Disclaimer: I do not own Constantine or Hellblazer. I do, however, own Kalysia.
Author's Note: Oddly enough, this piece was inspiredby"Lady In Red" by Chris DeBurg. I do not know why, but, it happened. Therefore, I decided to run with it. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy it!
"John!" Kalysia screamed, as she toted the large bag of groceries up the stairs. The idiotic bag boy at the supermarket decided that using two bags for six cans of tomato paste, a two liter bottle of soda, and two nights worth of dinners was completely unnecessary. As a result, Kalysia was forced to carry the overflowing bag the three and a half blocks back to the apartment. "John!" she called, once more. When she got no response, Kalysia grew angry. "Constantine! You get your ass down here right now and hel – Whoa!" The brown paper bag flew over Kalysia's right shoulder, as she fell backward down the stairs.
It took less than five seconds for her to hit the bottom. The sounds of groceries falling and rolling in all directions filled the stairway, as Kalysia tried to get back to her feet.
"Shit," she muttered, as she watched a whole cantaloupe begin to bounce down the stairs. Standing upright as quickly as she could, Kalysia took off down the stairs, trying her hardest to reach the ever accelerating piece of fruit. She did not reach it until the bottom of the stairs, when it rolled against a wall, and settled back under the bottom step. Kalysia picked the cantaloupe up, turned around, and headed back up the stairs.
As she reached the middle of the staircase, Kalysia heard the unmistakable sound of the apartment door opening. With a sigh of frustration, she looked up, only to see John making his way down the stairs.
"Great timing," Kalysia said, sarcastically, throwing a semi-evil look in John's direction. "Maybe next time you'll get here just in time to see me tumbling to my doom."
John did not respond to her comment. He just breezed past her, not acknowledging her presence until the last possible second. "Get your keys," he ordered, flatly.
Kalysia cocked her head to the side, in confusion. "What for?"
"What the hell do you think?" he replied, coldly, his back still to her. "I just got a call. Time to roll."
"Well, then you're walking," Kalysia replied, calmly, as she headed back up the stairs, bending down to pick up the groceries that had scattered across the stairwell.
Narrowing his eyes, John turned around, and glared at the brunette. "What the fuck does that mean?"
Kalysia sighed. "My car is busted, Constantine," she informed him. "Don't you listen to a single word that I say? This is the fourth time this week that we have had this discussion."
"Well, I can't say it's a first."
Kalysia nodded. "At least you acknowledge that you don't listen."
John smirked. "No, I meant it's not a first that you have failed to perform your duties." He paused, and turned around. Heading back down the stairs, John muttered something, which he was quite sure that Kalysia could not hear.
As she continued to pick up the groceries, Kalysia heard John's footsteps continue down the stairs. However, before said sounds registered to her, she heard him mutter a phrase that she had come accustomed to hearing him say under his breath.
"Once again, you prove to be completely useless."
With a roll of her eyes, Kalysia finished picking up the groceries, lifted the bag into her arms, and began her trek back up the stairs. She should have known better than to expect any help from "The Great John Constantine". His ego was bigger than those of most of the guys that she had dated all throughout high school, and there had been quite a few who thought a little too highly of themselves. Now, she was working for a man with the same egotistical complex. It seemed as if she would never get away from it.
Shoving all thoughts of John aside, Kalysia reached the top of the stairs, and turned the knob of the door. It was difficult to do with her arms filled with groceries, but she managed to open the door, and enter the dimly lit apartment. Kicking the door closed with her foot, Kalysia speed walked into the kitchen, where she dropped the bag of important odds and ends onto the marble counter. Groaning in joy at having her arms relieved of the weight of the bag and the contents therein, Kalysia began unpacking the groceries, and putting them away.
Once she had completed her task, Kalysia made her way into the living room, stopping at the threshold of the room. What she saw did not surprise her in the least. The living room was littered with empty potato chip bags, empty liquor bottles, and various other articles of trash. Apparently, John was living up to his position as a lazy son of a bitch, and had failed to get up to throw anything away. Unfortunately for Kalysia, it was her job to clean up after the man responsible for the mess. It was not as if she believed that he cared, but she had signed up to work for John Constantine. To her, that work included cleaning up the apartment and making John's dinner. Otherwise, the man would leave in filth, and sufficiently starve to death.
How John had survived before he decided to enlist her help was a great mystery. Granted, she was not about to ask questions. After all, she needed what little money he was paying her. She had to pay for college somehow. When she had run into him that first day in the church, Father Morgan had suggested to John that he take her on as his new help. John had seemed somewhat reluctant to take her on, rather very reluctant. However, after several minutes of ongoing debate between the two, John Constantine had crumbled, and Kalysia was hired for a job that she would have dropped to her knees and begged for, had it come down to such a situation. Though she would never admit it, Kalysia knew that she had been more desperate than she could ever remember having been in her entire life.
Now, almost a year later, Kalysia did not regret taking the position. She was able to say that she had a paying job, and that she was saving some money for her education. There was also the aspect of knowing about the supernatural side of the world, but, that was just the icing on the proverbial cake. At the end of the day, Kalysia felt that it was all worth it. At least she was not being a worthless dead beat leech, like the majority of her friends and acquaintances. Kalysia was more or less proud of what she was doing.
However, all thoughts of her pride and dignity vanished, as she bent down to pick up a potato chip bag that she spied underneath the coffee table. Once she moved the bag, she caught sight of a bottle of whiskey, tipped onto its side, the contents spilled out, and onto the carpet. The liquid had since seeped down, through the carpet, and had left a stain that was very noticeable from almost any angle that she looked at it.
"You slob, Constantine," she mumbled to herself, angrily. "You fucking slob." Getting to her feet, Kalysia shook her head, from side to side, and released a heavy sigh. Heading for the kitchen, she planned to grab a wet paper towel, and try as hard as she could to get the brand new whiskey stain out of the already stained carpet.
Sometimes, Kalysia wondered why she ever even bothered.