Surprising Life: Tragedy

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans

A car zoomed past the street of houses, scaring little children playing on the pavement. A man with brown hair and green eyes was behind the wheel. His vision was blurred by dark hatred and on the seat next to him were multiple cans of beer and a letter, explaining how he had not been working to his 'full standard at work' which now made him redundant. The company had given him another two weeks of work, to let him try and find another job, but as soon as he'd read the letter, he'd lashed out onto his boss and had to be led out of the building by two security guards. He pulled up outside a small house, located at the end of the street. He staggered out of the car and entered the dark and dim house.

"Jennifer?" he slurred, waiting for his daughter to come out with a beer for him. Sure, it never happened, but he could always dream.

"Jennifer?" he asked, a bit more louder now. He walked over to the bottom of the stairs, not sure if he could be bothered climbing up the stairs just to see his daughter. In the end, he decided to walk up them, wanting to see if she was there. After all, he was a lot angrier today and she was the only one he could take his anger out on. He looked into his room first; no-one. He opened the door to the bathroom; still no-one. Finally, he opened the door to her room, expecting something, but there was nothing; no sound, no movement; no life. He looked at the table situated next to her bed and a leaflet caught his eye.

'Celebrate Independence Day at the Jump City traditional fireworks! 8:30pm - 10pm!'

He screwed the paper into a ball and threw it as hard as he could at her window. He marched to his room and rummaged into his drawers, furiously. Calmly, he stopped and pulled something sinister out from beneath his possesions. He stroked the cold hard metal of the weapon and loaded it up with small bullets.Carefully, he took off the safety trigger and put it inbetween his belt and trousers. Tonight's going to be the night, he thought. The night when I get rid of her forever...

After the first half hour, people had already started leaving the beach and Wally and Jennifer had dubbed it safe to go down there and watch. It was now 9:30pm and Jennifer was starting to get bored. Wally was reading through her little pink notebook, smiling every so often at the poems. Suddenly, she thought of a wonderful idea and began stipping off her blue top.

"What are you doing?" asked Wally, trying hard not to let Jennifer know that he was enjoying watching her. She flicked off her flip flops and began sliding off Wally's t-shirt.

"We're going to go paddling," she exclaimed, pulling off Wally's t-shirt, like a mother would do to a young child. Although he was amazed at just how much authority Jennifer had, he co-operated fully and followed Jennifer to the sea. The cold water tickled their feet and Jennifer squealed at the contradicting feelings. She watched as Wally began swimming, shorts still on and only his head bobbing above the water.

"Come on!" he shouted, gesturing for her to come.

"But it's so cold!" she shouted back, shivering slightly. Suddenly, he disappeared from view and Jennifer panicked. What had happened? Had he drowned? Had he been attacked? Furiously, she looked for any sign of his red hair, but there was nothing there. At once, she felt a tug on her leg and before she knew it, she was underwater. As quickly as she could, she paddled up to the surface, breathing so hard, you would have thought she had been underwater for two hours, not two seconds.. Next to her was Wally, laughing his head off. Jennifer pouted and swam nearer to him. She punched him on the arm and he stopped laughing.

"What was that for?!" he asked her, his red hair dangling in front of his clear, blue eyes. Even though Jennifer was angry at him, she couldn't help noticing just how sexy he looked...

"First, you just disappear from view, making me think you drowned or something! Then, you pull me underwater without any notice whatsoever! And now, I'm even colder than before!" she responded, her eyes closed in frustration.

"Then, how come you're not shivering like before?" asked Wally, raising an eyebrow. She opened her eyes and noticed that actually, she really wasn't shivering. She blushed at her own ignorance and felt Wally's arm cuddle up to her.

"Sorry, hunny," she whispered, her head resting on his warm chest, his heart beating in rhythm, as if trying to put her to sleep.

"No problem, Jen. Everyone makes mistakes," he replied, kissing her on the head.

"Now, why don't we start heading back home?" he asked her, looking at her wonderful, jewel eyes. She nodded and started swimming back to shore. However, she was stopped when she felt something untie from her neck. She gasped and looked behind her. There stood Wally, looking extremely mischievous, his hand holding a strap of her bikini top. She was just about to grab it, when she felt the top starting to fall. She tried to catch it in her hands, but it was too late; it was off and she needed to get it back. Her hands instantly went for her chest and she saw Wally smirking.

"What are you smirking at? Technically, you haven't seen them yet..." she remarked, ducking even lower into the water so that she was concealing them.

"Well, what can I do to see them?" he asked her, flirtatiously.

"Get my top, for a start," she replied back, pointing to the purple floating bikini. He grabbed for it and swiftly returned it to her.

"OK, now turn around 3 times with your eyes closed and then get me some seaweed," she said. Obdiently, he turned around three times and swam over to the nearest piece of seaweed he could see.

"What now?" he asked her, still feeling hopeful.

"Well, I think it's time for the grand revealing," she announced, slowly getting up. Wally watched in awe, like any other teenage boy would do, but he was crushed when he saw the sight in front of him; Jennifer, fully clothed.

"What?!" he asked, mouth still open.

"Let's just say that while you were spinning, it was the best time for me to put it back on..." she remarked, winking at her boyfriend and swimming back. Looks like females will always be smarter...

"That was a horrible trick you played on me!" he complained again, walking alongside Jennifer.

"Well, you shouldn't have done it in the first place!" she replied, still smiling at her intuition and quick thinking. Finally, they reached Jennifer's front door, oblivious to the man inside, armed with a dreadful weapon.

"You coming over tomorrow as well?" he asked her, holding his girlfriend in his arms. She smiled and nuzzled his nose.

"I'll always come when you invite," she replied, kissing him on the lips and hugging him hard.

"Love you," he whispered, putting a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Love you too," she replied, waving at him and closing the door behind her slowly. She turned on the lights and jumped at the sight in front of her.

"Dad?"

Wally hummed to himself, wallowing in the warm, summer air. He put his hands into his pockets, but brought them out again when he felt something unfamiliar in them. He pulled out a faded pink notebook and smiled at the name written on it; Jennifer. He turned around, walking the opposite way from his house and started humming a tune to himself. He'd only been walking for aout 2 minutes, so he could quickly see the house, but as he was approaching it, a strange feeling bubbled in him. Something wasn't right and he knew it. He started to run; he was only about two streets away from her house. Being a jock, he reached the front of the house in about a minute. He walked up to the front door and was about to knock when he heard sounds. Bad sounds. A crash; something breaking; a shout.

"Jennifer?" he asked, knocking on the door. He waited, patiently for his love to greet him with her small and beautiful face, but it never did.

"Jennifer?!" he shouted, more worry in his voice. He tried again, but still got no answer. Slowly, he slinked into the garden through the side gate and propped himself onto a bin. He bobbed his head just above the windowsill, watching everything, but still hidden.

"Where did you go?!" screamed the figure, towering above her. She huddled into a ball, trying to protect herself, but she never could. She never won. He was sitting on the sofa when she came back, blending into the shadows that darkened the living room. As soon as she'd entered, he'd pounced onto her, asking her where she'd been, who she'd been with and why'd she left. Obviously, she never got to answer them as her dad had pushed her onto the wall, pinning her down by the shoulders. He'd got out his penknife, the blade shining eerily in the very little light that shone through the curtains. He hadn't used it in a while and she'd flinched at the pain that it caused when he slit her cheek, not enough to kill her, but enough to cause pain. After that, she'd been slapped on the same cheek, making her cry out. He dropped her onto the floor, where she was lying by the sofa. That was where she was now, the cold leather of the sofa seeping through her off-the-shoulder t-shirt and the sound of her dad's voice ringing in her ears.

"Are you going to answer?!" he screamed, his spit landing on her face. She looked away, not wanting to gaze at her father's deep, hateful eyes. She screamed as she felt something touch her on the leg . She looked back at her father, an evil smile plastered on his face and a bloody penknife in his hand. She peered down and looked at her bleeding leg, a wound stretching from the bottom of her leg to just above her ankle. She tried to grab something to stop the bleeding, but it was no use. Even if she stopped the bleeding, she couldn't stop the person causing them. She crawled underneath his legs, trying to escape, but he grabbed her foot and she screamed as she was pulled backwards, so that she was face to face with her dictator.

"And where do you think you're going, princess?" he hissed, making Jennifer start to cry. Why is he so angry today? Why does he have to ruin today? Just then, she was flung onto the sofa, like a ragdoll being dragged around by little girls called pain and fear. She winced as she landed on her leg, the blood still flowing. Tears welled up in her eyes as she felt the familiar pain of the belt, whipping onto her cold torso, leaving scars that cried blood. She glanced over at the window overlooking the garden and her eyes widened. There sat Wally, discreetly hidden, but still seen by Jennifer. She looked at him, his eyes filled with surprise, guilt, horror and love. As the belt hit her skin hard, she screamed as quietly as she could, still producing a death-curdling scream.

"Why?" she whispered to herself, closing her eyes to force the tears back into her brutally bruised body.

"Why?" he asked himself, watching as his girlfriend took the beatings, bravely keeping her cheeks dry. He needed to stop it, but how?

"You're unarmed, a boy of just 17 years. He's got a penknife and a belt. He could kill you. You have no need to get involved," said his conscience.

"But you do have a reason. She's your girlfriend," replied his heart and at this statement, his fear disappeared and he started making his way towards the back door that led into the kitchen. He dialled '911' into his cellphone and called the police and ambulance services, making sure he had back-up in case it all went wrong. Then slowly, he opened the door discreetly, creeping into the kitchen, where he picked up a chopping board, not to heavy, but if used to hit someone over the head, would definetly knock them out. He tiptoed to the door, just out of sight, but listening to the fight that was taking place in the other room. He listened as the sound of belt hitting skin echoed; he listened at the heavy breathing of the brutaller; he listened at the whimpering of his love, the amount of pain present in each one. He couldn't help, but feel a tear trickle down his cheek.

"Stop," she quietly pleaded, the wound on her leg staining the white sofa she was lying on and her throat hoarse from holding back huge amounts of tears. Her cry for help was ignored and she received a hard blow on the back, the studs digging into the soft flesh and stinging as they were exposed to the air. Suddenly, the lashings stopped and for a bried moment, she thought the punishment was over, but it was the exact opposite. He took out his penknife again, wiping the blood from previous encounters on his white shirt. He dragged it over her torso again, bringing very little or no blood, but lots of pain. She crumpled her face at the feeling; uncomfortable and deadly. Little cuts were running up from her stomach, towards her chest and droplets of red poison dribbled down her pale skin. From nowhere, he grabbed her arm and slit it, causing very slow blood loss. She cupped the wound in her hands, the blood colouring her already bloody hands.

"Had enough?" he asked her, pulling her face right next to his. She nodded and made a little noise, knowing that either answer, it wasn't over. She fell of the sofa, landing onto the hard floor. Pain shocked every part of her body as her so called 'father' stepped onto her leg, multiplying the feeling of discomfort and pain by a hundred. She looked over at the window expecting to see Wally, still watching from a safe distance, but he was gone. A tear trickled down her cheek, as she thought about what would happen if she was lost that night, if she could never see Wally's face again.

"Love unfailing, keep him safe"

He continued to spectate, not sure when would be the best time to step in. He looked at the clock; 10:48pm. Where were the police? Where were the ambulance? Where's her hero? asked his heart, making Wally stop thinking. Her hero; so much for being a hero. There he was standing there, watching, but not helping, not wanting to hurt her, but prolonging it. He picked up the chopping board again, edging closer and closer to the doorway, peeking his head round to see the action that was happening.

The penknife was put away and she sighed. He only has two weapons, so it must be over, she thought, relaxing a bit, but pure fear pumped into her body when she saw what was situated in her father's hands. A cold, long weapon lay comfortable in his hands, like a baby lying on pure cotton blankets. She heard the click of the gun, knowing full well that all he had to do now was pull the trigger to get rid of her.

"So long, burden," he whispered.

Wally run forward, keeping an eye on the dangerous weapon that was being pointed at Jennifer. He ran and whacked Jennifer's dad over the head, knocking him out cold. The gun propelled to the other end of the room, lying as far away as possible from the abuser. Wally smiled; he'd saved Jennifer.

"Jennifer, are you al..." He didn't finish because in the middle of the floor, lay Jennifer, motionless. He rushed over to her, covering the bullet hole in her chest.

"Jennifer..." he whispered, tears running down his cheeks. Her pink eyes were half-closed, her body warm, but doll-like, almost dead. He pulled her into his chest, tears falling even faster down his cheeks.

"Wally..." she whispered, trying to lift her hand to touch his sweet face, but failing. She heard Wally whimper, felt his warm touch on her wounds, his tears falling softly onto her scarred face.

"My love..." he commented, trying to pull her even closer to him without actually hurting her.

"Love unfailing, brought you here, you really love me, don't cause any tears," she quoted, as Wally lifted her chin. He placed a soft, delicate kiss onto her cold lips, taking away her last breath. She fell limp in his arms, but he didn't let go; he couldn't let go. His tears advanced into sobs and soaked his dead lover's face and he pulled away unwillingly, trying to keep the taste of her with him forever. He lay her onto the sofa, arms over her chest, like she was Snow White and he was about to come and wake her, but of course, love is no fairytale. He walked over to where the gun was situated on the floor and picked it up. He aimed it to his chest, as tears rolled down from his deep blue eyes.

"Be patient, Jen. I'll be there soon," he whispered, as a loud resonating bang filled the dead, empty room.