"What the hell mother!" I've been pissed before. Hell I've killed a maitre 'd because he was standing a little too straight when he took the bribe I slipped him to get a decent table. But this was too far.
"Well if I had just given you the car and let you enjoy it you wouldn't learn anything! Just like that bike I got you."
"Oh way to go mother! Just scrape the bottom of the Dead Sea why don't you! I don't think you had enough salt when you were rubbing your fist in that wound!"
"Oh here we go again! Are you going to need a blankie and a nap next?"
"No! I'm fucking done with this!" I pulled out the M4 and braced it against my shoulder. I'm finally going to put down the devil.
"Archer! I know she's an irredeemable bitch but first degree murder isn't going to...you know what go ahead." Woah. Okay my opinion of Cyrril just reached an all-time high.
"Cyrill you can't be serious!" Oh Lana. Still trying to control him even after you've broken up.
"Well I'm okay with it." Carol. She's cool for life now.
"Well it's not like she doesn't deserve it." And Pam is getting all the bear claws she can shove down her gullet.
"What are you all saying! After all we've been through together!"
"That's exactly why I'm pointing an assault rifle at your head Malory! I'm so angry and grieved I can't even call you...that thing that you call the woman who gave birth to you when you love them!"
"Sterling! What are you saying?" Moment of truth.
"I'm saying that you're a monster! You gave me a lavish lifestyle and I take it for granted. I hurt everyone I care about and it never stops. And you know what? I realized that I'm just like you!"
"Well I never-!"
"That's exactly the problem mother! You never think of anyone other than yourself! It only looks like it so you can use people to get what you want!
I've always had a cold rage that is continuously fed by everything you do! How you left me at private schools with no friends so you could live a life of danger and alcoholism! And I cried myself to sleep and wished you were dead!"
"Wow. I mean it was always clear you had issues but I never knew how bad." Carol. You have your kinks but you've never betrayed me. That's more than I can say for Malory. Speaking of which.
"But when you gave me that car it was like all of that pain went away. I had everything I wanted. I had friends, family and most importantly a mother who loved me! A mother who actually wanted what was best for me!
I was thinking of how hard I was going to work to pay back that kindness! I was going to make it up to Lana for how I bailed on her romantically! I was going to take Pam to a buffet and foot the bill out of my own money! I was going to choke Carol on a bed with silk sheets while banging her brains out!"
"Archer!" Lana of course had to interject. "Hey. I didn't say it was all new leaves."
"Are you quite done with your-" "I was even going to go out for drinks with Cyrril! And get a banzai tree for Krieger's girlfriend! Basically I was on my way to being transformed into a decent human being!"
I took a long shuddering breath. "And then...you stole my car and sold it to a pimp!"
"Now are you done-" A dull thud followed by a muted clang shut her up. The dull thud being from the M4 bashing her in the face and muted clang from the shipping container intercepting her decrepit body.
"Is anybody else getting turned on by this? No? Just me then." Carol I would be all over that if I wasn't so pissed.
"All you do is kill, steal and destroy! And now..." First was the left knee cap. The pain woke her from her daze and what came out of her mouth was a scream that would make a harpy jealous.
"For everything you've taken from me..." Then the right.
"I will do myself and the world a favor and take you out of it. The world. Not me. Ew. I'm pulling the trigger now."
"Wait!" Oh here we go. One last squeak from the weasel.
"I'll admit I wasn't a perfect mother!" "Try the worst in history!" Score another one for Pam.
"But everything I did was for you! To toughen you up! To make sure you lived long enough to be happy!"
"That's the problem Malory! As long as you're around I can't be! Because you take more than you give! Always!
So I'm going to do everyone a favor and empty this clip into your body!" "Oh boo-hoo! You don't have the balls to-!"
I think I was screaming. I don't know. I just remember squeezing the trigger and not stopping until Lana came over and put her hand over mine.
Then I fell to my knees and I cried. No. That's not right. I wept.
It always sounded funny to me when I read that. Like someone was pulling out a sanitizing wipe after they lost someone who mattered to them.
But now I understood. No matter how right you are when you cut someone toxic out of your life it doesn't stop the pain.