Chapter 3: The Obligatory Origin
(Again it might be a little early for the origin chapter but fuck it! FMA got away with it and so can I! Besides, this won't be the only flashback chapter in this story, not by a long shot.
TW: Animal death and violence against children)
I still remember that day. Why wouldn't I? It was my ninth birthday. Looking back at it now, it's kinda funny. For some strange reason, it felt like I had been eight forever. I guess life is just weird like that. It technically moves at the same speed for everyone but for some people, certain parts of their lives last longer than others. Maybe it's because of all the crazy shit my family went through during that time, most of it my father's fault. Or maybe it was the age when I discovered my true self, becoming a Buddhist and a vegetarian. In any case, my eighth year of life seemed to last forever, but in the end, it was still just a year of my life and it had to end at some point. I just wish it could have ended the way the years of one's life oughta end, with balloons and cake...
"Friends, we are here today to bid goodbye to Abraham Simpson."
"...Instead of watching my Grandpa get buried."
Lisa sighed as she watched Reverend Lovejoy give his sermon. Behind him, the body of her Grandpa lay in a cheap brown coffin. He looked peaceful now but Lisa knew that if he were still alive, he would be complaining about the lack of cushioning within his burial box as well as the low number of people in the pews. This thought enraged her and Lisa found herself thinking a rather selfish thought.
"Well you're the one that died on such short notice! We had to drop everything and cancel so many plans to afford a decent funeral! I couldn't even give my monthly donation to PETA! Thanks for stealing my birthday, Grandpa!"
Lisa realized what she was thinking and fought the urge to slap herself. "What's wrong with me? Grandpa's gone and I'm only thinking about myself. Great! With just my thoughts alone, I've managed to make myself feel like crap."
Lisa looked up at her parent's faces as the sermon continued. Her father seemed sad but not too upset, simply watching the sermon with a regretful frown. Marge, on the other hand, was quietly weeping, using a crumpled-up tissue to wipe her eyes dry. Maggie, who rested in her mother's arms as she usually did, cried as well, feeling her mother's grief radiate off of her. Lisa turned to Bart who she half-expected to be bored or even asleep. Instead, the sole son of Homer Simpson was watching, his eyes wet but not yet teary. It was clear that he wanted to cry but wouldn't allow himself to. Not here. Not now.
Lisa sighed and turned her attention back to the sermon. "I'm such a selfish person."
The rest of Lisa's ninth birthday was spent celebrating the life of her Grandfather instead. After he was buried, the family and what few guests showed up, including Bart's friend, Milhouse, headed for the reception hall for a meal of meatloaf and sides, all courtesy of Marge. Being a vegetarian, Lisa simply helped herself to an extra helping of salad and ate her plate on a lone table at the corner of the hall. Her mother came to check on her when she was halfway done with the plate.
"How's the birthday girl holding up?" She asked with a slight hint of eagerness in her voice, no doubt hoping to cheer Lisa up with the revelation that she actually remembered today was her birthday.
"Fine considering all I've gotten so far was my Grandpa in a casket." Lisa replied flatly before placing another forkful of lettuce and tomato into her mouth.
Marge sighed and patted her middle child on the back. "I'm sorry your birthday turned out like this sweetheart." She said. "I promise we'll do something fun next week to make up for it, once everyone's had their time to mourn. Ok?"
"Ok." Lisa replied in a disbelieving tone. Somehow, she had a feeling this promise would be forgotten by the time it would have been honored. In any case, Lisa was still feeling too guilty about her thoughts back at the church to really think about her birthday. Sure, she wished it could have been a day about her but as she thought back to her last birthdays, she realized that Grandpa dying wouldn't have made much of a difference after all. "Even if Grandpa hadn't died, you guys would have still found an excuse to not celebrate my birthday." Lisa shook her head to chase the bad thoughts away. "I'm being selfish again. Just stop it!"
"Everything will be alright, sweetie." Marge planted a kiss on Lisa's forehead before heading back to the craft table. Lisa finished what was left of her salad and stepped outside the hall into the parking lot. She took a deep breath, enjoying the feeling of fresh air in her lungs, and took a seat on the curb. She was able to enjoy a few minutes of actual quiet time to recollect herself before she heard the front doors open behind her and turned to see Bart and Milhouse approaching.
"Hey Lis," Bart greeted. "Geeking out over here?"
Lisa only responded with a tired sigh and looked down at her feet as the two boys sat next to her, Bart on the left and Milhouse on the right. "Leave me alone, Bart." She thought miserably. "I'm not in the mood for this crap."
Bart pulled something out of his pocket and placed it in Lisa's hands. "I'm sorry that Grandpa's funeral happened on your birthday. I know it's not much but here's a present."
Lisa glared at Bart as she lifted up her hand to see what her "present" was. Knowing Bart, he had just placed a worm or even a spider into her palm. Perhaps, even a piece of dried animal dung. To her surprise, however, what rested on her palm was a beautiful pink and white seashell. The Sun's light made it seem to shimmer. Shocked, Lisa looked back at her brother.
"It's just a stupid shell I found on the beach." He explained. "I figured you'd like it since it's nature junk, right?"
Lisa's agape mouth closed with a small smile as she hugged her brother. "Thank you, Bart!"
"Hey! Let go! I'll catch your dorkitis!" Bart strained.
"I have a present for you too Lisa!" Milhouse interjected. Lisa turned to the blue-haired boy, only to wince as he puckered up his lips. He made noises with his mouth still puckered like that which Lisa guessed was him saying. "It's this kiss!"
"Oh...um...I..I'll take a raincheck," Lisa said firmly.
"Oh!" Dejected, Milhouse unpuckered his lips and stared at the ground. While Lisa felt somewhat sorry for the bi-spectacled boy, part of her wanted to punch him. "Really Milhouse? At my Grandpa's funeral?" She shook her head free of negative thoughts once more and looked down happily at her seashell. It brought a sense of ease with it, something she could really use today. "Thank you for the shell Bart, I really needed this."
"Whatever." Bart yawned and put his hands behind his back. "I wanted to buy you a book or something but money's kinda tight right now with Grandpa's funeral and everything.
"I know." Lisa sighed. "I couldn't even donate my allowance to PETA this month. Oh well, I'll just double up next month."
"What!?" Milhouse suddenly shouted. "You're still donating to PETA?"
"Yes...?" Lisa answered, a little freaked out by Milhouse's reaction.
"You shouldn't do that!" Milhouse yelled.
"Yeah Lis. Donating is a waste of a perfectly good allowance." Bart commented.
"No! I mean you shouldn't donate to PETA because they're pure evil!" Milhouse explained. "They kill 90% of all animals they take in and sometimes, they even steal people's pets off their porches!"
Lisa gasped. "Milhouse! Where did you hear such horrible lies?"
"They're not lies!" Milhouse defended. "I'll show you!" Milhouse pulled out his phone and showed Lisa a website describing all the horrifying things PETA supposedly did, Lisa felt herself becoming more and more upset with each word she read and each picture she view until at last she couldn't take it anymore, and shoved Milhouse to the ground. "Screw you Milhouse!" She screeched before running back into the reception hall crying.
"Aye Caramba!" Bart helped his friend back up. "Are you ok man?"
"I'm fine, I just have a little headache is all." Milhouse rubbed the back of his head as he said this, only to wince in pain. He inspected his hand and screamed at the sight of blood covering his fingers. The sight caused him to faint but this time, Bart was able to catch him before he fell back to the ground. "Good grief!"
The rest of the day was somber for both Bart and Lisa. Milhouse's injury was passed off as him falling off the curb by himself, prompting his parents to come pick him up. The Simpson siblings refused to speak to each other until the car ride home. It was Bart who started the tense conversation.
"Why'd you do it, Lis?" He asked. "You didn't need to push Milhouse like that."
"It's his own fault for badmouthing PETA like that!" Lisa hissed. "I did not need to see such slander, especially today!"
"Did it ever occur to you that maybe he was just trying to help?" Bart asked.
Lisa stared daggers at him. "How does telling me the charity I've been donating to this entire time is actually comprised of evil animal killers constitute as help? Explain the logic behind that!"
"Maybe so you stop giving to them and start giving the money to someone who deserves it." Bart scoffed. "Or better yet, just spend on yourself like a normal person."
"Whatever." Lisa crossed her arms and looked out of her window. She kept replaying the moment she shoved Milhouse to the ground again and again in her head. She didn't mean to hurt him. She just lost herself in the moment. But that one moment was all it took for Lisa to draw blood. It scared her to contemplate that. That one moment was all that she needed to hurt one of her friends.
Just one moment was all it took.
The next morning was a weekend day so neither Lisa or Bart had any school. Breakfast was somewhat tense until Lisa decided to speak up. She had had time to sleep on her actions and was thus in a better mood. One that made her wanna make amends.
"Bart, I'm sorry about yesterday. I was pretty upset with a lot of things and I took it out on Milhouse."
Bart seemed somewhat shocked but smiled. "You should be saying that to Milhouse you know?"
"I know. I just hope he forgives me."
Bart waved his hand. "Oh Lisa! This is Milhouse we're talking about. You could drop the guy in a volcano and he'll still forgive you."
Both kids burst into laughter and from the stove, Marge smiled, happy that her children had reconciled. The following afternoon saw Bart and Lisa playing with Santa's Little Helper in the front yard. More specifically, they were playing Keep Away with a big stick Bart had found in the backyard. It was all in good fun and SLH seemed to think so as well as the brown greyhound only grew happier with each throw. Eventually, he managed to grab the stick and tear it into pieces, his tail wagging ecstatically as he did so as
"Santa's Little Helper!" Bart and Lisa laughed as their beloved dog barked happily.
The front door opened and Marge poked her head out. "Kids! Cookies!" She called out.
"All right!" Lisa cheered.
"We'll be right back boy!" Bart patted SLH on the head a few times before following his sister inside. Once in the kitchen, the siblings were treated to the sight and the aroma of their mother's freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. As their father was at work, there was plenty to go around. Marge set the tray of cookies onto the table as Bart and Lisa grabbed a seat, eagerly grabbing the sweets off the flat pan.
"Careful! They're hot!" Marge cautioned as she left the kitchen. Neither Bart nor Lisa heard her warning as they were too busy devouring the cookies. Bart even handed one to Maggie who was sitting in her high chair. Lisa was about to protest this action when she saw her younger sister take a bite out of the sweet. It would seem her baby teeth were finally coming in. Smiling, Lisa focused on her own helping of cookies.
Once they had had their fill, Bart and Lisa made their way back outside, from the window, however, Lisa noticed a van with a very familiar acronym on its side. "Huh? What's a PETA truck doing here?"
"Heh! Maybe they're here because you missed your payment." Bart joked. His smile vanished as soon as he and his sister heard SLH'S panicked whining from outside. Bursting through the door, the Simpson siblings watched in horror as a man in a white shirt, pants, and cap yanked their beloved dog to the back of the van with a black leash. The leash ended in a metal collar which reminded Bart of the capture nooses exterminators used on raccoons. SLH barked and whined as he fought desperately to escape his kidnapper. Bart couldn't take it anymore and rushed toward the man. "Hey man! What are you doing with our dog!?"
The man gave Bart a shocked look and quickly scooped the struggling SLH in his arms. He roughly threw the greyhound into the van and slammed the door shut before booking it into the driver's seat. He sped off just as Bart reached his van, spraying the exhaust from his tailpipe into the boy's face. Lisa rushed over to her brother as he coughed and gagged. "Bart! Are you ok?"
"I'm fine Lisa!" Bart uttered as he banished the last of the exhaust from his face. "Don't worry about me! We gotta go after SLH!"
"Why..." Lisa croaked. "Why would that PETA man steal Santa's Little Helper? Did...Did he think he was being abused?"
"Snap out of it Lis!" Bart slapped his sister lightly on the cheek, not hard enough to leave a mark but still making it sting. "We can worry about the reason why later. Now look, I'm gonna call the boys over and then we're gonna get on our bikes and search the town for that van. You remember what it looks like right?"
Lisa nodded. "Pure white with the PETA logo on it."
Bart nodded. "Good! Keep that image in your head. You'll need it to rescue Santa's Little Helper!"
"O...Ok." Lisa shook her head clear and clenched her fist. She knew Bart was right. Panic would do neither of them any good right now. She needed to focus on saving her dog.
It took Milhouse, Nelson and even Martin 30 minutes collectively to reach the Simpsons house on their bikes after Bart had called them. After a brief discussion, Bart and Lisa decided it would be best to leave their mother out of the loop. Not only would it cause her unnecessary stress but she might panic and get the police involved which would only complicate matters. Bart did tell her that he planned to ride bikes with his friends instead so that she wouldn't fret over their sudden disappearance. Once the boys made it to the house, they all gathered on the driveway to discuss their plan of action.
"That jerkwad most likely doesn't expect us to go after him so we should have the element of surprise on our side." He began. "Me and Milhouse will take North Springfield, Nelson takes West, Martin takes South and Lisa takes East. Is that understood?"
"Yeah!" Everyone shouted in unison.
"Men, and Lisa, let's ride!"
Getting on their bikes, the kids split up with Bart, Milhouse and Nelson going right and Lisa and Martin going left. As the two Ace students of Springfield Elementary made their way to the intersection, Martin opened his mouth.
"You know Lisa, as much as I would hate to increase your worry, I feel like I must bring up a similar case to this situation."
"What are you talking about Martin?" Lisa groaned, somewhat annoyed.
"Last year, they said that PETA trucks were driving all around Shelbyville, stealing pets off of porches and euthanizing them for no apparent reason."
Lisa felt a lump form in her chest. "W-What are you saying Martin? That man is gonna put down Santa's Little Helper just because?"
"All I'm saying is to prepare for the worst-case scenario, should we fail to make it in time." He finished as they neared the intersection. "This is where we part. Goodbye and good luck!"
"Yeah, yeah," Lisa muttered, fighting the urge to go off on Martin for what he had the nerve to insinuate. Once they had split up across the new road and Lisa was on her own, she allowed her angry thoughts to fly through her head. Best to process them now lest they eat her alive later and interfere with her efforts to save SLH. "I can't believe Martin would say something like that! First Milhouse and now him! What's wrong with them?"
Without realizing it, Lisa had picked up speed, zooming through the suburban area like a cheetah on the hunt. A leaf blew into her face and she barely registered it, even as it dragged across her cheek and took off into the air.
"I just don't understand why people would say these things about PETA. PETA's good! They're the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for Buddha's sake! I refuse to believe that they're gonna kill Santa's Little Helper. I refuse!"
Lisa felt the lump in her chest grow. "But then, why would that man take Santa's Little Helper in the first place? It couldn't be just because I missed my donation could it?" Lisa shook her head aggressively, almost growling as she did so. "No! That can't be it! That's stupid! He must have seen us leave Santa's Little Helper alone outside and thought we were abusing him. Yeah! That's it! All I have to do is find him and clear it up with him and everything will be fine. I'll even give him the money I have on me as a token of goodwill." Lisa felt herself relax a little. "Everything will be ok."
Lisa spent the next 35 minutes searching for the white PETA van. Every so often, she felt the need to take a break and ignored that need in favor of continuing her search. She wasn't sure why she felt this way. Surely, she didn't think SLH's life was in danger, did she? No. That would be ridiculous. Clearly, she was just afraid of SLH getting turned over to a shelter. Yeah. That was it. It had to be. This is the thought she was rationalizing once she rode past an empty lot...
...and spotted the van sitting by itself in the corner.
"There it is!" Lisa pulled into the lot and parked her bike just a few feet away from it. The lump in her chest had now broken part and spread throughout her entire body, filling her with dread and anxiety. She felt frozen in place as if something inside her told her she'd be in danger just by getting near that van. "What's wrong with me?" She thought as she forced herself to take a step forward. "It's just a van and a PETA van at that. PETA is my friend! I have nothing to fear." With this, Lisa forced herself another step closer, then another, then another until she was right in front of the doors. They were cracked open and through the slit, Lisa could see a familiar furry face whimpering. "Santa's Little Helper!" She whispered happily. She took a deep breath and opened the door and climbed into the van. "It's ok boy! I'm...here..."
Once again, Lisa was frozen, and this time, no amount of personal justification would free her from her paralysis What lay before her, what her young eyes were taking in, was nothing short of a literal nightmare.
SLH was tethered to a table of some kind, whimpering and struggling to get to his owner's side. Despite his frantic whining and yipping, he did not seem to bear any injuries. He was scared but alive and well. The same could not be said for the other dogs laying within the cages to the left of the table. A poodle that reeked of shampoo, a grey terrier with very prominent facial fur and even a small lab puppy that couldn't have been more than two months old. All of these dogs lay dead in the cages, tongues lolled and eyes vacant.
"Wh...What...What is this?" Lisa trembled as she backed away. "Wh...Why...those dogs...why?"
"YOU!" Lisa felt a hand grip her tightly on her bare shoulder and shove her further into the ran. Zipping around, Lisa found herself face to face with the man in white who had taken SLH. His face, already giving off an air of unfriendliness beforehand, was twisted into a grimace of anger and hate. He climbed into the van and slammed the door shut behind him before shouting at Lisa "What do you think you're doing in my van!?"
"I-I just wanted my dog...I..." Lisa could feel tears streaming down her face. Her knees were buckling and if she hadn't gone before they left, Lisa was certain she would have wet herself right then and there. Never before in her entire life had she been so afraid, not even when Sideshow Bob had threatened her and her family's lives. All hope of reasoning with the man who was supposed to be her ally in the fight against animal cruelty had vanished completely as he continued to shout at her, waving around something in his left hand as he stomped his feet and gritted his teeth. To Lisa's horror, she realized it was a syringe.
The kind they use to put animals to sleep.
"It...It's true." Lisa thought, her very soul becoming numb from the revelation. "This man wants to kill Santa's Little Helper. But why? He's from PETA! He's supposed to help animals, not take their lives. Is this all because I didn't donate this month? Does missing a single donation warrant taking my dog's life? Why...Why..."
"Why!?" Lisa suddenly screeched, catching the raving man before her off guard if but for a moment. "Why are you trying to kill my dog!? WH-Why did you kill those other dogs!? You're supposed to be helping animals!"
"Shut up you little shit!" The man suddenly slapped Lisa across the face, knocking her to the ground. Seeing one of his beloved masters hurt was enough to drive SLH into a frenzy and cause him to start barking and snarling ferociously. He was ready to maul this man to death for hurting his family if only he could escape the tether. The man glared at the barking dog and readied his needle. "Look what you did, you little bitch! Do you have any idea how hard it is to stick an aggressive dog!?" He scolded as he stepped over Lisa. "Always gotta be making my job harder."
"No!" Lisa grabbed the man's leg and sank her teeth into his ankle as hard as she could. His pants kept her from drawing blood but it was enough to make the man howl in pain!
"You little bitch!" Somehow even more enraged than he was before, the man grabbed Lisa by the throat and lifted her up. The middle child of the Simpson clan found herself gasping for air as she kicked and swiped at her attacker in a desperate struggle to break free from his grip. One of her shoes flew off of her foot in the struggle and landed near the table with the snarling SLH on it. This, of course, went unnoticed by the man who sneered as he lifted up the syringe meant for SLH. "You a nosey little shit, ain't ya? Well you won't be nosy anymore! Can't have you blowing the cover on my sacred mission, now can I?"
Lisa's eyes widened as she realized what the man was planning to do. She increased her trashing about, clawing at his face and at the hand wrapped around her throat.
"You did this to yourself!" The man screamed as he slammed the syringe toward Lisa. Before it could pierce her skin, however, Lisa grabbed his wrist with both hands and dug her nails into it. It was all the eight-year-old could do to barely keep the liquid inside from entering her system. The man and Lisa continued to struggle, the former moving around the van as he tried to shove the needle into its target, all while SLH barked helplessly. "Let go! Let you fucking stupid little bitch!"
Lisa wanted to say "never." but as the man's other hand was still squeezing her throat, all she could utter was a pained rasp. Deep in the recesses of her mind, a small part of her wondered how Bart handled this feeling constantly with morbid humor.
Seeing as how the current situation was going nowhere, the man let go of Lisa's throat with the intention of punching her lights out before injecting her with the Pentobarbital.
This would be the last mistake he would make in his entire life.
In the brief moment the man relaxed his grip on his right hand to let go of Lisa, he also did the same to his left hand. At the same time, without really thinking about it, Lisa grabbed at the syringe and pulled it out from his fingers. With a desperate cry of rage and fear, she turned it around in her hand and slammed it into the man's left eye socket, using her thumb to push the concoction within the needle inside his skull. Screaming in agony, the man released his grip on Lisa and stumbled to the van door, both hands reaching for the syringe but unable to clasp it. He fell to his knees and turned to Lisa, his one remaining eye filled with surprise and fear as opposed to the hateful rage it had possessed earlier. He turned his gaze toward the room of his van and fell on his back. His chest heaved once more and then remained still.
Lisa was trembling as she watched the man breathe his last. With her back to the table, SLH was practically barking in her ear but she took no notice. Her mind was preoccupied with processing just what the hell had happened within the past two minutes. Even though she was no longer being choked, Lisa still felt as if she couldn't breathe and tried to put a shakey hand to her throat. In its erratic movement, however, the hand's fingertips grazed her cheek instead, alerting Lisa to the presence of a hot sticky liquid on her face. Slowly, she brought her hand to her face and nearly cried out as she saw the blood dripping from her fingers. At that moment, she hadn't even noticed the man's blood splatter on her.
Yes. That one moment. Just like with Milhouse the other day, one moment was all that was needed.
One moment was all that was needed for Lisa Marie Simpson to take a human life.
Once Lisa was able to get ahold of herself, she quickly undid the tether and freed SLH. The happy pooch licked the remaining blood off of Lisa's face, oblivious to the evidence with was consuming. Lisa briefly checked to make sure that all of the other dogs were dead and once she confirmed that morbid fact, she retrieved her lost shoe, shoved the van doors open, and quickly scrambled to her bike. She rode slowly so that SLH could walk beside her. He didn't have a leash but Lisa didn't care. All she wanted now was to just go home.
As she rode back with SLH in tow, Lisa kept replaying the man's death in her mind, over and over again. "I killed someone." She kept thinking. "I killed another human being." Lisa felt tears well up in her eyes but forced them back down. She couldn't let anyone see her like this. She knew it was futile, her fingerprints were all over that van and sooner or later, they would find her. But for now, she just wanted to get home.
As luck would have it, Lisa was the first one to make it back to Evergreen Terrence, the others most likely still looking for SLH elsewhere. Once she parked her bike in the garage, she and SLH entered the house through its doorway and wandered into the living room just as Marge poked her head out through the kitchen doorway.
"Lisa! There you are! Supper's almost ready!" She chirped. "We're just waiting on the boys to get home." SLH jumped on Marge, licking her face eagerly as he whined. "Easy boy!" Marge giggled. "You're acting like you haven't seen me in a hundred years!"
"More like he almost never saw you again." Lisa thought as she turned to the stairway. Before she could vanish upstairs, however, Marge called her out from the living room.
"Lisa sweetie? Are you alright?" She asked. "You look a little crestfallen."
"I'm fine." Lisa lied. "I'm just a little tired from riding bikes with Bart and his friends all day." She turned to her mother with the biggest smile she could force on herself. "I'll call him and tell him to come home for dinner!"
"Well...alright! But if you need anything, let me know!" Marge returned to the kitchen with SLH happily following her. Lisa sighed as she knew her mother wasn't stupid. She knew that something was wrong but it looked as if for now at least, she would leave it alone.
Lisa took this opportunity to run to her room and lock the door. Snowball II was sitting on her desk sound asleep. Lisa made sure she was the only living thing in the room with her, climbed onto her bed, shoved one of her pillows into her face and began to sob. Hot tears stained the pink fabric of the pillow as Lisa cried. Despite her attempts to muffle her wailing, Snowball II was awoken by them nevertheless. The black feline jumped down from the desk and hopped onto her distraught owner's bed, purring loudly as she rubbed her body against hers. Lisa forced herself away from the pillow for a few seconds to acknowledge Snowball and gently wrapped her in her arms. "Thank you, Snowball." She sniffled. "You're a good cat."
Snowball only offered a meow in response and Lisa laid with her, doing her best to get these tears born from trauma and fear of what tomorrow might hold out of her before either her brother or father returned home.
"By some miracle, I was able to pass myself off as normal by the time Bart returned. He was so happy to see Santa's Little Helper back home that he didn't even ask where I had found him. Dad came home soon after and I remember eating my dinner real quickly that night. Yeah. I wanted to go to bed more than anything that night, to change into my nightgown, climb under the covers, fall asleep and wake up to find that the whole thing was just a long fucked-up nightmare."
Lisa let out a heavy sigh as she stroked Aristotle's fur. "It was a nightmare all right but it wasn't a dream. I woke up to my family watching the news coverage about that damn truck. About how that sick son of a bitch was stealing pets off porches and killing them for no fucking reason. Sometimes, I wonder if it had anything to do with me missing my monthly donation but in the end, it didn't matter. After that incident, I deep-dived the website Milhouse showed me and fact-checked everything. I couldn't believe that all the time I thought I was helping animals, I was just helping a bunch of psychos line their pockets. Suffice to say, that last donation really was my last donation." Lisa sighed again. "I could go on and on about how this whole thing started but frankly, I don't feel like going through that bullshit right now. I've done enough reminiscing for tonight."
As if waiting for her to finish her thoughts, a scratching sound came from her door, followed by a familiar whine. Lifting Aristotle from her chest, Lisa walked toward the door and cracked it open. "How did you know I was just thinking about you boy?" She smiled.
The now elderly SLH stumbled into Lisa's room. Aside from the faded color of his coat, one probably wouldn't be able to tell SLH was up there in years. His tail still wagged, his tongue still lagged and his eyes brightened every time they fell on one of his masters. Knowing that he couldn't jump up like he used to, Lisa got down on one knee and let him lick her face. "I'm so happy you're still here boy! I love you so much!"
SLH only replied with a yip before continuing to cover Lisa's face with drool.
"That's right." Lisa thought. "I may have killed that man but in the end, he brought him on himself. He tried to kill my family and he paid the price." Lisa's eyes darkened as she looked out the window at the moon. "People like that asshole don't deserve to breathe the same air as the rest of us. Ever since I was little, I always wanted to make the world a better place. I foolishly believed I could pull it off without getting my hands dirty. Without stooping to their levels. Heh. What a fucking stupid kid I was." Giving SLH a quick scratch behind the ears, Lisa got back up and walked toward the window. "I learned that day that if this disgusting world is ever gonna change, certain people need to be removed from the equation. People like that man and those dogfighters." Lisa placed a hand on the window. "I am the Animal Avenger and I will find and kill every single one of those miserable animal-hurting bastards! But before they die," The smallest hint of a smile appeared on Lisa's face. "They're going to suffer as their victims did."
(Yikes. Even I'm taken aback by how edgy this came out and I wrote the damn thing! But anyway, there you have it, the story of how Lisa claimed her first victim and as I said before, this won't be the last time we go back to the past.
It's been ages since I read that awful story but it is true that PETA stole someone's pet off their porch and killed it for no reason. I will not take back any of my slander for that "charity" and urge you not to waste your money donating to them. The ASPCA and WWF are far better choices if you want to help animals.
I also want to apologize if anyone felt sick during that dog scene. This story is marked horror and that does mean you're gonna see some nasty shit as we go on. I'll warn you of such things but will not hold any punches.
Now that a month has passed, I can finally work on the next arc for Bleach: Jigoku Files and this story back to back. Until next time, BSC out!)
