SKETTY24 and HUGHLOVERX D!!! Thanks for the great reviews :D!!! Man, that last chapter was pretty "emotionally-heavy" O.O! Whoa! But I guess that's what happens when you write about someone's impending death. Anyway, I hope you like this next chapter D! This is were the power drill goes "vroom vroom" shudder
Chapter 73: In an attempt to bore the images out
"Stop it, Jason!" Stryker cried out as he remained standing in the doorway. "Stop it!!!" He cried out again, even if he knew that the boy wouldn't be able to hear him. As he looked at his son, he couldn't help but feel both anger and sadness...anger towards Jason for doing this to them, and sadness to see his son like this.
He continued to cry out, asking for him to stop, but no matter how hard he tried, he knew he wouldn't be able to stop him. What was going to happen next was bound to happen, for it already happened. Whatever was going to come out of this event had already come out of it. Stryker felt helpless, for he knew he wouldn't be able to change what he was about to see. For this was the event that decided his fate in life.
Then his eyes widened with fear when he saw Karen crawling towards one of the cabinets in the dining area. He could see the immense pain and suffering that she was feeling through the excruciated look on her face, but she was using all of her strength and remaining sanity to crawl towards the cabinet. William, on the other hand, remained by the wall on the far end of the dining area, still clutching his head as he tried to fight the pain that was going through his mind...the pain that was cutting through his brain, like a sharp, heated knife carving its way through a soft piece of meat. That was how painful it was for him, and he couldn't help but imagine how painful it was for his wife.
Stryker saw Karen struggle to open one of the cabinets in the room. And after she opened it, she staggeringly looked through it, as if she was desperate to find something. Stryker couldn't help but wonder what she was looking for, and William was in so much pain to see what his wife was doing. Then Karen pulled out a power drill.
And in that moment, Stryker felt his heart jump in his chest. What was she going to do with that? Karen struggled to plug the power drill in one of the electric sockets close to her. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she tried, with all of her remaining energy, to plug it in the socket. William's eyes suddenly darted towards Karen when he saw what she just did. Then he suddenly realized what she was about to do.
"Karen!!!" William and Stryker shouted in unison. And in that moment, they were one...the young and old Stryker finally became one and the same person.
Karen's tears flooded her cheeks and her eyes as she pressed on the power drill. She just wanted all the pain to stop. She wanted her suffering to end. She just couldn't take it anymore. She would rather die than go through another second of pain...go through another second of unending death as her son tortured him with visions and feelings of pain and suffering that her body and mind couldn't bear anymore. Then she brought the power drill close to her temple. This was it. This was the end of her story.
"No!!!" Stryker shouted as he ran to her. Then he jumped towards her, and tried to knock the power drill off her hand. But his hand just helplessly went through the power drill since he couldn't touch it. And as he sat there on the floor, right in front of her, staring into her crying eyes and tear-stained face, she bore the power drill in her temple.
And Stryker watched, his eyes opened wide with rage and sadness and shock as he watched his own wife take her own life. He saw her head shaking as she bore the power drill into her brain. He saw her eyes roll to the back of her head as the spinning drill made its way through her skull. He saw the blood oozing and splattering out of the hole that she drilled in her head, and the blood that flowed from her tear ducts, her nostrils and her crimson lips. The lips that he had once kissed countless of times before now looked like a river of blood...a waterfall of red crimson liquid. He saw her, Karen, the love of his life, die in such a horrendous way in front of his very eyes, and he couldn't do anything about it. He couldn't save her. He couldn't stop her.
Then he saw the life drain from her hand. Her index finger let go of the power drill's trigger, then her hand fell limply to her side, still slightly clutching on the blood-covered power drill. Then the power drill slipped from her lifeless hand and fell on the floor right next to her. She was now dead...as dead as the memories the happy memories that they once had together. Her body fell forward on the floor. Her blood-covered eyes were still opened wide, as if she could still see the nightmare that she saw seeing on the second before she died. Her lifeless head hit the floor with a thud, and Stryker swore that he almost heard its hollow sound as it hit the floor. Blood continued to flow from her nose, her eyes and her lips as she lay there, lifeless, unmoving and dead.
And in that moment, as she lay there, dead, Jason's eyes opened wide with shock, as if he couldn't believe what just happened. Then all the pain stopped.
The young William remained frozen beside Karen. His eyes were widened and his extended hand shook as he looked at her bloody, lifeless body. For a few seconds, he just stayed there, on his hands and knees, still trying to reach out to her with his shaking hand. He tried to reach out to her. He was trying to stop her, but he was too slow, he didn't reach her in time. But he could have. He could have stopped her.
But she was dead now. And once death happens, it could never be stopped. Then quick gasps started to escape from his lips as tears started to flow from his eyes down to his cheeks. He couldn't believe that Karen was now dead. He couldn't believe that he'll spend the rest of his life without her. And most of all, he couldn't believe that she died that way. No human being deserved to die in such a terrible way, especially Karen. She didn't deserve to die like that...to take her own life with a power drill to her head.
Then he suddenly pulled his hand back and he cried out loud. He shouted out loud out of so much pain and agony. He cried out loud, with tears streaming down his cheeks, as if he couldn't contain the pain in his body. He cried out loud as if he wanted the entire world to hear his pain. He couldn't believe that she was dead. Why, Karen? Why?!
And after his cry of lament, he looked at her lifeless form. He was on his knees, just a step or two away from her. He was so close and he couldn't stop her. He was so close. Tears continued to flow down his cheeks like faint waterfalls as he looked at the dead form of his beloved wife. His chest and shoulders moved up and down as he sobbed at the sight of it. He couldn't remember when he had cried this hard before. He was never the kind of person who cried at the sight of death, for he was used to seeing death. But seeing Karen dead made him want to cry his life away.
He slowly crawled to her, and then he gently picked up her lifeless form and turned her so that she was looking up at him. He held her close in his arms as he sat there on the floor, with his back against the wall. The blood from her head flowed onto his arms and onto his torso as he cradled her close to him, looking at her lifeless face. He would do anything to have her back in his life again. Anything to hear her lips move and speak his name. The tears from his eyes trickled down her bloodstained face and mixed with some of her blood, diluting its redness with his tears' clear liquid form.
Then he suddenly held her tightly, so close to him, as he screamed out loud and cradled her lifeless form in his arms. He loved her. He loved her more than he'd ever loved anyone in his life. Karen was the life he thought he'd never had, and now she was gone. He promised that he would protect her for eternity, but he failed to stop her when she was about to take her own life. He wasn't even able to tell her how much he truly loved her before she passed away in such an inhumane manner.
And then, his crying stopped. And his eyes were suddenly filled with anger...so much anger for the monster who did this to them. Deep, angry breaths escaped from his lips as he looked at devil who took his wife's life. He continued to hold Karen so close to him as he looked at Jason. He detested him. He hated him. He hated Jason so much. He was the reason why this happened. Jason was the one who killed Karen. It was that mutant monster who took away the one person that he cared for the most.
He gently lay Karen back on the floor and then he stood up and marched towards his son. No...that 'thing' was not his son anymore. Jason was dead. That thing that was standing there with the shocked look in his eyes was a mutant. He was a mutant monster.
Jason's widened eyes continued to look at the form of his dead mother as William marched towards him. William's eyes were filled with so much fury and his hands were clenched into tight fists as he made way towards the mutant boy. He was going to kill that boy. He was going to gut the life out of him. That monster deserved to die in a more horrible way than his wife did. And he was going to torture the life out of him if need be.
He suddenly grabbed Jason by the collar of the boy's shirt and he cried out in anger as he threw him across the room. Jason hit the table and he fell on the floor cringing in pain. Jason couldn't believe that he killed his mother. He didn't want to kill his mother. He originally didn't want to hurt anyone. But he couldn't control his powers. He couldn't control his powers when it mixed with the hate that he felt for his father. And now, it was his father who was making him feel all the pain.
"Dad, no." He whimpered as he crawled on the floor away from William. He seemed to have broken his ankle when his father threw him against the table.
But William looked at the boy angrily, as if he didn't hear what the boy said. He didn't see him as his son anymore... He saw Jason as a 'thing', a 'pest', an 'enemy' that needed to be destroyed. Then he breathed in and marched towards his son again. He wanted to finish him off now. He wanted to destroy the monster before it could cause any more pain. He wanted to make him suffer ten times more than Karen did. As he marched towards him, he quickly pulled out the wedged knife on his shoulder. He had almost forgotten that it was there when he saw Karen die. He wanted to slit the life out of the boy. He wanted to see the 'thing' bathe in its own blood.
So much fear emanated from Jason's eyes as he saw his father walking towards him with a knife in his hands. His father couldn't seem to hear him anymore. The only thing that his father wanted to do know was kill him. He struggled to crawl backwards, away from him, but his sprained ankle couldn't let him move too much.
"Dad...please...I'm sorry...Please dad don't hurt me. I am so sorry." He begged. He could feel his own fear and his own voice choking him as he talked. "I didn't mean to hurt mom. Dad, please...listen to me. I'm your son. I'm your son!" He shouted out loud, in a desperate effort to reach out to his father. He knew that he could use his powers to cripple his father, but he didn't want to use his powers anymore. He didn't want to hurt and kill anyone anymore.
William gripped on the knife harder as he towered over the shivering form of his former son. Then he shook his head from side to side. "You are not my son." He said through gritted teeth. "You're not my son! You're a monster!!!" He shouted. Then he raised the knife over his head, ready to strike down at the thing that lay before him. He was going to stab him and gut him, and make him bleed, and he would never regret any of it.
But before he could strike him down, he gasped and slowly let go off the knife. The knife slipped from his hand and fell on the floor. He looked at the knife on the floor and then he looked at the 'thing' before him. He could have already killed the boy. He could have already struck him down and end the monster's damned life. But he realized that now was not the right time to take the monster's life. Not yet. Yes...he would kill him --- someday, but not now...because as long as the thing was alive, he was still of some use to him. He could still use the mutant for as long as it was still breathing.
Jason felt relieved when he saw his father drop the knife. And for a moment there, he had thought that his father had forgiven him for what he had done. Then he looked up at William and saw the intense fiery anger in his father's blue eyes. It looked like he had thought wrong. His father hadn't forgiven him, and he knew, just by the way that his father was looking at him, that he never would. Jason knew how much his father loved his mother. He knew how much he loved her, and he too, loved her. She was a wonderful woman and he killed her. Until now he couldn't believe that he was the reason that she died. He was a son, who had killed his mother. Perhaps his father was right. Maybe he really was a monster, and he deserved whatever punishment his father was going to bestow upon him. A mutant like him deserved it.
William leaned down and firmly grabbed Jason by the collar of his shirt. Then he pulled him up and held him close to his face. William was a physically strong man. And his strength, combined with his intense anger, allowed him to lift Jason with ease, as if the boy weighed like a feather. He stared intensely into the boy's widened heterochromic eyes. William felt as if he was staring into the eyes of the devil...not because of the boy's differently colored eyes, but because those were the eyes of the thing that had killed his wife. They say that the eyes are a door to one's soul...and as he glared into Jason's eyes, he couldn't find any soul there. He had thrown away the fact that this thing was his son. This thing was nothing more but a mutant to him now. A nameless mutant that he'll use to whatever way he sees fit.
"You're going to pay for what you did." He whispered through gritted teeth as he stared at Jason's face. "Mark my words, you monster. You're going to pay for what you did to Karen. And I'm going to make you suffer. I'm going to make you and your fellow monsters suffer until the day that I finally wipe you all from this earth...because this earth does not need the likes of you." Tears started to trickle down his cheeks as he continued to talk to his son. He could hear his own voice shaking as he talked to him.
Sometimes, he would feel as if Jason was still the boy that he loved. Sometimes, he would remember how happy he was when he first held Jason in his arms. But as soon as he felt that way, he reminded himself of what that monster did to his wife. And when he remembered how Karen died, he hated Jason a million times more than before.
"Do you hear me?" He said through gritted teeth. "Do you hear me?!" He shouted as he shook him. Quick breaths escaped from his lips as he tried to fight the tears that flowed down his cheeks. Never in his life as a father did he imagine that his family would end up like this. "I promise you I'll make you suffer until the day that I kill you with my own two hands! Dammit, I'll kill you!" He said, shaking Jason as he held on to his shirt. "I'll kill you and the other ones like you in this earth!!! I'll kill all of you before you can bring more pain, before you can make more people suffer!" He shouted.
Jason's head jerked back whenever his father shook him. He wanted to say he was sorry. He wanted to fight back and defend himself. But how could he, when he knew that he was the reason why their family ended up covered in their own blood?
"I'll never let anything like this happen again!!! And I don't care if I'll have to bathe in your kind's blood to do it! I'll cleanse this world of the likes of you!!! And I'll sacrifice my entire life if I have to!!! I'll kill all of you if I have to!!!" Stryker's voice filled the entire dining room as he spat those words on Jason's face. Each and every one of his words was firm and strong and loud. And that was because he meant them. He meant those words and he would do anything in his power to turn them into reality. He would do it all, just to make sure that these mutant creatures won't hurt anyone again.
Stryker remained standing in the middle of the dining area as he watched his younger self shout at the thing that he was holding in his hands. Stryker couldn't believe that his life had turned out like this. It was so perfect before...so beautiful, so ideal. It was the kind of life that any man in the world would want to have --- a wonderful wife, a vibrant young son, an exceptionally fulfilling job. It was his dream life. It was everything that he wanted it to be. He had it all. And now, it had come down to this. His wife was dead, his son was dead, and he was dead as well. Everything came crashing down --- like a tall structure whose strong foundations have been by torn by an earthquake.
He couldn't believe that this was how his life with Karen ended. He couldn't believe any of it. How could something so perfect end up like this? He clenched his hand into tight fists as he bowed his head down. But this was the truth. This was what was.
From the corner of his eye he could still see Karen's bloody lifeless form --- laying on the floor in her own blood. The life from her bloodshot eyes was long gone. The beauty on her face was masked by the blood that continued to flow from her temple. He could still hear William's angry words as he poured his anger out on his son. And Stryker, Stryker still couldn't believe what was happening around him. This couldn't be....
Then he closed his eyes tightly and clenched his hands into angry fists. He clenched his fists so tightly, that he could feel his own fingers digging against his palm. If he clenched them any tighter, he swore he would dig through his own palm's skin. He couldn't stand this vision any longer. He wanted to get out of here. He wanted to become deaf so that he wouldn't be able to hear William's angry words any longer. He desired to have his eyes gouged out so that he wouldn't see Karen's bloody form anymore. He wanted this nightmare to end, and he wished that none of it really happened. He wanted to wake up from this vision and find himself lying down beside his wife.
Soon enough, he couldn't hear William's words anymore. He opened his eyes and found himself back in the empty hallway in the mansion. His hands were still tightly clenched and he could still feel the quick breaths that escaped from his lips.
Did that how it really ended? Was that the reason why Karen was now gone, because she was dead? Was the woman who he longed to be with now dead? Was she really gone? And did that mean that he wouldn't be able to be with her anymore, wouldn't be with her ever again, now that he had finally remembered her? Why?!
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