Playing With The Puppet Master

11

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT THAT SHE'S DEAD!" The womanly shriek whipped my head down the stairs. A woman, an older copy of Donna in similar mourning garbs, stormed into the entryway.

"My fault!? Who was the one that let her go with that insane woman!?" A man in overalls and a button-down shirt stormed into the room. "You were the one that trusted and insane doctor!" Donna held a tighter grip on my arm as we watched the two steam.

"You could have said no!"

"This is your fault for inviting her into our home!"

"She's dead because of you!"

"She's dead because of you!" The unison of their screams was deafening. The two continued their screaming match as they trailed toward the kitchen. Donna continued with me down the stairs. We were taken to the den where a casket laid. I gasped at the little girl that stood in Donna's black dress and stared at the casket. A carbon copy of their father but with longer hair in an angelic white dress. She looked like she was sleeping with a cadou across her face. The little girl took a hand that laid across the other girl's frozen figure and squeezed it tight.

"When are you going to wake up?" The small girl asked in a sheepish voice. "Mommy and Daddy have been fighting over you for the past few days. That crow lady said she was going to help us. Why...why did she bring you back sleeping? Are you like Snow White? Will a prince wake you up?" The questions broke my heart.

"I never understood," Donna said as the little girl continued to hold the other's hand. "No, I didn't want to believe she was dead for a long time. Mother Miranda came to our family when she was ill and promised to make her better. Salvatore was with her and even though he looked scary at the time, my family believed her." A depressing laugh escaped her lips. "My sister was all I had when it came to friends. I was a shy child." I glanced back at Donna as she took in a deep breath and grabbed my hand. The room faded again and turned even greyer as it shifted. The casket disappeared along with the girl. "At first I was content on never wearing this dress again. The one day I took it off though, the worst thing happened. Follow me." Something deep down screamed at me not to as she walked away. I only obliged. The kitchen was a mess of flour and eggs. It looked there was a fight. The small girl from the other room screamed from somewhere downstairs. I jumped and almost ran but Donna stopped me.

"You can't change the past," she said just barely above a whisper. We walked down the stairs slowly and toward the crafting room. The door, unlike normal, was left wide open. She let me go first. What I saw nearly brought my breakfast out of me. The parents that fought just a little while earlier hung from the rafters alongside the wooden legs and arms that dried. My jaw dropped as a little girl stood between the two motionless. A red streak of blood carved down the right side of her face. It was as if you cracked a porcelain doll's face.

"No, no, no," I repeated lowly to myself as the child looked to the ground. Hot tears blinked against her eyes before they started to fall. I tried to walk forward, but the fog stopped me. Everything was gone.

"Afterwards, I chose to keep the dress on. That maybe somehow that would stop everyone I loved from dying. Ironically enough, everyone was already dead. Maybe I was scared that I would be next." Color bled back into the world. The flowery scent was replaced with drying stains for wood. I shook my head as a hand went to the table to steady myself.

"Donna?"

"Still here," she confirmed. I turned around on shaky legs and noticed the darker color returned to her eye.

"You RELIVE that!?"

"Often," she admitted. "It's the only way I remember my family. It's the last memory I had with all of them. The one that sticks out clearly in my head. It's been so long that...the good memories turned foggy and unclear. I can't even remember my sister's name it's been so long. If it weren't for these memories, I wouldn't even know what they looked like. It's been too long." I took in a deep breath and nodded.

"Well..." I trailed off moments later. The words escaped me. I took in a long breath and stared back at Donna. "Maybe we should give you a life of better memories so that you won't want to remember them." Donna's lips thinned into a line as she glanced away from me. The shy child from the memory was identical to her current expression.

"I would rather not let myself hope," Donna murmured.

"Donna, you deserve to move on," I said a bit harsher than I meant. The tension of the dream still sat on me. "I get it. I'm not a nice person once money is involved in most cases. Would you believe that I used to do mercy killings?" Donna stared back at me in confusion.

"Mercy killings?"

"Some of my clients were...horrible people. And I treat abusers worse than anyone. There were some contracts where I'd kill the abusers that paid me because I would find their kids or wives or even husbands beaten to a bloody pulp. I called it a mercy killing for the abused. Granted the abusers were never too fond of how I chose to off them. I do it because I feel that they deserved to move on or at least be given the opportunity. And what is a better opportunity than ending the torment they never wanted to live with?" I stood in front of a shocked Donna. "I know that I'm a bit late for your parents. But I'm right on time for your memories. I want to kill the bad ones until they are not able to breathe anything into you anymore."

"Morgan-,"

"Please, let me." Donna stared at me for a long moment.

"You're coming back?" She asked.

"And then I am going to back out and blow a stronghold sky high with every lycan in it. After that? I'm all yours and we can start working on things that should have been worked out a long time ago."

"Better late than never right?"

"Always." Donna held my hands in hers. They squeezed the life out of my own hands, but I didn't mind. She needed the stability. A few deep breaths escaped her lips as her head fell on my shoulder.

"If you don't come back..." she whispered.

"Don't worry, I will. I'm stubborn like that." Her grip tightened on my hands. My hands pulsated in reply from the lack of blood. I kissed her hair. "It'll be alright."

"How are you so certain?"

"Because it only takes hope." Donna grunted her reply.

"I hate leaving it all on hope."

"You left it all on hope when you assumed I would be your girlfriend, and when you asked me to stay, and the time when you-,"

"Alright, alright, shut up already." I laughed as her hands released mine and held me. We stayed that way for a short while before realization dawned on me.

"Donna, I do have to get going. Adrien has been waiting on me this whole time."

"She can wait a little longer."

"Donna!"

"Alright fine." She let go of me slowly and held my gaze. "But you better come back with her alive and you relatively unharmed." I nodded. She leaned in and placed a soft kiss against my lips. A smile formed against my lips as she pulled away. "Please come back."

"I will be back. I'm only gone for the day. Maybe you can help Angie while I'm gone. I heard she really needs more creative ideas of how to keep Georgia running around." Donna chuckled darkly at the very thought.

"Oh, I have some ideas if she's running out."

"Don't kill her."

"What? No. Me? Never." The teasing smile and playful glint in her eye was beautiful. I bubbled in laughter as she giggled. "Hehe, I won't harm her. But keep her running around? That I can do." I leaned in and kissed her.

"Be good."

"Be safe." She kissed me again before she let me go on my way. I ran back up to the room upstairs, grabbed the ammo I originally was aiming for, and back to a distracted Adrien. She was busy putting the handgun back together. I quirked a brow up as I stared at her.

"Finally, you're back!" Adrien said angrily. "Fix this!" The annoyance in her eye was comical as I put the weapon back together in under twenty seconds. She grunted as she grabbed the gun back and took the spare ammo. I felt the sniper rifle on my back again. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah! Ready!"

"Good, I want to get this over with."

"You're not the only one."