Date October 18th 2018 / Time 12:05PM / Status Not Recording
Location The Office of Doctor Irene Itzkof, MD – New York City, New York

“So, how was… Synergy? Is that it?”

I chuckle and nod my head.

“Yeah, Synergy. It was good.”

I shrug my shoulders and lean back in the chair. It was an uneventful night, really. I mean, other than getting a little bit of redemption for what Eden did last week… and I do mean a little… but I have the feeling that that’s not the last we’re going to be seeing of each other.

“Just good?”

I grin and nod.

“Well, I got Edie back for fucking me up last week and.. Well yeah, that’s about it. I lost my match and I came back home. No big deal really.”

She shrugs and jots a few things down before turning her attention back to me.

“You didn’t see Maggie?”

A sigh leaves my lips before I can stop it.

“I saw her. Yeah. She did some stuff with Lacklan and Vain and she was in the ring when I interrupted Eden.”

“But you didn’t talk?”

I shake my head and look down at my hands.

“No. There wasn’t much need.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because I’m not going to force my… anything on her. You know? My friendship, my love.. Anything. I hate that she feels like she’s at fault for what I did but I don’t know what I can do to show her that it’s not true. It’s not like I can do anything anyway.. She won’t let me get close enough anymore.”

Just like every other time… Talking about her and continuing to deal with what I did to her is always just like a kick to the gut. But then again, I guess that’s what it’s supposed to be. It’s not supposed to be all kittens and puppy dogs and positivity and happiness.

“Besides, I can only do so much.. Right?”

She nods her head and continues writing in the notepad for a few minutes. Just as she looks up to say something though, my phone starts ringing in my pocket.

Guess I forgot to silence it when I came in here.

I apologize to doctor Itzkof and answer the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hello, is this Lucille Wylde?”

I grimace and shake my head. God damnit I really need to change my name legally.

“It is. May I ask who this is?”

“This is Detective Harris from the Baltimore County Police Department.”

“Baltimore Police? What’s going on?”

When it rains it pours, I suppose. Talking about Maggie and our lost connection and now the police want to talk to me for some reason. Jesus Christ.

“Ma’am, as the next of kin.. We wanted to inform you that the gravesite of one Gary Charles Johnson was discovered to be exhumed and vandalized.”

My eyebrows raise and I scoot forward in the chair, drawing the interest of Doctor Itzkof.

“Wait a minute, what do you mean?”

“Ma’am, the grave was dug up and the remains are missing. We need you to come into the station to answer a few questions and–”

“Oh shit…”

I don’t know why I feel so shocked right now.. Then again I can’t figure out why I’m even fucking worried about it. I’m the ‘next of kin’. Lucky me. Because that’s exactly what I’d hoped for when I finally got away from that dickhead.. To have to deal with burying him and taking care of his estate. It’s too fucking much sometimes.

Just when I thought I’d actually gotten away from it all.

He somehow finds a way to sneak his way back into my thoughts. Son of a Bitch.

“Ma’am?”

“I mean, yeah.. Sure officer. I can’t get down to Baltimore today but I’ll be able to get there tomorrow. Is that okay?”

“Yes, that’s fine. We’ll be seeing you tomorrow, Mrs. Wylde. We’re really sorry about the damage done to your family members place of rest. We’re going to find whoever did this.”

I roll my eyes.

“I’m sure you will. I’ll see you tomorrow detective. Goodbye.”

I hang the phone up and stare at it for a few moments.

“Doc..”

“Yes, Lucy?”

I close my eyes and try to figure out what I even want to say.

“Have you ever thought that no matter how badly you wanted to get away from something that you’d never be able to fully.. Truly get away from it?”

She nods her head and sits back.

“I think everyone has.”

I can feel the corners of my eyes welling up with tears, but they’re not sad tears. No, I feel my blood boiling, I feel my forehead starting to sweat.. These are angry tears.

“No matter what I do.. No matter what steps I take to move on with my fucking life.. HE always finds a way to snake himself right back into the forefront of my thoughts. I can’t take it. I don’t want to think about him because then I think about what he did to us all those years and how he almost killed me just a few months ago. Then I think about him dying in front of me.. Falling over in a pool of his blood… unable to move, thinking that I was just going to die right along with him…”

I punch my thigh out of frustration and a few tears roll out of my eyes and down my cheeks, eventually staining my shirt before I could wipe them away.

“That was the Baltimore Police…”

I say after a few seconds silence, pointing at my phone sitting on the desk.

“Apparently my dear daddy’s grave has been dug up and his body is missing. I don’t care. I don’t give one shit that his body is gone.. I. Don’t. Care.”

“But it still upsets you.”

I laugh out loud, shaking my head and leaning my head back on the chair, letting the tears flow past my ears and soak into my hair.

“Fucking right it does because the motherfucker is dead and he’s still making my life a living hell! How the hell can a dead guy do that?”

“I.. I’m not sure.”

“Of course not. You know, because in life, he told me he never wanted me to be happy and he did everything in his power to make that a reality… I just never thought that in death he’d be doing the same shit.”

Doctor Itzkof leans forward, softly closing her notebook, looking thoughtful as I assume she’s trying to find a good way to approach me on this topic. I’m not sure there is a right way at this point.

“Have you heard him lately?”

“No.. Thank God.. It’s been over a month now.”

“That’s good. There’s a positive, Lucy. Let’s focus on that.”

“But I CAN’T! I have to go to Baltimore tomorrow to sort all this shit out. I have to fix everything for a man I hated! I have to fix everything because he was such a fucking bastard that he pushed his wife to the point where she snapped and killed him and now she can’t fucking wipe her ass without help. I don’t want the responsibility I don’t want the knowledge or the fucking ownership of anything that has to do with him… or them. Yet here I am.”

I put my hand on the desk, tapping my fingers anxiously.. Sitting still just isn’t working right now. I feel like I need to go outside and run.. Run until I don’t know where I am. Until I can’t feel my legs anymore. Until I can’t think anymore.

“Unfortunately–”

“Unfortunately, I have to do it anyway and there’s no use for me to keep acting like a spoiled child just because I haven’t gotten what I want. Yeah.. I get it.”

 

Date October 19th 2018 / Time 6:40PM / Status Not Recording
Location The Johnson Residence – Baltimore, Maryland

I’ve been sitting along the road in my car for nearly twenty minutes now, contemplating on whether or not I even want to go into that house.. If I even want to ‘check in and make sure things are still okay’.. Like the police encouraged me to do.

Now, that little get together was fun. Do I know of anyone that would want to do something like that to Gary Johnson? Why yes.. Yes I do. Many, many people would have loved to have been the ones to have murdered him.. So.. that question didn’t get us very far.

Do I know where Christine Johnson currently is? Yeah in the nuthouse. Why the fuck would she want to dig up the man that she killed?

It’s like the police around here have no fucking clue what they’re doing.

What were MY whereabouts on the day of the incident? Are they fucking serious? I didn’t even dignify that question with an answer.

Do you want to press charges against the person who has done this to your loved one? Well, he’s NOT my loved one, for starters so no.. I don’t much give a fuck who or why.. I don’t know why anyone would give a flying shit.. But I guess that’s just me.

I couldn’t wait to get out of there and head back home to New York. But then they hit me with the whole maybe you should make sure anything else associated with Mr. Johnson hasn’t been tampered with thing..

Again, why the fuck would I care?

I wanted to burn this house down at one point… Maybe I should have when I got the chance. At least I wouldn’t be climbing out of my car right now, walking up the driveway towards the front door, hating my fucking life right now…

I stop dead in my tracks though, as I approach the front door, immediately noticing that it’s off its hinges. Again? Jesus Christ… It looks worse than it did when I came here the last time, after Joe told me that he’d kicked it in while he and Maggie were trying to find me. I sigh and continue slowly towards the door, wondering what in the fuck.. Or who in the fuck wanted to get in here that badly.

I don’t have a good feeling about it though.

Especially when I glance down and see pieces of…

“What the fuck is that..”

I say to myself, kneeling down in the doorway of the house, trying to examine the remnants of something.. It’s hard to see in the diminishing light outside. It looks like clothes, maybe? Blood… Both?

A chill goes up my spine as I see a pair of big, muddy boot prints leading up to and through the threshold. I sigh and stand back up, pushing the door open the rest of the way and stepping inside.

Why me?

If I wasn’t dreading this before, I sure as hell am now as I take a few more steps inside, the chill even more intense the further I go. I pull my jacket in close to my body, stepping through the foyer and rounding the corner to the living room when I glance up to see a singular source of light within the room… The burning end of a cigarette that gets brighter just as I see it.

“Took you long enough.”

The voice takes me by surprise as the figure lights a match, revealing the grotesque, broken face of Necron. He pulls the flame to his face, lighting up another cigarette, taking a long, slow drag. In his other hand, he’s holding what I can only describe as a decaying human head… I pull in a short breath when he turns the head so that it’s ‘looking’ at me.

Jesus Christ..

I think I know who took Gary Johnson…

“Not that I mind, all that much. As you no doubt can see, I’ve had good company to keep the time, and oh the stories he’s told about you!”

He laughs and frankly I can’t fucking move at the moment. As my eyes start adjusting to the lower light level, I can easily see that that is definitely the head of my father.. No matter how much it’s decayed and then.. When I look around the rest of the room.. I can feel the blood draining out of my face…

I can’t.. I can’t even describe what I’m seeing… The living room is an absolute mess.. Blood everywhere.. Pieces of bodies, entrails… I put my hand up to my mouth as the stench finally hits my nose..

Look at what you’ve let them do to me, Lucille.

My heart nearly jumps out of my chest when I hear him once again.. A voice I haven’t heard in over a month. Not now.. God damnit.. Not now.

“What’s the matter, Lucy? Aren’t you happy to have one last chance to see your dear old ever loving daddy? You know, he really misses you Lucy. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that he’s actually pretty disappointed. You were supposed to join him. Get cold feet, all of a sudden?”

How.. How did he know that?

No one would have known what my father said to me in that warehouse.. Or the things he’s said to me inside my own brain.. No one. The sickness in my stomach is growing and instead of stepping further into the room, I stumble backwards, my eyes focused solely on the skull Necron holds in his hand…

You could have joined me, Lucille.

You still can.

No. We’re not doing this again.

I’ve got more pressing things to worry about right now.

Finally, I manage to open my mouth without throwing up..

“What.. What the fuck are you doing here?”

I manage to spit out, hoping he can’t detect the shakiness in my voice. I back up again, pressing myself against the far wall.. Not sure what that’s going to do, but at this point, I can’t really think.

“You… You do realize we’re partners this week, right? Not sure why you’d decide to dig up my piece of shit father for the occasion.”

He smiles and the absolute predatory nature of it makes me shiver. He takes another drag of his cigarette and shrugs his shoulders.

“When you want to get someone’s undivided attention, you don’t just tap them on the shoulder. You hit them with a brick. Then you’ll find they hang on your every word. Dear old dad there? Well, that was admittedly a spur of the moment thing. But all the same, I needed to know just who I had in my corner this week. He really does wish you were with him, by the way…partner.”

I shake my head.

“I know he does. That’s exactly why I’m here.”

I shudder at the thought. The truth of the entire thing.. The reality of it.

“So you find out anything good about your partner? Or can I just go ahead and leave you to your… business…”

He laughs again.

“Oh. You mean this? I was feeling a bit…peckish. Figured I’d practice my interior decorating skills while I waited. Our business, though…that’s just getting started. It’d be a regrettable mistake to walk away, though you’re free to do so at any time, of course. You’re not on my list…but I’ve got a couple serpents that are in dire need of skinning, and I expect you’d be something of a local expert on skinning snakes. Only a matter of time before our good Herr Doktorr can open wide those jaws of his again. Especially with Eden playing nursemaid.”

“Listen..”

I say, finally managing to step forward towards the room – against my better judgement. Although listening to him speak.. I’m thoroughly disgusted by this.. And everything, but not only that.. It’s pissing me off.

How dare he…

“Whatever your deal is with them, I’m not helping you do your dirty work. I’m there to fight and to win, but other than that.. I’m not trying to expand on what you’ve already done, no matter how much I hate them and what they stand for.. It’s not worth it. They’re not worth it.”

I honestly believe that. If that bastard came here hoping to scare me into helping him end Gabriel and Eden at Synergy.. Then he doesn’t know me very well. That or he’s a fucking moron. I’m not some pawn that can be used just by trying to frighten me, or… kidnap me.

My mind wanders to what Gabriel did.. And what the lasting effects of that have been as I watch Necron shake his head. He turns his cold, empty eyes onto me and the moment he meets my gaze my blood runs cold.

You should have let me end it for you Lucille. It would have been better than this.

I shake my own head and grit my teeth as Necron begins tossing the skull around in his hands like a fucking baseball.

“Maybe I should’ve put the amulet on you, instead of Roxy. You’ve got courage, I’ll give you that, Lucy. Not many monkeys out there would straight up deny me, were they in your shoes right now. Honest too, to boot, even though it’s to your detriment. You won’t go there, to their level, will you? I can see how you’d think they’re not worth it. From your perspective, I get it…what’s in it for you? You help me toss Eden into a woodchipper and shove Baal in after her, what do you stand to benefit? Right? Afraid it’s not that easy. Eden and Baal won’t believe you’re just “cooperating” with me. They’ll no doubt believe you’re actually on my side. Even if they don’t, they won’t act any differently either way. Lucky you!”

I scoff, balling my fists up.

“I could care less what they think of me. They’ve never thought much of me since I came here so why would this be any different? I’m not on your side. I’m on my own fucking side and I don’t care who you are.. Or what in the hell you do but I’m my own person and nothing you say will change that.”

Just there mere thought sends my blood from ice cold to boiling hot. All the progress.. All the good things I’ve done have come to this.. This test and I gotta say.. I’m not doing too well at all.

Necron lifts the skull and stares into its eyes, his head cocked slightly to the side as if he’s actually fucking listening to it saying something. Then suddenly, his face contorts and he throws the skull across the room, shattering it against the wall into several pieces. The suddenness of it surprises me, but that’s short-lived when he turns his attention back to me and smiles.

“GOOD! That’s what I want to see! That’s the Lucy I need watching my back! That’s exactly the Lucy I want in my corner against team Slytherin. Defiance! Pride! Anger…yes, this is everything that dead bastard was afraid of! Tried to suppress! Believed he could smother! I know a smotherer when I see one…your Father is indeed a rat bastard, Lucy. All Fathers are. I should know. My Fathers were both terrible bastards, and they raised me to be an even greater bastard of a Father than they were!”

As if he knows me…

My fists are shaking.. My entire body is shaking as I step up again towards him.

“Don’t you think I KNOW that? Jesus fucking Christ. But you’re wrong about one thing.. He wasn’t afraid of that. He wasn’t afraid of my anger or my defiance. He was terrified of my happiness.”

I rake my hands through my hair and glance over at the broken skull on the ground, my stomach turning sour.

Oh, you do care, Lucille.

NO, I don’t. I don’t.

What I care about is someone trying to use you to get me to do what they want. Someone who thinks they have me all figured out, someone who thinks that I’m the kind of bitch to cower and submit.

WRONG.

“They put me on your ‘side’ this week.. And I’ll fight the match but that’s it. I don’t want anymore to do with any of.. This.. you got me?”

He stands up, absolutely towering over me. As if that’s supposed to scare me I guess. He looks down into my eyes, as if he’s searching them for something.. Like I’m a fucking bug under a microscope.

“Happiness…is fleeting. But you know that already, don’t you? It’s a hopeless search in an otherwise meaningless world that doesn’t give a shit about anything or anyone. But…for you: so long as you pull your weight Monday night…so long as you give them everything they deserve and then some–our business is concluded, and you’re free to go back on your merry way, at least…unless Hasting’s fucking hat decides to shove us together once again.”

I set my jaw as I look up into his eyes.

“I’ll do my part. I think that goes without saying and without all this…”

I point around the room and shake my head in disgust.

“This bullshit.”

“What can I say? I prefer to give everything that extra personal little touch.”

He holds out his hand, pointing into my chest. But I don’t back down. I can’t. I won’t.

“You…you have potential, so much untapped potential. Shame I never took the time to notice it till now. But, what can you do, eh? Still…you let me know sometime how that whole…happiness thing pans out, won’t you? If you ever change your mind about what is and isn’t ‘worth it’, trust me: you won’t have to find me. I’ll be right there, just outside the door. All you have to do is open it, and oh the sights I’ll have to show you will make all this seem like a day at the park!”

He turns and leans down, scooping up the remains of my fathers skull off the ground.

“Think I’ll take this as a little memento, and a reminder…unless, that is, you’d prefer to keep it?”

I roll my eyes and shake my head again.

“By all means. I’ve had just about enough of him for one lifetime.”

I really have. I just wish.. I just wish.. Fuck, I don’t know.

Why did I come here.. What the hell is wrong with me?

“You may have gone through Hell, Lucy…but daddy? He’s got the rest of eternity to enjoy its’ delights. He’ll be waiting for you, of course…the poor dumb bastard still thinks he’ll get to see you again someday. But don’t worry, I won’t spoil the surprise, I promise!”

He tosses his cigarette to the floor and turns to head towards the door. I watch him stop in the doorway and glance over his shoulder at me.

“See you Monday…partner.”

And with that, he’s gone. And I’m left in the midst of what can only be described as a murder scene. What the fuck am I supposed to do now?

The anger finally starts to wear off and the sickness returns.

Lucille…

I shake my head and leave the room.

“No.”

Lucille….

“Leave me alone… You’re not real.”

I’m as real as ever, Lucille… You know you should really listen to your little.. Partner this week. Unless you really do want to come join me.

In an instant my eyes fill up with tears and I find myself on the ground in the doorway of the house. I bring my phone out of my pocket and with shaking hands, I dial a number and put the phone up to my ear.

“Come on… Come on…”

Please answer…

Please..

“Luce?”

“Joe.. Joe…”

“What’s wrong, Luce?  What’s going on?”

“I’m hearing him again… I..”

I sniffle and shake my head.

“I’m not okay… I don’t know what to do…”

 

You know, Edie.. Gabriel.. It’s real funny meeting the two of you like this.  

Like really fucking funny.

I’m sure you guys are literally preparing for the ‘very real’ possibility that Lucy Wylde is going to come into Synergy on Monday totally on board with whatever fucked up plans that Necron has for you and that she’s going to do everything in her power to help him ‘end you’.   Is that scary?  That’s a legitimate question… I know that Necron has done some fucked up shit to you guys over the last couple of months and I really am wondering if the thought of me actually helping him scares you. 

Honestly, I’d hope that you two aren’t really that stupid.

Are you?

I’d hope that you two would know me well enough by now to know what I’m going to do coming into this match on Monday.

Then again, apparently my ‘partner’ sees potential in me.  Don’t fucking ask how I found that little tidbit of information out.  You don’t want to know.  Regardless though, apparently he sees something in me that would help his cause.. it’s just.. well, his cause fucking sucks.

Not because there aren’t times that I may or may not think that Gabriel Baal and Eden Morgan deserve the shit that comes to them when these bad things happen… But because I’m better than that and I’m honestly better than all of you on my worst days.  

Yes, even you, Miss ‘I think Lucy wants to be me because I’m soooo insecure about myself and I have to lash out at anyone who might have a shred of respect for me because I’m a piece of shit’.   Whether or not I get your current issue with me is irrelevant.  It’s here and as far as I’m concerned, I guess it’s here to stay.  But just know that I think you’re an idiot.  I respect you.

Just like I respect you partner, even if he is the person who handed me over to my father and put me through ten days of torture. 

I don’t like either of you.  Obviously.  But I’m also not out to mortally hurt you like my partner is.  I’m not that type of bitch and I would have thought that I have proven that over and over to you but I guess I’ll just have to go out there and prove it again on Monday.  As if it’ll mean anything.

As for my partner?

Necron.. Like I said the.. other day.. I’ll do my fucking part.  But don’t expect anything more from me than that.  I’ll go out there and try to win us the match but I sure as hell am not going to help you hurt them outside of the match.  And please, if you don’t like that… do something about it.  Dig up another grave.  Try to frighten me into submission.  Whatever.  I don’t care.  How about this, you do YOUR part and worry about the mutilation and death later?  Or is that too much to ask?

It might just be too much.

Either way, I’ll be seeing you all on Monday. 

 

OOC: JC Used with Permission.  Thank you to Nekky for the collab this week!