Thanks once more to all reviewers; replies are below:
CaptainLoneStarUSA: Pfft, you can't let fear of failure hold you back, if you have an idea for a story then you must write it. Risk of flames, quality and whatever be damned. That's my view anyway. In answer to your question, time is kind of all over the place in this story; the last chapter was set a few months after Donnie's demise. Thanks for reviewing.
sYnergY's Duality: The whole film was confusing for all but the unnervingly observant. Even when I watched it five times and scoured through the extras on the DVD it still didn't make sense. YOU DON'T LIKE FRANK?!?! (Faints). Ah well, thanks for reviewing.
Right, now onto the chapter.
Chapter 5: Death's due
He stabbed my mom four times in the chest – Gretchen
She didn't feel any guilt.
Nor did she feel any reluctance, hesitation or anything that would attempt to dissuade her from her semi-divine intervention. All she felt was an unshakable, cold determination to end the life of the piece of shit that had almost killed her mother, and would succeed in roughly two hours, again, if she didn't stop him here.
Frank had showed her what happened before she returned home, only to find it wrecked and her mother nowhere to be seen. Gretchen had watched as her mother opened the door to see the grinning face of her killer. What followed was chaotic, Gretchen didn't really remember most of it, her mind didn't seem to want to. What she did remember however was the audible crack of her mother's neck breaking.
At the time, she hadn't been fit to do anything except cry out in disbelief and throw the occasional, ineffectual punch at Frank, (simply because he was there,) before falling into his arms in a flood of tears. When she had calmed down a few hours later, which to her felt like a decade. She had been happy when Frank had deposited her by the side of the Highway leading to Fairfax, and left her with the simple instruction, 'Kill him.'
Why he'd done this was unclear, not that she especially cared but she decided she had to have something to preoccupy her whilst she waited for her Stepfather's car to arrive. Maybe Frank was doing this out of some twisted sense of kindness and generosity. Maybe he was trying to turn her into some celestial killer; maybe it was his way of saying sorry for killing her.
Unlike Donnie, she didn't really care that Frank had killed her. She guessed that this was because Frank had in fact saved her. The last moments of her life were spent in panic and grief, she was terrified that her mother had fallen victim to a serial killer, and she was living in a world that was about to fade out of all existence. If Frank hadn't have killed her, she would have died anyway. Now she was alive, in two places, Donnie and her were together again, and in a few minutes, her mother would be safe as well. And the world would be rid of one worthless murdering bastard.
The sound of a distant car engine caused Gretchen's head to snap to the side, she noticed two faint lights in the distance, the car they belonged to was too far away for her to see. She tensed her hands and remembered what Frank had taught her.
"Concentrate." She told herself quietly.
"It isn't him."
Gretchen's eyes shot open and she hastily looked around her. Frank was nowhere to be seen but the voice was undoubtedly his. She nodded, to herself more then him and watched the car advance. As it drove past, the driver, a female in her late thirties by the looks of things, cast a surprised glance in her direction. Seeing teenage girls standing by highways in the early hours of the evening was by the looks of things something of a rarity for her. Soon enough however, she returned her attention to the road. Before long the car disappeared from sight.
She was surprised by the lack of cars on the road. Even though it was Halloween and people would probably be home so that later they could wander with their offspring around the town to pester others for treats, or would be home wondering whether they were alright or vandalising somebody's car; she had still expected so see a fair few cars on the road. This would have made her task more difficult, but for some reason, which she was thankful for, the road was all but deserted.
The sound of another car emerged from the distance. Gretchen turned her head around to examine the newcomer and she didn't need Frank to tell her that it was her Stepfather. The car, judging from the shaking headlights, was veering slightly from left to right. The driver it seemed had trouble travelling in a straight line.
He's been drinking Gretchen thought briefly before taking a few steps out of the way, ensuring that she would remain unseen.
A cold smile formed on her face as she closed her eyes and concentrated once again. If Frank had any comments, he kept them to herself, her smile widened as this silence confirmed that her Stepfather was approaching.
At first, nothing happened. You're trying to hard, she told herself come on, remember what Frank told you.
She relaxed as best as she could and tried again. The noise of the car was growing louder; if she failed here then she wasn't sure that she could reach him in time to save her mother, and possibly herself for all she knew.
She pushed down the panic that accompanied this thought as far as it would go and concentrated. She had done this before, during two events that could only be described as practices. Then it had come so easily to her, now, when it mattered, the task seemed next to impossible.
She inhaled deeply, and forced what panic and doubt she could out of her; and then breathed a heavy sigh of relief as she felt the portal open.
A few moments afterwards, the sound of the car changed from the normal low-pitched sound of the engine to a loud screech of the tyres. He'd seen the portal, and he'd felt the shock of seeing something unexpected suddenly appear out of nowhere in front of him. Now he was trying to avoid it.
But he wasn't going to.
Gretchen watched as the car, which was now in an uncontrollable spin, passed off of the highway, through the portal, into a section of the Atlantic Ocean that was hundreds of miles from any stretch of land.
A shout emerged from the other side shortly after the car hit the water. It was a curious fusion of disbelief, panic and outrage. A brutal part of Gretchen that had never before come to the surface wanted to laugh, and did as soon as the idea came to her.
She walked towards the portal and glared through it to see idyllic weather, blue sea as far as she could see, and her Stepfather clambering to the hood of the car that was advancing further and further into the water.
He cast another look at the portal, just as she hoped he would, she wanted him to see who had killed him. He wanted him to see the face of the face of the one whose life he had made a misery for two seemingly unending years.
The look of disbelief on his disbelief on his face was almost as strong as the one he had produced when the portal opened.
And then it was gone.
Gretchen closed closed the portal, after giving a small sadistic wave, and left her Stepfather to drown in the middle of nowhere.
To be continued.
(Gretchen's out of character, I know. Trust me there's a good reason for this).