Chapter 13: Do Not Fall In Life
Do not fall in life.
Don't pay attention to the people who claim different. Some lie, and some just don't know any better. They all say they'll be there for you. Some say they'll be there for everyone.
But it's all wrong. All of it.
Look into people's eyes. Some people fail to realize it's there. With others, it's much closer to the surface.
It's in the eyes of the hotel clerk who declines the credit card you forgot you maxed out.
In the eyes of the banker who forecloses on your house because taxes and cheap export labor have made it impossible for you to keep up the payments.
It's in the surgeon who tells you your wife didn't make it.
It's in the eyes of the children who taunt you on the schoolyard and in the eyes of the adults who pat you on the head and tell you to ignore it and it'll all be better.
The discomfort and disgust your misery awakens in them. How their eyes dart about, always, even if just a bit, to look somewhere, anywhere, other then you.
They claim otherwise.
Perhaps those children we saw early would claim different. They seemed close. Friends to the end.
But are they the shining example of the best of us that so many claim…or merely an anomaly?
Think of this. What if a newspaper slandered one of them? What if the newspaper had credible sounding, abet totally wrong facts? What if everyone believed it except the friends of the one? What if the public decided that anyone who was a friend of that one had to be just as bad, and decided, each in their own way, to punish them for it? How long would the friends stand it? How long before their eyes would show the same thing that the public did?
Do not fall in life.
The contradictory nature of this species will doom you. How badly we need, even want, to be with others, yet how so many of us take the chance to destroy different others, and sometimes not even that, when given the chance.
I read something once. Take a perfect, unspoiled planet with no "intelligent" life.
Then put a human on it. That will be the perfect human being.
Put two, and they'll fall in love.
Put three, and they'll reform this marvelous thing we call society.
Put four and they'll form a pyramid.
Put five, and they'll make one an outcast.
Put six, and they'll reinvent prejudice.
Put seven, and they'll reinvent warfare.
Yeah. That sounds right to me.
Do not fall in life.
No one's going to catch you.
No one cares about you when you're damned.
********************
Her name was Karen Kall, once Karen Seth, maiden name Karen Funk. She should not have been a mother.
Really. Sometimes one thinks society would be much better off if there was rigorous screening before someone was allowed to have a child (of course, this brings up the problem of who should DO the screening and all that…but I digress. Let's move on). Mothers are supposed to love and care for their children, no matter what. It's built into their genes. But sometimes there are anomalies.
Karen was a doubly bad choice. She was easily influenced by others, and she had a large amount of anger issues. Also, there must have been a streak of meanness in her. But when her first marriage to Harold had broken up, she had at least cared a bit about her daughter Stacey, even though her irrational hatred for her husband was already in place (and it WAS irrational. Harold may not have been the most exciting man, but he was steady and kind, which is the cornerstone for most marriages. A tip, if I may. Don't marry someone who you don't like as a friend. Because that's what marriages eventually become: lifelong friendships. Marry just for the passion and heat and love and once that's cooled down you're in trouble. And even if you listen to me, people change, so no promises.) To Karen, Harold was to blame for all her problems, and she took great advantage of the feminist bias in the system to hurt him. Harold, to his credit, never responded in kind, but maybe that was because he was so busy working to pay his legal bills and alimony that he just didn't have the energy to. He didn't like his ex very much, but mostly because of what she was doing. She, on the other hand, hated him with a passion. Don't try and apply logic to it. That doesn't work in situations like this.
And then Karen had met Maxwell…
As bad as Karen was, Maxwell was worse. Not only did he feed on Karen's hatred for her ex, which grew to the point where it had literally scarred her face, but he had poisoned Karen's little love for her daughter, turning it into, at best, apathy, and at worst…enjoyment for what Maxwell did. And as for Maxwell, he was cruel to the bone.
As we will see, as Karen exits from the elevator, dragging her daughter in tow. She is greatly pleased: a quirk of fate will give her the legal ammunition she will need to completely cut off Harold's visitation rights. She knows how much he enjoys his time with Stacey, and this will drive a dagger into his heart. And he deserved it, the fucker. At least in her opinion.
And so she drags Stacey into the apartment she has in this building. Not the best location, but if the building was as rotten as the hearts of these two adults, one tap would make it all fall down.
She can't wait to tell Maxwell. But as she finds, he is waiting for them. And from the look on his face, he's stewing about something. In the sick thing that used to be her heart, Karen grins. This will be interesting.
Maxwell Kall is an average sized man with a closely cut dark blonde haircut and large glasses. But to Stacey Kall, he is a giant, and a terrible one at that, as she looks at him and fear blooms in her heart.
"Stacey…" Maxwell begins, calm at first. It's a front, and Stacey knows it. Maxwell is holding a piece of paper in one hand.
His other hand is suddenly lashing out, striking her across the face, causing her to fall with a scream.
**************
Do not fall in life.
For most, the descent is everything they ever wanted to avoid, but to some…in the fall they find everything that they were ever missing in life. And anything else that gets affected be damned, they love it, plunging down and down, grabbing onto others, clawing and pulling them down, loving their pain as it mixes with their descent, thrilled by the plummet.
Do not fall in life.
You might find out you like it.
************
V was in danger of falling himself.
He'd followed the car to this apartment building, and when he'd arrived he'd planned to follow Stacey and that woman who dared call herself her mother, watch them do whatever they had to do to get in, deduce what apartment they lived in, and then come in through the window.
But that plan had quickly turned sour as he saw the condition of the building. Most of the balconies on this building were old, rickety, and rotten. If V found the apartment and landed on the balcony, chances were it would collapse under his feet, and he would be rudely re-introduced to the laws of gravity. And the only windows going into the apartments were the large sliding door kind that opened onto the decrepit balconies, though V figured most of those were permanently locked.
So here he was, hanging off the building as Stacey and her "mom" approached the entrance. He had to move fast. But at the same time, he didn't want to go into the building through the front if he could avoid it…
Except he realized he had no choice. Without a thought, V let go, falling towards the ground. One would think that he had committed suicide, except that with several well-timed grabs on the side of the building, V lands unharmed. Though he still hits the ground with considerable impact. Though by now, you've probably deduced that V isn't exactly human.
He had one more thing to do before he followed. But he'd already scouted it, as he turned towards the wall. On it was a metal covered wire that linked all the phone lines of the building to the main grid.
One violent grab and yank turned off all the telephones in the building.
As V turned to follow, however, it might aggravate him to learn that he shouldn't have worried about the weak balconies. The apartment he needed to go into, its door was open. Even with the dangerously rotten balcony, he could have just swung in…
*******************
Even as the pain exploded through her face, Stacey wondered why her stepfather was mad. She'd seen what he was holding: her report card. But why was he angry? She'd got straight A's. Mainly because if she didn't…he would do what he had just done.
"WHAT'S THIS?" Maxwell roared, pointing at the top of the page. "Stacey S! STACEY S? YOUR NAME IS KALL! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU!"
"I'm sorry…" Stacey whimpered.
"NO YOU'RE NOT! YOU DID THIS ON PURPOSE, YOU DIRTY DISRESPECTFUL GIRL!" Maxwell roared, kicking Stacey in the ribs. Stacey's breath exploded from her lungs even as the pain blasted through her.
Karen just watched, a tiny glow in her eyes. Yes, she has come this far. You think humans can't become things like these? You're wrong. Never think humans have hit rock bottom. They'll pull out a shovel.
"YOU KEEP INSULTING ME, AND YOU HAVE TO BE PUNISHED!" Maxwell snarled as he grabbed his stepdaughter.
And finally, the fear becomes more then the pain. Because Stacey knows what he means by punishment.
The poker.
And the fear of that propels her to break her father's grip and run.
"COME BACK HERE YOU LITTLE BITCH!" Maxwell screams, chasing after Stacey. Stacey, luckily, manages to get to the bathroom and lock the door. Maxwell pounds on it in a frenzy.
"THAT'S IT! YOU'RE REALLY GOING TO GET IT NOW!" Maxwell bellows, smashing at the wood. It's not thick enough to hold Maxwell off for long, even as Stacey cowers behind the toilet and wishes her dad were there. She had never told him about how Maxwell beat her and how her mother allowed it. She didn't want to cause him any more worry…
The lock begins to break.
And at this point, the elevator door opens. And unlike everyone else on this floor, who has learned to block out the noise and not pay attention to it (hey, ain't THEIR problem), V listens. He automatically knows where he must go: the door at the end of the hall.
The bathroom door splinters open.
Stacey screams as Maxwell, sounding far more animal then man, charges in. Despite having nowhere to go, Stacey screams again and tries to run. Maxwell grabs her by her hair and drags her out, rearing back a punch to stop her screaming.
And then the doorbell rings.
The punch turns into a hand clasped over Stacey's mouth, silencing her.
"See who it is and get rid of them! You, make any noise and I'll rip your tongue out, got it?" Maxwell growls, pulling his stepdaughter into the bedroom.
Annoyed, Karen walks to the door to see who it is, peering through the peephole.
All she sees is a figure rapidly filling the peephole as V, having backed up down the hallway after ringing the bell, charges headlong at the door and leaps up.
The door completely breaks off its hinges as V kicks it, falling forward and trapping Karen under it as V rides it down with a thud and a muffled scream.
"Excuse me." V says as he steps off, walking into the room. Maxwell, having heard the noise, throws his stepdaughter on the bed and heads out.
"What THE FUCK…!"
V's fist slammed into his face, making a satisfying cracking noise while shattering his glasses. Maxwell stumbles back, and V rams a fist into his gut, doubling him over before he kicks him in the side of the head, sending him stumbling down the hallway.
"Hello." V said as Maxwell looked up, murder in his eyes. But it could never match the bottomless depths of cold fury reflected back at him in V's gaze.
"YOU FUCKER…!" Maxwell screams, punching.
V grabbed Maxwell's arm, twisted it down, and then slashes his leg out, slamming his foot across Maxwell's face and then back across in a one-two blow, throwing Maxwell back again.
"Not so easy when your victim can actually fight back, eh, you fuck?" V says. "Like to beat up little girls? Like the idea of doing more, you sick fuck? No. No. NO." V hissed.
And then, screaming, Karen leapt on V's back, trying to claw at his eyes. V stumbles around a bit at this sudden, and admittingly unexpected attack, but he recovers quickly, as he throws his hands behind him, seizing Karen, and then pulled her over his shoulders, slamming her into the floor as hard as he could. That floor-shaking blow was enough to convince some of the residents of the building to finally call the police. Unfortunately, they soon discovered their phones were out. And surprisingly, when they tried to use their cell phones, those didn't work either.
Maxwell was back up, and he regretted it as V took a step over and slammed his fist into his gut again. He then grabbed Maxwell's head and drove it into his knee for another satisfying crack.
Stacey, by now, had come out to see what the heck was going on. To say she was surprised when she saw her stepfather go flying past the hallway she was in was an understatement. She ran out, expecting to see her real father.
It wasn't.
"You?" she said, looking at the man who she had dueled earlier. V turned to look. He was about to say something when…
"YOU LITTLE BITCH!" Maxwell roared, lunging for Stacey, blaming her for what had happened, like sadistic little men did when their bullying was punished. Stacy shrieked and backed up, and then V was there, stepping between them. Stacey backed up some more…
And then, with a burst of adrenaline and rage, Maxwell managed to shove V back. V stumbled back and bumped into Stacey, which just accelerated her backwards tread, to the point where she couldn't stop herself, even as V fell down.
Bellowing, Maxwell leapt on V.
And Stacey stumbled through the opening balcony door, hitting the rotten railing with a cracking noise that sounded like thunder to V's ears. The balcony jerked down a few inches, throwing Stacey off balance.
"YOU FUCK-" Maxwell screamed.
The hook from V shattered both Maxwell's cheek and orbital bone and threw him across the entire room, where he bounced off the wall and hit the floor, down. V "kipped up", instinctively looking at his foe.
The scream sent ice through his veins, as the balcony edge Stacey was leaning on to try and regain her balance broke off, sending Stacey plummeting into the open air.
**********
Do not fall in life.
No one's going to catch you.
No one's going to care…
***********
It was one of those moments where everything slows down, as V saw Stacey's body slowly dip forward into open air…
And he was moving, willing the distance between her and him to close, even as she started to fall, even as V threw himself out and slid out onto the balcony, even as she disappeared from V's view, even as V's arm slipped off the broken edge and thrust down, hoping, praying…
…and snagging her ankle.
Stacey stopped with a jerk. Unfortunately, that made the balcony sag another inch. V grit his teeth at the sudden motion. To make it worse, his grip wasn't that great to begin with, and he felt Stacey began to slip.
"AHHHHHHH HELP ME…" Stacey wailed.
"Hold on! Don't move!"
"Don't let GOOOOO!"
"I won't!" V snarled. And he wouldn't. He wouldn't let go even if the balcony broke, and even if it did he'd fall with her and hold her above him, hoping he could act as some kind of a cushion, but he would not, would NOT let this poor girl die…
V's hand slipped a bit more.
Screw it, he had to throw caution to the wind. V tried to press himself up, knowing the pressure might make the balcony break even faster then it was, but he had to…
And then the screaming demon was there, her eyes as wild as any devil's, as Karen appeared over V, screaming and raising a fireplace poker above her head.
She brought it down on V's side. V hissed in pain and tried to yell at her that he was trying to keep her damn DAUGHTER from falling, but one look and he knew it would do nothing. Maxwell's poison and her own flaws and petty hatreds ran too deep for that. She was completely out of control and she didn't give two shits if her daughter fell to her death, she just wanted to hurt V, kill V, as she reared up and whacked him again, the point digging into his thigh muscle, even as the balcony creaked and Stacey slipped more…
"DIE FUCKER! DIE FUCKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Karen was screaming as she hit V again, and again, V trying to ward off the blows, even as he tried to keep Stacey up, but there was just too much…going on…
The poker raised up again.
Do not fall in life…
And then Stacey slipped out of V's grip.
Nobody…cares enough to catch you…
Her scream penetrated to the very core of V's being.
And then V's arm EXTENDED, the hand snapping out, impossibly, and grabbing Stacey's ankle again after it had gone a foot. The thing was, V hadn't moved at all. But his arm had.
It was times like these that made V glad he'd lost the original.
Even as his anger at the whole situation exploded through him, as he reached deep and tapped a power he had sworn never to tap, lest it corrupt him, lest it…
No. Screw that.
An Unworthy was in front of him.
DESTROY.
And with a snarl of deep rage, V's other free hand suddenly glowed black moments before a burst of energy exploded from it, enveloping Karen and throwing her backwards across the room, hitting the wall. The fire poker, the very one her new husband was planning to use on her daughter not five minutes ago, clattered to the ground.
With a grimace, V turned back to Stacey as his arm retracted. Stacey, by now, had thankfully passed out from the fear. Finally getting the proper leverage, V pulled her up and pushed himself off the balcony. Unfortunately for drama fans, there was no following collapse of said balcony a second after V had pulled himself and Stacey off of it.
V took a deep breath and checked on Stacey. She was unconscious but ok. Relief flooded through him.
Then Karen started to get up. V noticed the motion, and the relief was quickly gone. Rage took its place.
This woman was such scum she hadn't cared a whit that her daughter died. She was beyond white trash, beyond sick. She was an utter waste of tissue.
V, spying a blanket on a nearby couch, grabbed it and draped it over Stacey. He then walked over to Karen, picking up the fireplace poker.
"Wha…No…"
V brought the poker down. A scream ran through the room, as V raised it and brought it down again, and again, and again, and again, and again. Blood sprayed on the walls and floor and V, but he didn't care, he just wanted to pay this piece of shit back for every bit of harm she had done, and he did, hitting and hitting and hitting until she no longer resembled a human being.
The poker dripping blood and gore, V finally stopped. He'd turned the room into an abattoir.
And his rage was still going full blast, as his gaze turned to Maxwell, who was starting to stir himself, as V remembered what he read from the man, how he liked hurting Stacey, and what it would eventually progress to, and all the terrible things that Unworthy's thought…
The anger fueled the darkness, as V raised the poker, as the metal began to smoke, and then the blood and chunks of flesh on it literally VAPORIZED off as it suddenly glowed bright red with a heat summoned from god knows where.
"Maxwell…I'm going to fuck you up."
It took a very long time for Maxwell Kall to die.
****************
Roughly twenty minutes later, V stepped into the hallway, cradling Stacey, who was inside the now blood-covered blanket.
The people in the building weren't the brightest sort, and it had taken them a while to get the idea that they had to go somewhere ELSE to call the police, and as a result it had only been about a minute since they had been called when V stepped out.
No one had approached the room, despite the door lying on the floor on the inside of the room. The noises had kept them away. But now that silence reigned, one of them had grown bold enough to open the door and step out.
The sight of V holding the bloody blanket nearly made him turn around and run back in. Somehow, he didn't, as V passed by. However, he was holding the blanket bundle in such a way that the man couldn't see his face clearly.
"What the HELL happened in there?" he said, looking at the bloodstained figure that walked past him.
"Justice." V replied.
Blinking, the man watched V go down the hallway. Strangely, he didn't get a threatening vibe from V. Maybe that was made him step out into the hallway. And it was that certain something that murdered the feline that made him head for the apartment that V had just come out of.
V wasn't looking, but he knew.
"Do yourself a favor. Don't go in there." V said, and walked on.
For a moment, there was silence, as V reached the door for the stairs.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"I told you not to go in there." V said as he stepped through the door.
****************
The officer had just arrived, and since the person that had placed the call was very vague, he wasn't exactly in a state of high alert. Hence, he didn't see V walk out the front door (he was calling in and looking at the radio on his shoulder), and when he looked back V was offering him the blanket.
"Here. Take care of her." V said.
The officer, seeing there was a female head sticking out of the blanket, instinctively took it, laying it down and pulling it back to reveal Stacey, who murmured.
And who also had some bloodstains on her. At this point, the officer realized the blanket was wet with blood as well.
"HEY…!" he yelled, looking back.
V was gone.
*****************
Though he wasn't gone totally, as he watched from a nearby rooftop as more police arrived, then an ambulance, followed by a rainstorm. That last part was the weather, as V stood in it and let the blood wash off of him.
He held out his right hand near the ground, and a small…something crawled onto it. That something was what had produced the jamming signal that had disabled the cell phones. V looked down onto his palm as the thing, which was clearly made of metal, walked to the center. Then the flesh of his palm split open, and when it closed again, by its own accord, the thing was gone.
And so V, as the rain tapered off, retrieved his coat from where he had hidden it, he took one last look as a shabby looking car drove up the battalion of police vehicles on the scene now, and then a second later Harold got out. It didn't take him long to find his daughter.
And for the first time in a long time, V let a slight smile cross his features as Stacey hugged her real father, and her father hugged her back, not knowing or caring about the carnage that had befallen his ex-wife and her new husband. He would be investigated as a suspect of course, but the fact he was working at the time of the murders gave him an airtight alibi and the police could find no evidence he had hired someone to do it.
Of course, that was for later. For now, it was just about his daughter, who he was so glad was unharmed.
"It's all right Stacey…it's all right…" he kept saying.
"Yes, it's all right Stacey…" V said as he vanished into the night. "I caught you."