Chapter Three

I soon found a new home. I grew bored with the old one. That's my problem really, I get bored of things too easily. Once I had a man give me his race car, but after driving it for a few days I left it in a parking lot with the windows down and the doors unlocked. I would find women who at the time I thought were utterly beautiful and I pictured myself being with them for a long time, but after a night or two I would leave them alone and penniless.

Jessica was the only person who I didn't grow tired of after a couple of days. I asked myself why I still loved her, and why I allowed her to live after hurting me so?

There were so many reasons.

Jessica was different from any person I had ever met, yet she was the only person who I felt similar to. Her being able to resist me is another reason. The resistance hadn't been there initially, she had wilted and obeyed easily like the rest. Yet as time passed controlling her had become difficult. I actually had to exert effort a few times with her. It may sound odd but there was something thrilling about finally meeting someone who wasn't easy to control. Jessica presented me a challenge, an actual challenge! It was infuriating and exciting and down right erotic all at once!

There was this one instance during our time together when I asked her to smile for me. I had asked her to do this for me a lot, but for some reason this one time Jessica hesitated and actually bit her lip to keep herself from smiling. Even though it was only a few seconds of hesitation and she ended up smiling anyway I couldn't ignore how she had fought me for just those little seconds. I didn't know whether to hit her or kiss her or both.

There lies another reason why I love Jessica Jones. She is the only person who has ever made me feel so conflicted. If my emotions went into a whirl without a doubt she was always the cause.

I wonder if Jessica knows how much she affects me? Does she care? Do I affect her the same? Does she even think about me, or is she with someone else? That last question weighs heavily on my mind.

As I stare at the photos of her I have collected I like to image that she's thinking of me, just as much as I think of her.

Jessica has a sister named Trish. Now her and Trish aren't biological sisters, the only biological sibling Jessica had was her little brother and he died along with her parents in a car accident. Trish's mother adopted Jessica after the incident, but only did so to get good publicity for Trish who was a child star at the time. Unlike most child stars Trish hasn't fallen into irrelevancy and drug addiction, instead she's the host of a very popular radio show.

When me and Jessica were first starting out I would listen to the show with her, just to get an idea of what kind of person Trish Walker was. Jessica once said that she saw Trish like a sister and that she was proud of her for all her hard-work. I listened to a few episodes, but I never could see what Jessica saw in Trish. To me she seemed like any typical blond airhead who thought she was so smart and that she could change the world just by chattering on. Also her television show was utterly dry and boring. I found nothing about her worth being proud about.

After Jessica left I would listen to Trish's show in the hopes that just maybe, Jessica would be on it and I would be able to hear her voice or at the very least hear her name mentioned, but neither happened. Eventually I found where Jessica lived and it was easy enough to have someone photograph her without her knowing. Jessica was never pictured with Trish, I figured the two had a falling out, or Jessica was keeping her sister at arms length.

After the news of what Hope did to her parents I decided to listen to Trish's show knowing for certain that she would be discussing it. It was a hot story after all, an all American girl loses it and shoots her parents dead, oh news outlets were all over it and I knew that Trish would be too.

I was surprised when I realize that Trish was holding an interview with Hope, allowing her to tell her side of the story. I hadn't counted on the fact that Hope would tell about me. Even though we live in a city that had been attacked by aliens and had been rescued by a group of heroes that consisted of a giant green man the idea of someone who had the powers of mind control was still far-fetched, but that didn't keep Hope from speaking it.

After Hope finished telling her story her attorney interrupted the interview with the opinion that Hope was delusional, which Trish adamantly argued against.

"Perhaps what happened to Hope has happened before." Trish said.

I blinked and I knew then that Jessica had gotten back in contact with her former friend/sibling. That was why Trish felt so strongly about this, in her mind she was sticking up for Jessica. What a good little sister she was.

"Trish sounds like you believe this Kilgrave is real." Hope's attorney challenged.

There was a long pause before Trish responded. "I believe it's naïve to assume he isn't. So yes I think he's out there. This sick perverted man. Preying on the hopeless, so he can feel powerful."

She went on to say other things; that I suffered from impotence and that I may have had incestuous thoughts about my mother. Regardless she had already said more than enough. I picked up my phone and dialed the number to her radio station.

After being patched in I said. "First time caller long time listener. Trish I want to applaud your courage, being a hero to the downtrodden. Self-preservation be damn. It's honorable, but my question is if there really is a man with the abilities you describe, someone who can make anyone any where do whatever he wanted them to do seems to me insulting him would be wildly dangerous, or let's just say it, stupid in the extreme. Everyone has feelings, even, how did you put it? Sadistic men. Are you worried he might make you kill herself or worse? I'll take my answer off the air."

I hung up and smiled. It was risky putting myself out like that, but now Ms. Walker was no doubt experiencing a paranoid fear that anyone she walked by on the street was ordered to attack her by me. The thought of her walking through a crowd and looking at every face with fear, sweat rolling down her forehead, brought me unbelievable satisfaction. It would be so easy to walk to any stranger and order them to kill her in anyway they could. An idea rose in my head, what if Trish was going to have Jessica look after her. I mean if I was the target of some mysterious man with telepathic powers I would call my friend who had super strength to protect me.

Jessica would be with her, so I had to be smart about this. Hopefully if done right by the day's end Trish Walker would be dead, and Jessica would see it herself. Trish was all Jessica had, her only friend and family. With her gone Jessica would be alone, even more reason to come back to me. I didn't think killing Trish would ruin my chances of being back with Jessica. Jessica leaving me to die didn't end us and neither would me having Trish killed. Even after hurting each other so deeply we will forgive each other and move on, because we're inevitable. Nobody else challenges me the way she does, and no one else can compete with her like I do. We are simply meant to be. Jessica will realize that, and one day I'll open the door and she'll be standing on my doorstep with a smile.

I walked into the coffee shop, and there I saw a cop standing at the counter. Sometimes the best things just fall into your lap.

I was watching a football game (I don't know why Americans insist on calling it the sport 'soccer' but oh, well) in my new home. Sports are one of the few things I get passionate about, so I was only have paying attention when the cop walked in to tell me he had completed his task.

"Trish Walker is dead." He said.

"Is Jessica aware of Patsy's death?" I asked.

"She saw everything."

"Was she upset?"

"Very."

"Well a lot of people will be, Patsy was such an icon." I snort. "Personally I always thought that her television show was shit. Patsy was a grating, teenage do-gooder, and was so sanctimonious. Why Jessica was so attached to her I'll never understand."

I was going to say more about my ill feelings of Trish Walker, but I was distracted by a bad play. "Don't just kick it all the time you ginger twat!" I shouted at the television.

I looked at the officer. "You're done here. Leave."

The cop turned on his heel and began walking towards the door.

"Not that way officer." I said, then pointed towards the glass doors leading to the balcony. "That way."

As the officer opened the door leading to the balcony I yelled at the TV some more. My team was really playing terribly this time around. As I watched the game I heard a loud thump from something heavy landing on the balcony. I turned my attention from the TV and looked out the glass doors and saw Jessica pulling the officer from the edge.

The officer fell hard on his back, but was safe. Jessica looked down at him, then looked up and we locked eyes. It felt like we stood there staring for an eternity. So many things I wanted to say to her, so many things I wanted to ask her. Was she here to kill me out of some moral obligation to Trish? Or was she here to finally apologize for leaving me? I couldn't risk getting too close to her if it was the latter, Jessica could rip me in half like paper.

We both stood there, daring the other to move, but then the officer stood up and went for the edge again. I jerked my head and Jessica noticed just in time to try to save him from jumping. Jessica always had a hero complex that I never understood, but it worked in my favor this time. While she was playing hero I made my escape, running out of the room.

The couple that owned the house had a teenage son, and I ran by him while running down the stairs.

"Listen, there's a woman who will be coming this way, do anything you can to keep her from following me!"

"Yes." The boy said.

I ran past him and after running into his mother and father and giving them the same order I fled the house. I stopped momentarily to look wistfully at the room where I kept all of Jessica's pictures. I actually felt sad leaving them behind. I sighed, and kept running. I still had Malcolm, and he would bring me more photos of my darling Jessica in return for money. The young man had a really awful drug habit, that was just ripe for exploiting.

I was soon on the street, walking among the crowd. My heart was racing. I had been ten feet from her, that's the closest I had been to her in a very long time. I wondered if she had seen the room, and if so then right at that moment she knew I had been watching her. I imaged Jessica looking over her shoulder trying to catch my spy, or me in the act of photographing her. I stopped walking and began laughing.

Strangers walked by staring at me like I was insane and maybe I was a little, but that's the affect Jessica had on me. This was way I needed her back in my life, no one else gave me such a rush of excitement the way she did. With Jessica there was never a dull moment.