2009-12-13 16:42![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thewatchmaker
thewatchmakerCharacters: Gabriel Gray
Fandom: Heroes
Rating: R for violence and murder
Word Count: 1250+
Prompt: Mortimer Brewster: Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
scifi_muses
Notes: Before the series, before the eclipse.
They were wrong. Brian Davis wasn't the first. He was the first I killed for an ability, but I didn't scrawl 'I have sinned' on the wall after Brian. I did that before. When I lost my temper and lost control the first time.
There was a girl. I'd watched her day and night. She worked across the street. She'd smile at me through the window. She was so nice to me when she lost her keys one day and asked for my help to get into the little used bookstore she ran. I brought my tools across the street, she couldn't afford a locksmith, and I was good with locks. They're puzzles, machines, and I have always been good at fixing them. Breaking a lock was a piece of cake.
I felt like a spy, hunkered down in front of the door, while I fit the tools into pick the lock. I told her to watch my back, "Mrs. Peel." She didn't get it.
That should have been a clue, but I was in a little fantasy world while I helped her. I liked being needed. I loved being needed by someone other than my mother. As I popped the door open the smell of the old musty paper hit my nose. I loved it. I used to wish I owned his shop instead of mine.
"We should trade places. You can run my shop, and I'll stay here and read all day."
She frowned and stepped past me. "I hate it here," she said with a snort. "I hope my dad sells the place, so I can go back to school."
"I'm sorry." School was a sore subject with me. I had to say good bye to a scholarship because I had to take care of mom. I picked up her packages and followed her inside. Across the street I saw a customer looking at my shop and gave her a sad smile. "Well I have to get to work. Can someone bring you the keys?"
"I'll call my boyfriend. Thanks Gabriel." She gave me kiss on the cheek before opening the bookstore while I headed to the shop.
I'm bushy in the back. It's a slow day. They're all slow, so I perk up when I hear the bell ring over the door. I've seen him before. He's her boyfriend, but that's not where I know him from. I knew him in high school when he'd shut my hand in my locker door in gym and broke my nose.
"Um hi," I say coming around the counter. "Did you bring the keys to Laura?"
He flips the 'closed' sign over and walks toward me. "I brought her the keys. She said you helped her, Gabe. Didn't I tell you to keep away from what's mine?"
He's pressing toward me, and I'm backing up, afraid to turn my back on him. "I didn't do anything! I unlocked the door for her. You need to leave, or I'll call the cops."
"Still a loser, Gabe." His rough hand grabs my chin. He's got arms like a gorilla, so long and he's fast. His other thumb scrapes my cheek. "Nothing? Then why do you have lip gloss on your face?"
I yank away from him. He's so angry, I can taste it. It almost vibrates in the air. My knee comes up between his legs. He's bigger than I am, I am not going to fight fair. I don't know how. I scramble as he grabs the back of my sweater, nearly ripping me off my feet. I reach out and grab the only thing I can. My fingers wrap around one of the screw drivers I'd used to pop the lock for Laura. He yanks again, and I spin around with a snarl of my own, trusting the screw driver up under his chin.
It takes a moment before the blood runs down the handle over my hand. He's staring at me as his eyes glaze over. His weight nearly takes down to the floor with him. I lose my grip on the screwdriver and the blood starts to flow. I'm shivering, backed against the door to the alley. My hand is covered in blood, and the puddle is spreading across the cheap tile in my back room. I grab the threadbare towels that mom gives me to clean with and bundle them around his neck. They go from pristine white to scarlet in seconds.
"Oh god. It was an accident." I'm sobbing as I check for a pulse that I know isn't there. "Why couldn't you leave me alone!" My glasses steam up as I cry. I drag his hulking body into the back room and cover him with some old blankets. The smell of mildew mixes with the metallic taste of blood. I know I should call the police. I know I should turn myself in, but if I go to jail who will take care of mom? She'd die without me here.
Dinner tastes like the Styrofoam it came in. Mom wasn't happy I wasn't coming over for dinner, but I couldn't leave a body in my shop. When there was a knock on the door, I almost jumped out of my skin. It was Laura. She had her face pressed against the glass. I knew she knew I was inside. The knocking got harder the more I tried to pretend I was gone. Stabbing my chopsticks into the Mongolian Beef, I got up and went to the door.
"What is it, Laura?" I need her to go away. I've always been so nice to her, but now I need her gone.
"Gabriel did you see my boyfriend? I told him you helped me, and then he said he wanted to thank you." SHIT. My heart jumps into my throat.
I should have let him beat me up. It would have been easier than this. What the hell am I supposed to do now?
'you can kill her too..'
I can't kill her. I'm not crazy. You're only crazy if you do what the voices tell you to do. I'm arguing with myself when she pushes into the shop.
"Laura. He isn't here. Please go home," I'm pleading with her.
"Well I can't go home, Gabriel. He has the keys to the shop. He brought them, but he took them with him."
I squeeze my eyes shut and tilt my face towards heaven. I know God's not watching if he was, he'd have helped me or stopped me. "He's in the back, Laura." The words slip out before I can stop them. She stomps past me. She's pissed at me now for lying.
'Fuck her. You helped her. Kill her. Go home.'
My eyes flicker over the crystal on the counter. Too hard to clean. Coffee cup? Too fragile. Screwdriver? Worked last time. When I hear her gasp, I drive the blade into the back of her neck up into her brain. She's dead before I let her hit the floor. I'm rocking on my heels, guilt making me want to puke. I'm shaking all over. The whole world going black around me.
It's cold. I shudder, wrapping my arms around me. I'm sitting in the driver's seat of Mr. Dalton's van. The one he uses to deliver dry cleaning. I don't remember how I got here. Through the windshield I can see the black water of the river and the Brooklyn Bridge. I need to go home. After I return the van of course. The End
Fandom: Heroes
Rating: R for violence and murder
Word Count: 1250+
Prompt: Mortimer Brewster: Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops.
scifi_musesNotes: Before the series, before the eclipse.
They were wrong. Brian Davis wasn't the first. He was the first I killed for an ability, but I didn't scrawl 'I have sinned' on the wall after Brian. I did that before. When I lost my temper and lost control the first time.
There was a girl. I'd watched her day and night. She worked across the street. She'd smile at me through the window. She was so nice to me when she lost her keys one day and asked for my help to get into the little used bookstore she ran. I brought my tools across the street, she couldn't afford a locksmith, and I was good with locks. They're puzzles, machines, and I have always been good at fixing them. Breaking a lock was a piece of cake.
I felt like a spy, hunkered down in front of the door, while I fit the tools into pick the lock. I told her to watch my back, "Mrs. Peel." She didn't get it.
That should have been a clue, but I was in a little fantasy world while I helped her. I liked being needed. I loved being needed by someone other than my mother. As I popped the door open the smell of the old musty paper hit my nose. I loved it. I used to wish I owned his shop instead of mine.
"We should trade places. You can run my shop, and I'll stay here and read all day."
She frowned and stepped past me. "I hate it here," she said with a snort. "I hope my dad sells the place, so I can go back to school."
"I'm sorry." School was a sore subject with me. I had to say good bye to a scholarship because I had to take care of mom. I picked up her packages and followed her inside. Across the street I saw a customer looking at my shop and gave her a sad smile. "Well I have to get to work. Can someone bring you the keys?"
"I'll call my boyfriend. Thanks Gabriel." She gave me kiss on the cheek before opening the bookstore while I headed to the shop.
I'm bushy in the back. It's a slow day. They're all slow, so I perk up when I hear the bell ring over the door. I've seen him before. He's her boyfriend, but that's not where I know him from. I knew him in high school when he'd shut my hand in my locker door in gym and broke my nose.
"Um hi," I say coming around the counter. "Did you bring the keys to Laura?"
He flips the 'closed' sign over and walks toward me. "I brought her the keys. She said you helped her, Gabe. Didn't I tell you to keep away from what's mine?"
He's pressing toward me, and I'm backing up, afraid to turn my back on him. "I didn't do anything! I unlocked the door for her. You need to leave, or I'll call the cops."
"Still a loser, Gabe." His rough hand grabs my chin. He's got arms like a gorilla, so long and he's fast. His other thumb scrapes my cheek. "Nothing? Then why do you have lip gloss on your face?"
I yank away from him. He's so angry, I can taste it. It almost vibrates in the air. My knee comes up between his legs. He's bigger than I am, I am not going to fight fair. I don't know how. I scramble as he grabs the back of my sweater, nearly ripping me off my feet. I reach out and grab the only thing I can. My fingers wrap around one of the screw drivers I'd used to pop the lock for Laura. He yanks again, and I spin around with a snarl of my own, trusting the screw driver up under his chin.
It takes a moment before the blood runs down the handle over my hand. He's staring at me as his eyes glaze over. His weight nearly takes down to the floor with him. I lose my grip on the screwdriver and the blood starts to flow. I'm shivering, backed against the door to the alley. My hand is covered in blood, and the puddle is spreading across the cheap tile in my back room. I grab the threadbare towels that mom gives me to clean with and bundle them around his neck. They go from pristine white to scarlet in seconds.
"Oh god. It was an accident." I'm sobbing as I check for a pulse that I know isn't there. "Why couldn't you leave me alone!" My glasses steam up as I cry. I drag his hulking body into the back room and cover him with some old blankets. The smell of mildew mixes with the metallic taste of blood. I know I should call the police. I know I should turn myself in, but if I go to jail who will take care of mom? She'd die without me here.
Dinner tastes like the Styrofoam it came in. Mom wasn't happy I wasn't coming over for dinner, but I couldn't leave a body in my shop. When there was a knock on the door, I almost jumped out of my skin. It was Laura. She had her face pressed against the glass. I knew she knew I was inside. The knocking got harder the more I tried to pretend I was gone. Stabbing my chopsticks into the Mongolian Beef, I got up and went to the door.
"What is it, Laura?" I need her to go away. I've always been so nice to her, but now I need her gone.
"Gabriel did you see my boyfriend? I told him you helped me, and then he said he wanted to thank you." SHIT. My heart jumps into my throat.
I should have let him beat me up. It would have been easier than this. What the hell am I supposed to do now?
'you can kill her too..'
I can't kill her. I'm not crazy. You're only crazy if you do what the voices tell you to do. I'm arguing with myself when she pushes into the shop.
"Laura. He isn't here. Please go home," I'm pleading with her.
"Well I can't go home, Gabriel. He has the keys to the shop. He brought them, but he took them with him."
I squeeze my eyes shut and tilt my face towards heaven. I know God's not watching if he was, he'd have helped me or stopped me. "He's in the back, Laura." The words slip out before I can stop them. She stomps past me. She's pissed at me now for lying.
'Fuck her. You helped her. Kill her. Go home.'
My eyes flicker over the crystal on the counter. Too hard to clean. Coffee cup? Too fragile. Screwdriver? Worked last time. When I hear her gasp, I drive the blade into the back of her neck up into her brain. She's dead before I let her hit the floor. I'm rocking on my heels, guilt making me want to puke. I'm shaking all over. The whole world going black around me.
It's cold. I shudder, wrapping my arms around me. I'm sitting in the driver's seat of Mr. Dalton's van. The one he uses to deliver dry cleaning. I don't remember how I got here. Through the windshield I can see the black water of the river and the Brooklyn Bridge. I need to go home. After I return the van of course. The End
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