Hello! :) Okay, so this is my attempt to write some angsty, darker stuff. After a while, you get sick of writing sickly sweet, marshmallow fluff about Jisbon. So I'm sorry in advance if it sucks. Haha. :)
Huge thank-you to my Beta reader and friend Feralious! Without you this story would be just... blah. And thank you for the awesome chats! And for changing my views about Angst vs. Fluff Mentalist Fan Fiction. If it wasn't for you, I would still be writing endless sickly sweetness. So thanks again. :)
(By the way... Although I TRY to make my Fics less fluffy, it's hard for a marshmallow like me to totally cut it out. So this may have a little bit of Jisbon. Maybe. Sorry Feralious. :b)
- Ashlee-Rose :)
Disclaimer: Of course, the Mentalist isn't mine. Never has been, never will be. I'm happy just watching it and smiling 'till my face hurts. :b
Prologue
The strange thing about life is that, delicate as it is, we never really realise how quickly everything can change. With one stupid decision, we can change the course of our lives, and others' lives, forever. The problem with people is we never realise what we have to lose. Until we discover it's gone.
Close your eyes for a moment, and imagine this. You are a 31 year old man with an incredible talent that you have been developing since you were eight years old. You can read people as though their thoughts are written across their faces, and you use this gift to your advantage. You work as a fake psychic, deceiving people flawlessly for a living, switching off your moral compass as you pretend to contact departed loved ones. In your spare time, you help the California police with cases, enjoying analysing suspects and creating awe in once-sceptical cops. You have a beautiful wife named Angela, and a gorgeous little girl, Charlotte, who is only five years old. A perfect life. A charmed existence. But the fact is - the lucky people are the ones with the most to lose.
The case you have been working on with the police is not going as well as you hoped. A serial killer, named Red John, has been eluding the police for years – and you aren't getting any closer than they have. Doubting your own abilities, you are getting frustrated, disliking the feeling of failure. And you, in your naïve arrogance, decide to provoke him a little, teach him a lesson. Maybe trick him into revealing himself. It can't hurt, right?
Wrong.
After making a fool of him on live television, you head home, feeling grimly pleased with yourself. Calmly and happily, you walk up the staircase of your expensive home, not a care in the world. You are thinking about work, your family, your life. You are blissfully ignorant, and totally unaware that in the next few minutes, your life will change forever with a note on a closed door.
You don't know it yet, but within the next few years, you will see your life become meaningless. Thoughts of revenge and murder will turn your life into a living hell. You will spend time in a mental ward, numb and broken. You will eventually join forces with the most frustrating, feisty, beautiful woman at the California Bureau of Investigation. Your heart will begin to heal, finally.
My name is Patrick Jane. And this is my story.
Note: This Fic has been in-the-making since about April. I have been so busy with exams (eek). But my holidays are coming up, and new Fan Fiction ideas will be coming out my ears. (I hope.) :)