Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and is reading. Especially to those who have stuck with the story through my times of not-updating. I guess I should do this so,
I don't own Paranoia Agent, or any legal stuffs relating, and this covers my last chapters too.
Please keep reading. The story is almost done. Maybe about five more chapters are left. Please enjoy, and thank you.
Tsukiko groaned and shielded her eyes from the incoming sunlight. She was in her apartment; in her bed. How did she get home? The last thing she remembered…
Tsukiko had broken out in a sweat. She saw a door a few feet ahead and practically slammed into it. Praying there was no lock; Tsukiko turned the handle, and breathed a sigh of relief as it popped open. Behind her, Lil' Slugger was getting closer.
The rain that was falling made it difficult for her to round corners. She didn't even bother to look behind her anymore.
As she came up another street, she saw a pair of lights racing towards her. The driver didn't even seem to notice her, and kept going, despite the fact that Tsukiko was directly in front of her.
Tsukiko made a last minute leap as the car crashed into a telephone pole. She lifted her head and looked behind her as smoke rose from the scene of the accident. Tsukiko's vision blurred, and she blacked out.
Damn, that sunlight was getting annoying. Thankfully, no pink dog was blocking it from hitting her eyes this time. Speaking of which, where was the dog? Shouldn't he be following her everywhere?
As Tsukiko stood up, she noticed her bag was lying in the middle of her room. It should be in the closet, shouldn't it? Tsukiko picked up the bag, and immediately noticed it seemed heavier.
"What?" she asked herself. Tsukiko stared at the bag. Aside from it seeming heavier, it made a strange clank when she picked it up. What was inside it? All she remembered putting in was character sketches. She raised the hand not holding the bag, and slowly lowered it towards the bag.
Crash
Tsukiko's attention was immediately brought to the window as she searched for the source of the loud noise she had just heard. What she saw made the bag drop along with her jaw.
A man, who looked like he was in his mid-thirties, was falling out a third-story window, screaming as he went.
Tsukiko tore her attention away from the window and ran through her house towards the phone. Her head pounded as she ran, and she was winded by the time she reached the phone.
Tsukiko started punching in the numbers. Halfway through, her head pounded harder. It really heart now. And was it just her, or was her stomach hurting? She dropped the phone and sat down on the couch. Maybe what she just saw was making her sick. Now her vision was blurry. It definitely made her sick.
Giving in to her illness, she fell to her side, and closed her eyes.
Janyce sat on her perfectly placed and clean couch. A magazine that had just a little while ago been placed on the perfectly matched coffee table in front of her was now in her hands. Nothing was very interesting. She was just reading it to pass time while the roast cooked, and to get her mind off of what had just happened a half-hour ago.
Janyce was careful to avoid looking out her window all afternoon long. She didn't want to be a peeping tom. It was the off-chance that she gave in to her urge to look when she saw it. The woman across the street was now dangling dangerously out her window. This woman was trying to kill herself!
Janyce didn't look twice this time when she picked up the phone and dialed the three digits
The magazine page she was on would have proved that Janyce wasn't really reading it. It was a two page advertisement.
"Look at this picture," and the magazine would show the picture of a very unattractive women. "Now look at this picture!" The magazine would then show a women who looked nothing like the previous one. "All from our face cream! Try Crème De Complete Perfection today!"
COMPLETE PERFECTION
Janyce dropped the magazine (which landed gracefully on the coffee table) and walked over to the small division of the room that was designated for a kitchen. She began pealing potatoes around the same time that her husband walked in.
"Hello honey!" he said, kissing her on the forehead. When she didn't give her routine, and perfect, response of "Hello back! How was your day?", his face scrunched up into one of confusion.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I saw a woman across the street trying to kill herself, today," said Janyce. Her husband immediately frowned.
"Now what could bring a person to want to do something like that?" asked her husband.
"I just don't know," responded Janyce. "Life is just too great to want to stop,"
"Did you do something to get her help?" inquired the husband, and waited for his wife to say 'Of course' before his face went back to the normal expression it carried. "That's good. Maybe now she'll get better."
"Thanks for talking with me, honey!" said Janyce. She smiled, and then sniffed the air. "I think dinner is almost done. Why don't you grab a seat at the table while I finish up the potatoes and noodles!"
"Your great dear!" he said, and then took a seat. Janyce's smile grew, and she finished preparing the dinner.
After the meal was finished, and dirty plates were all that remained on the table, Janyce's husband yawned.
"Hey honey?" said the man who still sat at the table while Janyce began to clean up.
"Yes, dear?" responded Janyce, washing off plates.
"I need to get to work, do you mind if I can't help you cleaning up?"
"Not at all dear!" said Janyce. "If you were given work to take home, then you just focus on that! I'll make you some tea."
"No," began her husband. "You just relax, and read that book that you have been,"
"Well, if you're sure," said Janyce in a happy manor, while he walked into the office that was just down the hall.
He closed the door behind him before shaking the computer out of sleep-mode. Immediately, a list of contacts came up. Only one was on at this time. He sat down at his computer chair, and changed his contact status from away to online. He began the conversation with the sole person who was still online.
SXY4john: Hey, u finally back on?
perfctbsyJ: Yah, been a while.
SXY4john: I've been counting the seconds.
perfectbsyJ: lol. Whats new?
SXY4john: Oh, nothing much.
The conversation continued to flash on Janyce's husband's computer screen, and reflect in his eyes. In the back of his mind, he knew talking to this woman wasn't right, but it wasn't until one line was entered that he felt nervous.
SXY4john: I think we should meet in real life.
perfectbsyJ: …
SXY4john: On Wednesday, right after your work, in front of the water fountain. You know which one. See you then.
She signed off, leaving Janyce's husband to stare at a blue screen.
Janyce woke up on the perfect Tuesday morning, and stretched. Her husband was at work already. She'd slept in. It was already noon. After bathing and eating a small breakfast, she decided to go for a walk. It was such a perfect day, after all.
The sun was warm on her pale skin as she made her way through the crowded street. Crowds were not perfect. There were just so many people. Maybe some ice cream would bring back the greatness of the day. She had just rounded a corner, and an ice cream shop had come into view.
"Cherry, please!" smiled Janyce when it was finally her turn to place an order. The clerk behind the counter didn't even look up from blending someone else a smoothie.
"We don't stock cherry anymore," he said, moving the cup up and down with the blending mechanism.
"That's not perfect," she muttered, left eye twitching just a tad.
"Life's not perfect," growled the clerk. Janyce's face scrunched up into one that made her look evil.
"Maybe not for a minimum wage high-school failure, like you," Janyce ground her teeth for about two seconds, before realizing what she'd said. She clapped her hand over her mouth, and looked around the shop. People were staring at her, and the ice-cream clerk just stared with his mouth hanging open.
Janyce ran out of the shop and down the street she'd taken to get there. She kept one hand on her mouth as the other sort of hung by her side. Her light-green yarn, button-up coat flapped over the cotton t-shirt she was wearing. Then she was falling, then there was pain, and the warm blood.
Janyce rolled over to see what had made her fall, and she saw a homeless man sleeping against the wall of a building.
"Why is today…" she paused for a second before her pupils narrowed. "not perfect!"
After she stood up, she didn't stop running until she reached her apartment.
Janyce's husband walked in the front door an hour late. Dinner was already sitting on the table, and had grown cold. That aside, he didn't even greet her when he walked in, and he smelt like alcohol.
"What is wrong?" asked Janyce, spacing the words.
"Nothing," groaned her husband, holding a briefcase that had papers spewing out of the sides. "I just wanted a drink after work."
"Since when?" asked Janyce. She was worried now. Okay, so the rest of the world is having a not-so-perfect day, but her husband coming home with alcohol in his system?
"Just leave me alone," he growled, and went into his office. Janyce laughed to herself a little.
"So he had a bad day," she said, her voice shaking. "Everyone has one once in a while. It doesn't mean he's not perfect anymore. I'll just go into the bedroom, he'll come in later and apologize, and then we can sleep,"
Janyce slept alone that night.
The time had finally come. It was just after his shift, and he was standing in front of the water fountain of his work. She would be here any minute now, and Janyce's husband couldn't have been more nervous. He felt like he was betraying Janyce.
He wanted to leave, but a stronger part of him was keeping him there, wanting to see if his internet buddy was a looker or not. He was hoping for not.
He would be so lucky.
She came out of the shadows just to his left, wearing a tight dress with no straps. Her jet-black hair was ties into a messy ponytail. She had diamond earrings, and a face that looked like would have passed even Janyce's standards of perfection. Her high-heels made a clacking noise as she walked.
"Hey there," she said, only when she was right next to him. The woman pressed her body against his. "How's it going, John?" she asked, whispering into his ear.
"Hello…" he stammered. Damn. He couldn't back off. She was way too good looking. Her eyes an enchanting yellow, her lipstick deep red, who could have backed away from her?
"Tell me a little more about where you wanna go, tonight," she kissed him on the lips.
Janyce's husband backed up a few paces. "Where are you going," started the woman.
"I…" he began, before turning to face the bushes. The woman walked towards him.
"Hey," began the woman. Her seductive tone had been replaced by a soothing one. "If you want to take things slow, then that's fine by me,"
John nodded, and went to the best diner her could afford with the woman before saying goodnight and finding a hotel to spend the rest of the night.
Morning. It was morning and her husband hadn't returned. Janyce's mind had spiraled into confusion. Where was he? Why was her perfect dinner from the night before ruined? Why didn't he keep being perfect?
A click. The front door opened, and her husband walked into the room of the house, expression grim.
"Hello, honey!" shouted Janyce. Everything would be perfect. Her husband sat down on the couch across from her. "How was your night?"
"Do yourself a favor, shake my computer out of sleep mode, and read the last few conversations,"
"Right away, honey!" exclaimed Janyce. Now he would show her a surprise of some sort, and everything would be perfect. Nothing would change.
She continued these thoughts until she reached the computer room. Janyce walked over to the mouse, and shook it. Immediately, several conversations popped up. Her wide smile slowly faded.
Hey there
Her smile was still vaguely present, though not aware to Janyce.
Been a while.
Wanna do something?
Janyce's right eye narrowed.
Oh yah.
Good idea.
Janyce's breathing shortened, and came in quick gasps.
Hello again.
I think we should meet.
The messages were flashing by too quickly for Janyce to focus on them anymore. There were so many. So many times he hadn't been perfect. So many… so many…
"No," she whispered when she found the last message, as her hand tightened around a snow globe that she'd given him for Christmas.
On Wednesday
Janyce's husband sat with his head in his hands. It was when he heard Janyce coming out of the computer room that he looked up. Her head was down, and she seemed to be holding something.
"Janyce?" asked her husband as he stood up and walked towards her. She stopped in front of the couch, so he didn't have to go far. "Honey, we can work this out," he said.
"It's not…" Janyce's husband stared at her.
"It's not, what, honey?" he began, before she lifted her head and the same expression as the one she had in the ice cream shop was on her face.
"IT'S NOT PERFECT!" her screech had partially deafened him, but the pain in his ears quickly subsided as a greater pain took over. He stumbled around for a second, and then fell back. It was a good thing the thin glass window broke his fall.
Wow, if that window hadn't been there, he might have fallen on the carpet! It was a good thing that glass had been made. Now he could just push himself up and bandage his head. Speaking of which, blood seemed to be rising above his head. That didn't make sense, gravity makes things go down!
It was cold. A gentle draft had to be coming from somewhere. Maybe he had cracked the glass window when he bumped into it. Wow his head hurt. Oh? Now the woman from the night before was standing next to him. Both she and Janyce were offering a hand for him to grab on to, to help him get his bearings. Wait, why couldn't he stand up?
Maybe he was loosing too much blood. There seemed to be a lot of it above his head. He'd have to ask Janyce why that was happening. Oh, Janyce! She'd have to clean up the stain he was going to leave!
A noise was filling his ears. A loud noise that he didn't like. Hmm, what was it? Was it…it was! He was screaming! He was screaming? It didn't make sense. But nothing at this moment did.
All of this went on in his head in about three seconds, because his body hit the pavement of the sidewalk in about that time. Right next to him, a glass snow globe crashed open, the liquid spilling out.
Now two liquids were on the pavement, only one had sparkles in it, and the phrase "You are my perfection,"
Janyce stared as her husband fell over thirty feet to his death. A small blood spatter was on the carpet from where she had hit him in the head with a snow globe.
"He wasn't…" Janyce turned around in mid-sentence due to the sound of her front door crashing in. An average height kid with a crooked baseball bat gently glided towards her. The last word she said before the metal club was brought down was the one she needed to complete her sentence. "…perfect."
Tsukiko awoke several hours later. The sun was setting, and her stomach ache seemed to have subsided. The thought of that man threatened to bring it back, so she thought for a minute.
She decided to get a soda. She was thirsty. On her way to the fridge, Tsukiko notice her answering machine. Three new messages? Her finger pushed the play button.
"Miss Tsukiko, you somehow got out of confinement. For your own health it is highly advised that you return and-"
Tsukiko pushed the delete button three times. They were still after her! Without putting thought into it, Tsukiko had a very quick shower. Afterwards, she dressed in her work uniform, and grabbed a suitcase with a few cloths packed into it. She grabbed her wallet, and bag from her closet.
Tsukiko had decided it was time for her to leave the city. Lil' Slugger was back here, and those people were after her. Unfortunately, the only way she had out was bus.
Tsukiko waited in silence at the bus stop. Her hair and suit were blowing to the left from the wind. She had to leave. She had to get out of town for her own good. The last bus of the day was coming down the road.
As it stopped in front of her, preparing to whisk her away to the train station, she stood halfway in the doorway. Good bye Little Slugger. Good bye hapless victims of the city, and hopefully, goodbye to this nightmare, forever. Tsukiko Sagi boarded the bus, and watched her apartment fade away from view as she moved on to what she hoped would be a new chapter.
Okay, this is about four to five chapters away from the end, and I hope you enjoyed it. Please review, and special thanks to all those who have reviewed recently.