Episode 6: Shattered

Episode 6

"Shattered"

(Charlie's Point of View)

I never had feelings for anyone else. I never have, and I don't think I ever will. When I was a young adult, shortly after I took the business from my parents, I started thinking about having a family. It was just a small thought, I never really took it seriously. I considered it though. That's what most people do, right?

A few months after my parents death, I sat at my desk, doing my job as the owner of the company. Just answering e-mails and doing paperwork. The normal. There was a knock at my office door.

"Come in." I called.

My secretary walked in, she was a very pretty lady. I always thought she was nice looking, ever since I met her. She wore a white office shirt, and jeans. She had her red hair tied back. Her name was Debra.

"Someone wants to see you." she said.

"Alright, let them in."

She walked away and someone walked in my office. A familiar looking man walked in, he had brown slicked hair, with grey lines in it. He wore a suit, but it was all dirty and cheap looking. He sat down in front of me, I took a long look at him and finally remembered who it was. Derrick.

"Derrick?" I asked, "what the hell are you doing here?"

"Eh, my old buddy Charlie Lockwood. I wore my best suit, like it?"

"It's great, what are you doing? What are you doing around me?"

"Whoa man, that's pretty rude. I see that the stuff I gave you obviously worked, your parents are dead, and you have the company! As soon as I heard about it in the news I knew what happened. That's pretty cold though man, killing your parents just so you could have their business?"

"What did you come here for?" I asked.

"Well since my product obviously worked well for you, I want to know if you wanted to buy anymore of my stuff? You interested, just incase you need to kill a few more people?"

"I'm good, now I would appreciate it if you'd leave, I'm done with this. Go."

"Alright," he sat up, "just remember who I am. I supplied you with the product, I know what you did Charlie. Watch your back."

He smiled and left the room.

I sat there, and ran my hands through my hair. I sighed, Derrick did not just do that, did he? If I don't buy more of his stuff he's going to rat me out? Is he blackmailing me? Forget it Charlie, there is no evidence you killed you parents, nobody will know. Derrick can't do anything. Debra walked back in the room.

"Is everything okay sir? Who was that?"

"Just some random asshole." I lied.

"Oh, well if you need anything, just tell me." she started walking out.

I started thinking about starting a family, then how Derrick could possibly ruin my life if he wanted to. What could one date hurt? It would get my mind off of things. Before Debra could leave the room, I stopped her.

"Hey Debra, do you think we could get something to eat after work?"

She stopped for a minute, looked at the ground and smiled. She turned around to face me.

"Yes, sure. Why not?"

A few dates passed, and I actually started to really like Debra. She made me feel good inside, she made me forget what I did to my parents, it made me forget my dark past. I was thinking about proposing to her. One night, that all changed though. I came home from work, we had been living in an apartment together for some time now. I opened the front door, and saw Debra crying on the couch. I ran over to her and sat down with her.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"A man came to our apartment today."

"So?" I asked.

"He told me some things about you."

"What?"

"He told me you were a murderer Charlie. He told me what you did to get the company.

I sat there and stayed there in shock. Derrick spilled the beans, that son of a bitch.

"That's not true, right?" she asked me in her tears.

"Of course not." I said.

She cried even more.

"I didn't believe him at first," she said, "but I looked around and I found this."

Debra pulled out a briefcase, the ricin case. She found it.

"What is this?" she asked me in tears.

I sat there astonished, Derrick really screwed me over here. Just because I wouldn't buy more of his product. I thought about all the great times I had with Debra, how happy I was with her. I needed to focus on the greater good here. Debra, or myself?

I sat up and looked at Debra, she backed away from me slowly.

"Charlie?" she asked, "who are you?"

"Who I am, is someone you might never want to really find out Debra. That briefcase you're holding, is very valuable to me. I want you to hand it over to me right now."

"Charlie, you didn't kill your parents, did you?"

I slowly reached and grabbed the briefcase from her.

"Some things are better left alone," I said, "If I were you, I'd leave this apartment right now, before you find out who I really am."

She stopped crying and looked at me with fear. She then started walking towards the door and left. She never took anything with her, she got the message, and she left. She quit her job the next day, and I never saw her again. I think the message got through to her. It feels like everyone who ever gets close to me doesn't last long.

(Kayla's Point of View)

It was night, we were still catching our breath from that close call with the strangler horde. That would have been bad. I will protect this place as best as I can, I am not losing this place too. I've moved around far too much. I walked outside and sat on the porch, there was strangler blood still spilled all over the porch. We would have to clean that up in the morning. The front door opened from behind and Brandy walked outside with me. He sat down beside me, we looked out into the forest from here. It was a nice view. You could hear the quiet sound of crickets, nothing else. It was a quiet night. You wouldn't believe it after what just happened.

"So," Brandy said, "pretty crazy day huh."

"Eh, we've been through worse." I answered.

"So how are you holding up?"

"Just fine, nobody died, that's a good thing."

"Maybe our luck is turning up, or we're just getting better at this surviving thing."

"Luck isn't real, and if it was, it wouldn't last. Definitely not in this world." I said.

"Come on Kayla, think of this as a success! We beat off the strangler horde! We won! Anything can come our way, we'll be fine!"

Just then, the front door opened, and Ryan walked out. I never liked that kid, he was weird. He creeped me out. He was holding something behind his back though.

"Hey Ryan, what's up?" Brandy asked.

"You people are bad." he said.

"What?"

"Kayla, your father killed my father. He's a bad man, all of you are bad people."

"My dad does what he needs to do, it's why he survived this long."

"My dad didn't deserve it!" Ryan yelled.

"Okay Ryan, why don't you go inside-" Brandy started.

"No!" Ryan pulled out a pistol and hit Brandy in the face with it, he fell to the ground.

I stood up and faced him, he pointed the pistol at me.

"You are bad people, you need to go." he said, aiming the gun at my chest.

"Ryan," I began, "you're making a big mistake."

"No, your dad made a big mistake when he killed my father. You are dead Kayla, dead! I have to have my revenge!"

He was seconds away from pulling the trigger, when he was tackled by Brandy, he dropped the gun on the porch, and Brandy wrestled him for it. I didn't know what to do, I couldn't get in their way, I might get shot. I just watched in horror. Brandy finally got a hold of the gun and tossed it away so Ryan couldn't get it. Brandy then starting hitting Ryan over and over again. He was really angry. I've never seen Brandy like this before, he is normally a really passive person, what triggered him to be like this? After I realized that he wasn't going to stop hitting Ryan, I jumped in and tried to stop him.

"Brandy! He's had enough!" I grabbed him from behind and tried to pry him off, it wasn't working though.

He kept hitting him over and over again, until finally Jess ran out here and saw what was happening. She ripped Brandy off of Ryan, who was lying there helpless.

Jess wrestled with him for a few seconds until she calmed Brandy down. She held onto him, making sure he didn't try anything again. Elise then ran out and saw Ryan, passed out. She shrieked and grabbed Ryan.

"What happened?" she cried, holding him in her arms.

"Just a fight, an argument." I lied, trying to make it seem not as bad.

Everyone headed inside and tried calming down. Jess brought Brandy inside to settle him down, and Elise hurried Ryan inside to make sure he was okay. Brandy was beating on him pretty hard. I was left outside on the porch alone again, I saw the gun Ryan had was lying on the porch, I walked up to it and picked it up. I opened the magazine and it fell into my hand. It was unloaded, there were no bullets in it.

(Bay's Point of View)

I remember something falling out of my pocket when I was running from the stranglers in the forest. I think it might have been my gold necklace. I found in when I was clearing out the room upstairs to make the gun shop. I can't lose it, it was one thing that I actually liked. I needed to look for it. I didn't want to wait either, I really wanted this necklace. It was a change from guns and blood, I want something nice for once. While the commotion was going on with Ryan and Brandy, I slipped out the back door and headed out into the forest. I made sure to be quiet, stranglers are more dangerous at nighttime, you can't see them coming. I stayed low to the ground by crouching, and tried to retrace my steps, it was difficult. I kept my hands on the ground, scanning everything. All of a sudden, I heard voices. I laid down and stayed quiet. The voices weren't far from me, they were the voices of two men.

"Stop complaining! Ryder wants us to find this girl." one said.

"We're not going to find her in the darkness! Why don't we just look for her in the morning?"

"Ryder wants her as soon as possible. He said she lives in some kind of mansion, it's supposed to be around here. Now stop your bitching and let's get a move on."

The footsteps got closer to me, I held my breath and closed my eyes. They were bandits, I couldn't go back. Why does Ryder want me back so much? Just then, there was a growl, the bandits got spooked and ran.

I started breathing again and got up, I saw Doug standing behind me. He growled at them and scared them off.

"Doug?" I asked, petting him.

"What are you doing out here? Did you follow me? Let's go back buddy."

I started leaving the forest, I wasn't going to find the necklace in the dark, and with the bandits lurking around the forests, I don't want to be out here. We walked back to the mansion together and settled in for the night.

(Charlie's Point of View)

I walked down to the basement of Lockwood, where Samantha was. I pulled up a chair next to where she was chained up and smiled at her. She looked at me with fear. It was dark, but I could still see the expression on her face, she was terrified.

"It's okay Samantha," I began, "you don't have to be scared of me, I love you."

"You're crazy!" she broke down crying.

I put my hand on her cheek and caught the tears.

"Samantha, I love you, that's why I put you down here. We are meant to be together. So you don't ever leave me. Lot's of people left me in my past, but I won't allow it to happen again."

I stroked her hair and she trembled in fear, tears streaming down her face.

"Don't worry, I will kill Jeff, so nobody stands in our way of love. Wouldn't that be awkward if Jeff found out about this? We can't let it happen. Jeff is pretty much already dead. He's not leaving Lockwood alive, that's for sure."