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PART IV

 Richard exists in a world of his own. Developed by years of trauma, both physical and mental. He'd done his time in the service, but that wasn't where the trauma began. The war was his exit strategy, he jumped at the chance to leave home. Even if it meant dodging bullets to escape the torment of his father.

War was a breath of fresh air compared to cigarette burns and leather belts. In war, when someone shoots at you, you shoot back. You protect your brothers in arms. He never grew up with any brothers, and they had been his brothers for a short time. That was until one by one his brothers died. He was discharged with tinnitus. Between tinnitus and post-traumatic stress, eventually the ringing in his ears turned to voices. Voices belonging to his brothers, mostly all at once; as if they were all in competition to make the most noise. Chanting, yelling, singing war songs. The constants chatter drove him mad. It came in slowly.

He even had a simple life for a short while. He had been married and took care of his ill mother. But it all became too much when his mother died. Her voice filled his head with unfortunate thoughts, and because it was his mother, he had no choice but to listen to her. She never liked his wife; so late one night while she was sleeping, to appease his mother, he put a pillow over her face and held it there until she no longer felt the need to struggle. And since then there had been many more. The ever-growing pile of bodies only added to the chatter in his head. His mind sounded like a crowded waiting room.

Donna hastily rummages through Richards things, but again left with nothing entirely useful. She approaches David. She knows at the very least he has his keys, that is if Richard hadn't taken them before throwing him down her. She doubted it, he didn't seem like he was in the frame of mind to actually think about such a thing. His actions seemed hasty. Richard used to be good at this kind of thing, but lately his heads gotten crowded and he's gotten sloppy.

Donna reaches into David's pockets and pulls out his keys. She knows she can use them as a weapon, but she has to have the element of surprise for them to be at all effective. She knows she'll have to hit him in a spot that counts. A place that will hurt so bad that it will stun him long enough to get past him. The moment has to be just right, she'll only have the one chance. If she shows her hand too soon, there's no way she'll manage to overpower a grown man while she's 7 months along. She needed to be smart about it, and Donna was a smart girl. No one really gave her enough credit, not even David.

Donna was ready with David's keys, strategically placed between her fingers, when Richard was heard coming down the basement steps. Wire she had found early stuffed into her breast pocket for safe keeping.