My Cause-
Disclaimer- I do not own the characters or lyrics from the movie Repo! The Genetic Opera
Plot Summary- A year after the events of the Opera, Amber (the new CEO of GeneCo) assaults and leaves Graverobber for dead. Fortunately for him, a certain teenager stumbles upon him and takes care of him. Grilo.
Quick note: Thanks everyone for all the kind reviews and alerts! I just hope the story continues to please.
"What's that?" He asked in mangled horror as Shilo brought in his 'lunch'. She laughed, holding a strong smelling bowl of liquid along with a roll, and two cups; one with water, the other with some kind of puce colored juice.
"Vegetable soup—it will be easier for you to eat. And a fruit smoothie too, and some, vitamin laced water. You need it all if you're going to get well again. "
"Smells terrible." He murmured. Shilo gave him a strange look and placed it carefully on top of his lap, and sat on the edge of the bed. She stirred the soup with an elegant silver spoon.
"A man who spends all his time digging up dead bodies just told me my soup smell bad?" She lifted the spoon and held her open palm to catch any liquid that dripped. She blew on it and then offered it to him. He crinkled his nose at the smell but the man in him didn't object to being fed by a beautiful girl. He also didn't want to hurt her feelings by not accepting her meal.
He leaned in and carefully slurped the soup. Shilo laughed under her breath at his unrefined manners, and the questionable look on his face. "Sorry kid but how can you eat this shit?"
Feeling a bit annoyed, she picked up a second spoon full. She could hate him for it; but he was going to eat every bite. His body was so scarred from his past—weak from the demands of his every day work. He had a good form from digging graves and pushing tombs open, but Shilo doubted that he took all the precautions to assure a long life. "Seriously? Just suck it up and eat it because it may be shit, but it's the only shit you're getting."
He was taken back. "Wow, daddy's girl has a mouth? Never would have guessed."
Graverobber took another bite—he wasn't happy about it, but thought it better to appease his care taker. It was fun to see her angry. She had so much fire within her; it was almost like fighting a teenage girl. A bad, bad girl. He thought amusingly.
"Look, you probably don't understand this because I bet you're immune to every little breathing out thing out there. You'd pretty much have to be for the way you live." There was an undertone for live. She wasn't oblivious to the fact he'd put his body pretty much in any filth, whore or danger he could. "But I've spent 17 of the 18 years I've been alive stuck in this bedroom , told I was too sick to live life. So, I eat like this because I'd like to spend the rest of my life far away from this bed as possible and you should want the same thing."
"Alright, alright, take it slow. I'll eat it." Graverobber said, taking the spoon from Shilo.
Satisfied at winning the little war, Shilo got up and walked over to the double door patio. Looking right through the window having removed the bars so long ago. She unlocked the door and opened it up. Taking a moment to look out at the world she had been forbidden to live in.
After her father's death, life had been chaotic. While passing on running GeneCo, she had become Mag's sole benefactor, apparently having made it so in her will when she learned of Shilo's existence and of her impending doom. She had also inherited her father's entire estate—being the only thing he had left in this world.
At first, both deaths made her numb, unable to think of anything other than her life without someone telling her to stay in room or take her medicine. It didn't help matters that Amber had practically stepped over her father's grave to convince Shilo to sign away her inheritance legally. She had offered her everything—money, a new family, even a job in GeneCo. Shilo, despite being so enraged she could claw off Amber's fake face, she made a generous counter offer—
Legal emancipation and a high school degree so she could continue on to college. With her father's tutoring and her own reading, she was above a high school education anyway; and with both her parents and Mag dead, she didn't want another care taker. She didn't have or want anyone to hold her back from her dreams anymore—and Amber gladly made it a reality.
Still, on nights like this, Shilo was reminded of everything she had given up for this life. A vast enterprise, the company of people, and to some extent—her father.
"It's a beautiful night—not so different from the one I met you."
Graverobber almost choked on his soup. "I wouldn't call that night beautiful, if you were to recall."
"I do now…my father always told me it was a dream, but when I saw you, I knew it wasn't." She said with a far-off voice. "I still remember the smell of the bodies and the panic I felt. But what I remember most was the maniacal look you had. Like a man on a high…"
"The first person I ever met; and he looked crazy." A beeper went off. Shilo's lifted her wrist—her watch. "I have stuff to do. You're going to eat all of that, right?"
"Don't worry mommy, I'll be good." He mocked, taking another bite of his soup. Shilo chuckled.
"Very good, I'll be back to check on you a little later. I left some reading on the end table in case you get bored."
She gave him a parting smile before leaving him alone. Graverobber sighed and finished his meal; not quite sure what was more annoying. Having a bed-restricting injury, or having someone there to keep him in place.
Either way; he knew he wouldn't have tolerated it from anyone else but the little girl he had found in the cemetery over a year ago.
()
The buzzer rang from upstairs; Shilo could barely hear it over the sounds of her heavy breathing. For good measure, she hit the punching bag one more time before walking across her renovated basement gym. It was one of the first things she had done with her money, always wanting to keep in shape and by extension away from illness or bed.
She pressed the button to the intercom. "Yes?"
There was hazy sound mist before a shrill voice came on. "Get out here, we need girl talk!"
"Fuck." Amber. Shilo had taken her hand off the buzzer before making that particular statement, but wondered if she should have answered the door at all. Amber would occasionally make a habit here and there to visit her father's true heir. Usually, it was to try and convince Shilo to make a public appearance in support for GeneCo or to do something public with the Largo siblings. But as if to show how much she really cared, it was only about once every few months, and usually, she pretended to be all sugar and nice.
Not this time, which could only mean one thing. She figured Graverobber would come to her, perhaps remembering the few times she had spotted he and Shilo together a year ago.
As much as she would have loved to put her off, Shilo hit the button to open the gate and climbed up the stairs to the front door. Ignoring her would make modern day Barbie suspicious; and would perhaps incline Amber to use force against her; something neither she nor Graverobber wanted.
Shilo opened the door, greeting Amber in her workout clothes, making the CEO grimace. "What's going on?"
"Have you seen Graverobber around? Has he come to you?" Amber quickly stomped up the stairs, pointing a long finger nail in Shilo's face. "And if you even think about lying to me…"
"What? Are you talking about the Zydrate dealer? I haven't seen him since the night of the Opera." Shilo tried to answer coolly. She was never a very good liar, and usually did very poorly under pressure. Yet, she was surprised by how natural she sounded speaking to Amber.
Amber didn't appreciate this as much. "Don't fuck around with me! Lots of people would gladly kill him if given the chance, but there's only one person he's ever helped in his miserable existence and that's you! It only makes sense he'd seek help from you…"
"Amber, I barely know him, okay?" She lowered the finger away from her face after it poked her. "Even so, what makes you think he'd even remember me? He never was the sentimental type from what I could tell."
Her story was stitches at best. If she wasn't careful, Amber would break right through it. The leather clad CEO growled. "Maybe he didn't come to you; maybe you found him!"
"What did he do anyway? Why are you even looking for him?" Shilo cursed herself—she responded too fast, too eager to throw the trail off. It could go two ways; Amber would sense her lie or she would begin to believe her.
"Nevermind that!" Realizing that Shilo (supposedly) didn't have any useful information, Amber gave Shilo a parting thought. "If you see him, call me right away! I swear to fucking god, you better be telling the truth."
"Thanks for stopping by." Shilo said as Amber turned away. She closed the door and watched through the window, making sure Amber left. When she did, she let out a sigh. That was close. Too close to rely on her non-existent acting skills. She closed the curtain on the window before she realized.
"The patio…" She quickly dashed upstairs—had Amber seen that? No person in their right mind would leave a window open this day and age so carelessly unless they were near that window. She could have given them all away just because she had left that stupid patio door open!
When she threw open the door, she was scared. Graverobber was no longer in the bed.
"Graves?"
"Down here, kid…" A breathy, pained reply was. Shilo looked to the floor and almost gave a cry of relief. The patio door was practically closed; only open a crack—he was sitting down on the floor, weakly leaning his back against it.
Shilo crossed the room and leaned down before him. "Sorry, it was dumb to leave the window open. Are you alright?"
"On top of the world." Was the sarcastic reply. Shilo looked to the door nervously—Amber could have seen him close it. "Don't worry kid; I made sure no one was looking….Thanks, by the way. I mean, you can't lie for shit, but at least she bought it."
Shilo let out a nervous laugh and wrapped and arm around his shoulder, helping Graverobber up. He groaned in pain, but they took small steps to get him back to bed.
When they made it, he leaned against it, trying to catch his breath. Shilo stayed with him until he was somewhat relaxed. With his heart rate down, she decided to give him a few mild pain pills. They wouldn't take all the pain away, but they'd take away the edge—and leave him high enough he wouldn't care.
"Listen, I have to take a shower, will you be alright?"
"Yeah go on; you're too pretty to be covered in sweat." Shilo touched his shoulder and smiled before she walked to her room (formerly her father's; being the preferable out of the two). She set the shower to a pleasant warm before undressing and sliding in. Moaning at the relief the warm water gave her aching muscles. She had to study for class tomorrow morning. Shilo considered skipping simply out of fear of Amber returning or Graverobber needing her, but she had two weeks of class before break—missing it would leave a nasty mark on her grave, something the med schools would not approve of.
Besides, Amber had bought her story. Mostly because she herself was nervous, but a victory was a victory. Even if she came back, Graverobber could handle himself. The man's been keeping out of GeneCo's grasp for so long; it was like second nature to him.
Still, a part of her hated the idea of him falling into her grasp. She was scared and angry tonight. Even if she hadn't wanted to kill graverobber, she certainly didn't have his best intentions at heart. If Amber were to find it, it would likely be his demise; whether it be immediate or not.
And as far as Shilo was concerned; the man was simply too charming to allow that to happen.
()
She peaked into his room and smirked. The pills she had given him had sent him fast asleep. Which was good, she could now study. With her book in hand she crossed over to the chair and settled into it, watching Graverobber every so often.
The book was about anatomy. She smiled faintly, remembering her little lesson on Zydrate with the man across from her. It had frightened her to see so many people clawing and crawling for one little thing but she was more preoccupied with the man peddling it—how dark and mysterious he sounded, how put off she should have been but wasn't.
Maybe it was because he was the only man besides her father she had met outside her cage. Maybe it was because under all the grime and filth, he was in fact, a handsome man. Or maybe it was because she was eighteen and completely virgin. But she was beginning to like the idea of him being around her, and he finding her attractive.
"Kid…" He groaned. Snapping out of her thoughts, she set the book down and quickly dashed over to him.
"What's wrong? Are the pills wearing off?"
Graverobber rolled his bloodshot eyes and shook his head. Shilo didn't get a chance to guess; the hand that was hanging off the side of the bed came up to grab her behind—not strongly, but enough to make Shilo squeak and jump up away from it.
He grinned, apparently proud of himself even under the influence of pills. Shilo couldn't even find it in her heart to be mad at him—instead she grumbled. "Graverobber, sometimes I wonder why I even bother."
She turned away, hearing him say in a low voice. "Don't pretend that you didn't like it."
Sitting back down, she sighed. As uncharacteristic as it was to admit it; she did kind of like it.
Perhaps a little too much.