Day-to-Day

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Red Eye!

Chapter Five

The hatred for her father was profound in her mother's recount of the events that brought them together. How did that hate bloom and prosper into the love that she had heard about? Lisa hardly seemed to be the slut that the other teenagers liked to make her out to be. How then could she have possibly ended up with her father?

"Yo, you wanna—" called some random jock as she passed him in the hallway of the hellhole known as high school.

"Go fuck yourself," was the standard reply. She had no time to deal with these morons. She only attended school because she had to.

Staying up all night to read about the red-eye flight which had caused her parents to meet had done no favors to her naturally cranky attitude. Her temper was shorter than normal and she just wanted the day to end. She had always been a good student—better than her mother, according to Joe, and Lisa had not been a slacker—and Joe's recent death was not a reason to fall apart. Apparently, she took after her father in intellectual abilities as well as mental health.

In the corner of her eye, she saw a hand headed her direction.

"Touch me and die," she warned venomously as she grasped the offending hand and twisted it painfully. A yelp filled her ears with satisfaction before she strode away, her boots clicking on the floor.

Every day she was forced to endure their perverted remarks and whispers. She had grown more violent as time passed and cared less and less about breaking the rules. If someone hurt her or even attempted to; she defended herself. Defense was second nature to her. No one was going to hurt her like her parents had. She blamed them for everything that was wrong in her life. Their messed-up love had ruined her.

She slipped into her favorite back row desk in her first period Advanced Placement European History class. Today's topic was the Russian Revolution, which normally would have interested her. She had a great interest in history and always placed at the top of the class on every paper and exam. The various revolutions, political assassinations and maneuvers intrigued her. But not today.

Once the teacher was settled into his ordinary drone, she opened the journal to where she had left off and began to read. She had yet to come across any entries or memorabilia besides Lisa's flowing script and a few photos of the damage to the house and her injuries. There were no contributions from her father or pictures of him. Oddly enough, she had never once seen a picture of Jackson Rippner.

When I first saw him again, I was determined to kill him. He had done so much to me and I did not want him to get away with it. But then we realized that this was bigger than just the two of us. Jackson and I had to put aside our petty differences and work together to save ourselves from the assassins on our tail.

It was by pure chance and luck that the first attempt on my life occurred when I was in his presence. The attack happened in an elevator—how cliché is that? Jackson was threatening me at first, but he quickly came to my aid and got us both out alive. I tried to run from him when we made it outside, afraid what he might possibly do to me. I only trusted him somewhat and he was still rough around me.

I wanted to keep my life and he showed me that the best way was to stay with him. He saved me when he could have left me to die at their hands. I had two choices: either go with him or risk torture and death at the hands of his former employer's orders.

I chose Jackson. I stood the best chance at life with him…

"Miss Reisert, are you even listening to me?" snapped Mr. Wilson, grabbing her attention from her mother's words.

"No, sir," she answered honestly. It was not in her nature to lie. She was skilled at it, but preferred to use the truth whenever possible. Her grandfather had always hated when she lied. It must have reminded him of the tragedy that was her parents.

"Then why are you even here, if not to listen?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Wilson, sir. My mind must have wandered off. I don't know if you heard, but my grandfather just recently passed away…"

"Yes, I heard, Miss Reisert. You have my condolences. May I continue with class now that your mind is back?"

"Yes, sir," she quietly replied, feigning interest for a few moments while his eyes were on her, before she turned back to the leather journal.

I killed a man to save him. Why, I don't exactly know. I should have left him die, but he had come back for me. Jackson said he loved me—how could I let him die when I was unsure of my own feelings?

I couldn't let Jackson die. I was too weak. After all, he ended up nearly sacrificing himself to save me. He tried to protect me in his own twisted way by sending me into an unknown danger. I know this, but what does it mean? Can I trust him?

Do I…have feelings for him? Is it love or something else?

She was doomed to be a killer. Her father had made a career out of killing people according to her grandfather. Now, now she knew that her mother had been a killer as well. Even if it had only been to save her father, her mother had still become a killer.

They were both killers. And so was she. She was a killer if not yet by deed, but by heritage and homicidal thoughts.

She was clearly Jackson Rippner's daughter. The same cold, calculating cruelty ran in her veins from what she had been told about him. Joe had never looked upon her father favorably. She was a skillful manipulator, who was beyond feeling guilt or remorse for her actions. She had never met him, but from her limited knowledge, she knew that she was slowly becoming just like him.

Daddy's little girl… only she was an assassin in the making.

She was following in the footsteps of the man who was her father only in name and through genetics.

Author's Notes:

I decided the part about AP because I had it first thing this morning and we just studied the Russian Revolution last week. I figured that this story is taking place in the springtime, and she'd be in the twentieth century because the test is the first week of May. Less than a month to go and then I'll have more free time to write! Yes! Hopefully this chapter reveals some more insight into her character. Her name will become known shortly, and as evidence in this chapter, Lisa and Jackson NEVER married. Her last name is Reisert, not Rippner. But she, and everyone else, knows who her father is. There is a lot of rumors about her parents, making them out to be 'bad' people and supposedly Lisa slept around and she was result of a one-night stand with Jackson. That's what everyone thinks and they believe that someone got jealous and lead to Lisa's murder. Just thought I'd clarify a few things. So she naturally has a hard time at school because guys are jerks at this age. Enjoy! Next chapter soon!