Day-to-Day

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

Chapter Seven

She had no time to read more from the well-worn journal during her classes. Her teachers kept hovering around her and she did not dare crack the book. If it were confiscated, then she would finally learn how far she could go. She would kill to keep anyone else from reading it. This was her parents' story—her past, her life. It was private.

Lunchtime finally rolled around and she was relieved. Now, she could return to her reading. She knew that she was under a time crunch to learn the truth. She skipped several pages forward, trying to get to the 'meat' of the relationship. According to the dates, she had skipped almost a year ahead.

He's gone. He's been gone for over a month now.

I worry every day. What if he's been killed? What he is wounded? What if someone's caught him? What if he is being tortured?

If he dies, is it my fault? What if by fighting back all those months ago, I kill him?

I know that I shouldn't worry. He'll come back—he always comes back. He can take care of himself. I just wish he had not left under such harsh circumstances. If he dies, I'll never be able to forgive myself for what I've done.

I should have told him why I was so moody and agitated. I should have told him. He has every right to know. He might die without ever knowing…

"Hey, what's with the book?" questioned Lara, her perhaps only friend, as she slid into a seat beside her in the nosy cafeteria.

"It's nothing," she replied, slamming it. No one could know.

Lara snorted. "Yeah right. Then why'd Wilson catch you reading it during AP? I thought you loved that class…wait, you love all your classes."

"He didn't catch me reading it. If he caught me, I wouldn't be sitting here right now having this moronic conversation."

"Ooh…touchy, are we?"

"It's none of your business."

"Tell me, is it love notes? Have you got a secret admirer?" Lara asked, grabbing hold of the journal.

No, no, Lara could not see it. She might be her friend, but she could not be allowed to read it. This was about her. No one else could take a glance at her parents' private thoughts. Never…

Lara somehow managed to forcefully yank it from her grasp. The journal flapped and photographs and loose pages scattered around the cafeteria. Her eyes grew wide in horror as she tried to gather the papers before someone else saw them. The journal was still in Lara's hands, and Lara was eagerly leafing through it, in search of what was not there. Lara thought it held some juicy secrets about her love life, when it was all about her parents.

Finally, all the loose tidbits were in her hand and she reached for the journal.

"Give it back, bitch!" she hissed, her eyes cold and harsh.

"Who's 'Jackson'? Have you been fucking someone behind my back?"

Lara had missed the dates. She thought that she was one writing the journal, not her dead mother.

"Give it back, before I slit your throat," she warned, her free hand reaching towards her right boot, where she kept a knife for protection.

"What is so special about this journal? Huh? What dirty little secrets are hidden in it that I'm not supposed to know about?" Lara teased her, holding the journal out of her reach.

Gritting her teeth, she tore the knife free of her boot and placed it at her friend's throat. Lara froze; her brown eyes wide in fright. The journal was within her reach now.

"Place it on the table, right now."

Luckily, no one else had noticed the blade in her hand. Everyone was too absorbed in their own mundane problems. This was how her father had gotten away. He had counted on the self-absorption of people and acted on it. He had known how people work and used it to his advantage to get to her mother. She was becoming just as ruthless and careless as him.

Lara's shaky hands placed the journal upon the tabletop. She smirked down at her friend, before replacing the steel blade in her boot. She snatched the journal back and quickly exited the cafeteria, leaving her friend behind in a state of shock.

She made it down a long hall and turned a corner beside a bank of lockers, before collapsing. Her back pressed into the wall and she sunk down to the floor. What had she done?What demon had taken her over in those few moments? The hatred, the coldness, the inability to feel emotions? Where had it all come from?

Her eyes fell upon the loose stack of papers from the journal. On the top was a photograph.

There he was…her father. Jackson Rippner, the man who had shot her life to hell because of his twisted mind. She finally knew what he looked like. Her mother had never described what he looked like in the journal other than his 'haunting blue eyes' and Joe kept his mouth firmly shut about him.

His arm was wrapped around her mother's shoulders and he was smirking at the camera, while her mother laughed; her green eyes sparkling. The smug bastard was the reason that her mother was dead. He had killed her—she knew it. She knew that he was behind it. There was nothing to support her claim so far except what she felt. She had nearly killed her only friend—how hard would it have been for him to kill Lisa? Surely, he was entirely capable of it.

They were eerily similar. She had inherited his icy blue eyes, his dark hair—except the curls had come from her mother—and his personality. He was reason that she was emotionless and frozen upon the inside. He was the reason that she was mentally unstable.

She was just like her father. She was just like Jackson Rippner.

And she hated it more than she loathed him.

Author's Notes:

I originally had this chapter as something else, but it gave too much away too soon. Her name will come to light in the next flash forward and soon we'll learn what happened to Lisa and why she hates Jackson so much. I wanted to keep writing these flash forwards, but I've got to get back to Lisa and Jackson's relationship. So the next chapter will be the oh-so pleasant morning after. Enjoy!