Disclaimer: You know the deal; I don't own Red Eye or any characters in it. They, sadly, belong to Wes Craven.

Chapter One: Jackson's Demise

" –In other news, the man responsible for the Lux Atlantic Hotel terrorist attack, Jackson Rippner, died early this morning at 3:55am at a local hospital in downtown Miami. Doctors were surprised at his unexpected death, and the cause of death is still unknown–"

Lisa Reisert sat, frozen in time. Her mouth was open, and her hand holding a cracker just inches away from her lips as she stared in shock at the T.V. in front of her. She had been sitting in the break room of the Lux Atlantic, deciding to take a short break and escape the stresses of hotel managing, when she had heard the very surprising news.

Jackson Rippner was dead.

It seemed as if time itself had stopped as Lisa's mind began its downward spiral back to reality. She couldn't hear anything, only the thumping of her own heart thumping in her ears. Yes, she was shocked and surprised that he was dead, but she was even more surprised to find out that she didn't seem excited about the news. She should be doing back flips down the hall; the man that had tried to kill her and her father was dead! For goodness sake, the man had held her hostage and almost forced her to take part in an assassination. So, why did she feel so…sad?

Reaching a shaky hand up to her forehead, crackers forgotten, she gently massaged her temples. She could feel a headache coming on.

Luckily Cynthia chose that very moment to burst into the room, the door slamming hard against the wall with a bang, forcing her to take her mind of the current events.

"Lisa, we need your help," she stressed in a panicked voice, "A man is at the front desk, and he keeps on asking me where his wife is. I don't know what to do! Apparently, he is under the impression that she is here with another man."

"I'll se what I can do," Sighing heavily, Lisa stood up and motioned for Cynthia to lead the way. "Call security, to be on the safe side," she added as an after thought.

They had entered the main hall and Lisa could identify the man in question before Cynthia even pointed him out. He looked older, most likely in his mid 40's. He wore a flannel shirt and dirty jeans that looked two sizes too big. Something told her that this was not going to go over very well.

"Hi. I'm Lisa Reisert, the manager, what seems to be the problem sir?" she asked in what she assumed was her kindest voice.

The man's brows furrowed as he removed his hat from his head and reached up to scratch his balding scalp. "Wha' happened to that there pretty little red head?" he said in an accent that you would normally associate with the deep, deep south.

Lisa grimaced when she saw the man was missing a tooth or four. "She had other business to attend to, so I will be helping you sir."

"Well, ain't that kind of yeh. firs', you can start bah' giv'in me the key to mah wife's room."

"Sir, I'm afraid I can't do that. It is against our policy to give away room keys to anyone other than the person who bought it." Lisa said, he checks starting to burn from the smile that she was forcing on her face.

"But she's mah wife! An' she's a cheatin on me!" he yelled in outrage.

And I can see why she would want to… Lisa thought. "Sir, I'm afraid I can't help you."

She was about to escort the man out the front door, and give him her most sincere apology, but the man took off running to the elevator screaming about his good for nothing wife and that scum bag she was cheating on him with, his boots thumping down the hallway as he ran.

Lisa sighed. It was going to be a very long night.

- - -

- - -

It had, indeed, been a very long night. Lisa was more than ready to head home and take a nice relaxing hot bath before she slept all of her troubles away. Her heels clicked rhythmically on the cement floor as she walked to her car, echoing softly through the empty parking garage. She nervously fingered the can of pepper spray on her key ring as she made her way to her car, glancing over her shoulder every second or so. It had been two years since…that incident, and she still found herself being unable to forget about the past.

Every day it was the same routine. She would walk out to her car, and the paranoia would set it. She recently got a grant to keep a weapon in her car, to protect herself, but the fear was still present. How she wished that she could forget about all of this and go back to the way things used to be.

Lisa approached her car and readied her keys, and then she quickly slipped the keys in and unlocked the door. She finally let out a breath that she didn't realize she had been holding. She had made it another day without anything happening.

As if someone had read her mind, a hand soundlessly shot out and covered her mouth, forcefully yanking her away from her car. Lisa began to struggle and scream against his hand, and tried to reach her hand out for the can of pepper spray that dangled freely from the side of her car.

The man tightened his grip on her, and then she felt the cold metal slide up against her neck and the man positioned his knife at her throat. He leaned into her ear and viciously whispered, "Stop struggling! If you move, I won't hesitate to slit your pretty little throat."

Lisa whimpered, but complied with his demands as he began to drag her further and further away from her car until they were hidden by the dark shadows of the parking garage. Silent tears ran down her face as she tried to hold back her sobs. She had promised herself that this would never happen again. Never again...

A gun shot sounded out, and Lisa closed her eyes and waiting for the pain to set in. She hadn't expected him to pull out his gun, when he already had his knife still on her neck. After several seconds, her captors grip lessened considerably and the knife slipped away from her neck. A dull thud sounded out and a pain filled moan followed.

Opening one eye she glanced around, and opened the other. She slowly turned around, and gasped. Below her, she saw her captor. Her very, very dead captor. The same one who had been alive and ready to kill her just five minutes ago, lay lifeless on the floor below her. She glanced at his back and saw a long knife protruding from his back.

Lisa screamed and stumbled back away from the dead body, only to bump into something hard. That something hard, she noticed, was a person. Whoever she had bumped into her gripped her shoulders roughly and pulled her closer to their body. She whimpered as the strong fingers slowly dug into her skin, and she could feel their breathe on her ear.

"Never again." It whispered.

Lisa pulled herself out of the tight grip and turned around, only to be confronted with the cold blue eyes of Jackson Rippner.

- - - - - -

A/N: Guess who got Red Eye on DVD today? No, not David Bowie. ME!

As you know, I had never watched the movie before. Now that I have, wow. Just wow. This movie was so…wow. I can't even begin to explain just how wow this movie was.

So, you know the deal. If you review, the assassin I have stationed outside your house will leave you alone. (He's really ugly, and he's missing at least seven teeth. Hey, maybe he's the guy from the hotel? Anyways, my point is that you don't want to mess with him, so REVIEW)