Audrey slowly slid down the wall of the front entrance to his apartment, barely noticing what was happening, before eventually reaching the ground and getting his wits about him enough to place his face in his hands after a delay. The images of what he had seen through the window while attempting to enter his apartment: James towering over the 'other woman' he had always known of the existence of but who he never would've expected to be too young for that title, her terrified and terrifyingly robbed of innocence face as she pressed herself as far into the couch and as far away from him as she could manage, the all too familiar to him flash of the blade of that horrific knife James seemed to love more than life itself while apparently not being capable of 'loving' anything else... were burned into his mind's eye as thoroughly as if he was still staring through his window.
...Oh my God... she's... she's too young... she's too young for any of this... and he's being so... rough with her, the way he is with me... I never would've imagined that he... anyone, really... would have it in him to make a real woman go through even half of what he makes me go through... and she's not even a woman yet! Suddenly, Audrey was... mostly snapped out of his horrified contemplations as he heard James sneer his name from inside his apartment, something along the lines of "Audrey always does it for me like a good little 'girl'. You're not gonna get yourself bested by a ladyboy of the night." What's he doing to her now?! I...I can't look... I need to do something. I can't continue to let this happen. Audrey's sudden realization that he was already halfway across the road that separated his apartment and Mushnik's Skid Row Florists did not come as a shock to him, and his stride only faltered slightly as a car skidded to a halt about a foot from him and honked loudly.
Audrey reached the shop and used his key to unlock the front door, immediately making his way towards the section that hosted its gardening supplies without turning on the lights or closing the door. He quickly found the weedkiller and much less quickly picked it up, gazing at its vague and shadowy outline and attempting to shove down his rapidly growing fear and guilt. After an amount of time that could've easily been two minutes or two hours, they... or at least the latter... were silenced by the distant sound of the front door of his apartment opening and then slamming shut a few seconds later, followed by those all too familiar stalking footsteps steadily approaching the shop. Audrey determinedly shoved the weedkiller in his bag and swung around to face James right as he opened the shop's front door further and stood in the doorframe, his steady stance not betraying even a hint of shame or nervousness. A glint of his knife reflecting the streetlights preceded his words, sending remembered and never to be forgotten phantom pains shooting across much of Audrey's body.
"Stupid 'woman', you don't leave the shop open. You let in those with less than pure intentions." He slowly strode to him, and Audrey as usual had to stop himself from obeying his instincts and backing away from him, especially as he lightly ran his knife along a collection of many scars, mostly left by him, on his chest. "You're not for anyone else. Now come." Audrey obediently followed a few paces behind him, locking up the shop behind him before hurrying back to his proper place slightly behind him and submissively ducking into his apartment after him, attempting to make himself look small and unobjectionable. Almost immediately after Audrey had shut the door, James demandingly cleared his throat before making his way into his bedroom to get ready for his usual late-night shift with Skid Row's not highly upstanding to say the least police station, and Audrey quickly started his customary ritual of making him a cup of coffee in preparation for the duties of his job that Audrey usually tried not to think about.
The images of that night, now permanent residents of his psyche, unexpectedly allowed him to pour a hefty but hopefully dismissible amount of the weedkiller he had obtained into the coffee without difficulties but did not prevent spikes of fear and guilt from nearly paralyzing him right afterwards. The sound of the door to his bedroom opening allowed him to regain his wits, and he slid the weedkiller back into his bag before placing the cup on what could charitably be described as his kitchen table with a respectful head dip. Audrey turned away from James as he brought the still extremely hot cup to his lips, not daring to watch, and held his breath as he listened to him take a large swig, feeling among everything else a dull amazement that his heart hadn't beaten out of his chest yet.
This amazement increased further as James harshly shoved the cup back onto the table and loudly stood up, shoving the chair across the floor, before addressing him in that contrastingly quiet voice. "You can't even make coffee right, you stupid little 'slut.' You ladyboy." Audrey felt himself being turned around to face him, and James slid his knife down and into his side, approaching his favorite target of... approaching James' chest, being driven squarely into it. For the first time in the well over a year that he had been unfortunate enough to know him, Audrey detected a flicker of something in opposition to self-assuredness, that couldn't possibly be mistaken for it, in his dull eyes. He had to stop himself from gagging as he realized that it was... respect? A recognition of agency? Pride?! He let James fall, hitting a chair and flipping it to its side on his way to the ground, his movements lacking a careful control for once.
"Well done, Audrey." As his breathing slowed and finally stopped with a relative silence that would be surprising if this was anyone besides him and his blood pooled across the kitchen floor, awareness of the fact that James had just said the woman's name Audrey had chosen for himself at The Gutter without even a trace of resentfulness or hesitation for the first time peaked through his horror and revulsion. For the second time that night, Audrey slowly slid down to the ground and buried his face in his hands, not caring that he was spreading the blood on them to it as guilt and terror seared through him. Oh God what have I done... how did I do that... I had to do it, it was the only way to protect her, his fellow police officers would never do anything against him... still this is so terrible. God knows how much later, he jolted upwards at a knock at the front door. ...How did they already figure out what happened?! They've been ignoring The Gutter as long as one of them doesn't want something out of one of us for as long as it's existed?!
Audrey deliberated over whether or not he should open the door, realizing that these contemplations had been pointless and that he had forgotten to lock the door in his distracted state as it opened without him doing anything. Three teenagers, one of whom was the girl who James had decided to... mess around with for some unfathomable reason, came into his apartment and stared in awe and fear at him and James' body, and Audrey wasn't sure if he should be more or less alarmed at this development. As he shakily managed to stand up, leaning on his kitchen counter for support, this question was answered in deference to the latter potential answer as the girls rushed to his side and enveloped him in a group hug, which he attempted to return equally after getting his wits about him a few seconds later. "Thank you so much girl, we thought he'd be hounding Crystal forever for sure!" "Yeah, 'cause it's not like ya can call the cops on a cop..." The girl who must be Crystal, the only one who hadn't spoken yet, started crying into Audrey's shoulder, and he found himself almost instinctively bringing her closer to himself and lightly running his hand along her back in reassurance. "Hey, it'll be okay, he won't be bothering you again."
One of Crystal's friends added on to this point by forcefully kicking James in the neck, causing his head to loll backwards at an odd angle, while the other one pointedly took the blade of his knife in her hand and widened his death wound in the direction of his stomach before closing and pocketing it. "That's for damn sure." "Hope you have some fun in hell, fucker!" Their surprisingly triumphant mood was undercut by the rare at this time of night sound of car wheels screeching outside, and all four of them anxiously looked towards the front door. I can't let them get caught up in all of this further than they already have been... a gutter, that should work. I hope it will, anyway. "...I'll... take care of him, you don't have to worry about... this anymore." Audrey hesitantly stood over James' body for a moment, trying to figure out how to go about this, before deciding that he should wrap it up in a blanket as his first step. He started to make his way to his bedroom and was quickly stopped by one of Crystal's friends, who had clearly come to the same conclusion as him and taken one of the blankets from it.
"Yeah we do. We ain't lettin' you deal with all this on your own. Not after what you done for us." Audrey realized from the determined look on her face that any protests would be futile, so he instead dipped his head gratefully and helped her wrap the blanket around him, its dark fabric helpfully obscuring the bloodstains for the most part. He was impressed and a little bit shocked as her other friend displayed the wherewithal necessary to unceremoniously start dragging James' body across the floor almost immediately after they had completed this task, and he and the other two started helping her, with Crystal hesitating before she could bring herself to touch the body of her former... in all likelihood not so former... tormentor. Together, they lifted James' body at got it out of Audrey's apartment, with Audrey carefully ensuring that the way was clear of potential witnesses first, and he attempted to think through the question of which gutter would be best for this for a moment before allowing the girls, who seemed surprisingly confident in what they were doing, to lead the way.
The group eventually... or maybe not much time has passed? It's hard to tell just now... made their way to the best approximation of a well-secluded and private area that Skid Row could offer, and one of the girls broke away from them to stand with mocking solemness above a gutter, appearing to pretend to adjust papers on a podium before speaking. "We are gathered here today..." Suddenly, she was interrupted by one of her friends. "Nah, he don't even deserve a mock funeral, let's just dump the chump." Crystal surprised Audrey by speaking for the first time, her voice much quieter and less assured than those of the others. "Agreed." Audrey supportively placed a hand on her shoulder for a moment, receiving a shy but appreciative smile in return, before they made their way to the gutter and slid James' body into it, with the girl who had gotten to the gutter first very enthusiastically kicking it in the general area of the crotch and giving it a small, mocking wave just before they dropped it into its depths. They peered into the gutter for a long moment, unsure of where they should go from here, until Crystal's other friend turned to Audrey and broke the silence. "...So... I heard there's a late-night showin' of Oklahoma!... ya wanna go n' see it?"