Six Degrees of Separation

SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION

A Short Story by: Affan Siddiqui, Muhammad Azhar Naqvi, Arnab Ray, Ghadeer Al Safi and Ashiq-Ur-Rehman

The Rule: Each person writes a chapter of the story based on three words. The actual words do not have to be included but the chapter must relate to those three words. The next author would work from the previous chapter’s ending. Improvisation is the key.

Table of Contents

Chapter	Author	Page #
Humor, disease and defection	Affan Siddiqui	3
Misery, health and perfection	Muhammad Azhar Naqvi	5
Serenity, silhouette and monstrosity	Arnab Ray	8
Resolve, pride and facetious	Ghadeer al-Safi	10
Revelation, reflection and indignation	Ashiq-ur-Rehman	13
Hope, lethargy and undertow	Affan Siddiqui	16

Humor, disease and defection

‘It’s over. I’m sorry it’s not going to work out’. David read the note on the table three times in his mind and yet he felt indifferent. The rejections felt like a routine. It was almost humorous that his relationships ended in the same abrupt or subtle manner. Either it was a note on the fridge or a text. Sometimes the woman herself left the apartment without notice, while stealing some of his stuff as well. He crumpled the yellow note into a ball and hooped it towards the garbage bin.

“Three points”.

Not knowing anything else to do, he lied down on his squeaky spring mattress.

“Well. shit. No wonder she left, a fucking ape wouldn’t make so much noise during sex compared to this bed.”

He sighed and took out a familiar picture from his wallet. The picture not too old was of a bride and groom. The man looked like he was in twenties; free from all the regrets of the world. The woman was cheerful, having found the perfect man for her; unaware that this perfect man would have a serious defection.

*************************

Looking back at his life three years ago, David closed his eyes and began reminiscing the past. David just landed a job in Wall Street and was considered to be one of the best entrepreneurs of the industry. His stock marketing skills were the ones he took pride of. To him, life was perfect; under his grasp and control. Unfortunately not everyone thought the same way.

 “David, where were you?! I called you three times and left you voicemails” exclaimed Christie as David entered his penthouse.

“Honey I was in a meeting with the shareholders, you know how important this is for me”.

“David you realize that the baby is due any moment, I need your support and that means your full undivided attention. *Sigh* Sometimes David I feel that you love your job more than me.”

“Christie, I am doing this for the baby. If I land this meeting, I will be one of the executive managers of the company. Think about all the benefits we gain from that. Hell, we can bust out of this miserable place and move away to the West Coast if we wanted to. That’s your dream isn’t it?”

Christies replied while turning away: “Sure David, whatever you say…”

*************************

Fast forwarding a few months, David found himself in a meeting room. His hand was pointed towards a pie chart and a group of shareholders were starting right at the chart. His boss sat at the far end of the table, grinned at him and gave him a sign of approval. However he was soon interrupted by his cellphone in his pocket.

“Uhh sorry about that, I forgot to put my phone silent this time.” David did not bother to pick up the phone and just pressed the mute button against his pocket.

“So as I was saying, if we increase our quality factor in production, we can expect to see a rise in stocks and profits throughout. Thank you.”

After the applause from the shareholders, his boss approached him secretly and told him: “Congratulations…Co-Manager

”.

David was ever so ecstatic and rushed home to tell his wife the news. He wanted to hear her reaction personally than on the phone itself. However when he reached home, he found the lock broken.

“David, is that you?” said his next door neighbor.

 “Mrs. Grant, what happened to the door and where’s Christie?!”

“Oh David, she’s in the hospital, she’s in labor, son. I came to visit her a few hours ago and she was moaning in pain. I knew something was wrong so I called the paramedics.”

The next few minutes of his life lasted an eternity as he rushed towards the hospital. Bypassing everyone in the hospital, he finally reached her room only to hear the news that neither his wife nor the child could make it. The doctor told him that if she had been brought earlier, something could have been done.

“Something could have been done”: Those words were the reinforcement of David’s guilt for the past three years.

*************************

David woke up from his thoughts and stared at the ceiling.

“I need to get out of this place.”

He got up from his mattress and proceeded to his car. David considered his guilt like a disease slowly deteriorating him away and the only thing that could remotely numb the pain was a road trip. Although this road trip wasn’t going to be like the other ones as he soon found out when he started the car.

“David.” David froze as he heard a very familiar voice calling his name from the backseat.

Not looking back he replied.:” Christie?”

*************************

Misery, health and perfection

David dared not to turn around or look in the rearview mirror. The engine was purring, David’s eyes lingered on the insignia of the car manufacturer’s in front of him on the steering wheel, his shaking hands holding it. With a huge, cold sigh of frustration, David unlocked the gear and accelerated into the road. He knew there was only one way of confronting whatever laid or didn’t behind him and that was compulsion. Compulsion to, after all, look into the rearview mirror down the road.

In not so long, due to a honking car behind, David’s eyes crept upwards onto the right to have a peak into the rearview mirror. Nothing but an aptly red Chevrolet appeared. A rush of relief took him over.

“Christie’s dead, Christie’s dead, she’s not here. It was wishful thinking.”

 The thought of it brought tears to his eyes, enough that he had to pull his car to the side in order to not crash due to blurred vision. Once the car was parked, David let out a wail that could’ve been mistaken for a donkey’s braying. He always hated hearing himself cry, it was pathetic and abhorrent to even experience. But he’d held himself back for way too long. Not anymore.

‘Don’t cry, Dave’ came the voice once again.

*************************

David spun around with a start to find Christie sitting right in between the back seats. Her face was just as it was in the photograph, curly hair adorning a pearly face with two topaz gems set on it. In a moment, a lifetime seemed to flash by him; he lived the photograph, her touch, her breath. And it all had come back to him in the form of nature’s sickest joke, bastardizing truth. The resulting shock threw him backwards, the belt, tightly wound around his neck, seared past and resulted in a minor cut.

“Oh my god! David, you’re bleeding!” shouted Christie, removing a tissue paper from her side-bag, the exact same one from the photograph. She was even wearing the same yellow dress with the blue flowery patterns.

“You’re dead! You’re dead! YOU’RE DEAD, Christie, Jesus Christ, Christie!” cried David, as he unlocked the seat belt and got ready to jump out of the car when suddenly a tanker stormed by.

“ARE YOU TRYING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED?!” shouted Christie as she grabbed David and pulled him back in time.

David didn’t know what it was that had caused his brain to freeze. Was it Christie’s apparent reappearance or nearly getting crushed into cat food? Christie wiped the blood from the side of his neck and bandaged it, another helpful utility of the purse, David remembered. What David didn’t remember, though, was feeling goose bumps all over himself, cold sweat and every single hair on his body standing, as though ready to hug Christie once again.

He started shaking his head, slowly and then rapidly. Christie had gotten out of the backseat and was sitting in the passenger seat. She then held his face, brought it close and planted a passionate kiss on his face. David wasn’t sure if it was the kiss of death or the one that’s supposed to breathe life into one.

“How?” David helplessly asked, with his hands trembling towards Christie’s face, still overcome by fear of both having found her again and possibly losing her once more.

“I had to get away from you, Dave, I just had to. You were not a good husband, not a good father. You left me for dead in that god damned apartment. I wanted you to be there for me, David, I wanted you to be there with me, but you never were. So I told Katie to help me. She was the doctor who told you what you heard. It was the only way I could have gotten away from you and ensured both our health, after all the pain, all the agony I went through that night!”

David’s head spun, danced with each and every word Christie sent his way and was ready to collapse from all the dizzying movement inside. There was just a lot to process.

“Why... didn’t I see you before?” he asked her, blinking ever so slowly, with a hand clutching his side, ready to vomit.

“I was afraid, I hid behind the seat. But when you stopped and cried. You never did that, you never ever did that. And I just... knew tha-“

Before Christie could have finished what she was about to say, David had lunged forward to grab her neck with both hands, throttling her, violently.

*************************

David was screaming, crying and vehemently adding as much energy into suffocating Christie, who had a look of horror, pain and disbelief on her face. Suddenly, then, an enormous voice echoed through the car.

“STOP IT, KYLE! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!”

 David didn’t know who Kyle was but he was intrigued as to where the voice came from.

“SOMEBODY GET THAT SON OF A BITCH OFF OF LINDSAY!”

Within a few moments, the car’s doors had been flung open and two men separated David and Christie. Christie had passed out and was naturally being taken to somewhere she could be looked after. David was pulled out and punched in the face, twice.

“WHAT WAS ALL THAT ABOUT?!” shouted a fat man, dressed for a game of golf, holding a club.

“It was... perfection!” spat David along with blood as he crawled on the floor, the green screen in front of him and the men standing around him, ready to beat him into a pulp.

“Kyle! You’re supposed to read your lines as you’re told to! Why’d you think choking Lindsay was an inspired improvisation?!”

David stared at the tooth, lying lonely, in the pool of blood in front of him. “Why did Christie do this to me?! Where’s my child, Where’s my child?! I’m going to make her pay!” he thought, viciously.

“Boss, Mr. Gruber’s been spending a lot of time around the sets, he stays in his RV but that’s it. The only traveling he does is to and fro the sets” said a hoarse, deep voice.

“Yeah, boss, I think Mr. Gruber needs to rest a while!” harmonized another similar voice.

“Okay, whatever, look at this guy, he’s a wreck! We’ve got deadlines to meet you son of a bitch!” the fat man shouted down at Kyle.

“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?!” shouted David, back at the fat man, with a rage that could only end where it had all started.

Serenity, silhouette and monstrosity

Lindsay was always the most cheerful girl throughout her neighborhood. Kids, fathers, mothers, grandpas and grandmas all loved her personality. She definitely made everyone around her cheerful as her bright demeanor was extremely infectious. She was single and vivacious, living her long fulfilled dream of becoming an actress. Despite multiple flings, she did not find herself in a steady relationship for quite some time, but that did not faze her at all as she had a Chihuahua named Rocky as companion. Lindsay lived in a modest suburban house surrounded by plentiful of houses owned by parents who wanted their kids to grow up in a safe suburban environment. Lindsay liked nothing more than sitting on her front porch after work and watching the kids play street hockey. Life possibly could not have been any better for Lindsay Carter.

*************************

Lindsay was rather frightened by the behavior of her co-star Kyle Gruber. She always thought of him as an actor who was very passionate about his work. But going as far as choking her without any warning frightened her. She touched her neck again and then shivered at the thought that Kyle might have been strong enough to snap her neck. She left her dressing room and asked the director if she could take the day off. The director only showed a look of pity and said, “Take the afternoon off honey. I will go and talk Kyle right now. Honestly that kid takes it too far sometimes. I am really sorry that you had to go through something like this.”

Lindsay packed her bag and started to head off home. She was feeling extremely tired and wanted to collapse on her bed. As she was about to get into the taxi, she noticed Kyle watching her from a distance. His face was expressionless; extremely surprising considering how emotive he can be when he appears in front of the camera. Lindsay quickly got into the cab and asked the driver to take her home. As the taxi drove past him, Lindsay turned her head to watch Kyle’s position again. He had vanished without a trace.

“Fucking weirdo.” muttered Lindsay.

After the taxi dropped her off, Lindsay stood at the entrance of her house. Rocky was barking from the inside of the house and was extremely excited to see his master at the end of the day. “Did you miss me Rocky?” The dog just licked his owner’s feet and wagged his tail with extreme delight. She picked Rocky up and twirled her around like a mother would do to amuse her baby. All the stress went away that night as Lindsay watched Jersey Shore and worried about Snookie’s relationship status in the current episode.

*************************

Lindsay thought she was imagining things when she felt like she was being stalked as she jogged around her neighborhood. Autumn had already set and the cool breeze blew off any drips of seat that accumulated on her forehead. Lindsay would constantly look back only to see children playing in their front yard. But somehow she could not shake off the feeling that she was being followed. She decided to stop at the turn of the corner and wait for whoever was passing to go by her first. She waited for a minute and then she saw a silhouette approaching the corner. The silhouette just stopped before the bend. Lindsay’s heart started pumping even faster as she waited for this person to make a turn around the corner. The silhouette did not move any further but stayed in place. Lindsay was now left with the choice to make run for it at that moment or confront the individual. She made the decision to confront this silhouette and as she was about to make the turn, the silhouette also decided to move forward.

“AAhhhhhhhhhh” screamed Lindsay as she could not prevent a collision with her stalker.

“Ohh what the fuck!” cried the teenage boy as he dropped his iPhone on ground. Lindsay was sitting on the ground after colliding head on with the teenage boy.

“My iPhone! Nooooooooo, Fuck you lady! Can’t you watch where you are going?”

“Ohh I am sorry, I was jogging and I didn’t see you making a turn around the corner.” Lied Lindsay.

“Whatever! Fuccccccccccck my phone!” The boy stomped his feet as he got up and left Lindsay who was still sitting on the ground.

Lindsay started laughing till tears started swelling in her eyes. She could not believe that she actually thought there was stalker following her. The neighborhood had always been relatively safe and there was no reason to feel otherwise. She jogged back to her house, humming ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’. Lindsay petted her dog affectionately and gave him a smooch before entering her house.

She was completely oblivious to the fact that Kyle Gruber was watching her.

*************************

The only thing Lindsay could think about was how quickly her life had turned for the worse. She had achieved her dream to be an actress, she felt like she deserved the recognition and yet it was highly unlikely that she could even be actress again. She took her suitcase and shoved a few clothes into it. In a state of panic, all she wanted to do was flee from the scene. She didn’t even know if she could ever come back. Lindsay started crying as she washed her hands with soap. But no matter what she did, the soap could not clean her hands. She wondered if anything would ever be able to clean these hands.

Her house was transformed within a single night. There was no stench yet, but it was only a matter of time before the neighbors complained of a smell from the Carter household. She wanted to put as much distance between herself and the house as possible. Lindsay was struggling to stay rationale after the events that had transpired in the last hour. She delicately stepped over Rocky whose lifeless body probably began to turn cold. “Where do dogs go after they die?” she asked herself. Only the cold wind replied as she opened her door. She looked at her living room one last time. Kyle Gruber was still lying on the floor of her living room. An ugly slash had cut his throat in half and a pool of blood has spread from the region of his neck. Lindsay shut the door.

*************************

Resolve, pride and facetious

The doors burst open to reveal a bus thronged with people, but Gabriella grabbed her son and rudely pushed herself between the crowds anyway, ignoring their sulky faces. With great effort, she fished out her phone from amongst the window-spray, furniture-wax and dust-pan in her carrier. She wiped its dusty screen against Juan’s t-shirt, smacking the top of his tiny head at his protests.

“Lindsay…Lindsay…” Gabriella muttered to herself, as she scrolled down the list of L’s on her contact list. Holding the phone to her ear, she waited for the third time, frowning. No reply. Juan tugged at her skirt, and looking up, she saw their stop approaching them.

 “Perra! How much time will it take out of her busy acting schedule to confirm our cleaning appointment?” She held on to her bulky carrier and the top of Juan’s curly head as they edged their way through the swarm towards the bus doors.

Outside, they stood on the sidewalk as cars and lorries rushed past them, their roar and horns deafening even over the wind’s holler. Gabriella held her skirt against the cruel breeze and contemplated on what to do next. She could call it a day and take Juan to the zoo nearby. It had been a long time since they had done something together. She looked down at his confused face and, noticing that she was smiling lovingly at him, quickly rearranged her expression.

“Are we going or what?” Juan asked. In a moment of realization, Gabriella set her bulky bags on the empty bench before them, and began looking through their contents.

“What are you looking for?” Juan whined again. He stood silently by her side, watching her probe on, until her eyes gleamed as she felt something. She took out a key.

“The spare” she told Juan. They put the contents of the bags back in place and proceeded to walk down the sidewalk. Juan skipped ahead, turning around to yell the update of his cigarette-butts on the street count. Gabriella simply nodded, pausing to rest every now and then.

Several huffs, puffs and Gabriella-smacks later, they reached the neighbourhood with its spotless, dainty houses. Gabriella breathed deeply, her heart still racing from the walk. She unlocked the door and let Juan, fidgety and excited, inside before her. A morbid stench hit her, flaring her nostrils, turning the insides of her stomach.

“Sucio!” she swore. ‘Even animals know how to clean up after themselves! It’s a good thing I came.”

She held the scarf around her neck over her face, trying to block out the reeking, then strode into the kitchen, getting down to business. Grabbing a broom and dust-pan from behind the kitchen door, she trudged to the living room. The smell intensified, and Gabriella frowned in disgust. “Eh, Juan! Make yourself useful, you’re not here to play-“

Juan was sitting on a red-painted floor, using his nails to scratch hearts and stars through the paint. 

‘JUAN! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?’ Gabriella yelled.

She plunged at him, ready to give him the biggest thrashing yet. Seizing him up by the shoulder, she paused, her large eyes widening, the pupils dilating. 

“Hehe, you didn’t see the dead man because I was sitting on him!’ Juan giggled. He mimed holding a gun to his own head, ‘Bam, bam, bam!”, and dropped himself by the reeking corpse.

*************************

Like steam clearing to give way to clarity, Lindsay finally saw. She patted the suitcase on the passenger seat by her side, checked her red-eyed face in the rearview mirror and then started the engine. Though her hands still shook, they grasped at the wheel with force. Somehow, she was emerging from her self- the purity of her new vision an incredible relief. This is I, Lindsay Carter. Actress, jogger, part-time volunteer at the local hospital. Loyal Jersey Shore viewer. Owner of Rocky the Chihuahua. Well, ex-owner. Murderer. Unfortunate, yes, but such is life, and the sooner I deal with this mess, the better it will be for everyone.  The simplicity of this soothed her, and she repeated the lines to herself as she drove, patiently slowing down for pedestrians, dutifully stopping at red lights, even signaling thanks to other drivers. By the time she had replayed the lines ten times, she was calmed enough to stop by at a Starbucks- the one she regularly passes by on work days.

“Hey, might as well have a last vanilla latte before turning myself in,” she sniggered. At the counter, she waved at some familiar faces, smiled bright at the recognizing waiter who didn’t need to ask her order. Cuddling the warm coffee in her cold hands, she walked back to the car feeling lighter. Freedom, she thought. This is how it feels. To know when, where, and how it ended, and what the rest of the journey will be.

*************************

Lindsay looked at the policeman’s pitying expression and knew something was wrong immediately. “Look, I killed him. I KILLED him! Arrest me already! JUST DO IT.” People around were staring but she didn’t care.

“We’re very sorry for your loss. It is only natural to blame yourself. Please have a seat. We’ve already called your family and are looking into the matter.”

She shook her head, a numbing ache forming at her temples. “Please, please, please..” she whimpered, hearing her voice break. She could feel the dampness of her cheeks even before her eyes began leaking.

“Christie!” someone called. A stout, ginger woman was rushing towards her, arms outstretched. She threw herself on Lindsay. “Honey, I’m so, so, sorry about Kyle,” she sniveled, speaking into her shoulder. “You’ll get through this. We all will. We’re here for you.”

Lindsay pushed the woman off her, mind throbbing.

“Go away. GO! I kill- I killed him! I slit his throat!”

The ginger-head looked at her sadly, shaking her head.

“Oh, honey, it wasn’t you. It was this Lindsay Carter. She confessed, the police are talking to her. You had nothing to do with it!’

“But, but I’m Lindsay-“

The woman simply shook her head again, sadness overflowing in her eyes. She took Lindsay by the arm gently.

“How about you spend the next few days at my place? You could do with some taking care of.”

Lindsay’s pounding headache escalated. Her heartbeats were quick and heavy, each one of them pulsing her legs, thumping the inside of her head. She was too tired to think, and let herself be led away by the stranger, gazing absent-mindedly at the coffee cup still cradled in her hands- with a name hastily scribbled across: ‘Christie.’

*************************

Revelation, reflection and indignation

"Where are we going?"

Christie stayed silent and kept her eyes on the road.

"Seriously, how long am I going to get the silent treatment?"

Christie peered through the sunlight to focus on the grey Volvo ahead that kept abruptly slowing down on the highway.

Her left index finger started to twitch, for the umpteenth time. She had to take a look at it, muscle contractions were always fascinating.

“I've always told you to dial back on the caffeine Christie."

Christie turned away from the windshield and back at David, who seemed very, very much real.

"You know what I think? This is purgatory. Don't you agree?"

Christie pretended to not hear a word.

"Seriously when are you going to talk to me?"

"I find it absolutely pointless to talk to my own subconscious" said Christie, snapping at her delusion, David.

"Funny, I didn't take you for a religious person for the years we've been married, since I'm a part of your subconscious and all. Why purgatory?"

"We're here." Christie slowly exhaled as she slowed down the car at the end of the trail, route 66 back to the West Coast. "Welcome to Santa Monica". Christie was home.

*************************

Christie opened her eyes to specks of dust as the sun peeked between the curtains. It was 7:43 am. She fell asleep for five minutes. She turns around to face away from the window and towards the door. She could hear Melanie’s muffled voice from the hallway, followed by moments of silence, perhaps she was on the phone. She had been staying over at Melanie's for over a week. Christie tightened the belt of her robe and walked bare feet to exit the room and placed her hand firmly on the door knob.

"Yeah, she seems to have finally gotten some sleep."            

                                         

Who was Melanie talking to? Christie stood still for a few seconds until Melanie hung up. Her feet never bore as much weight as she counted to 10, almost as if they were half sunk in the varnished timber floor. Christie followed the sun light at the end of the hall, where Melanie stood next to the dinner table reading the newspaper. Her beautiful red hair, graded to a soft golden glow from the sun, curls resting on her shoulders. She could almost fade into the rest of the wooden decor. Glancing up at Christie, she warmly greeted "Good morning."

Christie stared at her scrambled eggs and bacon strips. "So how are you feeling?" asked Melanie as she poured Christie a glass of orange juice. "I'm fine" said Christie, not really sure whether she was being honest.

"I think you need to stay here longer, until I'm sure you're okay." said Melanie attempting to lock eye contact with Christie.

"You don't really have to."

Christie struggled to speak with her mouthful.

"No I really, insist."

"Mel, as much as you are doing for me, I need to overcome this myself. David's death as hard as it is to accept, it's real now. I can't say that if I left him earlier, that this would hurt any less." Melanie nodded slowly.

"The David I knew was gone long ago." said Christie looking away and rolling up the sleeve of her robe, to reveal recovering bruises. Melanie reached out and held Christie's hand in silence. "Christie. Honey, I have to meet somebody; I'll be back in an hour or so."

"Alright."

Melanie gets up and picks up the newspaper she put away earlier from the counter and leaves.

*************************

Melanie sat across from her boyfriend Josh, at Bob's Diner. They said nothing to each other for the past few minutes since they made their order. Josh looks at the folded newspaper next to Melanie's bag.

"Not reading routinely it seems." said Josh gesturing at the New York Times.

"The first thing I skim towards at the end of the front page was about Kyle. I just brought this along to keep it away from Christie."

"Sooner or later she's going to watch the news on the TV or the internet."

"I know, it’s just, not the best thing to wake up to."

"How is she doing though?"

"She stopped identifying herself as Lindsay at least. I don't think she had a shut eye ever since Kyle died. I found her at Starbucks a few days after his funeral. She was screaming out in public, that she took his life."

"Wow.."

"I got her home immediately. Today was probably the first time she said David instead of Kyle."

"Who's David?"

"David is Kyle's middle name. He met Christie through me way along his acting career. He asked her to call him David when they started dating; he felt he needed a different name for his personal relationships."

"It's strange, the duality, that she felt responsible for his death and to actually believe that she was the person her husband was having an affair with."

"Rationalization, maybe? Things went downhill when they lost their first child. Christie stuck around no matter how much he hurt her. Kyle abused Lindsay just as much. After all that, he's just gone."

Melanie pulled away her chin from the radiating heat from their order that just arrived.

"Let's dig in."

*************************

Melanie steps into her house with Josh. "Christie, we're home.”. Not a single word in return. Melanie walks to the guest room. No sign of Christie. "She's not here." Melanie whispers to Josh, wide eyed and worried. She runs to the bathroom, the living room and the kitchen. Christie wasn't there. Josh went searching in Melanie's bedroom.

"Mel, I think someone was in here!" he shouted from the other end of the house.

Melanie walks into her room, one of her drawers pulled out from the dressing table.

"Oh my god Josh, my gun is missing."

 *************************

Hope, lethargy and undertow

Gripping the wheel firmly with her leather gloves, Christie drove her red Volvo down Route 69 back to the city with a new sense of hope along with a 45 caliber pistol.

“Where are we going this time?” uttered a non-existent David

“Back to where it all started” replied Christie

“Which is…?”

“You don’t have to worry about that. You won’t be around me anymore after today.”

*************************

Carlos was on his room trying to watch YouTube videos on his cracked screen i-phone. He lethargically walked the living room where his mother called for him.

“Carlos! Where have you been? You know you were supposed to be here an hour back!” shouted Gabriella

“Um Mama, I had another accident with my phone…I was just trying to fix it again” said Carlos as he approached the living room.

“AGAIN! That’s it! You’re grounded!! No TV for a month until you realize the point of responsibility. Maltido, what kind of role model are you to Juan anyway if you do such things?!”

“But Mama, it was the lady’s fault the last time, she—“He stopped abruptly and glanced over at the TV

“HER! She’s the one who broke it!!”

Gabriella turned her attention to the TV news channel and exclaimed:” Miss Lindsay?!”

She hushed Carlos quiet and turned up the volume.

*************************

“Hello everyone this is Channel 7 News. Earlier today we saw Miss Lindsay go to court pleading non-guilty in regards to Kyle David’s murder. Our sources say that Miss Lindsay changed her plea under the orders of her father. This decision might have turned out for the best as she was convicted non-guilty in terms of self-defense. She had no comments to say when she left the court but her acting director Mr. Grant had this to say:

‘Why do you even ask my opinion? One of my actors turned out to be a psychopath and the other actor killed that psychopath. How do you think that makes me feel?’

“Miss Lindsay is now back home in her old apartment after the police cleared the crime scene a few weeks ago. This is Rebecca Black, reporting Live, Channel 7 news”

“That’s a wrap folks!” said Rebecca as she took her headset and mic off. Rebecca Black, the top news reporter in the district, feeling she had accomplished yet another story she headed back to her car. She turned on the ignition and looked back only to find Christie pointing a gun to her face. 

“Drive to this address, any other movements, and you will dearly regret it.”

*************************

Mr. Grant paced around back and forth near the park bench in the moonlight. It was as if he was waiting for someone. He kept muttering: “Where is she?” Soon he gets a call on his phone.

“Christie? Where are you? Why did you call me here at this time and especially at this place? Look I know you’re shaken now, I am sorry about your loss but I myself am miserable as to how the media is going to look over my direction reputation after this fiasco.”

“Do you realize Mr. Grant, this is the place where David proposed to me. In fact, this proposal was supposed to be a movie scene but it turned out to be the real thing. You and David planned it all along. It all started here three years ago. My happiness was limitless compared to what it is right now. You and David planned it all along, planned my prospective demise”

“Christie what are you on about…? Where are you first of all?”

“Goodbye Mr.Grant, I shall visit your grave every year”

“What the fu-“But before he could continue any further. A pair of headlights flashed his vision and he found himself pummeled by a black sedan.

Rebecca stared in shock at what she had done. She was speechless and was left paralyzed after she saw Mr. Grant’s body lying motionless in the pool.

“Good job, Rebecca, on top of your game as always. Now see, was that so hard? Now, there’s one more thing I need you to do. Would you be a dear and drive to Miss Lindsay’s address?”

*************************

 “Here is fine” said Christie.

“But…but this isn’t herrr….add-address.” She muttered for the first time during the whole ride. They were parked near fence in a forest. Lindsay’s apartment was still 2 miles away.

“I know.” She shot a bullet into Rebecca’s skull and continued. “I don’t want her to get startled by the gunshot right on her driveway. I can take it from here, honey. I’m sorry but I can’t leave any witnesses…you know. Besides with that name honey, you weren’t going to survive for long. I’ll just tuck you in the trunk for now.”

She drove the next two miles to Lindsay’s apartment and knocked on the door.

*************************

Lindsay was remembering the last few moments before Kyle’s murder.

Lindsay entered her apartment. After having to deal with a teenager ranting about his broken i-phone, Lindsay just wanted to lay back. She put down her phone on the table and proceeded to undress. As she was about to take off her pants she noticed Kyle from the mirror.

“KYLE! What the fuck are you doing here?!”She grabbed a towel to conceal her revealing top.
“Christie, why did you have to lie to me,,,? We could have worked it out, why did you fake it…”

“Oh for god’s sake Kyle I’m Lindsay. Remember?! Christie was your wife. You-had-an-affair-with-me”

“LIES! I would never hurt Christie, She was having my child!”

“But you didn’t take care of her, Kyle. In fact you got so involved in your career that you forgot about her, you beat her, you cheated on her. Kyle the sooner you realize this, the sooner I can help you. Please listen to me” Lindsay stepped closer to Kyle with her hand behind the towel.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP, WHORE!” He proceeded to take out his gun but Lindsay was fast to react. She took out her pepper spray from her back pocket and sprayed it on Kyle.

“ARGHHH!” As he swerved back and forth shooting the gun in the air. Lindsay grabbed for the gun, hears a gunshot, a moment of silence and then a knock on the door.

Realizing that this knock was not part of her incident. Lindsay woke up to hear knocking on the door. She shouted: “Sorry, no reporters today” The knocking continued which made Lindsay get up and answer the door herself.

As she opened the door and said “I said no repo---“She found herself point blank with Christie’s 45 caliber.

“Not a word, drive the car behind me.” Not knowing which car she pointed to, the black sedan or the red Volvo, Chrisite gestured Lindsay to the red Volvo parked down the street.

 We both are going to go for a drive.”

*************************

“Take the shovel over there. That should aid you tons.” said Christie

“Chrrris---tie whattt are we doing at K-Kyle’s grave.” stuttered Lindsay

“That’s David to you, whore. I’m surprised he actually gave you his first name.  No matter. Dig.”

Lindsay dug the grave out until she hit the coffin. Lindsay then propped the casket open.

“Christie I know what you’re trying to do killing me won’t help at all. It was Ky—David who put you through the misery. Every day I feel horrible for what I did to you. Each day I feel worse than the last day and it’s haunting. I fe-”

Before she could continue Christie tossed the gun down to Lindsay and said: “Shoot me”

“W---whaaat?!”

“You think you had it for the worst. You were lucky enough that David let you call him by his first name. Every day of the week I would get a bruise on a body part. He had no mercy on me when it came to his rage. He beat me while I was pregnant. Said things such as ‘You’re holding me back, get off my case’ I was torn apart when he did not answer my calls of labor just because he was during a ‘scene’. So I faked my death and let him suffer for once. I just wanted to hear your part of the story to get the closure. “

Lindsay startled uttered “I don’t know what to say…I won’t kill you Christie. I…I actually envy you. At least you’ve found your closure. I will be forever haunted by this…this act…this memory.”

“Please do it…end my misery.”

“I’m sorry but I have to be selfish here…I have to end mine.” With no moment to spare Lindsay took the gun to her mouth and shot herself.

*************************

Christie looked down on two motionless bodies lying on top of each other.

She grinned.

“Can’t believe she actually fell for it”

“Are you happy now? Have you got the ‘closure’ you needed” said a nonexistent David. 

“Yes. As a matter of fact. I can see the effects now…” Christie replied after seeing that her ethereal form of David was slowly fading away.

“I was always jealous of that bitch. My life before David was lonely but at least it didn’t involve any scarred bruises or any affairs for that matter. No burden, no hustle, no undertow. It was a risk giving that gun to her and in all honesty, I wouldn’t have cared if she had actually shot me. Closure is subjective. In my case, I just wanted to hear her plead for her life. That’s all the closure I needed. That and that fat-fuck director who started this mess in the first place.”

“Oh wow you’re almost gone” she stated to a fainted form of a David’s form. “It looks like God has still another purpose for me. Hopefully the evidence carries out. These leather gloves helped tons, I’ll say that for sure. Now I need some sort of struggle on my part…hmm some rock maybe.”

“Ah here we go.” She noticed that David was buried with his wedding ring. She took out the ring and made a large cut on her forehead with the help of the diamond.

”Oh the irony.”

Christie walked away in the distance with her dream fulfilled and a sense of bright future as she heard the birds chirping into the early dawn.

 “Life is good.”

The End