The Sound of My Master's Voice
By: RavensWood
Disclaimer: I don't own Red Eye or any of the original characters from it. I do own my original characters though, a slightly broken down car, some CDs and a collection of funny t-shirts. Please, don't sue me. The car and CDs are NOT worth it and I am quite fond of my funny t-shirt collection and would be quite put out if I were to lose them.
Author's Note: I have been working out where I want this story to go for a while now. I'm not sure yet if it will be a Lisa/Jackson romance story or not. The first few chapters will seem somewhat disconnected at first but I need them to be for later plot reveals and twists. At this point I'm aiming for 15 chapters but depending on where the story goes as I write it that may change.
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Chapter One: Melted Chocolate and Shattered Ice
The girl huddled in the corner where her 'father' had thrown her. She didn't curl up into a ball nor did she hug her knees to her chest like most her age, or older for that matter, may have done. She merely sat there, her legs splayed out on the floor in front of her. The clothes on her back hadn't been washed in four days, the shorts that had once been pants were so tight she couldn't comfortably fasten the top button anymore, and the boy's sneakers on her feet, when she first received them her toes had more than enough wiggle room, now crunched her toes even without socks.
The commotion downstairs told her that things were not going to plan. Just as well. Maybe whoever it was would come up and put her out of her misery. Her hope was short-lived as her father burst through the door.
"Get yer ass up! We're leaving…NOW!" He yelled as he went to the locked cabinet not three feet from her. He began shoving thick bundles of money into a small, gray duffle bag. She lifted herself from the floor noticing that the blood that had earlier flown from her busted lip was now dry and flaking from her chin. She just knew that there would be a huge bloodstain around the collar of her shirt. Just then, the door burst open a second time and a tall, burly man stepped into the room. The gun in his hand rose to point at her father's head. Before she knew what had happened her father swooped her off the floor and held her in front of himself. The man had halfway crossed the distance of the room but stopped as he caught her eyes. The girl saw his eyes widen at the sight of her.
She figured that it was just her neglected state that shocked him, but before she could stop it a gasp escaped her lips as her sight locked on his eyes. They filled her field of vision entirely and threatened to pull her down toward their fathomless bottoms. Blue. The most clear, icy blue eyes she'd ever seen stared back at her, emotions she couldn't identify floated across those crystalline orbs.
She felt her father squirm behind her and saw, out of the corner of her eye, as his gun came flying out past her. What happened next was perceived by the girl in slow motion. The gun came out and thundered out a blast. The blue eyed man was quick for such a large person and narrowly avoided the shot. As he ducked away he grabbed a chair by the leg and launched it at her. She raised her arms and covered her turned head. A pain shot through her left leg as the chair came in contact with her ankle. However, her father took the fuller force of the chair and released her as he fell forward. Pain exploded along the right side of her body as she hit the floor.
The girl felt herself being dragged across the floor. She opened her eyes to a silver twinkle. This was it, her moment of freedom. The silver gleamed brightly as it lowered rapidly. She clenched her eyes tightly shut. A sickening, wet thump made its way to her ears. She opened her eyes to see the blue eyed man pulling a very large knife from her father's chest. The man wiped the blade off on the fallen man's shirt and put it away. She couldn't help the flood of joy that flowed through her as she saw the light go out of his eyes as a dark pool of blood formed around him on the floor taking his life with it. Without a second thought, the girl grabbed the duffle bag from where it had fallen beside her. The girl could no longer think of him as her father now that he was dead. It was a curious feeling but the girl was nearly amazed at the total lack of emotion that she felt, other than relief, at the man's passing.
The blue eyed man turned his gaze to her. The girl was fascinated by this man. The way he moved, it was almost graceful. He reached out a hand to her. Though her life experience with men had taught her otherwise, she did not shrink away from him. Something in the arctic depths of his eyes made her go against her better judgment. The man pulled her up to his side as he stood. He held her up in the crook of his arm as he picked his gun up from off the floor where he had previously abandoned it. He stalked through the place, back down the stairs, and outside where he deposited her onto the passenger's seat of a large black sedan. The car pulled away at an almost leisurely pace.
"So, what's your name kid?" The man asked breaking the silence between the two.
"I don't have a name," the girl said in a scratchy voice, not used to being used.
"You don't have a name? Surely that monster called you something," the man said in a very conversational voice. "Was that asshole your father?"
"He made me if that's what you mean," the girl responded flatly. She felt no need to lie to the man. If he intended to kill her, so be it. If he planned on doing other things to her, well, what could he do to her that hadn't already been done?
"How old are you? Do you know?"
"I'm eight years old," the girl responded, eyes forward.
"You know how old you are but you don't know your name? How is that possible?" The man further prodded.
"My mother died having me. He never let me forget that," was the girl's sullen response. Her left hand absently went up to touch her left shoulder. Before she could catch herself the man saw and reached out to pull down the collar of her oversized shirt. A large jagged scar adorned her skin from collarbone to several inches down her arm.
"Did he do that to you?" The man asked in a flat, cold tone though his eyes blazed with fury. The girl pulled her shirt back up.
"It was my eighth birthday present," she responded. A single tear fell from her chocolate colored eye and made its way down her cheek. She flinched as his hand came up to her face. She gazed at him with wide eyes as he wiped the tear away with a calloused thumb. They had pulled into a hotel parking lot.
"Don't be afraid, you won't be receiving anymore of those types of gifts," the man said, his eyes warming as he brushed brown hair in much need of washing back from her face.
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The girl was not used to such treatment. After they had arrived at the hotel the night before the man introduced himself…
"Oh, by the way, the name's Edward," he said, extending a hand to her. "Now, we need something to call you…" After a brief pause he said, "AnnaBella."
"AnnaBella," the girl repeated, tasting the name on her lips. She took his outstretched hand. "Hello, my name is AnnaBella." The man smiled.
"We'll just call you Anna for now."
Anna sat on the bed as Edward gathered the things he'd purchased for her into a bright pink and purple backpack. After giving her a name he'd told her to take a shower but told her not to put the same dirty clothes back on. She had exited the bathroom wrapped in a towel to find Edward sitting on the edge of the bed with two grocery bags. He had gone to a convenience store two blocks down and had gotten dinner and a long tee shirt and a pair of flip-flops. He also bought a hairbrush, some hair barrettes, and a little heart shaped silver necklace.
"In the morning we'll go down to that shopping mall and get you something more proper to wear. They didn't have regular shoes or underwear or stuff at that store," Edward told her. "But this shirt's long enough for now."
Sure enough, it had come down to her knees. Edward had fixed a black neck tie around her waist to cinch the shirt close to her body making it look like one of those long shirts that are really dresses. True to his word he took her to the shopping mall the next morning where he bought her two pairs of jeans, a skirt, a jean jacket, three shirts with pictures of butterflies and rainbows and things of that sort on the fronts, a pair of sneakers, a pair of black paten leather Mary Jane shoes, socks, as well as underpants and undershirts.
He had even let her sleep on the bed while he slept on the floor.
"Let's go," Edward spoke breaking Anna out of her little reverie.
Together they drove until they came to a bus station. Edward took both their bags and walked up to the ticket counter with Anna in tow.
"May I help you sir?" The overly cheerful girl behind the counter asked.
"Yes, um, I'm on the 2:15 service to Chicago. But at the last minute the wife decided to send our daughter back with me," Edward began with a gleaming smile. "Here visiting my wife's sick mother. Is there any way you could help me out with this…Angela," Edward asked after taking a second to eye the girl's name badge. Even Anna was impressed with the charm that Edward could muster at the drop of a hat and wasn't surprised to see that Angela was blushing.
"I'll see what I can do for you…uh?"
"Please call me Charlie. The ticket is under the name Charles Underwood," Edward told the young woman as he handed her his ticket.
"Okay," the woman gushed as Edward gave her his most devastating smile yet. "Just give me a minute to see, Charlie." She turned to busily look in her log book and began to tap a few keys on the computer. At the sidelong look that Anna gave him, Edward bent down to her level.
"What is it?"
"Charlie?" She questioned. Edward chuckled.
"Just an alias, uh, a made up name," Edward replied.
"I know what alias means," Anna said softly.
"Oh, okay. Anyway, I can't just go flinging my real name around. It'd be bad for business," Edward whispered.
"And what business is that?" Anna questioned.
"We'll talk about that later," Edward answered in a hushed tone. Anna knew the subject was, for now, over. Just then Angela reemerged with tickets in hand.
"Good news, Charlie. I've managed to find you two spots on the 2:45 to Chicago arriving at 2:30 a.m. You'll have to change buses in Cleveland after an hour layover, if that's okay?"
"That would be perfect, Angela. How much extra is it going to be?"
"With the change and the extra ticket that comes out to forty-two, fifty-seven. She is under twelve years old I take it," Angela said as she smiled at Anna.
"Yes, ma'am," Anna replied with a smile of her own.
"Such good manners," Angela beamed. "You have a good trip…uh?"
"Christina," Anna said softly. "Christina Underwood."
"Well, you have a good trip, Christina Underwood. And you too, Charlie."
"Thank you Angela, for all your help," Edward said as he took the young woman's hand and gently kissed the back of it.
"Oh…it was my pleasure," Angela replied breathlessly as she flushed a deep pink.
As the two turned to sit in the lobby of the small bus station Edward turned to Anna.
"Christina?" He asked softly. Anna turned her gaze to Edward.
"Well, I can't just go flinging my 'real' name around," was her sarcastic reply. Edward chuckled softly.
"Touché," he conceded.
Anna looked around the bus station. There were few people around. After a few minutes an old man came in and sat down two seats away from Anna. He had a newspaper tucked under his arm which he pulled out and started to read. Anna gazed over at the pictures on the front page. Nothing about what had happened to her father. Either it hadn't been discovered yet or no one really cared what had happened to a few low-level thugs in a back water town. Anna figured the second was probably more likely. The old man saw Anna looking at the newspaper and smiled. He ruffled through the pages and handed Anna a page. It was the comics section.
"There you go sweetie," the man said. "I reckon you'd get more enjoyment out of these than me."
"Thank you," Anna said softly. Edward smiled at the man. Over the intercom Anna and Edward heard the announcement for their bus. As they loaded their luggage Anna saw the date on the newspaper. May 12, 1985.
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Anna was sound asleep when Edward woke her up. Together, they caught a cab. They rode in silence through the dark streets. When the cab finally stopped they were in front of a two story house with green paint and a black slanted roof. Edward paid the driver and lugged their luggage up the stairs. He pulled out a key and opened the front door. The inside was very clean, spotless even compared to what Anna was used to living in.
"Wait here," Edward told her before he vanished up the stairs. Anna was half asleep on her feet when Edward came back downstairs with a thin, lanky boy following him.
"Take her things downstairs," Edward told the boy whose eyes were downcast. With a thin, pale hand the boy reached out to grab her bags from her. Even in the darkness, Anna saw the dark bruises that adorned the boys arm. Edward then took Anna by the shoulder and led her toward the back of the house. The boy opened a door and Anna saw a staircase leading down to the basement. She followed Edward and the boy down.
"You'll be staying down here for a few days. I have things that I have to get in order before you can see her," Edward told Anna.
"Before I see who?"
"Carol…my wife."
"And who is this?" Anna asked as she pointed to the boy. He stood there barefoot in an oversized grubby white tee shirt and black shorts. As Edward began to speak it was as though time slowed down to barely a crawl. The boy raised his head and captured Anna's eyes. Anna's breath hitched in her throat. If she thought Edward's eyes were amazing then she didn't have words to describe what this boy's eyes were.
"Anna, this is my son, Jackson."