by Robin Sena
Like always, Daria is the trademark of MTV, whereas the title known as X Infinity Multiplies (pronounced as Times Infinity Multiplies)
came originally from the long defunct Yellow Magic Orchestra.
Notes: some words, in lowercase and in parenhenses denote Brittany's thoughts and that the background music in some spots in the story is represented as B.G.M.
(1)
Prologue Sometimes just when one would had been finally free from the past,
it would be there, staring in the face, ready to haunt that said individual.
And in the case of our story here, such an individual would pay the price in the worst way, proof that sometimes the past can be far from over-
and Brittany Taylor was her name-of the individual, that is.
B.G.M.: Earth (Gaia), The Orb:
Long, long after parting ways with Kevin Thomson in the events of Is It Collage Yet, mind you, Brittany thought her troublesome past was behind her when it came to a diploma...collage...fame and forture with a mansion in Beverly Hills...her marriage to a retinal surgeon named Glen...the birth of twin daughters Janie and Lisa...and her own role as superstar in films, TV and the recording industry.
But alas, the sins of fortune and fame, if not its secular excesses can take a toll on any celebrity, as it did to many unfortunate famous (and infamous) people. Well, that, combined with the sins of their past, if not their past, can be a catalyst to their downfall,
as it would to Brittany..., after all, Matthew 16:26 summed it all up: "What profit is it to someone if he or she gains the world, yet loses his or her own soul?"
To begin with, there were the nightmares, all starring Kevin, in the arms of a Shakira clone in wedding togs, the former saying, "You should've never gotten rid of me, ex babe. Turns out Deidre here is better than you..."
(kevvy...kevvy...kevvy...kevvy...kevvy)
More often than not, Brittany would wake up in tears, yet she never told Glen of her dreams, which in turn kept coming and frequently...
Another time, so it was said by the residents, was that at the Academy Awards, Brittany went up to the stage to pick up her statuette for her role in the film Intergalactic Divas; upon reaching the podium however, she kicked it over and dashed the Oscar statue to the floor, the statuette breaking in chunks on impact, and said, "That is what I think of your waste on the taxpayers' money! And that is what I think of you, Kevvy!" Then she exited, shoving aside people, security and police officers and enraged producers and booing crowds. Next day,
the newspapers trumpeted up the headline, SUPERSTAR BRITTANY JARUS INSULTS THE OSCARS. The result was a lot of scandals, tabloids, lawsuits and even worse, Brittany banned for life from the Oscars as well as from the Oscar higher ups. At least she had won the lawsuit (thanks to the fact the judge happened to be fellow Lawndale High cheerleader Angie), when the case was tossed out of court, to the rage of the plaintiffs. After that, uproar, admonishments from her managers, agents and film producers, not to mention her husband and several studios banning her from any acting opportunitiy and future roles, boycotting her for several months. But what made the case even bizarre was that now and then Brittany, during the whole time, would from time to time, look all around and take slap swipes at empty air and say, "Scram,
Kevvy! I thought I told you to leave me alone!"
(is that you, kevvy? did you come here to haunt me? how'd you get here? i thought i left you back in lawndale)
As time went on, it seemed like Brittany's state of health was crumbling, even up to the pont of taking drugs she bought from a Los Angeles based source that had connections with the Triads, a Chinese crime syndicate whose roots were also in San Francisco.
Worse still, like any celebrity, she also went on an alcohol binge on a daily basis, often winding up puking in a dirty alley behind mostly an old 1940s restraunt. Once, she even pulled a Britney (sic) by cutting off all her hair and was seen running all around Hollywood and Venice Beach in a white tank top and black chino trousers, ofetn asking people, "Did you see Kevvy? He's a black haired guy, and is real stupid, standing 5'11" and with strong hormones." At one point, she not only took an electric guitar and busted an old Muntz TV tube in a pawn shop, but also stole a motorcycle, attatched a push lawnmower to the cycle's front and drove all over the place, causing destruction and panic everywhere she went, resulting in jail time, court meetings and payments for all the damage she caused.
(i know you're there, kevvy, i'll tear you apart! i thought i told you to stay in lawndale high where you belong!)
(2)
Brittany Gone Bonkers Worst of all was her life at home, when it got to the point where even her daughters were scared of her. In fact, it was said that she'd lock them up in their bathroom for a day, sliding in slices of pizza under the door so they wouldn't starve, that is, if it hadn't been for Glen saving them in time. Other times, she'd ride all 'round the yards and even the neighbourhood on her Suzuki all terrain vehicle in the nude, causing a lot of consternation for the residents, as well as her spouse, who was running out with a blanket, shouting, "For Pete's sake, Brittany, COVER UP!"
B.G.M.: I Don't Like Mondays, The Boomtown Rats One morning, which was a Monday was when it all came loose...all seemed quet in the Jarus household...till without any warning, it happened.
In short, Brittany, wearing the same tank top and chinos, an Uzi in each hand, entered her daughter's bedroom, turned off the safety switches then shot Janie and Lisa dead in a blood bath before they had time to wake up, let alone react. As one may expect, the gun fire woke up Glen, in his t shirt and briefs, as he ran inside, then saw the carnage, shouting, "Oh GOD! Brittany! Janie! Lisa! W-why...? H-how could...?"
(dead, all dead, all those friends of kevvy, you will all die, all of you, it's monday, i hate mondays, it's when i first met kevvy and it's also a monday i broke with kevvy, die, you will die!)
"You're next," said the now crazed blonde, before she shot her spouse full of holes, muttering, "Kevvy, Kevvy, Kevvy, Kevvy, Kevvy, Kevvy, Kevvy...," then ran out from the house, into the street, blasting everyone that came her way, passing a schoolyard at one point, and shooting some of the children and teachers, muttering still, "Kevvy, Kevvy, Kevvy, Kevvy, Kevvy, Kevvy, Kevvy, Kevvy, Kevvy, Kevvy, Kevvy, Kevvy...!" then fell to the pavement, with one deafening scream, her head thrown back, adding, "Next time, bastards!" before passing out...
It didn't take long for the papers to report on the tragedy, one headline saying BRITTANY GONE BONKERS, FROM SUPERSTAR TO INSANE KILLER, BRITTANY KILLS HUSBAND AND DAUGHTERS IN COLD BLOOD, BRITTANY RESPONSIBLE FOR MURDERS OF HUSBAND, DAUGHTERS,
SCHOOL TEACHERS AND STUDENTS AND SEVERAL OTHER BYSTANDERS, the lot.
During the Interrigation, conducted by Detective Ricky Robert Wright and arresting officer Reese Yam, Brittany's sole answer as to why she did such a thing was, "I don't like Mondays."
(i don't like mondays, and i don't like you, kevvy-wait...is that you, kevvy? stay out from my life!)
B.G.M.: The Trial, Pink Floyd It took a month and a half for Brittany's trail to take place, presided by Richard Matitch, who was drill sergent tough on the dazed Brittany, who at one point, spotted Kevin in a saleman's suit, grinning and at one of the tables, and that was when he said, "How'd you get arrested, babe? Boy, I had a feeling you'd go too far, I mean, I thought I'd wind up behind bars, but you...?"
(kevvy! that does it, you bastard, now you're going to get it!)
At that, Brittany got up and ran out to an empty space next to the table, shaking her fists and shouting, "Kevvy! How dare you come here! I'll break your skull,
even if it means jail time!"
Slamming his gavel, Matitch roared his 30 decibel best, "ORDER IN THE COURT! Brittany, you're treading on thin ice! What's the big idea here?"
"Kevvy was here! charged Brittany. He was standing there talking to me right next to the table here!"
Some of the bailiffs and people nearby searched the area where the table was but there was no Kevin there; one of the bailiffs said to Brittany, "What's that 'Kevin'
look like?"
"A black haired guy, and is real stupid, standing 5'11" and with strong hormones, " replied the crazed blonde.
Looking around, one of the bailiffs said, "There's no-one that fits such a wacko description!" Then sticking his face into Brittany's, he growled, "Let me smell your breath."
"But I swear I saw Kevvy there," shot back Brittany, who blurted out, "Kevvy! Get out of my life!"
"She's lost it," muttered one bailiff to another.
After many harrowing days of the trial, the jury came back from their debate and straightforwardly declared Brittany guilty as charged, however, pressured by many anti death penalty groups, along with the fact that Brittany was way beyond saneness, the judge gave her life in prison without parole, only the prison he had in mind was the most secure one for the mentally unstable and the criminally insane-the Ad Holle Women's Sanitarium Hospital & Correctional For The Criminally Insane.
(3)
Ad Holle B.G.M.: Du Hast, Rammstein Ad Holle. Russian and German respectively for both "hell." it was considered the last place anyone, even its staff wished to be, so the story went. Located on a high walled concrete foundation, spanning four times wider than the Golden Gate bridge, on a island on the other side of Catalina Island, much of the core of the building underground, was surrounded by solid rock, along with video cameras, land mines, high electrified fences and wild dogs patrolling the place, as well as special ID cards that were changed every week used by the prison then there were the computer controlled machine gun emplacements everywhere. Inside, protected by lasers, land mines and 7 layer gates, the place was itself kept under survey by tough muscular orderlies and video cameras, covering everything, morning, noon and night. And in the sterile white cement walls of the prison, lived many of the most violent minded and criminally insane double X chromosome-female, that is-criminals and mostly crazy women at that, kept in clean white t shirts, disposable nappies (diapers),and wrapped strapped posers, as they were herded in from the bathrooms to the showers, to the meal rooms where they were fork fed gruel, as the women wore bibs.
Then at night, they were loaded in coffin sized slots in the wall, all foam padded, the women wearing for the night blindfolds, mouth balls and ear plugs till morning. And worse was the fact that there were also those brutal electric shock sessions, and if any of the women broke a rule, much less act unruly, she was dragged off to a padded vertical box and locked in there for a period of time.
(where am i? why am i put through such hardship...?)
It was on one morning that Brittany had been ushered along with four other women, down a hallway, passing by other doors with windows in them; one had a room in which some women were strapped to chairs and benches, all moaning, making noises and moving all round, another room had padded walls, with some other females, mostly teens, also moving all around, and making noises. One teen blonde, who had pig tails like Brittany was in the centre of the room and every now and then, she would let out a shrill noise. Yet another room showed a rough guy, looking like Jonathan Frakes, dragging a woman by the strap of her poser as she shirlled in total fright and kicked and fought before getting shoved in a rectangular box, which was padded on the inside-
much like the box Brittany, on a regular basis, was shoved in. Finally they came to a stop before a door, where a long bench stood next to it, one of many doors along the wall. across the hall, from the doors, was a door marked EENT where the staff would check the convict patients' throats. On the bench next to the first of seven electric shock rooms were two female patients wearing togs similar to Brittany's, sandwiched between two tough orderlies, whlist one other woman was no doubt getting her treatment, for Brittany could hear her scream faintly from in the room-whose door opened and even from where she was at, Brittany could see the twinkling LED displays on the shock equipment and the leather table with the straps and the defibillator like electrodes with their thick coiled wiring,
whilst the patient, faint traces of smoke curling from her body as she was wheeled out on a Strykert gurney.
(i hate that part, i just hate it, they're so mean to me, giving those horrid shocks.)
The two techs for the equipment came out and picked up the first patient and got her under each arm; only did she realise where she was, did she put up some resistance, digging in her heels into the floor yet the bored techs liftered her up higher, as she muttered, "Guts ball, guts ball," as they carried her inside, before the door slammed, plumph, and then the was quiet.
(electric shock therapy...it's like electrocuting someone for murder...)
B.G.M.: Nobody's Real, Powerman 5000 Suddenly, upon looking up, Brittany saw, near one of the electric shock therapy (EST) rooms, in tech togs np less, Kevin, his omnipresent grin evident, as he said, "So you, uh, like, wore out your welcome, Babe."
"Kevvy...?" said Brittany, her eyes wide.
"Hey, babe," said Kevin, his omnipresent grin spreading his face, "how goes it? How long you've been here for?"
(how did he do it? how'd kevvy get here? he's too stupid to come here, i know it! wait, is he real? were all those people right? no, it couldn't be. all the same, i've got to be sure.)
"All right, Kevvy," said a resigned Brittany, "you win, why'd you come here? To put me even deeper than the loony bin?"
"Put you in the loony bin?" said Kevin. "No way, babe! You didn't know that even after you got rid of me, a part of me is, you know, still with you, babe. At least, it's what Daria and Jane told me...so no matter what you do, or something like it, you can't get rid of me...run, but you can't hide...by the way, that wasn't nice, lying to me at graduation, crossing your fingers when you promised to me."
(he knew? all that time he knew? I thought he was dumb!)
"Listen, you bastard," charged Brittany, "I thought you were dumb."
"I may be dumb," stated Kevin, "but I ain't THAT dumb."
At that moment, as the room door opened and a second gurney wheeled out another smoking female; the techs carried the next patient inside, as she said, "Hup one, hup two, hup three, hup four..." before all was quitet again, one of the ordrlies said to Brittany, "Hey, who you talkin' to?"
"Kevvy, my boyfriend, or rather former boyfriend," replied Brittany.
"Sure, sure, sure, sure," said the orderly, a man that had the body of a pro wrestler, "and he's playing the role of The Invisible Man. I think you've been seeing too much of SyFy."
Brittany took a lot of time to ponder on all that, which, mind you, wasn't easy, givien her state of mind, which,for the most part, had been in a fog, not knowing what was real and what wasn't, as was the case of her own products of her imagination. Confusion. Stress. And yet, when she was growing up, Brittany had been known for having the most craziest imagination...
(my dad always did tell me to stop living in a dream world...so was kevvy all that time not real from the start?)
The door opened and out rolled yet another Strykert gurney, carrying yet another smoking patient; after that, Brittany was herded into the room, to the centre where the table was, then she was placed and strapped onto taut, surrounded by four techs, one of them using an ice cream stick to apply graphite salve conductant on her temples, another sticking in her mouth a rubber bit, so she couldn't bite her tongue, one with the electrodes, poising them over her head and the last one at the controls-and that tech looked just like Kevin, as he said, "We're ready."
Just before the one tech pressed the electrodes to her temples and the Kevinesque tech truned on the power, all Brittany could do was call out through the rubber bit, "Air raid..."
(4)
Who Says Too Much Is Too Much Of Anything?
B.G.M.: Static, Planet P The last thing Brittany remembered was getting shocked; the next thing she knew, she was standing in what looked like a vast Gregorian like museam setting, of windows eight feet tall, moonlight streaming through them, an echoey feeling here and there-and Brittany in her poser, t shirt beneath and nappies still there on her as she looked around...and near a stairway, three Kevins, all with fedoras and trench coats.
"EEP!" squeaked a distressed Brittany.
(oh no...one kevvy is bad enough, but three? no...my name is brittany taylor, i live in crew neck in lawndale, california, i was head cheerleader at lawndale high for the lawndale lions footbal team, i am not seeing things.)
"Babe," said the first Kevin, "who says too much is too much of anything?"
"Hey babe," said the second Kevin, "you want me to pick you a winner?"
"Welcome to the birdhouse in your soul," said the third Kevin.
(it's not right, it's not real, it's just a dream, i know it is...and yet it all seems real...if i could only admit all those kevvys weren't real, i'd be sane, i'd be cured, i'd be...wait, what can i be? i got nowhere to go, i lost everything, i could never be loved nor welcomed back...if it's a dream, why do i feel awake...?)
"One Kevvy is one thing," said a fearful Brittany, "but why three of you?"
"Like, we're the many facets of Kevin Thomson," said the first Kevin.
"It's all based on a theory Daria and Jane spoke of," said the second Kevin. "Perhaps you've heard of it, based on an album, by some guys call the Yellow Magic or something-Times Infinity Multiplies."
(i don't believe it, i just don't believe it, maybe if i just deny all that everything will all go away. but why is everything looking and feeling so real?)
"Sometimes your past can come back to haunt you, babe," said the thrid Kevin, "and more often than not, you learn that, well, like that all you left behind, all your people an' such, they're all gone, gone on beyond zebra, just like that guy Zeus, or whatever his name is...y' know?"
"And we'll never stop, after all, the torture never stops, babe," said a fourth Kevin, in a green jumpsuit with an aviator's cap on, hanging on a ladder, adjusting some wall mounted electrical controls on one wall, seven metres high up, near Brittany, who was astounded at what she saw.
(what's happening to me? is it penance for my sins? was it because i lied to kevvy? did i judge him harshly? no, i did what i thought was right, i hurt and treated kevvy because i loved him and wanted him to know between what was good and what was evil. there's such a thing as tough love. i was just doing my job as a good girlfriend...and yet...)
"No," said Brittany, her voice showing total fear. "you're not real, it's not real, where I stand, it's not real, none of it's real! Do you hear me? It's NOT REAL!"
"I got news for you, babe," said the fourth Kevin, "nuttin' is real. So, how good can you be at dice?"
(nuttin' is real? was he right? no, it couldn't be)
At that point, Brittany's poser fell off, and there she stood in just her t shirt and nappy, as all four Kevins gatherd 'round the centre of the floor,gesturing to her to enter the circle; one of them handed her a pair of dice and said, "Come on, babe, let's see how you roll the bones!"
B.G.M.: I Take The Dice, Duran Duran Tentively, Brittany did just that, taking the dice and rolling them, and it came up seven, as the Kevins cheered her on; that resulted in another roll, that came up eleven, the game lasting as Brittany's fever pitch grew, then dropped when she started losing. Mostly.
(why am i losing? i used to be good at dice when i was a 7 year old girl. those dice must be real cold for snake eyes to turn up. let's see now, faw! roll the dice-two! another roll-
faw! so far...snake eyes again? whatever happened to seven or eleven? well, i roled a five just now...where's my seven or eleven? hello, seven!)
Upon rolling the seven, Brittany literally found herself in a fog, and when that dissolved, she looked up and saw the four Kevins were gone...and that she was in a vast room lined with beds near the heavy grilled windows, again, with the moon light shining through them.
(what now? what next? did i just buy a scary place, just because i rolled seven?)
Getting up, Brittany explored the chamber; at one point, she saw a poser paid out on one of the beds, making her way to the back of the room, to a wooden sliding door-and opening it, she was in a white tiled room. and in the corner, crouched on the floor, in black pyjamas, was another Brittany in her pigtailed Lawndale High look-and suddenly, she looked up at the first Brittany, and roared out a howl that had the first Brittany run out from the room, out fromthe bed chamber and into blackness-to where?
(was that me?)
B.G.M.: Is There Anybody Out There?, Pink Floyd When she did wake up, Brittany was back in her poser, in a padded chamber, on a mound of pillows, her nappy excessively wet, possibly a side effect from either the drugs that had been given to her on a daily basis, the shock therapy, for that matter, all of the above...
(what was it that one patient said before? right, it was guts ball...how i hate waking up like that.)
A minute later, four orderlies, all looking like Kevin came inside and were shouting at Brittany for what she had done to her nappy, only now, it was hard to tell how real she was seeing, if it was a dream or if was real. Or had she had Kevin on the brain...?
(i wonder...which one is the real kevvy? is he still around, somewhere, out there?)
(5)
Breakdown & Breakout Dead Ahead B.G.M.: Hey You, Pink Floyd (which world is the real one? will i ever wake up from the dream world i somehow entered? where's my parents? where's daria and jane? what's happening? let me out of here!)
The orderlies took Brittany out from the padded room, out from her poser, t shirt and wet nappy and placed her in a porcelain tub, before placing a canvas cover over that with a hole large fopr Brittany's head and ran the water through like a hot tub, a process that went for 15 minutes.
(i've got to escape, learn the truth somehow, got to know if the real kevvy is somewhere in lawndale, or who knows where...
but how?)
After the bath, several more orderlies-and several more Kevins now everywhere in between them-took Brittany to the white tiled hydrotherapy room, where she hung on straps, whilst those techs used stainless steel valves and nozzles to drench her with high pressure streams of water (think: the system used in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest) and though Brittany hung limp on the overhead straps, her brain-what was remaining of it-was spinning like a dynamo. After an hour of that, she was dried off and strapped to a table whilst more orderlies used big vacuum hoses on her to pull at her flesh and stretch it.
Then, it was into a clean shirt and a nappy, as well as a equally clean poser, then was herded into the padded room for her rest period before the dull recreation yard, where the convicts and such would march in a circle under the eyes of the orderly guard corps.
(it's been so long...so extremely long...how long have i been here? i've been here for so many years, i lost track of time.
how much did i miss? i don't care if the place is heavily guarded, even if there's traps all over the place, i got to escape in someway-let me out of here, let me out of here, let me out of here, letme out of here, letmeoutofhereletmeoutofhere -)
Lifting her head back, all Brittany did, was pierce out with a howl of, "LET ME OUT OF HERE!"
B.G.M.: Moonside Swing, Hirokazu Tanaka Somewhere, in there, fate would turn the tide in Brittany's favour, as well as that for all the patient/convicts of Ad Holle one cold stormy night in January, for that was the day the prison's on board atomic driven power plant overloaded in the amperage, resulting in the whole plant closing down and the locks in the cells unlocking. Needless to say, the convicts and such took advantage of it and roited, overtaking the orderlies, stealing the card keys and running through the halls, which were lit up with red backup lights, powered by the minor backup generator...and it was in her padded cell that Brittany, having finished her rant,
saw her door open...
(what happened to the lights? what's happening?)
...was what looked like Kevin, in an orderly uniform, who walked in and said, "Come on, babe, it's time to run, or stuff like it!"
(kevvy again? is he helping me? no! it can't be real, it's got to be a dream!)
"Go away, Kevvy, or whoever you may be, you imposter!" wept Brittany, the tears already past welling up in her eyes. "You're NOT real! You're too stupid to get past all the safeguards and traps, not to mention the heavy security here! No-one can get past all that, and no-one ever did!"
"Listen, babe," said the Kevin orderly, "I may be dumb, but not THAT dumb...you wanna be free or not?"
(imagination? more lies? a dream? no, i've been awake. a hallucination? i've got to be sure...)
Getting up in the best way she could, Brittany went to where Kevin was and he undid the poser straps, the said poser falling to the padded floor; the orderly Kevin turned and said, "Follow me."
And follow she did, Brittany traversing the red lit up halls, the floors littered with knocked out and dead guard orderlies, through riots of inmates prison staff fighting and shooting it out with tasers, syringe needles with tranquilisers, numbchucks and the Ad Holle issue Marlin .444 rifles, all in chaos. At that point, one of the inmates came up to Brittany, handed her a rifle and said, "The revolution's on, sister, join us!"
Taking the rifle, Brittany pinched herself to prove all was real, the followed Kevin through a door that had been opened by an inmate that had taken a guard's key card, up several flights of stairs, down a hallway littered with now deactivated traps, opened gates, and crowds of inmates and guards fighting it out and standing their ground; every now and then, Brittany, as she made her way, blasting away when needed, expected to feel a bullet, a jolt from a taser or a needlestick. But somehow, she lucked out and for the first time in years, found herself outside the once thought inescapable Ad Holle prison, rioting everywhere, the ice cold January rain pouring down and several shorts and breaks in the electric fence; one guard was hanging dead on the brb wiring that wrapped round the many tiered insulators, his burnt fingers clutched in a death grip, since it too, was powered by the backup generator. However, there were shorted out gaps in the fence, caused by rifle potshots and it was, in the confusion that much of the inmates had cut a hole with some stolen cutters and were now fleeing through, Brittany included to the open gate, down to the dock, where the inmates had broke into the dockside storeshead where the Zodiac rubber ratfs were stored; the many inmates that piled in each one, paddled them across the Pacific Ocean, dodging bullets, paddling desperately and braving the howling wind, the icy cold ocean and the hypothermia to reach Catalina Island. Upon landing on the shores, one of the inmates said, "Scatter and hide out everywhere on the island towns and try to make it back to the mainland! May luck be with all of you!"
Once the said escapees climbed out from the lozenge shaped Zodiac, Brittany, her Marlin ammo spent was long gone in the grassy hills on the way to the island's major town, fearing that she was now an escapee, as she valiantly followed the Kevin orderly before he vanished over the hill.
(it's too good to be true...but it is true...free at last...i've been freed...)
It had been 17 years from the day of Brittany's arrest and sentencing; she was 27 when she entered Ad Holle and was 44 when she escaped.
And uh, speaking of Ad Holle, when all was said and done, there were 360 casulties, 300 of prison staff and 60 inmates, and of the 8400 escapees, 8000 were free; as such, the whole disaster had the tabloids rake the prison and the remaining staff over the coals. Indeed, it would be a year and a half before Ad Holle's security systems were stepped up and better than before, and not only that, yet another year before the prison was back in the good graces of the masses-before the scandal that would close them down for good.
(6)
The Realisation At Hand B.G.M.: Free Me, Roger Daltrey On through the rainy night, Brittany ran, realising she had to change to new clothing to avoid the fact she was a convict; as soon as she reached the nearest town, she saw it was late at night, so she broke into a clothing store, grabbed some clothing, an umbrella, and raincoat and $350 frpm a cash register, then changed into a fedora, a black business suit, and the raincoat, then went through several alleyways, reaching the dock, and stowing away on a boat bound for the Long Beach harbour, at last staying the night in a transients apartment-and all the time guided by the stranger that looked just like Kevin.
(where's kevvy leading me to? will it lead me to some answers? i can't wait! what's happened to lawndale since i was gone? what's waiting for me there?)
Even as she slept, Kevin, in fact, now there many Kevins in her dreams, several, growing to thousands of the former QB, talking to Brittany of the past they once had, their past and finally, where Brittany should go-back to Lawndale, specifiiclly, to the St. Jerome Cemetary.
(a cemetary? will it answer everything? please tell me what's the coonection with that and all those kevvys, and why now there's way too many kevvys...)
"Why a cemetary?" she said.
"Simple, babe," said one of the Kevins, "it's where all your answers wait for you."
At first, Brittany's omnipresent temper flared up, yet she kept it in check, fearing those Kevins would close the door on the answers she desperately sought, if she gave them any difficulty...
(the things i do to seek out some answers...)
B.G.M.: Take A Pebble, Emerson, Lake & Palmer Keeping an eye for any news on the police, Brittany travelled incognito, darting in and out from buildings, when a cop car sped by, always guided by many Kevins, having many narrow escapes, running in the sewer trenches, until, in a cold blustery night, she was back in the familar surroundings known as Lawndale, with not much changed, some places replaced by new buildings and others fallen on hard times; The Zen, where Trent's Mystik Sprial had played before, had been replaced by The Pink Tomato Club, a place for pole dancers and other unspeakable acts. Another casualty was Lawndale High, now a razed ladscape with a sign reading, FUTURE SITE OF THE LAWNDALE CREDIT UNION BUILDING. Yet another change was that of The Pizza King, which was now Adolf's Shoe Store with the fancy font scripted Zapater a De Adolf on the main window. The Lawndale Mall, along with Cashman's and J.J. Jeeters were there, building wise, but now their signs now read in Chinese and Korean, the stores themselves now replaced by Chinese and Korean stores, restaurants, clinics and who knows what. In fact, Barittany could hardly look around and not see a store and/or some other place gone heavily Asian. It was if the Lawndale she had used to know was gone and that a whole new town had sprung up in its place, so it was no wonder a heartbroken Brittany could cry quietly...
(gone...all gone...what's happened? it's like the whole town died when i was in jail. i feel like i was never loved and left to die. now i feel abandoned and dying of a broken heart. but kevvy! hang on for kevvy! got to learn the truth as to those many kevvys that have haunted me for so long...!)
"Hey, come on, babe!" called Kevin, who was in a down coat, near the Chinese laundry "you wanna know the truth, or not?"
Running on through the windy streets, Brittany, her hair in strings, her eyes baggy and dark, her face looking older than her age and pale coloured, saw that everywhere she looked, she saw Kevins at nearly every corner, every house, and every place, so when she reached the cemetary, there were countless Kevins, all pointing the way to a path that ran down the centre on the cemetary.
(at last...the source of all my answers...but that still doesn't explain why so many kevvys. which one is the real kevvy? is he alive? what's it all mean? i wish he'd say what's on his mind)
Crossing the path, the trail led Brittany to a big grave of white marble, located under a weeping willow tree-with many of the Kevins gatered around it; engraved on the stone was:
THOMSON
DOUGLAS ZACHARY THOMSON BORN 1964 DIED 2001 HUSBAND & FATHER
CHARLENE DEBORAH THOMSON BORN 1965 DIED 2001 WIFE & MOTHER
KEVIN DANIEL THOMSON BORN 1981 DIED 2001 SON
REST IN PEACE
(dead...kevvy died months or so after i graduated...but what's he doing here? and why so many? wait...there's more kevvys everywhere...they're all surrounding me,
almost pressing in on me...what is it, some b rated horror movie?)
Torn between shock and unbelief, a now upset Brittany muttered, "It's a fake, the tombstone is fake, you're ALL fakes!" With that, she swung her fists at all the Kevins...and to her surprise, her fists passed right through every one of them, as if they were holograms. She then tried to tear off the grave stone but it wouldn't budge.
(it's real, it's all real...that means all those kevvys...they're ghosts...ghosts!)
"Ghosts...!" said Brittany in a fearful whisper. "EEP! You're all ghosts! But how-?"
"After the graduation," said all the Kevins in uinson, "me and my parents went camping in the moutains and went bear hunting, till I was careless with my shooting and a bear wiped us all out, dead."
"Well, it serves you right," shot back Brittany, now regaining whatever saneness she had, " In your case, you triigered death for you and your entire family by shooting without thought. The bear, on the other hand, held back after he won his vengeance-and was handed more lands as a result. You were the same dumb idiotic Kevvy then, and you're still the same idiotic dumb Kevvy now. Know when NOT to act, and you tend to live longer."
"Then why'd you come out here in the cold of winter to see me?" chorused the Kevins, who had now increased to 350, 000, 000, overflowing the cemetary, and soon, all over Lawndale.
(good question: why? did i make myself look like a fool for coming out here? but why so many kevvys? why is there more and more? why am i choked by them? surrounded by them? that is still one unanswered question.
yet i know that kevvy died, and that his ghost came back to haunt me, but why so many? was it because he wanted to see me one last time...oh, what's the use? after what i did so long ago, i know i will go to hell. kevvy, please pray for me that god will grant me some release and let me to go purgatory instead.)
Standing amidst the ocean of Kevins, Brtittany brokenly said, almost on the verge of crying, "Kevvy...
Glen...Janie...Lisa...everyone...forgive me...", before she was altogether engufed by the sea of Kevins...
Acting on an All Points Bulletin (APB) on a round up of the Ad Holle escapees, along with Brittany, the Lawndale Police found her laying on her back on the Thomson grave...but her life was gone. In short,
the queen of the cheerleaders was dead.
(7)
Epilogue B.G.M.: Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word, Elton John From the Los Angeles Hospital Morgue report:
LOS ANGELES HOSPITAL MORGUE REPORT #882673
NAME: Jarus (last married name) Taylor (last maiden name)
Leah (middle name) Brittany (first name)
BIRTHDATE: 1/13/79
CORONER VAN: #1600
DR. IN ATTENDENCE: None
TIME OF DEATH: 1/13/21, 5.58 P.M. (approx.)
CAUSE OF DEATH: Possible deterioration of brain cortex section,
as well as medulla and corpus callosum haemorrage, however,
some signs post to subject losing the will to live, if not from excessive experemental drugs; aside from above mentioned causes, it is believed that medically the subject was stable, but for reasons unexplainable, subject lost her life nonetheless. All speculations currently stand in debate and question.
CORONER: Dr. Joseph Cerullo
PERSON(S) IDENTIFYING BODY: Daria Morgendorffer & Jane Lane
BODY TO BE DELIVERED TO: Pierce Brothers Mortuary, 3.38 P.M., 1/21/21
SURVIVING RELATIVES: None
The "drugs" stated in the report, turned out to be the tranquilisers,
known as SHX 413, or as Daria called them, "happy drooly juice," used on the Ad Holle convict patients like Brittany, from which the coroner and the forensic toxicology pathologists revealed could damage the brain if used for too much in quanity and in duration. Not to mention cause some chronic hallucinations. Which brings to mind again the Ad Holle scandal; Brittany's death and the deaths of the other patients sparked a furor worldwide, resulting in many suicides of their loved ones when they learned of what went on. Curiously, long before the breakout, there HAD been some deaths among the patients, but the staff took great pains in covering them up, not mention use American goverment supplied "hush money." But now, thanks to Brittany's escape, the secret was out and the Ad Holle staff and several goverment officials,
members of Congress and the Senate were rounded up, indicted and convicted before paying out of their own bank accounts for the damages, prior to their jail terms.
And Brittany? According to the report, she had no surviving reletives, for they had all taken their own lives during her incarceration, some of alcohol. others of drugs, weapons, the lot. Anyway, her body was creamated at the crematorium section of the Pierce Brothers Mortuary and Daria and Jane scattered her ashes on the Thomsons' grave, Daria saying that "at last Brittany and Kevin were together again."
However, it should be pointed out that Brittany was already having the so called hallucinations even long before she had been injected with the Ad Holle SHX 413 tranquilisers, the same ones given to the other patients. Which resulted in a lot of unanswered matters, if not rumours among the population, especially that of Lawndale's populace: some said that Brittany's mind had been imagining Kevin and that the SHX 413 only compounded them; others said that Brittany had been mentally creating those images from her sub conscious, which had stored for years her memories of Kevin. Yet others would also say that maybe what Brittany had seen were ghosts of Kevin, since he and his parents had died in the bear attack long after Is It Collage Yet. Yet still, people would also say that Brittany didn't die from the drugs, but from the deterioration of her brain, triggered by her insanity and/or obsession of Kevin. Or that she had truly lost the will to live. Whichever was the real cause, whichever was the real story, that too, remained a mystery.
Why Brittany shot people dead, why she was sent to Ad Holle, why the breakout happened, why she went crazy in the first place, why and how she saw Kevin, how and why she died, well, all of them carry their share of answers-all of them, but the last three.
TIS THE END OF YE TALE.