Defeat – Chapter 3 – The Dark
The dark, dingy alleyway she found herself in didn't matter half as much as the torrent of tears pouring down her face. The sheer volume of tears had rendered her blind and then breathless. She sank down the side of the old brick building as his eyes stared back at her from just across the trash that surrounded her. She knew he was not really there, but she could see his eyes none the less.
The sounds of the people cheering and shouting about their beloved Marvel comic book heroes was completely drowned out by the pressure in her ears. Gabriella felt something move against her arm and she jumped. She looked down to see nothing more sinister than a mouse. Still, she gathered her senses and moved on away from the alleyway.
Several hours later, Troy found himself climbing back into his trusty tree house. After his parents had died, he'd come home from college to handle things. Then the next thing he knew he had a house and job and no one to share them with. Slowly he'd begun to clean out those things of his parents' that he didn't need, but the house was still a wreck. So, Troy had started storing his vigilante gear in his tree house. He'd, of course, installed a new locking mechanism, but otherwise it was the same old tree house.
Troy stripped off the leather suit and gear with ease, his body pulsing with pain each time he faltered in his movements. He didn't trust his bloody, blurry vision. He was gingerly testing each motion before committing to it. Slowly the pieces fell away and he was left with nothing more than a basic pair of workout shorts and a t-shirt. He sat hunched over perched on nothing but an old cot his father had set up for him years ago. He leaned his forehead into his hands and fought to control the tears that were blurring his already altered vision. He convulsed as a sob of emotional pain tore through him. He screamed out loud as he ached for her.
Slowly, he rose from the cot and made his way down to the solid ground. He made his way over to the house and into the kitchen. He patched up what he could. Finally, he drove himself to the ER in Mars Hill where no one would recognize him and the false explanation for severe injuries were an expected part of health care.
Gabriella lied in the plush bed in her mother's New York City townhouse. She'd told her mom she needed a vacation from the madness that life brought. Her mom had been so thrilled her daughter was doing something she considered normal that she overlooked the sadness and bruises and just handed her keys to their place in New York.
Now, as Gabriella lie miserable and confused in the soft bedding, she wondered if her mother had been right that there were some things no one could fix and therefore no one should ever bother to try. Gabriella recalled all the times she had chastised her mother or complained to friends or lovers about how shallow her mother was. She used to rail and scream about the heartlessness her mother's intentionally blind vanity exuded onto the world.
Gabriella wiped the tears from her cheek as she gripped the pillow tighter. She'd been in love with him. His soft brown hair and his baby blue eyes had melted her defenses. His charm and subtle wit had whittled away her resistance. She'd been innocently hoping in some recess of her mind that he was different, that he was safe and as wonderful as she wanted him to be. She'd been hoping and she'd been wrong.
Troy sat quietly on the old gurney. The nurses had cleaned and dressed his less spectacular wounds, but the doctor had insisted on x-rays of his jaw and neck. The doc had come back to wire his jaw. Now, Troy was waiting for the nurses to return with his prescriptions before he left. He wouldn't be able to fill the prescriptions because he'd given them a completely false identity, but they would expect him to wait for the small pieces of paper. And so, he waited.
His physical pain was substantial, but his mind wasn't focused on it. His head swam with her words, I won't let you take me down like you took my sister! Troy sat in his hunched position trying to withstand the damage she'd left him harboring. He loved her.