Chapter 16
Note: I usually don't name my chapters since I understand how people get all confused and . stuff. when they have to remember the title and the chapter. However in this case, if I did name this chapter, it would have been called "Return to Normality" . ~_~ no I'm not President Wilson.
Yes, the story does sound like the theme is coming from Dogma and yes I have seen that movie and enjoyed it. But my ideas are not really from Dogma, actually my ideas came from the "His Dark Materials" Trilogy by Philip Pullman (that man is like a modern day Tolkien, gotta love him.). I saw a lot of things differently after I read his books, great writer he is..
Coughs up a lung. horribly sick right now and hallucinating too. Most of the time I think I'm floating and seeing blue dragons and orange cows. sorry the story is coming so slowly.
R&R pwwwease!
~~~ ( Three months later)
William's POV
Ever since that night when I woke up drunk and Leng hovering over me, I haven't felt the same. There's this sickness, this empty feeling that eats away at your gut and throbs in your mind. I can tell that I've been more self-destructive lately. Not in a suicidal way, but in a way that hurts all those around me. The feeling claws away at me and makes my temper violent and my tongue caustic. This week I've already made Aoide cry and run to her room in broken sobs three times and I've received annoyed and disapproving looks from Owen twice.
I hate this feeling of desperation that comes out of nowhere and makes me practically immobile. I can't sleep anymore and I find myself indulging excessively in clubs, drinking, drugs and sex. My new darker life hasn't affected my day life yet, I've been popping pills every morning. I know I can't keep up this facade forever, but I still keep doing it. I need to live on the edge, because it feels like every moment counts. I try to cram in as many emotions as I can in an hour and sometimes find myself on the verge of going completely insane.
It's so morbid that every time I space out, I think about dying. I hate the thought of being gone forever, not knowing what's happening next. It's like I wish time could completely stop once I die, that way I won't miss a thing.
I can feel this foreign coldness settling in whenever I'm talking to someone and they bring up things that apparently happened while I was 'out of it'. It's funny, it's like there's this one-month gap in my life that I'll never know or see and I'm hearing people tell me about it. Apparently in that time period I had met Aoide. Maybe that's why I'm so hostile to her now. All of a sudden, I have this super strong girl living with me, I have no idea how we met, whether she can be trusted or why I invited her to stay with me. But I'm stuck with her.
I don't trust anyone now, not even Owen. He's extremely annoyed that I call him Owen now instead of Grandpa. And ever time I say "Owen" I can see him mentally flinch. I feel bad and yet I am elated that I have such power over him. I know, it's sick.
Everything was going pretty well after the first week I woke up, until Jeff went over my schedule.
~~~
William nodded as he took the agenda from his manservant, "Thank you, Jeff."
Everything on the agenda was perfectly normal, except for the meeting with one of the TIME journalists located in L.A. William blinked a few times, wondering if it was just something in his eyes, but when he cleared his eyes and saw that it was still there. He was somewhat disturbed.
"Jeff!"
Jeff returned from his position in the doorway, "Yes sir?"
"Why do I have a meeting with TIME magazine?"
Jeff shrugged, "Perhaps you should ask your secretary."
William nodded and speed dialed Sharon.
Sharon was somewhat groggy when she picked up the phone. He had forgotten that it was already 12 at night and that most people were asleep by now.
"Yes William?"
"How did you know it was me?"
"Only you call me at ungodly hours of the night. What's wrong?"
"I have a meeting with this journalist that I've never met. Stephanie Fieldman?"
"oh. she wrote a derisive article about you and your business practices in Time magazine. You said that you wanted to have a 'talk' with her."
William frowned, "What? When?"
"Oh.. oh no sweetie, it was during that time you had amnesia. I'm sorry."
William's eyes darkened and he scowled as he listened Sharon's pitying tone. "I don't want your sympathy Sharon. I just want the matter explained to me. I want a copy of that article on my desk first thing tomorrow morning and a file on Ms. Fieldman."
"No, William, you know I didn't say that!"
"I don't care, it was in your voice."
William hung up on Sharon before she could reply and stormed up to his room. But that night he couldn't fall asleep and instead he desperately tried scratch at the blinds that were like steel shields blocking his memory. ~~~
The next day I had read the article and went through the files on Stephanie Fieldman. Her records were clean as a slate, but I doubt her tactics were. After reading the article about five times I had finally realized what was bugging me. One of the sections talked about the non-regulation methods that one of LuminaCorp's older power plants used since it was changed into a test site for science experiments. The thing was, that power plant was totally off limits, private property and needed a key to get into. After reviewing most of the tapes, I had finally caught some footage of Ms. Fieldman breaking and entering.
~~~
William smiled as he shook hand with Steve Jacobson, editor for the TIMEs office in L.A. Then both men took a seat at opposite sides of the desk.
"So Mr. Dale, what brings you here?"
William sighed deeply and pulled out a file he had in his suitcase. "I am deeply disturbed by the ethics of some of your employees Mr. Jacobson, especially Ms. Fieldman's. not too long ago she wrote a scalding article about me and my company."
Mr. Jacobson shrugged, "The people have the right to know what is going on, freedom of the press."
William shook his head, "It's not the article that I'm unhappy about, it's the measures that Ms. Fieldman has taken to ensure her article."
William reached into his suitcase and pulled out three tapes. "I have footage of Ms. Fieldman breaking and entering into one of my science labs and going through confidential files. So here, the deal: I can either sue you or you fire Ms. Fieldman."
Steve Jacobson put the tapes into a VCR next to his desk and watched as Ms. Fieldman used acid to eat away at the locks and shove open the door. Jacobson was mute the entire time while watching the tapes, when the tapes were over Jacobson turned to William.
"I am truly sorry, but you must know that Ms. Fieldman is one of out best reporters, I can't just fire such a key person. Let me think this over."
William nodded as he took back the tapes and the file. Then, right before he left William looked around the spacious editor's room.
"You know, this would be the perfect place to set up my office."
Mr. Jacobson's face darkened, "This building is not for sale."
William returned with a challenging smirk, "Everything is for sale Mr. Jacobson, you just have to know what your willing to pay for it."
Then Jacobson paled as he struggled to gulp.
William gave a low laugh as he opened the door and strode complacently out of the editor's office.
The next day, Stephanie found a pink slip lying on her desk. ~~~
I wanted to be nice to everyone, I really did. But every time I spoke, the words were caustic and vindictive. It was like I needed to hurts someone. I needed to hurt everyone because I was so lost.
~~~~
Buffy unhappily sat at the kitchen island as she sipped some cold coffee that she was too lazy to heat up again. Three months ago, they had left L.A. right after Spike disappeared once more. But news from Angel said that Spike. or was it William? was out and about and back to his billionaire self. After hearing the news for the first time, she wanted to rush back to L.A. and bring Spike home. However, in the end, she stayed home. Not because she didn't want him. it was the 'what ifs'. Like, what if he was happy the way he was, being a billionaire and all? What if he hated her forever for the pain that she had caused him? What if he refused to see her? What if. what if. what if.?
In the end, the questions came crashing down around her and she let go of the idea of finding him again. Suddenly the phone rang.
Buffy walked over to the phone hanging on the wall and answered, "Hello?"
"Hi sweetie. It's dad."
Buffy froze, one part of her was jumping for joy that her daddy had finally called them after all those years. The other part screamed in bitterness and hate at his audacity to call her after leaving them to be so miserable and penniless.
"Dad." Buffy answered back, trying to get him to say something first. She really couldn't say that she missed him. Because truthfully, she didn't, he was long gone out of their lives for almost ten years. And yet here he was, out of the blue, on the phone with her.
"Buffy," Hank paused for a second. "I've heard what's been happening with you and Dawn. And I wanted to help out. I know that you don't have enough money to pay for Dawn to finish up her classes in the next two years so I'm offering to pay for the rest of her way through college and get the college money burden off of your back."
Buffy gaped, stunned that her father was finally helping out for a change. but something wasn't right. There had to be strings, she knew her dad too well. "But what's the catch?"
There was a disturbing silence on the other side, but finally Hank answered, "In return, I want Dawn to come down to UCLA and live with me. Sunnydale isn't safe for her and your house is barely suitable to live in."
Buffy gripped onto a wooden spoon and broke it with her fingers, trying to hold the rage inside of her. But she refrained from yelling at him, if she pissed off her dad, she could be throwing away Dawn's only chance to complete her education and get a descent job.
After a while of cooling down, Buffy picked up the phone and spoke to her father again. "I'm going to have to think it over."
"Look Buffy, why don't you and Dawn come down to L.A. for a few days and look at the place I've picked out for Dawn and let her see the UCLA campus. I know some people and I think I can get her transferred over there."
All of Buffy's instincts scream 'NO!!!', but Buffy knew that Dawn's future was more important than her problems with her father.
"Okay."
"Great I'll see you on Friday."
~~~ (Friday, early morning)
"Dawn! Do you have all your stuff?!" Buffy yelled as she saw her father's approaching car.
"Yeah! Be down in a minute!" Dawn answered back.
A few moments later, Dawn carried her large baggage down the stairs.
"Is this going to be enough for one week?" Dawn inquired.
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Look, if you don't have enough clothes, we can buy you stuff in L.A."
Dawn nodded and both sisters headed outside to greet their father.
~~~ (that afternoon)
William talked at Jeff as he skillfully put on his tie, "I have a 4 hour meeting later today with some clients from Korea. So I won't be back for dinner, you have the rest of the night off. Lock the door on your way out. If I need help, I'll call you..."
Jeff nodded as, then he picked up William's jacket and helped him put it on. William meticulously flattened the lapels and dusted off the sleeves.
"How do I look?" William asked, not turning around.
"Very professional sir."
"Good."
~~~
Angel gaped as he saw Buffy walk into his office. "Buffy! What are you doing here? Is there another apocalypse coming?"
Buffy shook her head. "Nah, actually I'm here because of dad."
Angel frowned, he really hated Buffy's dad and what he did to her.
"Why?"
"I don't have enough money and dad offered to pay for Dawn's tuition. but there was a catch, Dawn has to live in L.A. with dad and go to UCLA. I don't want to screw up this opportunity for Dawn, so I'm showing her around and letting her see if she likes it around here."
Angel sighed, "I wish there was something I could do."
Buffy shrugged, "There isn't anything anyone can do. I know that your business has been slow lately with Wolfram and Harte gone.Anyways, I wouldn't have been able to take your money."
"So what are you doing here?"
"Oh, just bored. Wondering if there's anything I can do to help out."
"You can help me file papers?"
Buffy threw her hands in the air. "Sure. Beats sitting around and watch my sister being taken away from me." ~~~ (That night)
William bowed a little as he shook hands with his clients and smiled. It was nice doing business with these men, they knew what they wanted and what he wanted. So the meeting ended fairly early; about 2 hours earlier than he had expected.
William quietly retreated to his office and decided to take a break. ~~~ (Meanwhile in an apartment somewhere in downtown L.A.)
Stephanie angrily huffed as she tossed her old files away into the garbage can and then she began to mutter curses as she saw that the garbage can was too full to take anymore. She angrily stood up and picked up the garbage can and walked out of her apartment to the garbage chute near by.
While she was walking, she was distracted, thinking of horrific ways to torture her editor for firing her. Every good reporters broke a few laws to get a great story, if it weren't for her he wouldn't have been able to get some many 'hot' stories before all the other magazines with such detail and coverage. 'That ungrateful bastard.' Stephanie thought as she opened the garbage chute, 'I am the best reporter in L.A.. if only that damn CEO hadn't turning in those @(&*^ tapes!!!!!!!'
With a forceful shove she dumped the garbage, however in her absentmindedness, she hadn't noticed that the chute's spring was wound up so tight. Suddenly her upper body was caught in the chute and because of her thin figure, she didn't have enough strength to pull out. In that moment, the chute closed in on her stomach and forced her to fall through the pipe and into the large garbage can.
Stephanie threw a tantrum in the garbage can, using colorful curses as she tried to climb out of the quicksand-like masses. But fate had other plans. In that moment Bobby, who lived in room 906 finally decided to throw out his old typewriter since he finally got his new computer from his grandparents for his birthday. The heavy metal typewriter began to accelerate more as gravity pulled it down. The resulting velocity was so great that the typewriter kill Stephanie on impact.
Cont.
Note: I usually don't name my chapters since I understand how people get all confused and . stuff. when they have to remember the title and the chapter. However in this case, if I did name this chapter, it would have been called "Return to Normality" . ~_~ no I'm not President Wilson.
Yes, the story does sound like the theme is coming from Dogma and yes I have seen that movie and enjoyed it. But my ideas are not really from Dogma, actually my ideas came from the "His Dark Materials" Trilogy by Philip Pullman (that man is like a modern day Tolkien, gotta love him.). I saw a lot of things differently after I read his books, great writer he is..
Coughs up a lung. horribly sick right now and hallucinating too. Most of the time I think I'm floating and seeing blue dragons and orange cows. sorry the story is coming so slowly.
R&R pwwwease!
~~~ ( Three months later)
William's POV
Ever since that night when I woke up drunk and Leng hovering over me, I haven't felt the same. There's this sickness, this empty feeling that eats away at your gut and throbs in your mind. I can tell that I've been more self-destructive lately. Not in a suicidal way, but in a way that hurts all those around me. The feeling claws away at me and makes my temper violent and my tongue caustic. This week I've already made Aoide cry and run to her room in broken sobs three times and I've received annoyed and disapproving looks from Owen twice.
I hate this feeling of desperation that comes out of nowhere and makes me practically immobile. I can't sleep anymore and I find myself indulging excessively in clubs, drinking, drugs and sex. My new darker life hasn't affected my day life yet, I've been popping pills every morning. I know I can't keep up this facade forever, but I still keep doing it. I need to live on the edge, because it feels like every moment counts. I try to cram in as many emotions as I can in an hour and sometimes find myself on the verge of going completely insane.
It's so morbid that every time I space out, I think about dying. I hate the thought of being gone forever, not knowing what's happening next. It's like I wish time could completely stop once I die, that way I won't miss a thing.
I can feel this foreign coldness settling in whenever I'm talking to someone and they bring up things that apparently happened while I was 'out of it'. It's funny, it's like there's this one-month gap in my life that I'll never know or see and I'm hearing people tell me about it. Apparently in that time period I had met Aoide. Maybe that's why I'm so hostile to her now. All of a sudden, I have this super strong girl living with me, I have no idea how we met, whether she can be trusted or why I invited her to stay with me. But I'm stuck with her.
I don't trust anyone now, not even Owen. He's extremely annoyed that I call him Owen now instead of Grandpa. And ever time I say "Owen" I can see him mentally flinch. I feel bad and yet I am elated that I have such power over him. I know, it's sick.
Everything was going pretty well after the first week I woke up, until Jeff went over my schedule.
~~~
William nodded as he took the agenda from his manservant, "Thank you, Jeff."
Everything on the agenda was perfectly normal, except for the meeting with one of the TIME journalists located in L.A. William blinked a few times, wondering if it was just something in his eyes, but when he cleared his eyes and saw that it was still there. He was somewhat disturbed.
"Jeff!"
Jeff returned from his position in the doorway, "Yes sir?"
"Why do I have a meeting with TIME magazine?"
Jeff shrugged, "Perhaps you should ask your secretary."
William nodded and speed dialed Sharon.
Sharon was somewhat groggy when she picked up the phone. He had forgotten that it was already 12 at night and that most people were asleep by now.
"Yes William?"
"How did you know it was me?"
"Only you call me at ungodly hours of the night. What's wrong?"
"I have a meeting with this journalist that I've never met. Stephanie Fieldman?"
"oh. she wrote a derisive article about you and your business practices in Time magazine. You said that you wanted to have a 'talk' with her."
William frowned, "What? When?"
"Oh.. oh no sweetie, it was during that time you had amnesia. I'm sorry."
William's eyes darkened and he scowled as he listened Sharon's pitying tone. "I don't want your sympathy Sharon. I just want the matter explained to me. I want a copy of that article on my desk first thing tomorrow morning and a file on Ms. Fieldman."
"No, William, you know I didn't say that!"
"I don't care, it was in your voice."
William hung up on Sharon before she could reply and stormed up to his room. But that night he couldn't fall asleep and instead he desperately tried scratch at the blinds that were like steel shields blocking his memory. ~~~
The next day I had read the article and went through the files on Stephanie Fieldman. Her records were clean as a slate, but I doubt her tactics were. After reading the article about five times I had finally realized what was bugging me. One of the sections talked about the non-regulation methods that one of LuminaCorp's older power plants used since it was changed into a test site for science experiments. The thing was, that power plant was totally off limits, private property and needed a key to get into. After reviewing most of the tapes, I had finally caught some footage of Ms. Fieldman breaking and entering.
~~~
William smiled as he shook hand with Steve Jacobson, editor for the TIMEs office in L.A. Then both men took a seat at opposite sides of the desk.
"So Mr. Dale, what brings you here?"
William sighed deeply and pulled out a file he had in his suitcase. "I am deeply disturbed by the ethics of some of your employees Mr. Jacobson, especially Ms. Fieldman's. not too long ago she wrote a scalding article about me and my company."
Mr. Jacobson shrugged, "The people have the right to know what is going on, freedom of the press."
William shook his head, "It's not the article that I'm unhappy about, it's the measures that Ms. Fieldman has taken to ensure her article."
William reached into his suitcase and pulled out three tapes. "I have footage of Ms. Fieldman breaking and entering into one of my science labs and going through confidential files. So here, the deal: I can either sue you or you fire Ms. Fieldman."
Steve Jacobson put the tapes into a VCR next to his desk and watched as Ms. Fieldman used acid to eat away at the locks and shove open the door. Jacobson was mute the entire time while watching the tapes, when the tapes were over Jacobson turned to William.
"I am truly sorry, but you must know that Ms. Fieldman is one of out best reporters, I can't just fire such a key person. Let me think this over."
William nodded as he took back the tapes and the file. Then, right before he left William looked around the spacious editor's room.
"You know, this would be the perfect place to set up my office."
Mr. Jacobson's face darkened, "This building is not for sale."
William returned with a challenging smirk, "Everything is for sale Mr. Jacobson, you just have to know what your willing to pay for it."
Then Jacobson paled as he struggled to gulp.
William gave a low laugh as he opened the door and strode complacently out of the editor's office.
The next day, Stephanie found a pink slip lying on her desk. ~~~
I wanted to be nice to everyone, I really did. But every time I spoke, the words were caustic and vindictive. It was like I needed to hurts someone. I needed to hurt everyone because I was so lost.
~~~~
Buffy unhappily sat at the kitchen island as she sipped some cold coffee that she was too lazy to heat up again. Three months ago, they had left L.A. right after Spike disappeared once more. But news from Angel said that Spike. or was it William? was out and about and back to his billionaire self. After hearing the news for the first time, she wanted to rush back to L.A. and bring Spike home. However, in the end, she stayed home. Not because she didn't want him. it was the 'what ifs'. Like, what if he was happy the way he was, being a billionaire and all? What if he hated her forever for the pain that she had caused him? What if he refused to see her? What if. what if. what if.?
In the end, the questions came crashing down around her and she let go of the idea of finding him again. Suddenly the phone rang.
Buffy walked over to the phone hanging on the wall and answered, "Hello?"
"Hi sweetie. It's dad."
Buffy froze, one part of her was jumping for joy that her daddy had finally called them after all those years. The other part screamed in bitterness and hate at his audacity to call her after leaving them to be so miserable and penniless.
"Dad." Buffy answered back, trying to get him to say something first. She really couldn't say that she missed him. Because truthfully, she didn't, he was long gone out of their lives for almost ten years. And yet here he was, out of the blue, on the phone with her.
"Buffy," Hank paused for a second. "I've heard what's been happening with you and Dawn. And I wanted to help out. I know that you don't have enough money to pay for Dawn to finish up her classes in the next two years so I'm offering to pay for the rest of her way through college and get the college money burden off of your back."
Buffy gaped, stunned that her father was finally helping out for a change. but something wasn't right. There had to be strings, she knew her dad too well. "But what's the catch?"
There was a disturbing silence on the other side, but finally Hank answered, "In return, I want Dawn to come down to UCLA and live with me. Sunnydale isn't safe for her and your house is barely suitable to live in."
Buffy gripped onto a wooden spoon and broke it with her fingers, trying to hold the rage inside of her. But she refrained from yelling at him, if she pissed off her dad, she could be throwing away Dawn's only chance to complete her education and get a descent job.
After a while of cooling down, Buffy picked up the phone and spoke to her father again. "I'm going to have to think it over."
"Look Buffy, why don't you and Dawn come down to L.A. for a few days and look at the place I've picked out for Dawn and let her see the UCLA campus. I know some people and I think I can get her transferred over there."
All of Buffy's instincts scream 'NO!!!', but Buffy knew that Dawn's future was more important than her problems with her father.
"Okay."
"Great I'll see you on Friday."
~~~ (Friday, early morning)
"Dawn! Do you have all your stuff?!" Buffy yelled as she saw her father's approaching car.
"Yeah! Be down in a minute!" Dawn answered back.
A few moments later, Dawn carried her large baggage down the stairs.
"Is this going to be enough for one week?" Dawn inquired.
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Look, if you don't have enough clothes, we can buy you stuff in L.A."
Dawn nodded and both sisters headed outside to greet their father.
~~~ (that afternoon)
William talked at Jeff as he skillfully put on his tie, "I have a 4 hour meeting later today with some clients from Korea. So I won't be back for dinner, you have the rest of the night off. Lock the door on your way out. If I need help, I'll call you..."
Jeff nodded as, then he picked up William's jacket and helped him put it on. William meticulously flattened the lapels and dusted off the sleeves.
"How do I look?" William asked, not turning around.
"Very professional sir."
"Good."
~~~
Angel gaped as he saw Buffy walk into his office. "Buffy! What are you doing here? Is there another apocalypse coming?"
Buffy shook her head. "Nah, actually I'm here because of dad."
Angel frowned, he really hated Buffy's dad and what he did to her.
"Why?"
"I don't have enough money and dad offered to pay for Dawn's tuition. but there was a catch, Dawn has to live in L.A. with dad and go to UCLA. I don't want to screw up this opportunity for Dawn, so I'm showing her around and letting her see if she likes it around here."
Angel sighed, "I wish there was something I could do."
Buffy shrugged, "There isn't anything anyone can do. I know that your business has been slow lately with Wolfram and Harte gone.Anyways, I wouldn't have been able to take your money."
"So what are you doing here?"
"Oh, just bored. Wondering if there's anything I can do to help out."
"You can help me file papers?"
Buffy threw her hands in the air. "Sure. Beats sitting around and watch my sister being taken away from me." ~~~ (That night)
William bowed a little as he shook hands with his clients and smiled. It was nice doing business with these men, they knew what they wanted and what he wanted. So the meeting ended fairly early; about 2 hours earlier than he had expected.
William quietly retreated to his office and decided to take a break. ~~~ (Meanwhile in an apartment somewhere in downtown L.A.)
Stephanie angrily huffed as she tossed her old files away into the garbage can and then she began to mutter curses as she saw that the garbage can was too full to take anymore. She angrily stood up and picked up the garbage can and walked out of her apartment to the garbage chute near by.
While she was walking, she was distracted, thinking of horrific ways to torture her editor for firing her. Every good reporters broke a few laws to get a great story, if it weren't for her he wouldn't have been able to get some many 'hot' stories before all the other magazines with such detail and coverage. 'That ungrateful bastard.' Stephanie thought as she opened the garbage chute, 'I am the best reporter in L.A.. if only that damn CEO hadn't turning in those @(&*^ tapes!!!!!!!'
With a forceful shove she dumped the garbage, however in her absentmindedness, she hadn't noticed that the chute's spring was wound up so tight. Suddenly her upper body was caught in the chute and because of her thin figure, she didn't have enough strength to pull out. In that moment, the chute closed in on her stomach and forced her to fall through the pipe and into the large garbage can.
Stephanie threw a tantrum in the garbage can, using colorful curses as she tried to climb out of the quicksand-like masses. But fate had other plans. In that moment Bobby, who lived in room 906 finally decided to throw out his old typewriter since he finally got his new computer from his grandparents for his birthday. The heavy metal typewriter began to accelerate more as gravity pulled it down. The resulting velocity was so great that the typewriter kill Stephanie on impact.
Cont.