Landscapes in Black and White
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: In case you didn't know, I'm a college student. This means I have a negative balance (like every other college student.) A negative balance would also indicate that I don't own Red Eye.
Jackson had never deluded himself when it came to life. It was apparent from the start that it wasn't like a movie. By the time the proverbial credits rolled, one did not find true love,the "good" guys didn't always win, and the villain didn't always disappear after surviving an ridiculously high fall.
The thing about films that was completely irksome was the landscape, completely devoid of any grey shades. One rooted for the protagonist, no matter how fuzzy their logic was, the viewer ignores the the pain of the characters on the periphery, and wish ill on the antagonist of the piece.
The fact of the matter was that everyone was the hero of their own sad little life. From Iago to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, they perceived the world as revolving around themselves, and no other.
Needless to say, if Lisa Reisert thought she'd earned her fairytale ending, she thought wrong.
Of course, he hadn't escaped right away. It had taken time, and money, and a great deal of patience. The woman had stabbed him in the throat, after all. One didn't get up from an impromptu tracheotomy as if it were nothing.
No, he'd stayed in the hospital, biding his time. Contrary to popular belief, the hard part of the ordeal was actually getting inside the prison, not out of it. Once he was in, money exchanged hands, documents disappeared, as well as Jackson.
It had been entirely too easy.
Now, he continued to wait. He wanted to tie up loose ends, but had to wait for Lisa to be lulled into a false sense of security. The news didn't report his disappearance, his involvement had been classified, and the government didn't like to admit the fact that they'd let a major crime manager slip through their fingers, let alone hint at the fact a top agent or two might've been involved in his disappearance.
As such, Lisa remained ignorant. It was petty of him to be disappointed when he saw her slip comfortably back into her old life. He wanted to see her look over her shoulder, afraid to see him. He would prefer to relish in the thought that she stained her pillow each night with her tears, traumatized be their short time together.
She hadn't done either. She'd gone a formed a support group for herself. Her father, some girls from the hotel, a couple potential dates, all to convince herself that he hadn't scarred her further. All for naught, really. If he hadn't left a couple open wounds before, he probably would now. It wasn't a job this time, it was as she had suspected originally. Something personal.
All he had to do was wait.
A/N: Well, I admit to cheating a bit on this one. This chapter is actually one of my roleplay samples for Jackson that I had lying around. I decided to actually do something with it, instead of allowing it to collect dust.
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