Day-to-Day

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

Chapter Twenty-four

The front door crashed open and gun shots filled the air at a steady clip. Three bodies thudded to the floor and Kyra weakly walked over to where her father and mother were. Jackson had yanked Lisa down in confusion and they had rolled behind the safety of the couch. Myra had ducked into the kitchen.

"Myra?" Lisa called out, wondering where her other daughter was. Kyra was standing before her, disgusted and untrusting, but still clinging to life.

"In here!" Myra called, re-entering the room.

"Jack…did you shoot them?" Jackson asked as Lisa helped him stand. His leg was still bleeding from where Lisa had stabbed him while still under the influence of her brainwashing.

"Of course," scoffed Kyra. "What, you thought I'd let them crash the party?"

"We've got to get out of here. They know," Lisa said; her voice worried. She did not want to lose her family again. "Jack, can you help get us out of here?"

"Why should I?"

"I know that this is a lot, but I remember that night, Jackie. I remember you. You were crying. I told you that your daddy would save you. Remember? I kept fighting to get to you. They took me away—against my will. I never wanted to leave…" Lisa whispered, tears in her green eyes.

"You still could've come back at any time. They weren't keeping you hostage. They let you kill people freely. You killed grandpa!" accused Kyra angrily.

"What?" questioned both Jackson and Lisa.

"I saw you! You were hanging around the house when I found him. You killed him! He was too healthy to have a heart attack!"

"No," Lisa whispered hoarsely, shaking her head in disagreement. "No, I couldn't have. I would never have…"

"I saw you!" insisted Kyra.

"Jack, what happened that day?" Jackson asked calmly. He had only heard that Joe had a heart attack. He did not necessarily believe it, but he had no reason to think that Lisa would murder her own father and make it look like a heart attack.

"I came home from school and he was dead. He had the journal in his hand and he was lying in the upstairs hallway. When I went to call for an ambulance, I saw mom hanging around the house. She had something to do with it."

Kyra knew that this was not the mother that had cared for her and risked her life to keep her safe. Whatever Lisa Reisert had suffered had changed her for worse; stripped her of what had once tied Kyra to her. Myra, her sister, seemed clueless as did Jackson. Yet, it was common knowledge that Jackson Rippner was blind when it came to Lisa. Myra had never known their mother from before, and even with Kyra's dim memories, she knew that something was off. This was not the sensitive Lisa from the journal. Nor the feisty one who had captured her father's cold heart.

"L-lisa? Leese, is that you?" Joe questioned when he answered the front door. A blonde-haired woman stood there and she bore a striking resemblance to the daughter he had lost fifteen years earlier.

"No, but it's nice to see you too, Joseph," she replied coldly.

"Who are you?"

"Lara Richardson. I need to see Kyra Reisert—where is she?"

"She's still at school. Why do you need to see her?" Joe was unnerved. He wanted to trust this stranger, yet after what happened to Lisa, he was wary, especially when it concerned his only granddaughter.

"I was sent by her father. Jackson Rippner?"

Joe froze. Jackson had ended all contact with his daughter at least ten years earlier. He had heard a rumor of the younger man's death, but Kyra did not know. Kyra knew nothing about her father or his job. He kept it secret. Jackson had agreed with him about protecting Kyra from the danger that he brought.

"Why would he send you?" Joe wondered. Jackson had always said that if his cover and Kyra's safety was compromised, that he would personally retrieve her.

"Jackson is unable to leave his place. His life is in danger and so is Kyra's. I was the only one nearby he could tell and trust. I promised that I'd bring Kyra to him," Lara lied.

"Kyra doesn't know anything about him. I won't allow her to be exposed to this. Jackson Rippner is mentally ill. He entrusted his daughter to me and told me to keep her safe. Unless Jackson is the one standing here, I'm afraid that Kyra will be staying with me."

A crash sounded near the back door. Joe turned around and walked down the entrance hall. Lara slipped in behind him and quietly eased the front door closed. She quickly rushed up the stairs to the second floor and into Joe's office. She searched the office for a leather-bound journal. She had been ordered to place it with Joe's dead body.

The only way to capture Jackson Rippner was to use his daughter as bait. If she found the journal, she would willingly help them. The journal supposedly held the truth behind his mental illness and other problems and detailed everything that he had done to Lisa Reisert. Reading the journal would ally Kyra Rippner with them.

"Yes!" she whispered in joy, holding the key to a successful mission aloft.

"What are you doing?" Joe Reisert asked from behind her. She froze momentarily and her right hand slipped into her jacket pocket, withdrawing the syringe. She quickly flipped the cap off and spun around.

She injected the air bubble into a vein, causing his eyes to go wide. His death would appear to be a heart attack. Once he was dead, Lara quickly slid his body down the hallway and positioned it and also slipped the book in his hand. Then she exited the Reisert home.

She had murdered her own father. Lisa had killed Joe for no reason except to get to her own daughter so that she could kill Jackson. She had been changed into some kind of bitter killing machine over the past fifteen years.

Kyra had been right—she was just as bad as Jackson and her oldest daughter. She was a murderer. Kyra had good reason not to trust her.

Author's Notes:

One more chapter to go! And at least one more major twist! Maybe more! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. Enjoy!