Friday, December 31, 2010

Chapter 20

The party filed out and the night turned to day. Claudette, who stayed behind to console her daughter, ascended the spiral staircase up to Johnny and Lisa's bedroom. Lisa was sitting on the couch and Johnny was locked inside the bathroom like a thirteen-year old.

"I cleaned up the kitchen, sweetheart." Claudette said, "so you don't have to worry about that."

Lisa stood up.

"He still won't come out of the bathroom."

"Sweetheart he's upset! Now Johnny is a sensible man. He will come out, you will discuss this, everything is going to be OK." Claudette had had multiple marriages, so she knew how these sort of adultery-with-your-husband's-best-friend scenarios turned out.

"I just think I should be alone with him right now." Lisa said, concerned for Johnny even though she doesn't love him anymore.

"I understand sweetheart. I'm going to go home now." Claudette kissed her daughter and poked her on the nose. "Bye bye. You call me if you need me."

"I will, thanks Mom."

"Hm hm" Claudette said and with that was gone down the spiral staircase.

Lisa turned towards the bathroom door. Behind it lay a shattered, broken man. Lisa approached the door and tried the knob. No use. Still locked. She slammed her opened palm against the wood and marched off to the center of the room where she stood with her arms folded.

"You can come out now Johnny. She's gone."

"In a few minutes bitch." Came Johnny's reply through the door.

"Who are you calling a bitch?" Lisa asked.

"You and your stupid mother."

Lisa scowled and turned towards the phone, grabbed it and dialed. After a few rings, a familiar voice came on the line.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mark? I need to talk to you."

Mark was confused. What could she possibly have to talk to him about?

"What's going on?"

"Don't worry about Johnny. He's just being a big baby. You know...I love you very much."

Johnny held his ear against the bathroom door, straining to hear his future wife.

"I love you." he could make out Lisa say.

"Why don't you ditch this creep, I don't like him anymore." Mark said, disgust boiling in his voice.

"I know, he's not worth it. Why don't I come up there and be with you?"

"Sure baby, come on up." Mark seduced. "I want your body."

"You got it. I'm on my way. Bye." She said just loud enough for Johnny to hear.

"Bye." Mark whispered.

Johnny could listen idly no longer. He burst out of the bathroom.

"Who were you talking to?" he asked accusingly.

"Nobody."

"We'll see about that!" Johnny said, walking out of the room. Lisa went about packing her things.

Moments later, Johnny returned.

And he had a tape.

He shook it in his hand at Lisa and she stopped dead in her tracks. She had a terrible feeling about what might be on it. Had he recorded everything?

Johnny sat on the bed and pulled a tape player from the bedside drawer.

"We'll see about that." he repeated, popped the tape in and pressed play.

"Hello?" came Mark's voice, exactly as it had sounded seconds earlier.

"Hi, Mark? I need to talk to you." echoed Lisa's recorded voice of moment's ago.

Lisa grabbed for the recorder, but Johnny pulled it away.

"What's going on?"

"Don't worry about Johnny, he's just being a big baby."

Lisa took a last look at Johnny and then went back to sorting her clothes.

Johnny let the tape play on.

"You know, I love you very much. You're the sparkle of my life. I love you."

Lisa dropped another pair of underwear into her bag and Johnny grabbed her arm, stopping the tape.

"You little tramp! How could you do this to me!" He screamed. "I gave you seven years of my life! And you betrayed me. Let's see what else we have on this tape..."

Johnny reached for the play button.

"No!" Lisa ordered, "Stop. You little prick. I put up with you for seven years. You think you're an angel. You're just like everybody."

"I treat you like a princess and you stab me in the back. I love you and I did anything for you to just please you and now you betrayed me. How could you love him!" Johnny wailed.

And he pressed play.

"Why don't you ditch this creep, I don't like him anymore." Mark said, disgust boiling in his voice over the tape.

"I know he's not worth it. Why don't I come up there and be with you?"

Lisa looked down at the tape with smug approval.

"Sure baby, come on up. I want your body."

"You got it."

And with that Johnny exploded, throwing the recorder and smashing it against the wall.

He fell back onto the bed.

"Everybody betrayed me. I don't have a friend in the world." he muttered to himself.

"I'm leaving you Johnny." Lisa said. And true to her word, she was out of the room in moments.

Johnny stood and walked over to the railing.

"Get out. Get out. Get out of my life!" he screamed after her.

And then he growled and fell back on the bed.

* * *

Betrayl surged through every bone in Johnny's muscular body. He stampeded down the spiral stairs, each step compounding his anger. He fell hard onto the couch.

"Ahhhh!" he cried out. "Why Lisa! Why! Why!"

Like a hailstorm, memories struck him, one after another after another. Getting drunk with Lisa, his tie tied around her head.

He screamed.

Dancing with her in the dark.

Her sweet kiss.

He screamed again, tears cut their way across his cheek.

Making love to her and the rose pedals and the way she looked in that red dress...

"You bitch!" Johnny stood, throwing the fruit out of the bowls. Kicking over the lamp, boxes, destroying all the glasses and candles and painting on his mantle.

With all the might his anger would grant him, he picked up the television and with one swift blow, threw it out the window.

"You bitch!" he spat out. "You bitch!"

It smashed against the pavement.

"Screw the whole world!"

He brought his carnage up the stairs, destroying Lisa's keepsakes on her dresser, then destroying the dresser itself, pulling out each shelf individually and sprawling it's contents across the floor. Then he pushed the whole thing over.

He grabbed the comforter off the bed. The pillows. The sheets. And he smashed them all to the floor in a heap before throwing himself on the bare mattress.

He flashed to him and Lisa. Making love there.

He stood up once more, knocking over a vase and a candle ornament. He saw his reflection in the mirror, and couldn't stand to look upon himself.

He threw a rock at it and the reflection shattered, broken as he himself was.

Finally, Johnny collapsed on the floor. Amongst the sheets, something caught his eye.

Lisa's red dress. The one he had bought for her all those weeks ago.

He felt it. Let it fall through his fingers and in his mind's eye he could see her once again. Twirling in it in all her beauty.

He took it to his nose and breathed in. Her scent still stuck to it. It aroused Johnny, so he shoved the dress into his crotch and thrust, each pelvic spasm a reminder of the beautiful love they once shared.

She was his future wife. No more.

"You tramp..." he spoke through moans.

He tore at the dress, ripping it to shreds, each shred a reminder now not of her beauty, but of her deceit.

He saw her dancing with Mark, and he tore a piece of the dress.

"I put up with you..." Her voice echoed in his mind, and he tore another piece.

He discarded the dress and cried out.

He reached for a box. Opened it and held its contents.

Cold. Hard. Steel.

"Why, why is this happening to me! Why!"

He looked at the gun in his hands.

"It's over."

He cocked the gun.

"God. Forgive me."

Johnny shoved the barrel in his mouth.

"Everything will be all right..." Lisa's voice echoed one last time. "Goodnight Johnny."

And he pulled the trigger.

5 comments:

  1. loooooovveee itt!!!!!

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  2. They were together 7 years... isn't she like... 18?

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  3. I love how, when Johnny throws the TV out of the window and it cuts to the TV crashing, there is no glass from the shattered window

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  4. I love dis sooo much

    ReplyDelete