Two Weeks Later

V placed down a plate on the birch table, he paused for a moment. Looking across the table at the opposite chair he could see a shadow of Evey sitting there. She looked at him with bold brown eyes as she tasted his cooking for the first time.

"Is this real butter?"

His eyes lowered, locking on the tea cup near his hand. His vision blurred and his shoulder's felt heavy, he slouched slightly. V inhaled sharply then grabbing the tea cup; he placed it next to the plate and finished setting the table for one. The vision of Evey was now gone but the harsh feeling it came with remained.

Evey pushed down on a black button, a large black umbrella opened its self in front of her. She took a step down from the doorway she was standing in and started down the brick sidewalk. The rain was finally falling heavy for once; the normally wet country was having a bad dry spell. But as heavy as the rain was falling it was going to be gone by tomorrow. She walked briskly along, passing by what few people were out in a rushed manor. Off in the distance the haunting sound of a bell ringing called out the current time. It wasn't long before she finally made it home, to her new apartment she found.

Evey jogged up the steps to the apartment's main doorway. She dug out her keys and fingered thru them till the right one was in her grasp. She gripped the umbrella in the other hand and stared at the dimly lit door. She stood frozen in place staring at the peeling paint near the key hole. She could feel it almost curling off the door, the dark green paint flaking off slowly. She took a step back and gasped as her keys fell from her hand.

The sound of the rain hitting her umbrella seemed to roar in her ears, the world was all too much for her to take. She shook her head to shake free of the disturbing feeling. Her breathing was shivering in her throat as she gripped hard on to the umbrella handle. She reached down and lifted her keys from a puddle they fell into. She wiped them off with her coat sleeve before unlocking the front door.

V sat silently in his chair with an empty plate in front of him. He had finished his dinner over ten minutes ago but he remained in the chair. He was staring at the nothing that rested on the plate before him. He looked up across the table and saw a mirror image of himself sitting; he stared at his own face looking back at him. His eyes blackened by the mustard gas and other chemicals that had filled the air that night stared at him and right thru him.

"You know better to doubt yourself." The other V spoke.

V looked away then back at the other him; he looked at his other self suddenly in surprise as the other V was smiling widely at him. Discolored teeth were displayed at him in a wide smile, V felt dizzy for a moment then angry. He stood up suddenly knocking back the chair he was sitting in.

The other V laughed and leaned forward. He rested his elbow on the table, his chin cupped in his hand. "If you slip at all, it'll all fall down. All your ideals you stand for, all that pain you put her thru. Slip and fall and it all goes to waste." The other V laughed once more, "London bridges falling down, falling down."

"Shut up!" V screamed at nothing.

His breath was quick and harsh as now he saw no one there. He grabbed his head and screamed, "DAMN IT!" He pushed the plate off the table; it smashed to bits on the stone floor as he leaned on the table. Tears rolled from his eyes once more, "damn it" he cried fell to his knees then buckled forward. "I know that… I know that…"

"Do you have this in a hard cover?"

Evey looked up from her magazine she was reading and stared at the woman who just spoke at her. Evey sat upright and smiled, "Oh I'm sorry, uh yes, yes we do. Here let me get it for you."

She got off her stool from behind the counter and walked around it. She led the woman down an aisle of books, coming to a stop at one of the many book shelves. She scanned downward till she found what the woman was looking for. She pulled it out and handed it to her. "Here you go" she politely spoke.

"Thank you" the woman kindly replied.

Evey stood up and looked at the round bulge that was the woman's stomach. She smiled softly as they both walked back to the front counter. "So when are you due?"

The woman beamed as her light brown hair shimmered in the fading day light. "Oh, June 21st"

Evey rang up the woman and felt a pang of jealously ache at her. The woman's hair was just like hers, brown with soft curls and soft blond highlights. An image of crying in a titled room as her head was shaved flashed in her mind. She quickly let it slip away as she handed the woman her change back. "I hope you have a beautiful and healthily baby"

The woman beamed back in only a way a expecting mother could, "Thank you, I hope so too."

Evey smiled and they both gave each other a nod along with polite 'good byes'. As the door shut behind the woman Evey looked up at the clock on the wall. Ten more minutes till she had to close. Just enough time for her to finish her article she was reading. She looked back down at a fuzzy picture of V.

Evey read thru the last section of the two page article that was put out on V. She was only sentences away from finishing when the door opened to the store. Evey looked up at the shadow of man standing in the doorway. She couldn't make out who it was with the sun setting right behind him. She narrowed her eyes then gasped when she saw that he was holding something in his hand.