her in your life. That being said, I won't deny being a little disappointed. Here I thought we were in it for the long haul and-" "Kelly, come on," Jason said, the both of them laughing lightly, aware of what she was doing; he continued, "You know I'd dedicate my life to helping you eradicate scum if I could, but I have a daughter. And she's not your age, she's young, she needs guidance, you know? I gotta be there for her. Lately she's been really getting into makeup and girls who run, like, makeup and beauty video channels online and I just...I wanna watch her become who she's gonna be and support that as well." Kelly smiled, nodding, as she reached over and patted Jason on the leg. "You're a good father, and I'm sorry it took your ex wife going into a coma to prove that," she said, "and now, before the schmaltz police come and arrest us, get in there and do your thing." Jason nodded, pulled his animal mask down over his face and climbed out of the car. He pulled his gloves on over his hands and headed across the street as Kelly watched from afar with binoculars as he approached the building. Jason peeked into the window of the storefront, but couldn't see anything. He reached out and touched the handle, pulling, but it was locked. Jason then reached inside, pulled out the lockpicking tool Kelly had gotten for them and quickly unlocked it. Oddly enough, no alarms sounded. There was no security system present, it appeared. Jason vanished into the darkness of the building, leaving Kelly to wonder what it was he was discovering. What it was, in actuality, was a shop. Full of textbooks. Absolutely full of textbooks covering every course, every topic, everthing that was taught at the college. Textbooks that ran students hundreds of dollars, money they often didn't see recouped. And here Lawrence was, hoarding them and, from what Jason could tell, selling them at a marked up value to another college. Jason picked one of them up and shook his head, disgusted with Larry's business practices. He'd never much cared for the guy, but now? Now he really loathed him. Just an utterly horrid man in a cheap suit. After about ten minutes, Jason finally emerged, came back across the street and climbed back inside the car, pulling his mask off as he did and running his hands through his hair. "Well?" Kelly asked. "He's selling his own schools textbooks at a markup to other colleges," he said, "normally this wouldn't be an issue, but considering the fact that the year I was last working there he claimed there was a shortage and, as a result, requested students who wanted or needed them pay extra to attain it, yeah, he's a lying sack of shit that needs to be dealt with. Between this, what he did to me and what he said to your father? I'm definitely down for getting rid of this guy." Kelly smirked and put the car in drive. "That's the kind of attitude I missed," she said as they pulled away from the curb, asking, "so, your daughter likes makeup huh?" *** Sunday mornings. Always the best day of the week. Jason got to sleep in a little, and when he did finally start to stir, he made himself a healthy breakfast, went for a jog and thought about his upcoming dinner with Emily that evening. As he went about his duties for the day, Miranda spent her Sunday afternoon in her pajamas, drinking iced tea and watching even more makeup tutorials on Youtube. Most of the popular ones she'd seen, her favorites hadn't uploaded anything new, but after a bit of clicking around, she finally landed on one that looked promising. The girl in the thumbnail was, in fact, gorgeous. She looked like an expert at not just applying makeup but also crafting a wardrobe. Miranda clicked through to that video, and as it loaded up and started to play, she adjusted the headphones on her ears and settled in for a lesson from someone clearly intelligent about the subject. "Hi," the girl said, tossing her long blonde hair behind her and flashing a perfect smile at the camera as she waved playfully, "I've never done this sort of thing before, but I guess it's good to try a new hobby, especially one you're already good at." Miranda chuckled. This girl was not only good at what she did, but charismatic too? A perfect combo. "Anyway," the video continued, "welcome to my channel, and please just be aware right off the bat that I am not doing this as a career, I don't wanna work in the field, I just know that there's a lot of young girls out there who maybe don't have great relationships with their moms or maybe even have moms and don't have sisters and as such they don't have anyone to teach the very basic ins and outs of makeup, you know? In a way that is simple and easy to learn and remember. So that's really what I'm here for more than anything else. I grew up in a very, um, appearance savvy family, my father is a fashion photographer, so I know all about this stuff because I've been surrounded by models and stuff my whole life. Alright, let's begin with something very standard. And, if you're here for this first video, please, leave a comment, and maybe we could connect more and I could give you makeup tips! My name, for those unaware, is Kelly Baker, and I'm happy to be here to teach you everything you need to know."
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Anette Benning was sitting in her office, across from a 13 year old Kelly Baker, who was sitting cross legged in her chair, staring her down. Anette hated Kelly's eyes. That cold dark blue that looked like diamonds in freshwater. It made her uneasy, so Anette often looked away as much as she could, just to ease the tension in her gut from Kelly's presence. Anette cleared her throat and, looking down at the clipboard in her lap, pressed the tip of her pen to the paper, ready to write.
"So tell me how your week was," she said, steeling herself against whatever was about to come. "I had a babysitting job over the weekend," Kelly sad, shrugging. "That's disgustingly domestic of you," Anette replied, making Kelly smirk. "The child was the daughter of one of the models my father's been working with lately," Kelly continued, "and she was a completely unhinged spoiled brat. No rules, no guidelines, no boundaries. She was just wild. At first I figured 'well, okay, this is just how she's been raised, can't do anything about it and I'm only here for one night so why make a big thing of it' but the longer I stayed...the more I could see her future. She would grow up. She would never be punished for how she acted. If anything, she would be rewarded. And she'd always have mommy to protect her and bail her out. She would never know hardship." "And you do?" Anette asked, glancing up. "I'm in therapy aren't I?" Kelly replied, making Anette's brow raise as she nodded. "Fair, fair, certainly," Anette said, jotting something down, "please, continue." "So, after a few hours of trying to wrangle this unruly child, I finally had enough. She broke a beautiful crystal glass, and then said she was going to blame it on me, and knowing her mother wouldn't believe me, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I picked up the shards of glass, put them into a paper bag, then I took her by the wrist and led her to the bathroom." Anette could feel her heart sink. Here it came. "In the bathroom, I sat her down on the tub rim, then I started finding the smallest shards of crystal I could find and I very carefully began inserting them under her nails, fingers AND toes. This would be undeniable proof that she'd done it, and hurt herself in the process. She cried, she begged me to stop, but by that point I'd had enough of her attitude. I knew the world would never teach her a lesson, so I took it upon myself to do so. Maybe, who knows, I helped in avoiding creating yet another egotistical narcissist who won't ever take blame for their actions. And all it took was a little bit of glass." A silence filled the room, and Anette cleared her throat as she finished writing. She then removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes before looking back up at Kelly, who was glancing happily out of the nearby window from her chair, smiling to herself, a look of sheer pride on her face. "...the world is a bad place, and I'm going to make it better," she said softly. Anette's guts turned cold. *** Jason had made a habit of falling asleep in Sarah's hospital room in the afternoons. After taking Miranda to school, he would find his way over to the hospital, bringing with him a bouquet and a book he thought she'd like, seating himself beside her and reading to her until he eventually fell asleep himself. Today was no different. Jason slowly woke, wiping his face with his coat sleeve, before remembering where he was. He sighed, then checked his wrist watch. He had another 2 hours before he was supposed to pick Miranda up from school. His eyes then traveled up to Sarah lying in the bed, her condition completely unchanged, just as it had been for the last 3 months. He shook his head and sighed again before hearing the door to the room open, as Sarah's doctor, Vivian Sheldon, entered the room. "It's nice that you come here every day," she said as she went about her duties of checking on Sarah's charts and readouts. "Well, I mean, we're separated, not divorced. Not yet anyway," Jason replied, shrugging as he sat upright in his chair and stretched, yawning as he added, "besides, I miss being with her, regardless of her being conscious or not." Vivian turned and looked at him, and he grimaced. "Yeah that came out weirder than I anticipated, sorry," he said, the both of them chuckling gently. Just then the door opened again, and Kelly strolled in. She was wearing tight canary yellow jeans and a green button down top with a burgandy red leather coat over the top, her makeup pristine, her hair perfect. Jason smiled upon seeing her. "Are you a friend, or?" Vivian asked, preparing to leave the room now that her checks were done. "Yes," Kelly replied, smiling politely. Vivian turned and exited, the door closing behind her as Kelly walked around the bed, looking at Sarah. Jason shifted in his chair, trying to get comfortable again, while Kelly dug her arm further into the chip bag she was holding, eating them like gaining weight didn't matter to her. He knew her well enough at this point to know she'd never let that happen anyway. "What are you doing here?" Jason asked. "Came to see how you were holding up," Kelly said, shrugging, "we haven't really been doing much lately, all things considered, so I thought perhaps a quick little pop in would be nice. Just check up. See how you're dealing with it. It has to be, just...I can't even imagine it." Jason nodded, crossing his arms. "Yeah...yeah it's weird," he said, "but, ya know...it is what it is. These things happen. I'm mostly confused by the fact that they found her unconscious in the pool, because she...she's a great swimmer. It just doesn't make sense why she'd suddenly faint or whatever." "Well, whatever happened, she's lucky, because she could've drowned," Kelly said, "whoever saved her did you and her a huge kindness. A little weird they never came forward, but, maybe they just didn't want the spotlight. Good samaritans are strange that way." Jason eyeballed her, feeling anxious about her but not knowing why. "So," Kelly said, wiping her hands as she tossed the now empty chip bag into the nearby trashcan, "when are you available? Because I have something for you to do. It's been a while, but it's time to get back to work. I didn't wanna push you while you were getting readjusted to fatherhood and dealing with this, but I do need your help." Jason sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Uh, yeah, about...that. Um, I don't...I don't know that...that that's such a good idea. I have a lot to deal with, what with Miranda and-" "I get that it's a lot to deal with, but I need your help, and I'm not trying to pull the guilt trip card but I AM the one paying for your apartment, and your return to college, and everything else, so maybe you should be willing to grant me at least small pockets of time to continue what we started, yeah?" Kelly asked, walking back to Jason, the sound of her heels clacking on the cold hospital floor. She knelt down and looked him in the eye, and he slowly nodded. She smiled, patted his cheek and said, "Good. I'll come by later, we'll discuss some things." And with that, Kelly also exited the room, leaving Jason sitting there, his heart beating a mile of a second. For some reason he was terrified of her now, more than he'd ever been before, but he couldn't place why. He knew he was in no danger, so why the sudden nervousness? Whatever it was, he chose to ignore it. He'd seen Kelly when she was mad, and what she was capable of doing in such a scenario. He didn't want to be on the receiving end. *** Barbara Kinsington had never had her nails done professionally, so this was a first for her. Seated in the chair while a professional worked on her hand, Kelly sitting beside her, Barbara couldn't help but feel a smidge of remorse for hating her when she was being so generous, treating Barb to a day out like this. They'd already had lunch beforehand at a fairly nice restaurant downtown, and Kelly had even footed the bill, and now this. Was this what having girl friends was like? Neither one really knew. "I'm not used to people...touching me," Barbara said, making Kelly chuckle. "Yeah, it can be hard to get used to. I've gone to massage therapists over the years, so it's made me much less disgusted with the idea, but on the whole I'd agree with you. Outside of a very close and intimate interpersonal relationship, I doubt I would like to be touched by anyone either," Kelly replied. For the last 3 months, Barbara had been gathering whatever information she could on Kelly, just by the fact that Kelly would talk about things with her, because they were, after all, friends. But Barbara was also careful not to push her luck, and try to force anything to the forefront. Last thing she wanted was to appear suspicious. "So what are your plans for the rest of the day?" Barb asked, and Kelly sighed. "I'm supposed to meet with a friend later on, discuss some plans for later in the week," she remarked, biting her lip like she was uncertain, "but...frankly, we haven't been able to really spend much time together lately, so who knows if it'll happen. Regardless, I'm going to show up whether he likes it or not." "A boyfriend, or?" "No," Kelly said, laughing loudly, shaking her head, "no no no, just someone I do a hobby with from time to time. But he's recently come into some sudden responsibility, so it's made upkeeping our interests a bit harder. Maintaining a friendship can be difficult." "Tell me about it," Barb said, sighing, "See, I was homeschooled most of my life, so I don't really know much about what it's like interacting with my peers, so I like that you at least are willing to make the effort, come up with things for us to do, cause if it were left up to me, we'd be shit outta luck." Barb and Kelly laughed, glancing at one another. This was sick, Barb knew. Absolutely sick. She hated Kelly with a passion. She'd disfigured her sister, disabled her for life. And yet...there was a small part of Barb that couldn't help but be disgusted by the fact that she was genuinely enjoying herself. Was it just the thrill of finally having a 'friend', or was it the fact that Kelly, when she wasn't violent, was an actually fun person to be around, or...and perhaps most upsetting of all...was it because Barb, after a lifetime of being on her own and questioning herself... ...was falling in love? *** Jason jogged up the stone steps to Miranda's elementary school, reached out for the door handles, and was surprised when the doors instead swung out open towards him. He stepped back, hands in the air, smiling nervously, ready to apologize for being in the way when he realized who it was in front of him. Emily tossed her hair from her face, and then looked down at her little sister, her fingertips on her back. "Go to the car, Megan," she said, handing her the keys. Once Megan was out of reach, Jason and Emily looked at one another again, before Emily spoke, her voice low, "what are you doing here?" "Picking up my daughter?" Jason replied, shrugging. "...you have custody now? Are you two back together or-" "No, Sarah...Sarah had an accident," Jason said, choking up as he said it. Even after all this time, openly acknowledging the situation hurt like hell. "Oh my god, what happened?" Emily asked, her eyes wider. "I don't really know," Jason said, "I was asleep when I got the phone call. Apparently someone at her gym found her floating in the pool. She's in a coma, but it's...it's been 3 months. The chances of her coming out at this point are getting slimmer by the day. So Miranda's living with me now, and...and I go to the hospital every day and I bring flowers and I read to her, but...I don't know." Emily smiled a little, surprised by this admission. She knew Jason wasn't a bad man. She knew he wasn't a predator. She'd let her guilt get the better of her, and that was why she'd told Sarah about the affair. But actually hearing Jason talk about his wife, the way his voice wavered as if he were about to burst into tears on the spot, that really made her feel a thousand times worse about everything. "Listen, if you ever need to talk, you can call me," Emily said, "I know it's...maybe a little awkward, but you can always call me. I know it's been a while since we spoke, but-" Just then the doors swung open again, tapping Emily in the butt and forcing her to move forward a bit. Miranda came out, looking between her father and this woman, and then walked to her fathers side, her cat backpack hung over her shoulders. Emily smiled at Miranda, then looked back at Jason. "Please, don't hesitate to reach out," Emily whispered, before patting his arm and heading to her car. Jason looked down at his daughter and smiled, holding his hand out. She smiled back and put her hand in his, and together they started walking back up the street to where he'd parked. "Did you have a nice day at school?" he asked. "It was so much fun!" "Well tell me about it, I can't wait to hear!" *** Kelly knocked a third time, before the door finally opened, and Jason - standing in his boxers and a vneck tshirt - looked surprised to see her, as if he hadn't actually expected her to show up. He also, Kelly noticed, didn't move to let her inside. "...I told you I'd be dropping by, remember? I only gave the courtesy of knocking because I'm trying to give you the illusion of privacy," Kelly said, "can I come in? I am paying for it, after all." Jason sighed, nodded, then stepped aside. Kelly smiled and walked past him, into the living room, where she noticed Miranda sitting on the floor, playing a computer game on his laptop. Kelly then looked back at Jason, who was shutting the front door and scratching his back. "You're certainly not a slave to fashion," Kelly said, crossing her arms and looking him up and down. "Don't tell your father or he might have his industry goons smother me in my sleep with Calvin Klein underwear," Jason said, the both of them chuckling. "Anyway," Kelly said, lowering her voice, "I just wanted to stop by and tell you that I've got a new target. If you have some spare time this week, I'd really appreciate a little stakeout before we actually commit to taking them down. I kind of miss our late nights together." Jason looked over at Miranda, then, taking Kelly by the arm and moving her further down the hallway and lowering his voice, he responded. "Um, okay, we can do it, but I have to be able to be here for her," he said, "I have to pick her up, I have to make her dinner, I also have schoolwork to do, you know? It isn't like I'm avoiding you, Kelly, it's that I'm literally too goddamned busy. But sure, tell me when and we'll work out a time. Who is this new target?" Kelly smirked. She leaned in a little, and lowered her voice again to just a breathy whisper now. "That's the interesting part," she said quietly, "...it's someone you know." Jason had felt fear before. But never fear like this. The front door opened quietly, and Kelly slipped inside the house. The lights were out, her parents were obviously asleep upstairs, and she was breathing quietly so as not to make a single peep. She reached up and touched her shoulder, scraped, and then reached to her face and felt her eye, black and sore. She gritted her teeth and wanted to scream, but she couldn't afford to have her folks know what happened. That'd only open a whole other can of worms that she didn't need opened right now. Instead, Kelly went upstairs and took a shower, then went to sleep.
She talked to her therapist about it, not super in depth but in depth enough for her to get the gist. And then...and then she started planning her revenge. She started taking notes. Watching him everywhere he went. She knew his schedule down to a tee, and even knew the days it would suddenly change. Kelly Baker was going to ruin his life the way he'd damaged hers, but she was going to need an accomplice. Thankfully, an accomplice eventually fell into her lap in the form of Jason Tulridge. *** "Are we just gonna follow this guy around all day?" Jason asked, eating a donut from the box in between the seats of Kelly's car. "Until the time is right," Kelly said, "We have a small window and I intend to fit through it." "...a literal window, or?" "No, idiot," Kelly said, laughing softly, "a metaphorical window. Why, you got somewhere to be?" Jason didn't answer. Instead he just shrugged and chewed his donut. Kelly picked up her coffee and took a long sip, then put her binoculars back to her face and continued watching. After a moment, the man exited the house, locking the door behind him, and headed to his car. He climbed inside and then started the car, pulling it back from the driveway and heading out down the street. Kelly started her car and followed a bit behind. "So what exactly did this guy do?" Jason asked, "I mean, I'd like to know that someone deserves something before we-" "Trust me, he deserves it. Far more than the others," Kelly said sternly, so coldly that Jason didn't even respond. They followed him for a bit. He ran some errands - the bank, buying lottery tickets, odds and ends like that - then headed away from the city to the nearby hills. Kelly followed him the entire way, always a few car lengths behind so as not to draw any kind of attention to themselves, not that he ever seemed to pay attention to anything around him, like most people. "Where is he going?" Jason asked. "He always go jogging on this day," Kelly said, "Could you imagine an easier target? It's like he's asking to be attacked." "People never expect these sorts of things to happen, do they?" Jason asked. "They always expect it to happen to other people," Kelly said. The man parked his car in an empty spot near a trail, then got out. Kelly parked nearby and waited. She exhaled then looked at Jason as the man put his hiking boots on. "You do everything I tell you, you got it?" she asked, "No questions, no comments, no hesitation. This is the most important one we're going to take down, and it has to be perfect. He has to suffer. Last thing I need is for you to grow a conscience." "Y-yeah, yeah sure, you got it," Jason said. Kelly took a deep breath, then got out, not even with her mask on. Jason got out too and whispered over the car roof to her. "You don't wanna put your mask on?" he asked. "No," she chuckled, "I want him to know it was me." She shut the car door, which finally caught his attention. The man, who looked about her age, turned and grinned as he saw her. Kelly walked up to him slowly, hands in her coat pockets as she looked around at the area. "What're you doing up here?" he asked. "You go jogging here of all places? Guess what they say is right, people love to return to the scene of a crime," Kelly said. "Did you just follow me out here to berate me?" he asked, and Kelly smiled. "If only," she replied, pulling a handgun from her coat and aiming it at him, taking both him and Jason by surprise; she winced a little and said, "my dad bought this after someone broke into our home last year, and I never wanted to touch it. I think, of all the weapons one can use against someone, a gun is the easiest option. The least fun. Now put your hands up." The man put his hands up as Jason approached her, his mask on his face. "Uh...what should I-" he started, but she shushed him with the singular action of raising her hand. "So David," she said, "it's been a while since we've talked proper. I thought maybe we could have a chat before what's gonna go down goes down. Maybe about that night, in particular? The night you sent me home in pain, terror? The only time I was ever scared in my entire life. That make you feel like a big man? You feel better about yourself?' The man, who Jason now knew was called David, sat on the trunk on his car with his hands raised and glanced fitfully between Kelly and the man standing beside her. He sighed and shook his head. "I won't say I'm proud," he said quietly, "but I also won't lie and deny it happened. It happened, and I take responsibility for it. It was an awful thing to try and do and I am sorry. For what it's worth, it hasn't happened with anyone else since." "Oh, so I was the only one? How special I must be," Kelly said, putting a hand to her heart and adding, "You really know how to make a girl feel good about herself, Dave." "You don't get to act all high and mighty, you hurt me too ya know." "...I was fighting for myself," Kelly said, sounding almost shocked at his insincerity, adding with a scoff, "I think hurting others in self defense is valid. But no, you wouldn't see it that way, why would you? No, everything that you do to others is okay and everything that others do to you is unjustified because you're the main character in your world. You like running from your problems, Davey? Try doing it now." With that, Kelly aimed down and shot him in the knees. David doubled over, screaming in pain as he collapsed onto the ground. Kelly sighed and slipped the gun back into her coat pocket, then turned to Jason as she headed back to her car. "What...what do I do to him?" Jason asked. "I don't care," Kelly said, "Just make it last. I wanna be entertained." Every now and then, Jason admitted, Kelly still managed to absolutely terrify him. *** "I gotta ask," Jason said quietly afterwards, exhaling smoke from his cigar into the cool night air, "...what did this guy do to warrant this level of a response?" David's absolutely ruined body lay in the same clearing they'd parked in, and Kelly and Jason were sitting on her car, smoking a cigar a piece which she'd stolen from her father. He looked at her, and noticed her eyeliner was running from crying. She wiped her nose on her sweater sleeve, as he reached over and touched her shoulder. "Hey, what's going on, are you-" "He tried to...to rape me," Kelly said, "All the people we've hurt, that I've hurt...they're not random. They're people who have tried to hurt me, or my family, or come between us in one way or another. I don't just do this because it's fun, I do it because someone has to pay for the way I, and my parents, are treated. Someone has to defend us. I'm not a bad person, Jason." Jason felt his heart ache for her, as he put his arms around her and pulled her into him, just holding her, letting her cry. "No, no you're not," he said quietly, "it's okay. I'm so sorry that happened. I'm so sorry those people did those things to you, and that this piece of scum tried to hurt you like that. What I did was creepy, but at least it was consensual. You didn't deserve that, Kelly." Jason and Kelly sat there for what felt like an hour, before finally deciding they should do something with David's body. Kelly said she'd take care of it, so they wrapped him in a large piece of plastic before loading him up in his own trunk. Kelly said she'd drive Jason home, then come back to deal with David's body. As she pulled up to Jason's apartment complex and he climbed out of the car, he leaned back in through the window and smiled at her. "Hey," he said, "If we're not doing anything tomorrow, let's do something fun. Let's, like, go to an arcade or do miniature golf or something. Something so...not so bleak." Kelly smiled. "Yeah, okay, I like that," she said. "You going home after you do the clean up or you wanna come over and watch trash TV? I'll even order in pizza," Jason said. "No, I have something else to deal with," Kelly said, "But thanks. Call me tomorrow!" Kelly pulled away, Jason waving at her as she sped off to deal with David's body, before heading to her last errand of the night. Jason had done so much for her, it was time for her to do something for him. *** Sarah swam up to side of the pool and pulled her goggles up, exhaling. She checked her phone and noticed she'd been swimming for almost 2 hours, and it was starting to get late. She should get home, relieve the babysitter, get ready for the move. She sighed and then heard the doors open, and she turned her head to see Kelly entering, in a swimsuit. She waved, smiling politely. Kelly waved back as she stopped at the steps leading into the pool, watching Sarah tread water. "You're here late!" Sarah said. "...well, I had things to do," Kelly said, "Having a good time?" "I suppose, it's nice and quiet, that's for sure," Sarah said. Kelly slowly walked into the water, then swam up to Sarah as Sarah pulled her goggles back down over her eyes. "I'm gonna do a few more laps and then I'm gonna head home, it's getting late. Sorry we couldn't be here more at the same time!" Sarah said. As she turned away to swim to the other end, she suddenly felt a pain in her neck. She reached up and felt blood running through her fingers, then noticed it was flowing down her one piece and into the clear pool water. She turned, stumbling in the water, as she faced Kelly who, once more, was crying. Sarah furrowed her brow, utterly confused, as Kelly put her hands around Sarah's neck. "I'm so sorry," she said, "but I need him." And then she pushed Sarah under. Sarah wanted to thrash, wanted to fight, but she was quickly losing consciousness simply from the neck wound. She could see the outline of Kelly in the dim overhead pool lights, all watery and wavy. She didn't understand, and that's what hurt her the most. She didn't understand. This girl was her gym friend. They'd had brunches together. Why had this happened? Why was this happening? She struggled best she could, before finally, everything was enveloped by blackness, and she couldn't struggle anymore. *** Jason was awoken the following morning, not by his alarm clock, but by his phone. He rolled over and picked up, groggy, running his hand down his face and then back up into his hair. "Yeah, hello?" he answered, "...what? Yeah, that's me. Jesus christ, okay, I'll...I'll be right there." Jason climbed out of bed and pulled his clothes on, then briskly grabbed his car keys as he headed to the front door, opening it only to find Kelly standing there, about to knock; a bag of donuts and two coffees in her other hand. Each seemed startled by the other. "Wow, you're up early," she said. "...I have to go to the hospital," he said, pushing past her. "What about miniature golf?" Kelly asked. "My ex was attacked, and she isn't responsive," Jason said, opening the door to his car and climbing in. Kelly watched him back up and speed away. Once he was well out of view, she smirked, raised one of the coffees to her lips and sipped. She looked at her watch and then, realizing the day was shot, she thought maybe she should do some shopping. Barbara Kinsington hated being the new kid at school, even at a high school. In fact, at a high school, being the new kid was way worse she felt, as the kids were even more judgemental than ever before. Standing in the hallway, opening her locker and stuffing her coat inside, she could almost sense the snickering and taunting, even if she couldn't pin it on anyone. She tried to ignore it, until she noticed a girl opening a locker beside hers. The girl glanced over at Barb and smiled, making Barb smile back.
"Hello," Barb said. "New?" "Yeah, what gave it away?" "The look of a deer caught in the headlights is almost always only seen on new students, or perhaps freshmen," the girl responded. "Would you maybe show me to my class?" Barb asked, "I don't wanna be late on my first day." The girl took her class schedule and looked at it momentarily, before nodding and agreeing. She handed the paper back to Barb, who thanked her, shoving it back into her notebook and pulling her backpack strap up around her shoulder as they started to head down the hallway. "I'm Barbara," she said, "it's nice to meet someone." "Kelly, and the pleasure's all mine." *** "She has every right to want to start over," Jason said as he and Kelly sat in her car, parked across the street from a house; he sipped the coffee she'd brought them and continued, "but the way she explains it, I don't know, it sounds like she thinks I'm a bad father or something. I don't think I'm a bad father. A bad husband? Certainly. No argument there. But a bad father? That's debatable." "You don't get to decide whether you're good or bad to someone, only the person you're good or bad to gets to decide that. They're the ones being treated this way by you. That being said, I agree with you. I don't think you're a bad father, even if you were a less than stellar husband." Kelly opened the lid to her coffee and tore open a sugar packet with her teeth, pouring it in. "I made a friend at school today," she said, "this new girl, Barbara. Out of all the kids there, I was the one who was nice to her. Considering what I'm actually like, who's really the bad guy here? Perhaps my peers are worse than I am, even if I do hurt people." "Is that why we're here? To hurt this guy?" Jason asked, nodding towards the house they'd been watching. "I'm making final notes on his scheduling, but we should be all good to go by tomorrow," Kelly said. "...I don't want her to take my kid away," Jason finally muttered, his voice cracking, "...I...I screwed up our marriage, and there's nothing I can do about that and I wouldn't ask her to take me back anyway and it was all my fault. I accept those things. But...but I guess it didn't occur to me that perhaps she might take our kid and leave. That she might wanna actually move on, literally." Kelly looked at Jason and felt a twinge of pain in her heart for him. She could see he wanted to be a good dad. She could see that he clearly loved his daughter dearly, even if she hadn't seen them interact first hand. She sighed and turned on the air conditioner, feeling the cool wind blow in her face. "...just try not to think about it. Things could change, you never know. She might change her mind," Kelly said. "She's already rented a place," Jason said, taking Kelly by surprise, her eyes widening. "What?" "Yeah, we talked on the phone last night and she's already rented a place. She's got a job lined up. It's happening and there's nothing I can do to stop it," Jason said, "She'll be clear across the country and I'm gonna miss my daughter growing up. I would move too, but..." He looked at Kelly and sighed again. "...I couldn't do that to you, not after what you've done for me," he said, "That would be selfish. I don't know, I just feel torn, you know? Completely stuck in a multitude of situations I am both incapable of dealing with and unsure of how to death with. No matter what, I lose something, and I'm sick of losing things." Kelly wanted to cry. She felt for Jason, she truly did. She looked back at the house as she saw the target pull up in his car, empty his trunk of grocery bags and enter the house. No, she thought, she'd make sure Jason wouldn't lose anything. She'd make sure of it. He was, after all, the only other man besides her father that she trusted. *** Kelly had never had female friends, not really. So to be sitting in a popular eatery hangout spot for kids her age with Barb was kind of surreal. She was so not used to having female friends that she wasn't even exactly sure how to make conversation. Adults she could talk to. Adults she had no problems conversing with. After all, she'd spent the majority of her life in the presence of adults. Her parents, her therapist, Jason, but her peers? That was uncharted waters for Kelly. Thankfully, as it turned out, Barb was quite the chatterbox, leaving Kelly to not have to say much at all, which she was grateful for. "I used to be homeschooled," Barb said as they sat in a booth at the burger place, dipping her fries in mustard, "but I wanted to go here after...well...I wanted to attend the same school my older sister had attended." "She's at college now, or?" "No, she's...she doesn't go to school anymore. She had an accident," Barb replied. "Jesus, I'm sorry." Barb shrugged and bit into a fry, saying, "I mean, she's alive, but she's not in great shape. But I wanted to go to the same high school she went to cause I felt like it'd make us closer somehow, if that makes sense?" Kelly nodded. In a way, it did make sense. It was why she had become overtly interested in fashion, partially to gain her fathers approval since he worked in the industry in one manner or another. Kelly looked around the restaurant at all the other kids their age, large groups, medium sized groups, all eating and chatting away, none of them even remotely invested in the same things she was. None of them aware of the things she did. "It's weird," Barb said, "I thought I'd have trouble fitting in, but making friends is apparently easier than I thought." Kelly smirked. It wasn't, at least not for her, but it did help to have one now. She liked Jason and all, but it was good, she felt, to have a friend who was about her own age, and was a girl. Someone she could confide in about her personal feelings in regards to their classmates. "Well," Kelly said, "For what it's worth, I may be popular, but I'm not elitist." "I see that," Barb replied, laughing. After they ate, they went their separate ways. Kelly asked Barb if she wanted to do anything else that night, but Barb told her she had a lot of homework, and Kelly didn't want to be pushy, so each headed home. Or rather, Barb headed home while Kelly headed to Jason's. When Barb arrived back at the house, she said hello to her folks, then headed up the stairs. She entered her sisters room, and shut the door behind her. She approached the bed, and sat down in the chair beside her, setting her backpack on the floor at her feet. Her sister, Monica - still trying to cope with the pain of having her ear taken off by firecrackers - rolled her head to look at her sister. "How are you feeling?" Barb asked, and Monica moaned. "...everything...h...hurts....all the...time," she managed to whisper as Barbara leaned in and stroked her sisters hair. "Well, you'll be happy to know that I found her," Barb said, "I found the girl who did this to you. Soon enough, we can make your pain her pain." Yes, Kelly Baker never had female friends. By the end of all this, she's going to wish she still didn't. *** "So you have tools and notes and everything?" Jason asked, making Kelly nod as she downed a soda she'd grabbed from his fridge. "Yep," she said. "Can I ask what this guy did?" Jason asked, sitting on the arm of the couch, watching as she walked towards the counter and opened a box of cookies, pulling one out and biting into it. "I'd rather not discuss it beforehand," she said, "Clouds your judgement. The less information you have about someone you're going to hurt, the better. That way you won't feel as though you know them." "But you have all the information," Jason said. "But I'm not the one hurting them," she replied, making Jason laugh, which made her smile. "So what'd you do tonight?" he asked as she walked over to the couch and sat on it, still pulling cookies from the box. "I went out with a friend from school," she said, "this new girl. She's nice, albeit somewhat hopelessly so. But I know what it's like to not have any friends, so I reached out to her. We went and ate something, talked about school and whatnot." "Sounds like a good time was had by all." "Eh, more like an okay time was had by some. Call me a bitch but I don't understand the whole appeal teenagers have with other teenagers. The whole 'hanging out' thing. If I'm going to be with someone, there's going to be a reason and we're going to be doing something. Like you and I, for instance. One might consider this 'hanging out', but in actuality, we're plotting. We're planning. We're not just shooting the breeze. We're talking about shooting others." "You sure have a way with words," Jason said. "My best class is english," Kelly said, shrugging as she offered Jason a cookie, which he happily took. "I guess you're right. I was kinda the same when I was your age," he said, chewing, "I mean, I had friends but I also didn't mind being on my own. I've always been more or less of a loner. Course, when you're a boy and you're a loner, they take that to mean that you're eventually going to kill a bunch of people." "Turns out they were right. They just had the wrong age," Kelly said, making Jason laugh again. Kelly liked spending time at his apartment when she knew her folks were working late. It was nice to have an adult to be around, and it allowed her to ascertain just what kind of father he might be. She could see it clearly now, really. Just how good a father he was. For one brief moment, she regretted he wasn't her own father. "You know," Kelly continued, "when I was little, my mother put me in therapy instead of talking to me herself. None of the other kids would ever talk to me either. Nobody has ever talked to me on their own volition, and perhaps that's why I like this new girl. She decided I was good enough to talk to. You decided that too. My choices in friends might be particular, but I'm also careful because I don't necessarily trust others." She put the box of cookies down on the coffee table and looked at Jason, who looked at her, her eyes wide, like she was about to start crying. She wiped her nose on her hand and sniffled. "...I think you're a good dad," she said, "and I'm sorry you might lose your daughter. But for what it's worth, her loss is my gain." Jason smiled warmly at this admittance. He was scared of Kelly in the beginning, certainly - hell he still sort of was, he'd acknowledge that - but every once in a while she revealed herself to be exactly what she was...a little girl. A frightened, damaged little girl who just happened to enjoy hurting others. He appreciated her. Jason leaned forward and hugged her, patting her back. "I'm your friend," he said, "even if others might not be, you'll always have me." She smiled to herself. Yes, she thought, that's what she was counting on. Loyalty. *** When Barbara Kinsington had gotten the news about her sisters attack, she wasn't even sure how to comprehend it. Someone had hurt her? Violently? Seemed untrue. These sorts of things always happen to other people, she thought, not my family. Except that's what every family tells themselves. We're all just other people to one another. When she saw her sister in the hospital, sans an ear, she couldn't believe the level of violence that had been inflicted upon her. For a while, Monica wouldn't say anything. Not to police, not to psychologists, not to their parents. But after a bit, she opened up to Barb. She told Barb about the girl with the blonde hair and the nice car. The girl in the fancy outfits who spoke elegantly. The girl she attended school with. The girl named Kelly Baker. She told her what she'd done to her. How she'd taken her right off the road, how she'd strapped her down in an abandoned parking lot, how she'd attached firecrackers to her ear then squealed in glee as she sat back and watched the horror. She told Barb every last little thing she could. And Barb, much to her parents surprise, told them she didn't want to be homeschooled anymore. She wanted to go to a regular high school, preferably the same high school Monica had been going to. Not knowing that her sisters attacker attended the school, they relented and agreed. They even took her back to school shopping for the first time in her life. New outfits, new supplies, new everything. Barb requested that specific locker. She requested to be placed right next to Kelly Baker, and she went out of her way to befriend her. She did all this for her sister, because her sister had done so much for her when growing up. She had to pay her back some way. Kelly may have taken Monica's ear, but Barbara was going to take much worse from Kelly if given the opportunity. Oh yes, she didn't care. Damn the consequences, she thought. Her sister had suffered and justice hadn't been served. Nobody but Monica had paid the price for Kelly's actions, because she'd scared Monica enough into not talking to the authorities. But her sister...her sister wasn't an authority, and that's who she told. That was something Kelly hadn't taken into consideration. So yes, Barbara Kinsington didn't care what the consequences would be. She was going to do what nobody else could. She was going to bring Kelly Baker to justice... ...even if it killed her. TWO YEARS PRIOR
Red and flashing blue lights lit up the street, as police walked past her a dozen or so times, each one chatting to one another quietly. Anette stood there, raising her hand shakily to her face and sucking on her cigarette, her brain churning to try and make sense of what had happened tonight. A woman stepped in front of her and spoke, but she didn't even notice until the woman gently tapped her on the shoulder and broke her trance. Finally Anette looked up at the female cop - the very same one that Jason had met a dozen or so times while living in his car a few years later - and blinked rapidly, confused. "Y-yes?" she asked. "Are you okay?" the cop asked, "I'm Officer Leslie Bellman, I was just wondering if you needed anything." Anette waited a while, then shook her head. Leslie nodded, turned and started to walk away before stopping and turning back to face Anette, her voice low, her eyes cast to the ground so she didn't have to see the look of heartbreak and despair on Anette's face. "...I'm sorry about your loss," Leslie whispered, before walking off. Anette didn't even respond. She just continued standing there, letting all time pass her by as she stared at her house, thinking back to just an hour prior, when her life as she'd known it had abruptly changed, and she shut her eyes and felt warm tears sting her skin. She shouldn't have tried to help. She should've just talked to police immediately. Now she was paying the price, just as Tati had said she would. She felt her cigarette ash on her blouse but she didn't even bother to wipe it off. She swore then and there that she'd never fuck with Kelly Baker again. *** Jason was lying on the couch, staring at the television in its off state, when Kelly re-emerged from the kitchen, pulling open a bag of chips. She seated herself on the arm of the couch by Jason's head and started eating from the bag, occasionally glancing down at his distraught self. "...I can't even be mad," he said, "I did this to myself. Everything I lost I lost because of my actions. She deserves to do something new and different. I just...I guess I kept stupidly thinking that maybe, if I gave her enough time, we'd eventually get back together, you know? Find a way to work through things." "You shouldn't lose access to your own child though," Kelly said, licking salt from her fingertips as she added, "I mean, I know that if my parents were to get divorced, I'd lose it. I would be so upset, and I wouldn't want to have to choose between which parent I wanna be with. No child should have to choose such a thing. A child should have both parents." Jason looked up at her and furrowed his brow. "You're eating my Funyuns," he said, making her shrug. "I didn't have breakfast." "I don't think those count as breakfast," he said, chuckling. "Well, I'm going to the gym later anyway, so it all evens out," Kelly said, rolling the bag up and clipping the top before tossing them onto the table in front of the couch as she cleared her throat, wiped at her mouth and said, "you going to see your kid before she leaves?" "She said it'd be okay, yeah, we're just trying to schedule a time," Jason said, groaning as he rolled from his side onto his back and looked up at the ceiling, running his hands over his face. Kelly reached down and patted him on the head, then stood up and started pulling her sweatsuit jacket on. "Well," she said, "I gotta run, literally, as I have a meeting at the gym." Little did Jason know that the person she was meeting was the very person they were discussing. For the last few weeks, Kelly had been meeting with his ex at the gym she'd joined, to keep close tabs on her. She'd even gone so far as to buying a year long membership - despite never going when his ex wasn't there - just to appear more believable. She needed Jason in tip top shape, and that meant making sure he wasn't pulled away from her, which meant making sure nothing in his life caused him greater distress as his ex was seemingly about to do. She played nice, she played coy. She acted like his ex's best gym buddy, and she even went to get an after gym snack with her everytime, just to show her that she could be a good friend. But the more time she spent with the woman, the more she grew to hate her. Oh sure, on the surface she laughed and chatted and told her that she loved her new earrings, but inside Kelly was seething with rage, wanting to do her harm. She just had to be patient, she knew this. If she was patient it would all work out on its own. If she could just carefully convince the woman that leaving the area wasn't the right move - that, as she'd told Jason, if her folks split up she would be devastated - and that she should stick around solely so he would be closer to his daughter. But the thing is, and Kelly found this infuriating as well...she didn't seem to care. Well, Kelly thought then, I'll MAKE her care. *** Kelly was 15, and she was hungry. She wanted a late night snack, but she couldn't decide on what, so she figured she'd go to the kitchen and the pantry and scavenge for something until she was satisfied. She flicked on the lights in the kitchen, then dimmed them so as not to draw attention, and began searching. Nothing in the fridge caught her eye, nor did anything in the pantry, and then she saw it. The old cookie jar they got from her grandmother when she was a little girl. She walked over to the counter and pulled the lid off, reaching inside, only to find that the only thing inside was a bottle of pills...a bottle of pills with her name on them. Kelly felt the life drain out of her. Her mother had been secretly medicating her? This therapist that she'd been so trusting of how betrayed her trust and convinced her mother to medicate her? She couldn't blame her mother, not fully anyhow, but Anette...Anette she could blame, and blame she would. This was all her fault, after all. Her decision, her ability to write prescriptions, her reasoning with Stacy...Anette needed to pay for this. Kelly sat down at the counter on a stool and stared at the bottle in the dim lights, gritting her teeth, holding back rage. What could she do? How could she do it? Anette had taken something special from her, her autonomy, so she would, in turn, need to take something special from Anette. And she knew just the thing. *** Kelly stirred cream into her coffee as she and Sarah sat in a small coffee shop near the gym that they'd been frequenting often after their workouts. Sarah had even bought a small box of pastries for them to share. "A lot of people seem to think that, just because they're young, they don't need to take care of themselves physically, but I think the sooner you start the better off you'll be down the road," Kelly said, "That's part of why I wanted to join a gym." "And I think that's smart," Sarah said, "I think you're doing the right thing, because you just never know when your body might turn on you. That's part of why I wanted to start working out, because when I was a teenager, I wasn't a strong swimmer, and so I wanted to get better at it so I could confidently take my daughter swimming without worrying about her drowning." "Understandable," Kelly said, "My mother just has a personal trainer and my father just works out at home if time allows. But I don't like the idea of doing it in solitude or with some sort of teacher, so I figured I'd take the plunge and do it myself." A moment passed as Sarah picked up a pastry and bit into it, letting the warmth fill her mouth as Kelly finally lifted her coffee to her lips and sipped carefully. "So," Kelly said, "any thoughts on leaving? Any thoughts on when you might leave or whatnot?" "Not yet, but it's probably soon," Sarah said, "I appreciate your input, about you telling me how a child might feel in the situation, but in this particular situation I think my daughter needs to start fresh just as much as I do. She still loves and misses her father, that's true, but she also needs a chance to start different. Everyone deserves that chance, don't they?" Kelly waited, then shrugged, nodding. "I suppose so," she said, "I just hope you know what you're doing." "I never know what I'm doing," Sarah replied, laughing, which in turn made Kelly laugh a little. Kelly tried not to let herself get close to those she was studying, but in the case of Sarah, it was difficult than usual. Sarah was a smart woman, and did seem to genuinely want the best for her child, which made Kelly hesitant to do anything that might dissuade her. But...but she needed Jason on her side more than she needed Sarah, and that alone drove her decisions. Then again, it wasn't like Kelly didn't harbor some sort of ill will towards her own mother. After all, she had decided to medicate her against her knowledge and will, so she was always cautious when it came to women making decisions for other women, even if those other women were children themselves. As Sarah excused herself to go get a stirrer and a few handfuls of sugar, Kelly sat and watched. She picked up a pastry from the box and bit into it, her eyes never once leaving Sarah. How could she convince her that she needed to stay? How could she convince her that, without a father, a little girl would be lost? She knew from experience that without her own father, she herself wouldn't be alright. Then again, one could perhaps make the argument that she wasn't alright, but that was neither here nor there. She thought back to what Sarah had said about learning to be a strong swimmer, and she felt bad. Here was a woman doing what she could to be the best mom she could be...and still it seemed like she was making all the wrong decisions. Why was it always up to Kelly to show these women what they really needed? *** Anette couldn't wait to be home. Tati had promised to make dinner, and they had plans to just spend the night in bed, watching television and relaxing. It had been an awfully stressful week, and all Anette wanted to do was be held by the woman she loved. As she pulled into her driveway, she saw the lights in the house were all on, and she could see someone's silhouette in the kitchen. She smiled to herself. Tati was still getting things prepared, and she felt loved. Anette shut the car off, climbed out and headed up the walk, heading in through the front door. Once she got inside, however, she didn't hear any sounds from the kitchen. Anette put her purse down and then headed to the kitchen, only to find it somewhat of a mess, with a half cooked meal sitting on the stove. "Tatianna?" she called out softly, "Tati? Everything okay? I'm here." She headed through the kitchen to the hall and looked down, seeing a light on in the bedroom. She walked down the hall and pushed open the door to the bedroom, only to scream. Lying on the bed, her wrists bound behind her back to her ankles, there she was. Anette walked into the room, stumbling over her own feet, as she tried to reach the bed, only to feel someone wrap a stocking around her neck and pulling her backwards, until she heard Kelly's voice. "I trusted you," she whispered, "I whispered you and you gave me drugs without my knowledge." "K-Kelly?" Anette stammered, both confused and terrified. "You took something away from me," Kelly said softly, "So I'm gonna take something away from you, and you're gonna have to watch me do it." She slapped a pair of handcuffs on Anette's wrists and pushed her against the wall, where she stood as she watched Kelly walk to the bed. This fifteen year old blonde girl, this weird little teenager that Anette had greatly underestimated, reached forward and grabbed Tatianna's hair, pulling her head up so Anette could see her face clearly. Anette fought back tears, and just bit her lip. "How could you do that to me?" Kelly asked, "How could you take something like that away from me? You could've just asked me, I might've agreed, but no, all you've done is taught me to trust even less, especially from those with authority." "Kelly, I'm sorry, I didn't-" "You don't get to apologize," Kelly said, "because I know you'll be sorry after this." Kelly pulled a letter opener from her pocket and looked at it up close, smiling. "I got this for my dad for his birthday last year, it's a bird, see? The opener is the beak, isn't that clever?" she asked, showing Anette, "the thing about letter openers is they can open more than just letters. Very useful little tools. See?" And with that she pushed the opener into Tatianna's neck, her eyes widening as she began to cry. Anette slid down the wall, crying, begging Kelly to stop. Kelly, leaving the opener deeply into Tati's neck, her hand still on the grip, looked back at Anette and shook her head. "But the thing is, and I didn't realize this until after I gave it to him and he showed me," Kelly said, "it's kind of dull, and it requires a bit of force in order to actually open something. You can get it in there, but if you want to actually open something, you really need to apply effort, like so." And with that, Kelly tightened her grip on the end of the opener, pulling it across Tati's throat from the inside, cutting it wide open, before letting go of her head. Tati's head fell forward, blood spilling out down the bed, and onto the floor. Anette wanted to scream, but she knew better than to do that, lest Kelly decide to do the same to her. Kelly stood back up, pulling the opener from Tati's neck and looking at it in the light. "I like the color of blood in light," she said, "It shines, it's beautiful, and that's not something everyone gets to see. You're lucky, you get to see it. Isn't that night?" Kelly turned and walked back to the wall, kneeling in front of Anette, who refused to look up at her. "When I leave," she whispered, "you're going to call the police, and then you're going to tell them that when you got here, you found her like this. You won't tell them who did this, because, if you do, I'll take away more people who mean anything to you. Your mom, your dad, anyone you may ever love or ever meet, I will take them away from you, because you took something from me. Understand? From now on, we're gonna do therapy my way, not yours. I'm in charge now, got it?" Anette nodded weakly, making Kelly smile. Kelly stood up, sighed as she looked around and then, as she exited the room, peaked back in at Anette and smiled. "See you this Thursday," she said before leaving. After she left, Anette waited a few minutes, then did exactly as she had been instructed. She called the police, who, with an ambulance, not only took Tati's body but also Anette's statement. Nobody questioned Anette, her grief was all too real and obvious, and in fact one cop even offered her a coping with grief group she could frequent if she wanted to. She took the card, but she never anticipated actually going, nor did she ever attend. After they'd left, Anette decided she couldn't spend the night here, so she would head to her parents and spend the night at home. As she went back inside to gather her things, she found an envelope sitting on the coffee table in the living room, along with a single orchid. She picked the flower up and smelled it, then picked up the envelope and opened it, pulling the card from inside out and opening it. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, she wanted to be the one who was dead. She had been about to have the life she'd always wanted, and now it was all taken from her in a split second all thanks to a choice she'd made. Revenge sounded good, but how do you get revenge against someone not only unhinged but who reveled in that fact? She didn't know what to do, so instead she just did what she told Tati she'd do...she'd continue to have sessions with Kelly, if only to try and keep her from doing these sorts of things to anyone else. Tatianna deserved that much at least. *** Sarah was swimming. She'd been coming to the gym at night to swim alone, because she felt self conscious about her abilities in front of others. As she felt the water surround her, she couldn't help but feel good about herself. Since her marriage had fallen apart, this was the best she'd felt, and she was proud of herself for it. Little did she know that, from the nearby locker room, Kelly was watching, planning, detailing. She had grown to like Sarah, which made this all the harder. She didn't want to hurt her, but Sarah was starting to leave her no choice. Kelly sighed and ducked back into the locker room, and, unlocking her phone she called Jason. "Hello?" he answered, mouth half full, clearly eating. "I think I've gathered enough information on the next target," she said, "We'll be doing it this coming weekend, so prepare yourself." Kelly hung up and looked back out the door at Sarah, who was now climbing out of the pool, sitting on the edge and kicking the water with her feet, gently treading. Her work, it seemed, was never over. She always had to keep these older women in line. She always had to teach them not to take things away from people. She always had to teach them a lesson. She hoped with Sarah it wouldn't get to the point it had with others, but the more Sarah resisted, the more likely that outcome became. Still, Kelly thought, she had to try. She didn't want to hurt Sarah. She really didn't. And that, above all else, scared her. Jason pulled up to his house and parked in the driveway. He got out of the car and sighed, feeling wiped after multiple meetings at the college that afternoon, and was ready for a relaxing evening at home. Unfortunately, that was not something he would get. In fact, this would be the most unrelaxing of evenings imaginable because, as soon as he put his key in the door and walked inside, he found not just his wife, Sarah, sitting at the dining table, but also Emily. Jason stopped in his tracks.
"...uh," he mumbled, "H...hi, hello, what are you doing here?" Emily wouldn't look at him. She looked down at the floor, and Sarah stood up, approaching Jason, pushing him into the living room. Once they were around the corner, presumably out of immediate earshot, she finally spoke, her voice low and bubbling with anger. "What the fuck were you thinking?" she asked. "What was I thinking about what?" Jason replied, feigning ignorance. "Don't even try to deny it, I know," she remarked, "but that's not even what I'm mad about. I mean, yes, I'm mad about it, but that is something I could've learned to live with. You know what I can't live with? Everyone else knowing, and guess what, everyone does now." Jason's heart sunk. What did she mean? What had happened? In the coming weeks, he'd get more information than he would've wanted, not just from her but also from the school, from the news, from various sources who were close to the situation but far enough removed that they felt comfortable talking on the subject. Jason's entire life changed in an instant, and he had nobody to blame but himself. Sure, people - especially other men his age - insisted he blame Emily, but he couldn't do that, not really. That was the easy way out, and she was only partially responsible, and not even then all that much because she was so much younger and inexperienced than he was. He took advantage of her, and he knew that. It wouldn't be fair to blame her in any regard. So Jason lived in his car now. He lost his job. He lost his family, his daughter, everything, in a single moment because of a single realization that brought the entire ordeal to the forefront. Lying in bed now, Jason could still recall the last thing his wife ever said to him before she kicked him out. Sitting in the drivers seat of his car, his bags packed and loaded in the back, Sarah knelt down and leaned her head through the window, her voice whispering. "...I thought you of all people would've known better," she said, "...I guess I was wrong." She was right. She WAS wrong. The people you never expect are the ones who are most capable of horrendous actions. That's the one thing he had in common above all else with Kelly Baker. *** "I don't use drills generally," Kelly said, "Too loud, too messy. Sure, it drowns out their screaming, on the rare chance I let them be audible, but it's just too much effort for too little reward. Sure, you could torture them a little while longer, but what's the point. The whole idea is to be in and out in no time flat." "So power tools aren't your thing?" Jason asked. Jason and Kelly were sitting in his apartment, Kelly lying on the sectional couch upside down, while Jason stood in the connected kitchenette, cooking steak and eggs for them. She shrugged and looked at her nails. "Too many cords," she said, "too much preparation, too many pieces you can leave behind. No. Power tools are not a good way to torture people. I prefer simple things, small things that can be used without batteries, that can be easily moved. Pliers, for one, are a good tool. But I'm not gonna go to all the trouble of buying a circular saw along with an extension cord just to kill someone with it. That's too much effort." "Too much effort? You're already killing people!" Jason stated, laughing, "That's the maximum amount of effort you can have! You know how much time and planning goes into killing somebody? I mean, of course you do, you've done enough, but you spend a whole lotta time thinking about someone you hate just to rid the world of them. Why not up the ante? Go for something a little more exciting?" "Okay, let's start dissolving people in barrels then, because I'm sure that's not suspicious at all," Kelly said, now sitting upright and sighing, "it has to be simple, it has to be clean, it has to be quick. It has to be virtually unidentifiable. Using anything unique gives you an MO. Suddenly you're not just some guy killing people, now you're some guy killing people with a blowtorch." Jason walked away from the kitchen and looked at her, one hand on his hip, the other running through his hair. "I guess I see your point. Why draw anymore attention to yourself when you're already doing something so horrible," he said, "...uh, I hope you didn't have anything planned for today, because I have to meet with someone soon." "I was going to do some scouting, but what do you have going on?" "...I have to meet with my ex-wife," Jason said. *** With Jason out of the picture for the afternoon and foreseeable evening, Kelly meandered. Instead of doing her scouting on her next victim, she chose to go to the mall and get her hair done and do some shopping. As she was standing in a clothing store, admiring herself in a mirror while holding a nice high priced sweater against her, she suddenly realized she recognized the woman standing behind her, pulling on a pair of shoes. "Anette?" she asked, turning around and walking towards her therapist, sitting on the shoe bench. Anette looked up, and the color in her face drained a bit. She forced a smile. "Hello Kelly," she said, "How are you today?" "I'm okay, just looking for some sweaters for the fall," she said, holding up the sweater, then asking, "you looking for some shoes?" "What I have hurt my feet something fierce," Anette said, "I need something that gives my heel more support while still being pretty flat. Kind of a surprisingly difficult combination to come across, actually. Do you not have anything going on today?" "Not really," Kelly said, reaching up and brushing some errant bangs from her eyes as she smiled and added, "I hope we still have an appointment this week." "Of course we do," Anette said, "You've got a perpetually standing appointment unless you tell me otherwise. How's your week been thus far? Anything exciting or unusual happen?" "No," Kelly said, shaking her head and biting her lip, "not yet. But there's still time I suppose." *** Jason was sitting at the little deli he and his wife liked to go to when they'd first started dating. Sometimes for late night meetings or early in the mornings, they'd come here and they'd order breakfast items or coffee or something sweet, but Jason hadn't been here in ages now, and even longer since he'd been here with Sarah. He was sitting by the window in the corner, near the back, when he heard the little bell over the door ring. He looked up and saw her entering. Sarah Willard - her maiden name, obviously - as lithe and tall and beautiful as ever. The moment he saw her, he couldn't believe he'd ever cheated on her. What was wrong with him? She made a beeline for his table and scooted the chair out, sitting across from him. "You look gorgeous," he said immediately, making her blush. "Thanks," she said, "I've been trying to go to the gym a lot, taking swimming lessons and stuff, you know? You don't look too bad yourself actually." "Yeah, I have an apartment now thanks to a friend with some money, and I've been eating better," Jason said, "For a while it was mostly donuts and coffee. The diet of a cop, apparently." Sarah laughed, which made him laugh. Jason had always been able to make Sarah laugh. "Um, so, Jason, I wanted to talk to you about Miranda," Sarah said, "uh...I...I know this isn't exactly the best thing to hear but I was thinking about maybe moving and taking her with me, obviously, and I just wanted you to be aware of that. I've been offered a pretty good job, and it would really improve her life, plus it would be good to have a sort of new start after what happened, you know?" "Yeah, I mean, makes sense," he replied, shrugging, "Where to? What complex?" "No, see, that's...that's the thing, um...it's out of state. It's...actually across the country," Sarah said, making Jason's brow raise in surprise. He felt his insides turn cold, and he suddenly wanted to cry. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, and the worst thing was he didn't have a leg to stand on when it came to defending his argument, considering what he'd done to their life. "Uh, wow, that...that is a lot to take in, hah," he said weakly, his eyes darting around the deli in confusion; he licked his lips and asked, "So, when were you thinking of-" "A few weeks," she said, "And you can come visit, and she can come visit you, and I don't wanna keep her from her father or whatever, I just...I need this, Jason. I need to start over, you know? For me, not even because of you. I need to do something different. She needs to have somewhere new." "Right, no, I-I get it," he said, stammering, holding back tears, "um...can I see her before you guys go?" "Of course! What day would be good for you?" Jason hesitated, thinking about Kelly. "I actually don't know, I'd have to check my calendar," he said. *** "Clear across the goddamned country!" he shouted. Jason was standing in the apartment, waving his arms around in irritants while Kelly sat on the sectional, spooning yogurt into her mouth and watching, both somewhat mildly bemused and extremely unhappy about the situation. "Boy, I tell ya, if anyone ever tried to take me away from my dad, I'd kill them," she said. "Yeah well, that's not exactly an option is it?" Jason asked, scratching the back of his head as he paced, "I mean, she's my ex wife, we have a kid together, I can't just kill her. Not that I want to, anyway. I...I still love her so much. I was hoping we might be able to fix things if we had enough time, but...maybe that was idiotic of me. I mean, what we do should only be reserved for those who deserve it, right?" "Not necessarily," Kelly said, crossing her thin tan legs and sucking on the end of her spoon as she said, "I don't just do it cause I want to teach a lesson, I also do it because it's fun." It's. FUN. That terrified him, though he wouldn't openly cop to it. He sat down on the coffee table and lowered his head into his hands, his elbows on his knees. He couldn't help it, he started crying, and surprisingly, Kelly leaned forward and patted his back. "I screwed up," he whimpered, "I screwed up so bad and I didn't even realize I was doing it until it was over. In the moment you don't even think about the repercussions, you know? You only think about the...the good feelings you get from doing something, not the bad shit that's gonna inevitably come as a result. God, I had it all. I had the house, the wife, the kid, the job, everything. The goddamned american dream and I threw it down the toilet for a college fling." Kelly was surprised. Up until now she wasn't exactly sure what had transpired to put Jason in the predicament he'd been in when she found him, but now she was aware. He'd had an affair with a college student. "You know," she said, "I don't say it much, but there have been some times where I resent some of the things I've done to people. Some of them, especially early on, were done out of sheer anger and not true reasoning. I regret those. But I can't change what happened. I can only learn from it and move on." "She looked so beautiful. She's been going to the gym, probably the same one we used to go to together when we first married, the Fitstruck over on 11th and Concord, and she seemed...happy? I hadn't seen her smile like that in so long. Lemme tell you, Kelly, if you ever manage to make someone smile in a certain way, don't lose them. Do whatever it takes to keep them around. Because chances are you won't find another person who smiles the same way and you won't know how much you miss it til it's gone." Kelly nodded. She'd take this advice to heart. She didn't respond, however, she just let Jason cry and she rubbed his back, sitting with him for a while, letting him get it all out. Eventually she ordered in dinner for them both, and they spent the evening watching game shows and true crime shows until she had to go home. But for the first time since they'd met, they really truly felt like friends, and when you're a friend to Kelly Baker... ...she'll do anything for you. *** Sarah toweled off after climbed out of the pool and then headed to the locker room. She showered, she changed, and then she headed to the parking lot. She had to go get dinner for her and her daughter, so she couldn't go directly home just yet. As she sat in the car, she started to think about her meeting with Jason. She'd loved him so much, and now, that love had softened into a strange sadness. Not wistful nostalgia, but a sense of what could've been had he not fucked up. She shook her head, started the car and prepared to back out when she heard a knock on her window that made her jump. She put one hand to her chest, and used the other to roll the window down. "Hi," Kelly said, smiling, chipper, "Um, I'm just new to the whole gym scene and I saw you coming out of here, is this one you would recommend?" "Uh, what is it you wanna do? It depends on what your goals are," Sarah said, "I'm into swimming myself, so it's great for that. Huge pool, double diving board. Also pretty quiet at night. You can almost be guaranteed you'll be the only one here." "That sounds great," Kelly said, glancing from the car to the gym then back to Sarah as she asked, "And membership prices are affordable?" "Yeah, absolutely," Sarah said, "Um, I have to go, I have to get dinner for my kid, but if you think you might wanna join, swing on by tomorrow night and meet me here. I'll be in the pool area, we can hash it out a bit more, I can show you around." "That sounds nice," Kelly said, "Thanks for your time!" Sarah smiled, nodding, as she finally pulled out and shut her window. As her car excited the lot and headed into the road, Kelly stood there, watching. Her brow furrowed. She bit her bottom lip. She made a mental note of everything Sarah had said. Standing there, she thought about how Jason had been that evening, how distraught he'd seemed, and she felt a fire begin inside her gut. She was going to persuade Sarah Willard from leaving town. One way or another. Kelly sighed, then raised her coffee cup to her lips and took a long sip, letting it warm her insides. It was 9am, and it was brisk outside, so she was happy to have coffee right now, even if it hadn't come from her usual spot. The front door opened, and Kelly sat up straighter, pushing her beanie up her forehead, watching closely as the guy from inside stepped out and headed down the walkway, looking around. He reached his car, pulled the door open and leaned inside the car, clearly searching for something.
It'd be so easy, Kelly thought, to right now just walk over there, grab him by the back of his hair, jerk his head back and cut his throat. So very simple. But no, that was too easy, and he didn't deserve easy. He deserved to suffer. She'd wait until the right time to strike, and then she'd hurt him worse than he could ever imagine. After a few minutes of searching, he finally popped back out, clutching his wallet and shoving it into his back pocket. He then shut the car door and headed back to the front door, heading through and shutting it behind him. Kelly smirked. He had no idea what he was about to deal with, and that made her giggle. She loved the element of surprise more than anything else. After all, who doesn't love a good surprise, she thought. Kelly started her car and pulled away, heading to the apartment complex, sipping her coffee along the way. Maybe she'd bring Jason breakfast. *** Jason was standing in his kitchen, having already dressed and showered and shaved. He was reading a newspaper when he heard the front door open and he smiled to himself. Kelly had become a constant staple of his life, and he'd begun to find himself anticipating her company in the mornings. She stepped in front of the counter bar that separated the kitchen and the living room and set a bag on the countertop along with another two cups of hot coffee. "You brought breakfast?" Jason asked, lowering the paper. "Yeah. Are you reading a newspaper?" she asked, pulling her coat off and putting it on the back of the chair as she climbed on. "Yeah, I'm trying to keep up with things," Jason said, "Doesn't hurt to stay on top of goings on around us." "Fair enough, but you realize it's not 1987, right? We have technology," Kelly said, making him chuckle as she pulled his coffee cup out of the holder and handed it across to him. While he sipped it, she started digging through the bag and pulled out numerous breakfast sandwiches from a fast food place and plopped them on the counter. "So what's on your agenda today?" Jason asked. "I'm going to teach you how to create a persona," Kelly said. "What's that now?" Jason asked, half laughing nervously as he sipped his coffee. "You need to have a facade, Jason. You can't be the same person on the job as you are off. You need to create an aura of someone nobody would ever suspect of doing these things," Kelly said, "It's why the best serial killers are often the most surprising. Think about it, how many times have you heard neighbors say something like 'we're stunned, he seemed so normal', and that's the whole point. To blend it." Jason unwrapped his breakfast sandwich and took a bite. He waited until he finished chewing and swallowing before nodding. "Alright then," he said, leaning over the counter, "Tell me, how do you pretend to be 'normal'?" Kelly smiled. She was going to mold him into a master. *** "Are you doing okay this week?" Anette asked, crossing her legs, preparing to write in her notebook. Kelly was 12 years old now, and she was often quiet. Her hair was braided, and she had was wearing corduroy overalls with a nice blouse underneath. She shrugged and looked around the room self consciously, while Anette smirked and jotted something down. She then leaned forward and cupped her hands. "Can I ask you a question, Kelly?" Anette asked. "Okay," Kelly mumbled. "Are you scared to be here?" Anette asked, "Do I make you uncomfortable? Does talking about yourself make you uneasy? It's totally fine to say yes, by the way, because it's completely normal for kids your age to be wary of this sort of thing. I just wanna know what I can do to make this easier for you." Kelly shrugged again and said, "I don't know. I just don't like talking much." "Okay then," Anette said, "You talk when you're ready. Otherwise we'll just sit here quietly, if that's what makes you happy." Kelly figured out pretty quickly after her mothers discovery of her toybox contents that she was going to have to pretend to be a good girl. That she was unhappy with the things she'd done. That she hadn't taken some kind of joy in killing the bird and its children and arranging them in a cult like arrangement in her chest. She figured that now she especially had to pretend to be even more normal in the presence of her therapist, so Kelly decided it'd be best to be quiet and shy, like she wasn't at all someone to be worried or concerned about. But the thing is, and Kelly was aware of this, Anette knew it was bullshit, but she pretended she bought it. Each one of them aware of the others facade, yet continuing it to be involved with eachother. The way Kelly saw it, it was safer to have Anette watching her eagle eyed than not, because Anette at least was willing to work with her instead of perhaps - like another doctor would've - simply writing her off as ill and having her committed somewhere. And Anette? Well Anette lived by the famous credence of 'keep your friends closer, and your enemies closer'. After the session, when it was lunch, Anette sat in her car in the parking lot of the building her office was in and did some deep breathing exercises. She needed to do this after every session with Kelly, because she needed to absolve herself of her involvement with this little monster. After a while, she finally managed to start her car and go somewhere for lunch, but Kelly stuck to her brain throughout the day, even through other sessions with other patients, because she was just that unnerving. Anette knew she had to do something about her, but wasn't sure what that could be. Thankfully, or rather unfortunately depending on which woman you were in the situation, that decision would soon be made for her. *** "When I was cheating on my wife," Jason said, "I often had to create falsities and workarounds to explain why I wasn't home on time or needed to spend more time at work. I'm not a newbie at lying or anything. At home I was the decent husband and father, but at work I was the cool professor having sex with one of his students." "And she never once suspected anything?" Kelly asked, tapping her nails on the countertop, her chin resting in her hand, her elbow posted up on the counter. "Not until..." Jason started, then stopped and finished, "...not until she was aware, let's say. Point is, I'm not some saint. But that being said, I'm also tired of being a liar." "Well, the only lie is lying about yourself," Kelly said, "you can have a second identity without outright deceiving the people in your life, which, at the moment from what I can tell, consists entirely of me, so. My point, Jason, is that say you met a woman, right? You can't just tell her you'll be home shortly, you just have to bury someone in a barrel first in an open field." "That would be an awkward conversation, yes," Jason said, taking another bite of his sandwich. "Exactly. So get a job that would often allow you an excuse, for one thing. Something you still like to do, but something that also works as a cover for what you do, see?" Kelly said, glancing at the watch on her wrist and asking, "Hey, you wanna go for a drive?" "...okay," Jason said, hesitantly. He'd learned pretty quickly not to say no to Kelly Baker. So, breakfast sandwiches packed back into the bag, coffee still in hand, they headed downstairs and climbed into her car. Kelly pulled away from the complex and drove off down the road. Jason chewed his biscuit and glanced nervously over at her as she tuned her radio and started playing music. "Where are we going?" he asked. "I'm gonna prove something to you," Kelly said, "Prove to you why this is a good idea. Why a persona is a necessity." He liked Kelly, he couldn't deny that, but he also couldn't deny that she scared the loving shit out of him. *** "I think your daughter suffers from severe psychopathic tendencies," Anette said to Stacy Baker one day in her office; Stacy nervously fondled the tassels hanging from her jacket and nodded as Anette continued, adding, "but that's not automatically a negative thing. These are things people don't ask for, don't want and in many cases are willing to have treated. I think she needs to be treated, but...in a way that she's..." "Okay with?" Stacy asked. "No, unaware of," Anette said. "Isn't that...immoral?" Stacy asked, "To secretly dose someone?" "It's frowned upon, but I get the feeling that Kelly is the type of person who would be very against medication. I think she thinks she's done nothing wrong, so she doesn't see the need. She doesn't want to change. But we can't have her out there, untreated. It'd be in her best interest, Stacy. I completely understand if you're against this, but I think it's the best course of action for the moment. I just wanna help her, and you by extension." Stacy cleared her through and nodded again. She did want Kelly to be okay, and she wanted everyone else around Kelly to be okay as well. After a moment, she exhaled and shut her eyes momentarily before opening them again and looking at Anette. "Okay," she said, "Whatever it takes, I'll do it." "You're doing the right thing, Mrs. Baker, trust me on that," Anette said. Anette wrote Stacy a prescription for a heavy duty antipsychotic, which she could pick up within the next 24 hours. Stacy did exactly as she was told. She picked it up, she hid it somewhere Kelly would never find it, and, come dinner time, she crushed it up and put in Kelly's food. Kelly never suspected a thing, and within weeks, it seemed to work. Kelly started to appear as nothing but an ordinary happy little girl, with no oddities that worried her mother. Anette had, it turned out, made the right call. For a while, anyway. *** "Where are we?" Jason asked, and Kelly just motioned for him to stay quiet, so he did. He sat in the passenger seat and sipped his coffee, waiting. After a few minutes, Kelly hit Jason in the shoulder and pointed at a building, where a woman came out. She was wearing a pencil skirt and a button down shirt with a cardigan over it, her hair pulled up into a messy bun. As she reached her car, she pulled her keys from her cardigan pocket, then fumbled them and let them fall on the ground. She shouted, then bent down to pick them up. "That woman's my therapist," Kelly said. "...and?" Jason asked, "Are we gonna hurt her?" "Of course not," Kelly said, "I need her. Besides, I've already done enough damage to her as it is. I just figured she was the best example to prove my point. I created a persona in order to look okay to her. So she'd stop suspecting me of horrible things. Course, she knew I was faking, but that's neither here nor there. The point is, even as a little girl, I saw how important it was to pretend to be someone I'm not. To pretend to be 'normal'." "I think I see your point," Jason said, "It's for the higher ups, not for myself." "Exactly. The ones who could theoretically do the most damage to you; cops, judges, juries, whatever," Kelly said, "...therapists." "Well then, let's go to the coffee shop, get some snacks and come up with a persona I could use," Jason said, "I'm gonna need one if I'm gonna find a new job anyway, so." Kelly couldn't pry her eyes away from Anette, who finally managed to get into her car, then backed out, forgetting she'd left her coffee on the top of her car. As it tumbled down the back of her car, she stopped suddenly and climbed back out, shouting angrily and kicking her car. Kelly smirked. "She medicated me," Kelly said, "thought she could actually get away with it." "...she's...she didn't? You're not on medication now?" Jason asked, and Kelly slowly shook her head. "No," Kelly said, "and after what happened, she'll think twice before trying anything like that with me again." Jason felt his blood run cold, but he stayed quiet and continued eating breakfast. Kelly smiled to herself. She felt pride, something she shouldn't have felt considering what she'd managed to do. For a person like Kelly Baker, the most dangerous thing to feel was pride for her actions. She turned and looked at Jason. "So, cafe?" she asked. *** "You medicated a child without her knowledge?" Tati asked as they sat in the restaurant that evening. "Yeah," Anette said, "And I know, I know it's, like, immoral or whatever, but she could hurt people, Tatiana. I couldn't let that happen. This was the best course of action." "What happens if she has a negative reaction to it or-" "Won't happen," Anette said, reaching across the table and smiling, her face warmly illuminated by the candlelight on the table as she added, "Trust me, the worst that could happen is she could find out, and even then, she'd blame her mother before she blamed me. I did what I had to do. I did my job." Tati smiled, though truth be told, she was nervous, and rightfully so. She didn't like what Anette had done, but if this little girl was as dangerous as she'd claimed her to be, then perhaps Anette really was correct in her decision. Just then their waiter set their plates down in front of them and they thanked him before picking up their utensils and began digging into their respective dinners. For the moment, Tati figured, it wasn't the time or place to talk about work. It was time for dinner. Leave the work at work, she figured. *** The following day, Kelly was outside the guys house again, waiting for him to show his face. She was once again drinking coffee, the heater blasting her face as she waited patiently. After what felt like an hour, he finally appeared, stopping on the front porch and zipping up his jacket before heading to the mailbox and pulling it open, looking inside. He reached in and grabbed his mail, then stood there and flipped through the pieces before heading back up the walk. Again, Kelly thought, it'd be so easy to just walk up behind him while he was in the mailbox and strangled him from behind or to jab an exacto knife in his neck, ending it instantly if done with precision and accuracy. But, again Kelly thought, he didn't deserve something so easy. He deserved to hurt after what he'd done to her. Of all the people she'd taken down, this guy deserved it the most, the worst, and she'd make sure that he'd get it. Once he was back inside the house, Kelly noted down his behavior and activity in her notebook before shutting it and starting her car up again. As she pulled away, heading to Jason's to pick him up for the day, she couldn't help but feel good about her skills. Her father had once told her that everyone needed a hobby, something to be good at that boosted their self esteem. He probably didn't expect hers to be murder when he'd said that, though. Stacy Baker was doing something she usually didn't do. Cleaning. But since firing their nanny, she had to pick up some of the slack around the house, and since she didn't have work today, this seemed like as good a time as any. She walked into her daughters bedroom to put away her clothes when she was hit with a rank smell that made her gag and recoil. She set the clothes down on the bed, then started walking around, opening the closet door and some dresser drawers, trying to find out what this smell was and where it was emanating from. She turned back around, facing the bed, and kicked a toy boat on the floor. Her daughter, Kelly, loved the model toy boats that she was given, the kind that were remote controlled and you could drive in water. Stacy bent down, picking it up and then pulled open the lid to the toybox so she could place it inside.
That's when she screamed. *** Kelly looked up at her mother, seated beside her in the waiting room, and raised an eyebrow. "Why are we here?" she asked. "Because you need to talk to someone," Stacy replied, "and I don't want to get your father involved, so we're doing this now. He'll question the bill, but I'll just say it was a normal doctors visit." "But why are we here? What did I do wrong?" Kelly asked. "Because what was in your toybox," Stacy said quietly, almost as if she herself were afraid to acknowledge it. The door finally opened, and another mother and her teenage son came strolling out. As they headed past and exited the front door, the doctor looked at Stacy and Kelly and smiled politely. "Mrs. Baker?" she asked, "I'm Anette Benning. I'll be meeting with you and your daughter today. Please, come inside, won't you?" "Actually, I'd prefer it if we did this in parts. Perhaps you start with her and then meet with me?" Stacy asked, and Anette nodded. "That can be done, certainly," she said, walking over to Kelly and kneeling in front of her, smiling as she said, "Hi Kelly, I'm Anette. I'm gonna be talking to you today, okay? Why don't you come inside my office and we'll talk and play a game, yeah?" Kelly glanced at Anette, then at her mother, then climbed down from the seat and followed Anette into her office, the door shutting behind her. There was a small sandbox in the office, and Kelly immediately went to sit in it, while Anette gathered her tools - a pen, a pad of paper, her reading glasses - and then walked across the office to sit in her chair. As she looked down at Kelly, who was now busy burying something in the sand, she leaned forward and crossed her legs. "So Kelly, your mother told me she wanted me to speak with you because she's concerned. She found something inside your toybox, something that shouldn't have been in there," Anette said, "Do you wanna talk about what that was? Maybe why it was there?" Kelly shrugged and said, "It wasn't anything." "It wasn't 'wasn't anything', Kelly. It really upset your mother. You don't want your mother to be upset, right?" Kelly shook her head, her braids swinging. "Right," Anette said, "So why would you keep that in your toybox?" "Where else would I keep it?" Kelly asked, stopping her playing and looking up at Anette now, adding, "...that's where I keep things I like to play with." She didn't admit it to anyone, but that made Anette's blood run cold, which was made all the more chilling by the fact that this statement came when Kelly was just a little girl. *** Anette Benning was the premiere child psychologist of the area. At this point in time, she was in her mid thirties, and she was still single, but mostly because she chose to be. She preferred to keep her focus on the children she wanted to help, instead of on herself. She was who all the upper class parents sent their trouble kids to, and she usually was capable of working wonders with them, but this wasn't the case for Kelly Baker. The thing is, she never stopped seeing Kelly, even after this incident, because she preferred to keep close tabs on her. Even now, as Kelly reached her upper teens, she was still meeting with Anette. In fact, she was sitting in her office at this very moment, while Anette gathered her equipment for note taking. Kelly was sitting in a chair, chewing gum and looking at her makeup in her compact as Anette secretly turned on the recorder she'd used to tape every one of their sessions, and then turned and, smile on her face, walked to her own chair and sat down. "So, how are you this week?" Anette asked. "I'm...okay," Kelly said, "I don't know, it's been weird lately." "How so?" "Just...I keep feeling like people are trying to use me, use my family," Kelly said, "and frankly, I'm sick of it. I'm sick of having to protect everyone in my life. I'm sick of people taking advantage of us. Using us. I'm not even an adult yet, legally, and I still feel like I have to act like one all the time because society sucks so bad." "I'm sorry," Anette said. "I went a party recently," Kelly said, "and this girl, who I thought was kind of my friend, just wanted to use me to get closer to my dad, maybe get a modeling career out of him. I know it's selfish, considering his line of work in that he has to interact with these women - often times extremely young and attractive women - but...he's MY dad, you know? He's MY person. I don't know, I feel very very protective." "As you have every right to," Anette said, "...have you had any incidents?" Kelly cleared her throat and looked around the room, like she was avoiding the subject. Anette smiled warmly, cocking her head. "Come on, doctor/client privilege, you know I can't tell anyone anything unless you're admitting to actively planning to hurt someone or yourself," she said, "think of me as a paid confessional." Kelly chuckled a bit, then ran her hand through her hair and sighed. "...I still stop and watch him," she said, "I mean, I stop by his house and watch him sometimes. He acts like he didn't do anything wrong, like he didn't...like he didn't take something from me. And I wanna scream and I wanna hurt him, but...but I was told 'oh, the justice system will take care of him, you let the justice system worry about that', and then what does the justice system do? Not deliver justice, that's for damn sure. He gets away with everything, like what happened to me doesn't matter, like my experience means less than his freedom." Anette nodded, writing in her notebook. "This is, unfortunately, the way it is with many women," Anette said, "Men are rarely held accountable for their actions." "And then I see some news story about some woman who offed a man who was abusing her relentlessly, and I think to myself 'good for you, you had the guts to do what the justice system wouldn't', and I'm told that's wrong, I'm told it's wrong to congratulate a woman taking control of her life, her body, while he gets to walk away with no repercussions, as if what he did wasn't wrong." "You have every right to be angry, I would never tell you otherwise," Anette said. "And yet I...I don't know that I'd do anything to him, even if I was able to, or given the opportunity. If someone put us in a room together and said there'd be no legal repercussions for my actions towards him, I still don't know that I'd be able to do anything because he conditioned me to care about him. I almost feel like...like him hurting me was normal, but me hurting him is unacceptable. Like women are meant to endure pain and trauma, just part of our shared experience, our collective misery, while men are expected - and allowed - to dole it out but not receive it." Anette nodded, and sighed. This was one of those times where she felt genuinely bad for Kelly. She could see here was a young woman hurting deeply, even with her seemingly psychotic tendencies, and for a brief moment in time, Anette was able to see through the mask Kelly wore, and see the damaged little girl underneath. "...anyway," Kelly said, exhaling, dabbing at her eyes with her fingertips, "Uh, I don't really wanna dwell on that." "Okay, we don't have to," Anette said, "a good week otherwise?" "...I guess," Kelly said, shrugging. "Kelly," Anette said, crossing her legs and resting her arms on them, "Uh...you mention about how if there were no legal repercussions, would you be able to do something to him, and I just have to ask, even if you knew you wouldn't get caught, would you?" A long moment passed, and Kelly started to smile. "I guess we'd have to reach that point for me to make that decision," she said. And once again, as usual with her interactions with Kelly Baker, Anette's blood ran cold. *** "She scares me," Anette said, pouring a drink for herself and her date before walking back to the couch and sitting down, handing Tati her drink before adding, "I mean, she's a child, like a literal child, and yet she terrifies me. I've never run across a kid like this." "Well, you've only been doing this a handful of years so far, so let's wait another decade and then see who turns up," Tati said, sipping her drink as Anette laughed nervously. "This was our first session," Anette said, "and I was almost certain by the end of it that she'd somehow have found a way to kill to me in my office without being considered the prime suspect. She's just so...disengaged? Is that the right word? Like, like she...ugh..." Anette leaned forward and put her drink on the coffee table as Tati reached over and rubbed her back. "Hey, it's okay," she said, "It must've been weird and frightening, but it's over." "No, that's the thing, it isn't. I have to keep seeing her," Anette said, putting her face in her hands, adding, "I have to...I can't pawn her off on someone else. I have to make sure that she never falls off this tightrope. That's up to me, now. That's my responsibility because she was brought to me. If I passed on her, and something wound up happening, then I'd blame myself." Tati crawled behind Anette and rubbed her shoulders, leaning in and kissing her neck. "You need to relax," Tati said, "you need to calm down, take some deep breaths and remember...you are not responsible for everyone. You cannot save everyone. You can only hope to help some people. We are here to listen, not guide. The moment you guide, the moment you get that involved, that's when all bets are off." Anette reached up and ran her hands into Tati's hair, smiling as she whispered, "just keep kissing me." These days Anette was single, but back then she appreciated having Tati's company. She wasn't sure if she'd been able to handle things without it, quite frankly. Now, however, she had to go it alone, and go it alone she would. She would do what she promised. She would watch over Kelly Baker, and make sure she didn't fall off that tightrope. Only trouble was... ...she'd already fallen long ago. *** Kelly was laying in bed reading, when her mother entered her bedroom. She smiled and sat down on the side of the bed, reaching over and stroking her daughters hair. Kelly looked over at her and smiled back, and for a moment, Stacy was almost able to forget about the last 48 hours. "I'm proud of you," Stacy said, "You went and you talked and you did well. I'm proud of you." "Did I do something wrong?" Kelly asked. "No, no of course not, and that's the thing," Stacy said, sighing, "I just...I dealt with some things when I was your age, and I was worried you might deal with the same things. That's why I wanted to make sure you got help. To make sure you'd be okay. What's going on isn't your fault, it's my fault if anyone's, because I'm the one who passed it down to you. But I was able to get help, and I've been stable, and now if you're having the same problems, then we'll get you the right help too." "...I didn't mean to scare you," Kelly said, her voice quivering. "Oh baby girl, you didn't scare me," Stacy said, leaning in and hugging her daughter now, rubbing her back comfortingly as she said, "I mean, I was scared because I wasn't expecting it, but I know it wasn't intentional. It's okay. You're okay, okay?" Kelly nodded, smiling. As her mother pulled away from her and shut her light off, the glow in the dark overhead stars now illuminating the room, she leaned back in and kissed Kelly on the forehead. "Now go to sleep," she said, "You have school tomorrow." "Goodnight mommy," Kelly said as Stacy exited the room, blowing her another kiss. The door shut behind her, Stacy turned and began heading down the hallway. She down to her and her husbands bedroom and walked inside. He wouldn't be home for another hour at least, and she'd have ample time to take a shower and cleanse herself of this day. As she climbed into the searing hot water coming out the shower head, Stacy couldn't help but feel like maybe things would be okay. Maybe she could nip this in the bud like her own mother had done with her. But the thing is, and Stacy had no way of knowing this of course, what Stacy dealt with terrified her. Kelly wasn't scared by it. To Kelly, it was normal. Ordinary. Perfectly okay. Stacy, as a child, had been mortified by her actions, and had wanted desperately to get better. Kelly, as it would turn out, would go the complete opposite direction. She reveled in her sickness. She made it a part of herself, unashamed and unafraid. She found strength and comfort in the horrors she unleashed. And it didn't help that, because she watched her parents succeed in a line of work that insisted everyone involved be a fraud, she learned to be a really good liar. *** Stacy fell onto her butt, slowly backing away from the toybox, hand to her mouth, her eyes wide with fear. After a moment of collecting her breath, she managed to crawl cautiously back up to the toybox and open the lid once more. She wanted to vomit at the sight. A beautiful dove, its wings cut off, its body covered in stab wounds, sat on top of an old quilt, keeping it from touching the other toys below it. And if it'd just been a dead dove, even a mutilated one at that, Stacy might've been able to handle it. But it wasn't the dove that terrified her. It was the fact that, surrounding the dove, almost in a perfect circle... ...were the corpses of all its children. Jason had always wanted to be a teacher of some kind.
He wasn't just bit by the teaching bug, he was full on mauled by it, and by the time he was heading off to college, he had his future planned. He'd skipped a few grades - not something he was proud of, exactly, as it offset him from his peers - and soon he was a professor at the local community college, working his way up. He loved ethics. He loved teaching right from wrong. That was why being a parent was something that appealed to him so greatly; the chance to get to raise a child of his very own, and teach them right from wrong? It sounded like heaven. So where did things go so off the rails? When had his own ethics broken down? That was the question Jason was faced with now, as he laid on the bed, looking up at the ceiling of his new fancy apartment, an apartment a teenage girl was paying for, a teenage girl he was murdering people with. Yes, when had ethics become so very easily ignored? That was the difference between him and Kelly, however, was she never once questioned ethics. Right and wrong meant nothing to her. That wasn't to say Kelly didn't have much of a conscience, but she sure as shit didn't seem to care about the little conscience that she had. As she sat in front of her vanity mirror that very morning, brushing her hair and thinking about her plans for the day, the last thing to cross her mind would've been the ethics of her decisions. She was perfectly fine with being what the world considered "evil". After all, society's opinions of teenage girls were low enough as it was, she felt, so why not just kill people too? *** "You here alone today?" Fawn asked as she stopped by Jason's table, where he was seated with his coffee and a small box of pastries. "No, I'm waiting for someone," he said. "You look better than usual," Fawn said. "Do I normally not look good?" "No you generally look like shit," Fawn replied, the both of them laughing. "Yeah, well," Jason said, pushing his bangs from his eyes, "I've come into a bit of luck recently. Things have started to get better for me, which is nice. I'm even going to go bac to school soon, find a new career path. I think I have your coffee to thank for part of that." "Oh really?" Fawn asked, "what makes you say that?" "It really gets me going in the morning," he said, smirking at her, "Nothing helps you face the day like a decent cup of coffee." Just then Kelly appeared by the table and slid into the booth across from Jason. Fawn smiled at her politely, then excused herself while Kelly looked at the box of pastries on the table and then looked at Jason, who just nodded at her, smiling warmly. "Please," he said, "Breakfast is on me today." Kelly smiled back, then opened the box lid and reached inside, pulling out a bear claw and biting into it, her braided pigtails swaying back and forth gently as she chewed. Jason lifted his coffee cup to his lips and sipped from it, neither one of them saying a word for a bit, instead just enjoying one anothers company. After she'd finished eating, she went back in and picked out a donut hole, popping it into her mouth and chewing. "What's your plan for the day?" she asked. "I was thinking of looking at college courses," Jason said, "Try and find something I might like to do. You got any ideas about what you might wanna do with yourself after high school?" "Never really think about it," Kelly said, shrugging; she seemed off, distant and morose, which was unusual for her as she added, "Frankly, much to my parents chagrin, I'll likely not go to college. Opt for something else instead." "Well, you're rich, so I guess you can do that at least," Jason said, "More luck to you in that regard." "I'm not rich, my parents are rich. Just because I was born into wealth doesn't mean I accumulated it. There's an inherent difference there," Kelly said sternly, "I just take advantage of their success like some kind of tick, leeching off its host." "Geez, alright, no need to get all emo on me," Jason said, which made her smirk a little. "Sorry," she said, "I had a bad weekend." She didn't elaborate on that, and Jason felt like it was weird to ask her to. Whatever was going on in her life, it was none of his business unless she decided to make him a part of her business moreso than she already had. But it was true, this had been a particularly rough week for Kelly Baker, and it all started with a girl named Amanda. *** "I'm having a party tonight," Amanda said to Kelly last Friday night, sitting in study hall; Amanda waved her hand like it was nothing, adding, "it's okay if you don't wanna come, but I think everyone would like it if you did. You're Miss Popularity after all." "Well, much as I appreciate the title and the adoration that comes with it, I'm not sure I'll be able to make it," Kelly said, "What time?" "Around 8pm," Amanda said. Kelly had always liked Amanda. Of the girls her age, Amanda was one of the few that didn't come off as bitchy for the sake of a personality. She had auburn hair and deep blue eyes and she knew how to dress well. Fashion was one of the things that had made the girls sort of friends, considering Kelly's fathers business and Kelly being a snappy dresser herself. "I'll try and stop by for a bit," Kelly said, "I personally like to spend my Fridays alone, but it could be fun to come over and see what everyone's up to. But don't hold me to it, alright?" Amanda nodded, grinning. She was just happy Kelly was even considering it, because she'd long since wanted to be better friends with her, but not for the reasons Kelly would've thought. *** "So you started looking into some courses?" Kelly asked, sipping her own coffee now, still seated in the booth. "I have, but I haven't really come across anything concrete just yet," Jason said, opening a pamphlet and spreading it out fully as he sighed; he continued, "I just...I don't know what else I wanna do. I like to teach. I guess I don't have to go back to the same stuff I was teaching, but I also doubt anyone would hire me to teach after what happened." Kelly nodded. She looked around the cafe and sighed. "I don't see any kind of future for me," she said, "People take advantage of me too much for me to trust them, except for you I guess, but even you're on a trial basis at the moment." "Understandable," Jason chuckled. "...I just wish I were capable of trusting people, but everytime I seem to open myself up, someone uses me. They come along and they take me for everything I'm worth, and it hurts, and it makes me feel like people aren't worth my time. Maybe I'm just not meant to be around as an adult. Maybe I'm one of those people who's only meant to exist for a predetermined amount of time, you know?" "Hey, that's dark, come on," Jason said, looking up from the pamphlet now, chewing his lip, "don't say shit like that. You're an extremely bright person, you have charisma to spare, you'll find something you're good at and you'll succeed in spades at it." The problem was, for Kelly, she'd already found the thing she was good at. She'd found it years ago. It just wasn't a viable career path. She sighed and put her coffee back to her lips, sipping again. As she felt the warm liquid go down her throat, she couldn't help but feel like she'd gotten in a rut, and she needed to get out of it, and quick. If only she had something to take her mind off things, like a social event. But not a party. Not after last Friday. *** Kelly did in fact show up to Amanda's party. She was dressed in a tight black dress, her makeup flawless, bright crimson red heels. She looked fantastic, as she always did, and of course, when she entered the house, she turned heads. Not that this was anything surprising, she'd been turning heads since the time she was a child. Always the cutest kid, and eventually becoming an attractive young lady, she'd caught the attention of more men than she would prefer. And not even men her own age, sick to say. As she strolled through the party, heading to the kitchen, she couldn't help but feel out of place. As popular as Kelly was, she was also surprisingly introverted. She didn't mind socializing, but she also really hated having to be 'on' all the time. It exhausted her, and she found better uses for her energy. She stopped at the kitchen island and sunk her hand into a bowl of chips, slowly eating what she pulled out one by one until Amanda sidled up beside her. "Glad you came!" Amanda said, touching Kelly's shoulder. "Oh, yeah hi, well," Kelly said, chewing a chip, "I don't know, I didn't have anything else to do, so I figured I should make an appearance. Your house is beautiful, by the way." "I mean, it's my parents house, but thanks," Amanda replied, making Kelly chuckle as they both turned and started walking back to the living room; Amanda began heading up the stairs, Kelly right behind her as Amanda said, "I wanna show you something, come with me." "Alrighty," Kelly said. As they walked up the flight of stairs to the second floor, passing hanging family photos on the wall by the steps, Kelly couldn't help but glance over at look. Amanda as a child, doing dance recitals and horseback lessons, Amanda and her family on vacation in various popular spots. Kelly smiled at these, because she rarely saw happy family photos it seemed. The girls reached the top of the stairs and headed to Amanda's bedroom, Kelly reaching out and touching the hallways beautiful floral wallpaper with her fingertips. "So what is it you wanna show me?" Kelly asked as they entered Amanda's bedroom. Amanda pulled open her closet and stepped inside. "I'll be out in a second," she said through the door, "I just want your opinion on something." "Well, I'm happy to help," Kelly said, seating herself on the side of the canopy bed, looking at the wall decor and thinking she should redo her own bedroom. After a few minutes, the closet door opened back up and Amanda walked out, in a beautiful swimsuit. She put her hands on her hips and did a little twirl, as Kelly tried to take in what she was seeing. "What do you think of this bathing suit?" Amanda asked, "I bought it because I wanna be a swimsuit model this summer, and I thought it would look good on me, but you know your dad better than I do, obviously, so I figured you'd be the right one to tell me what he'd think." Kelly dug her nails into the bedspread, her teeth gritting. They always fucking wanted something from her father. *** "People are scum," Kelly said, "They pretend they're not, especially when sizing up others, because they need that self esteem boost, but they are. Even if they don't wanna admit it, they are. Whatever it was you might've done, I guarantee they've done equally if not worse things. But we all have to put on a facade, pretend to be better than one another, more moral than eachother, so they never admit to their own sins." "Jesus," Jason whispered. "I say to hell with that, and go back to teaching. Sure, don't teach the same thing, do something different, but don't leave the field you love behind simply because of the opinion of others. Do whatever you want. Everyone else fucking does." "Are you okay?" Jason asked, sounding genuinely concerned. "...like I said, I had a bad weekend," Kelly said softly. *** "You...you want my opinion?" Kelly asked, now slowly standing up from the bed, "You want my unbiased opinion? Really? You sure you want that, you goddamned starfucker?" Amanda's eyes widened in surprise. She certainly hadn't expected this sort of response, but Kelly was fed up with people using her to get to her father, and thus, his assets and connections to the modeling and fashion industry. "I...I just thought..." "You thought fucking wrong," Kelly said through her teeth as she approached Amanda, backing her into a corner, adding, "this was never about me, about our friendship, or even about this party. You just wanted to make me feel like we were friends, like I mattered somehow, so you could - like so many others - use my dad as a way to make headlines in the business. It's people like you that are making my life so goddamned difficult." "I'm sorry, I just thought you'd know best and that maybe you-" Kelly didn't wait for her to finish. She grabbed the pearl handle letter opener from the nearby desk and stood there, gripping it firmly in her fist as Amanda cowered to the floor in the corner of the room. Kelly wanted to hurt her. Kelly wanted to do even worse than hurt her. But...she couldn't. Strangers, or people loosely related to their lives, those were fine. But not someone she went to school with. Not someone people would notice she was around, and wonder what happened as a result. That was too close to home. Instead, Kelly knelt down and pressed the letter opener to Amanda's cheek, her voice lowered. "Let me make this perfectly clear to you," Kelly said quietly, "if you ever come near me or my father again, for any reason whatsoever, you won't have a face worth modeling. And if you think you can go to someone, try and have me investigated for threats of violence, let me remind you just who my father is, how much money we have and how easy it would be to ruin your pathetic little life. So do yourself a favor, Amanda, and keep your stupid mouth shut, alright? Because, believe it or not, I don't wanna hurt you, but if it comes to it, I will have someone do just that. Understood?" Amanda nodded slowly, her eyes watery. "Good," Kelly said, standing upright again, putting the letter opener in her dress pocket and heading to the door. As she pulled it open she looked back at Amanda and smiled, saying, "For what it's worth, it's a nice swimsuit, and you look good in it. It emphasizes your figure perfectly." And then she left. *** "There's nothing you wanna do?" Jason asked, "I have all these different pamphlets for various colleges, and you're telling me that you have no interest in anything?" "I like what I do already," Kelly said, smiling as she raised her coffee cup to her lips again and sipped, then saying softly, "and I'm sick of pretending I'm not." Jason raised an eyebrow, but, unlike most of the people she'd come into contact with, he'd learned pretty quickly not to question Kelly Baker. The front door to the apartment opened, letting in a nice breeze and the warm air. Kelly and Jason stood in the doorway for a moment, just taking it in, before walking inside, Kelly shutting the door behind them. Jason turned around, almost in awe, as he looked at every inch of the place. Kelly walked into the nearby kitchen area and admired the cabinets and their handles.
"This is...can you do this?" Jason asked. "Don't worry about what I can and cannot do," Kelly said, smiling, "You can't stay in my dads love nest forever, nor should you be living in your car. I said I'd repay you handsomely for your help, and this is just a part of that." Jason stopped, hands on his hips, nodding. "This is....wonderful," he said, "Hell, this is better than the place I was living before everything in my life went to shit. Do your parents know you're-" "They know what I want them to know," Kelly said, walking away from the kitchen and back into the living room, putting her hands on the walls and feeling the dried paint job, continuing, "but no, they are not aware that I've done this. My father gave my access to his bank account a few years ago, on the off chance I needed money to fix my car or for school related purchases. He has so much money he won't even notice some missing monthly." "This feels wrong...I feel like I can't accept this," Jason said. "Oh, you don't have a choice," Kelly replied, laughing, "I need to know where you are and you need a place to stay. This is what's best for both of us." Jason couldn't really argue with someone giving him free room and board, especially fancy free room and board such as this in a high class apartment complex. God, he thought, he'd be able to do his laundry for the first time in weeks without having to beg for change first. He walked over to the deck door, pulled it open and stepped onto the balcony, looking out over the tenants sitting in the pool area. Maybe he'd go for a swim. He noticed Kelly walked up to the rail beside him and they glanced at one another. "You got a swimsuit?" he asked, and she smirked. *** What did it mean to be a good person? Well, that's the question. A question Jason Tulridge often struggled with. Standing in front of his class, he pulled his glasses off and sighed, rubbing his face. "Morality isn't decided by your actions, but rather the decision to act upon those actions," he said, "To make the choice, not fulfill it, that's what decides your morality. Acting upon it is superfluous, you've already made the decision to do so and now you're just following through. It's making the decision at all that renders you moral or immoral. Contrary to popular belief in this field, there's no such thing as a grey area. You're either moral or you're not. Some are less moral than others, certainly, but there's no grey area. Your decisions define you and your morality." He scratched the back of his head just as the bell rang, releasing the class of college students. Jason waved them all goodbye, and stood by his desk, organizing some papers for his next class in a few hours. He thought about going to get some coffee first, fuel back up for the remainder of the day, but before he could do that, he heard her voice behind him. "The hypocrite in you is off the charts," Emily said, "you know that, right? To stand up here and preach about morality when you yourself are immoral." Jason smirked and turned back around, looking into her eyes. "I do know," he said, "That's why I'm working so hard to ensure you and your fellow classmates don't follow in my footsteps. Gotta pretend to be a good role model at least, right?" Within minutes, Jason and Emily - his brightest student - were in his office, fucking on his desk. Jason knew it was wrong, even though she was of legal age at 21, because not only was he taking advantage of his position as her educator but also because he was married. And yet...he couldn't help himself. Emily had far more interest in him than his wife had had lately, not to mention how young and beautiful she was. Her amber hair and her chocolate brown eyes and her perfect skin, and her figure, god her figure, the kind of figure you only get between the ages of 16 and 23, without even having to try. He just couldn't resist. Men were sick creatures, he knew of that, he know of his genders immorality, and that he himself had fallen prey to it. But when he had her bent over his table, pulling her hair, fucking her from behind, he didn't care about morality anymore. All he cared about was feeling good. He reached up and put a hand over her mouth so she wouldn't alert any other teachers in nearby offices with her wild moans. She grinned at this gesture, which only made him like her all the more. Morality be damned. You only live once. *** "What's it like to be spoiled rich and get everything you ever wanted from the youngest age imaginable?" Jason asked, treading water in the pool rim, looking up at Kelly as she sat in a lounge chair in her two piece with her sunhat and large sunglasses over her eyes. "It's pretty great," she said, laughing, "people say money makes you a bad person, but I don't that's true. Money doesn't make you inherently evil. You're evil with or without the financial inclination. Some of us are just born bad, all there is to it. Money only helps further those ambitions." "Certainly seems to help further yours," Jason said, making her laugh again. "You're benefiting from it as well, don't forget," she said. "How could I," he mumbled to himself, before asking, "So...got any work coming up?" Kelly lowered her sunglasses ever so slightly, raising an eyebrow. "Are you starting to enjoy what we do?" she asked, sounding surprised, "I may have something on the horizon, but I need some more time to figure things out. Can't go in half cocked. Always need to have everything planned to a tee before executing these sorts of plans." "I get it," Jason said. Jason swam away from the poolside and dunked under the water. When he came back up, he slicked his hair back and looked back towards Kelly, who was finishing putting sunscreen on her legs before picking up a book she'd brought with her and opening it, reading. Jason couldn't lie, at first this whole situation had seemed sickening and reprehensible, but now he couldn't imagine going back to his car. Money sure does change people, whether Kelly admitted it or not. *** Lying in bed, Jason couldn't help but listen to his wife snore quietly. He rolled his head on his pillow to look at her, and could see the moonlight peaking in through the window dancing on across her face. Her eyelashes, they seemed to sparkle. He still loved her, so why was he doing what he was doing? He sighed, climbed out of bed and grabbed his cell phone off the table, walking into the living room. He dialed a number, and was surprised when she answered. "What's up, it's really late," Emily said. "I didn't wake you, did I?" Jason asked, sitting on the couch and speaking softly. "Naw, I'm fine, I was up," Emily said, "Everything okay?" "...can we meet somewhere?" Jason asked, "Not...not for anything, ya know, like that. Just to talk." A pause, and then Emily said okay. They agreed to meet at an abandoned drive in nearby. They parked side by side and both laid on their cars respective hoods, looking up at the night sky overhead. Lying there with Emily, Jason felt so much more comfortable than he did lying in bed with his wife at home, and that only made him feel all the more sick. "...maybe I'm wrong," Jason said, "Maybe morality doesn't matter. I mean, we all wind up dead and gone at the end of the day, so what really makes something right or wrong when we inevitably don't face consequences after a certain point?" "You're looking at this far too broadly. Morality is a human creation, dictating how we define one another or ourselves. It has nothing to do with the afterlife or anything like that," Emily said, "some of may believe it does, believe that Heaven and God play a part, but it's not true. It's simply a way for us to gauge one another and thus judge ourselves against those who do things we either like or don't like so we can feel superior in our own decisions." "I just...I refuse to believe that you can believe in morality but not partake in immoral things," Jason said, "So many religious people, for example, perform the most horrible atrocities. You can do both. You can believe and still do the opposite. I still don't believe there's that area of grey, but I also don't believe it's black and white." "What do you believe then?" Emily asked, sitting up and looking at him. "...I don't really know," Jason said, "All I know is that, for some reason, being moral hasn't made me feel like a better person, nor has it made me any happier by extension. Ethics are...they're just like laws or commandments. Shit we made up to try and control one another. There is no right and wrong because everyone has a different viewpoint. Okay, sure, there's right and wrong on the level of 'don't hurt others' like being racist, but like what we're doing...you're of legal age, so nobody is actually doing anything technically wrong here." "I bet your wife would differ on that," Emily said, chuckling. "Well, what she doesn't know won't hurt her, right?" Jason asked, the both of them laughing. Emily crawled across the hood of the car and rested her head on his chest. He reached down and stroked her hair. It was nice, having someone understand him like this. His wife certainly didn't. But the thing is...that's what all men facing down the barrel of eventual middle age think. They think nobody understands them when in reality they aren't complex in the slightest, and everyone understands them all too well. They simply use that way of thinking to justify their actions. If only he'd known then what she would do to his life, maybe it all could've been avoided. *** Kelly pulled into the driveway and parked, stepping out of the car and heading up the walk to the front door. She loved coming home. She'd always loved coming home, because home was the only place she ever felt safe, like nothing could touch her there. As she entered the foyer, she didn't hear anyone, and just assumed that her mom and dad were still working, so she got herself a yogurt from the fridge, ate it while watching a reality show on mute and then finally headed upstairs to her bedroom. She took her clothes off, got into the shower and bathed. Afterwards, now in her silk robe, she sat on her bed and thought about her situation with Jason. She had him wrapped around her little finger, and he knew it, which only made her feel better about it. She was glad to have an accomplice, because doing what she had been doing by herself had begun to get difficult. She put on some music and sat on the bed cross legged as she pulled a bottle of mint green nail polish from the bedside table and started doing her fingers. Her phone rang and she put it on speaker. "Hello?" she asked. "It's me," Jason said, "Sorry to call, I just...I feel like I never properly thanked you for getting me this place and whatnot. Today was a nice much needed break from hell." "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself," Kelly said, tossing her hair from her face as she continued to paint her nails, "but you know, I don't want you to think you're on easy street as a result. Sure, I'm giving you a place to live, but I do still want you to try and get on your own feet again while we do what we do, you understand?" "Of course," Jason said, "Can't go back to what I was doing before, so I'll have to find a new line of work, but still, be good to get my life back on track in some capacity." "Exactly," Kelly said, "My dad's always said that our future is our most valuable asset, and we need to prepare for it even if it's difficult." "Your dad sounds like a smart man," Jason said, "Anyway I'll see you tomorrow, sleep good." "You too, goodbye," Kelly said, hanging up, thinking about her father and her future. She hated parroting what her father had told her, mostly because she didn't believe it herself. She didn't see a future for herself. In all honesty, she didn't see much of a future at all. She sighed and kept on painting. When she was done, and her nails were dried, she laid on her back and looked up at the ceiling, at the pretty cloud in the dark stars her dad had helped her put up when she was a little girl. She reached over and pulled her stuffed bunny closer to her, squeezing it tightly. She'd never been able to imagine a future. Even as a child, she'd never been able to think about herself growing up, and now that she was about grown up, she had trouble thinking about herself being even older. She didn't want to do anything with her life except hurt people, but unless you joined the military that wasn't a viable career choice. She sighed and shut her eyes. At least she had a friend in Jason. Maybe, she thought, if she could get Jasons life back on track, then she could feel a bit better about her own life eventually flaming out. At least perhaps one of them would get a chance at redemption. At good living. Because, as far as she was concerned, she never would. For someone who acted so resilient, so in charge and decisive, underneath this facade, Kelly Baker was still just a child. A very, very angry child. |
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A rich teenage girl befriends a desperate man in his thirties to kill people that get in the way of her or her family happiness and fortune. Slowly, the mans guilt eats away at him, while the girl ego rises to dangerous heights. Archives
July 2023
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