Revenge

Prologue

Mr. and Mrs. Bradley liked to think they had a perfectly normal life.  A large white house, with shingles aligning, and a matching picket fence with a gazebo to add a bit of character.  They had a dog, Patches, and a fat old tabby cat called Prissy.  All that was missing was a child.  A son or daughter, they weren't very picky.  To complete their perfect family, that would be all they needed.

The thing is, the Bradley family already has a child.  He is related neither to Mr. Bradley, nor Mrs. Bradley.  He wasn't adopted, and his family didn't give him up.  At least, they didn't purposely give him up.

The Bradley's view of 'normal' consisted of fitting in with everyone around them.  Don't stand out.  That could have been the family motto.  But when Sharon Cox married Charles Fall, she had unofficially signed up for a life of chaos, unpredictable events, and definitely not a normal life.  One year after remarrying, her new husband took his own life.  Unknown by Mrs. Cox, -or now Mrs. Fall, or you could even say Mrs. Bradley- her now deceased husband led a completely unordinary life.  Mr. Fall didn't lie to his wife, he just never got around to telling his whole family backstory.  

Which, coincidentally, had everything to do with his death.  And his previous wife's.  So when Mr. Fall committed suicide, he left the widowed Mrs. Fall responsible for his only son, Jasper.  Jasper was only eight years old when his father unceremoniously took his own life.  But he witnessed the entire thing.  Jasper was the key to Mrs. Fall's understanding of her husband's old life.  But when asked anything of the events that had taken place that night, he sealed himself tighter than a airlock.  

Two years after Mrs. Fall's husband aimed a pistol at his head and pulled the trigger, she remarried.  To Mr. Cooper Bradley.   Lawer, husband, step-father, and all around millionaire.  It would be an understatement to say Mrs. Fall admired his large quantities of money.  Now known as Mrs. Bradley, she changed her entire life.  From her last name, the house she lived in, the parties she went to, and the people she associated with, to the very last pair of shoes she owned.  Every memory of her previous life erased, wiped from her memory.  A clean slate.  But pretending none of it happened wouldn't stop the nightmares and constant pricking thoughts of her deceased husband's life from nagging at her.  Constantly reminding her that she isn't and never will be Mrs. Sharon Bradley.  

Now Mr. Bradley on the other hand, had no experience with death.  Besides the small memories of his grandparents funerals, of which he attended to at the ages of four and six, Mr. Bradley knew nothing of a family loss.  Mrs.  Bradley had not even attempted to enlighten him to the terms that caused her to become a widow.  For as you know, Mrs. Bradley was almost just as in the dark about this matter as Mr. Bradley was.

Mr. and Mrs. Bradley never spoiled their son.  They barely considered him their son.  They weren't cruel or unforgiving parents.  But they never seemed to care all that much about what Jasper had done at school today, or whether or not he needed a ride to the football game.  Despite Jasper being an average good-looking teenager, with average grades, and an average amount of friends, he didn't have the love and affection of parents.

The most important thing that the Bradley's didn't know about, was the night Jasper's mother died.  Had they been there that night, had even Jasper's father been there that night, they would have heard the footsteps shuffling around the kitchen.  They would have heard the front door groan as it shut behind the masked man.  They would have seen, just as Jasper did, through the crack of his door, the dark figure moving fluidly up the stairs.  They most definitely would have heard Mrs. Fall's scream of terror as the figure threw a bag over her head.  As he dragged her out to the garden, her screams barely muffled by the bag, and his hand, they might have been able to help.  Being a six year old boy, Jasper couldn't help but creep down the stairs behind the figure to watch what would happen next.  But he regretted it.  For the next ten years of his life, he regretted it.

When Charles Fall came home that night, he saw the lock on the front door had been broken.  Racing upstairs to make sure his family was alright, he took in the scene that changed his life.  His only son was at the top of the stairs, head in his bloodied hands, making no sound.  The first thought that flitted through Mr. Fall's mind was that Jasper had cut his finger on a knife, or a sharp piece of glass, and was ashamed to admit it.  But then he noticed the dirt on the stairs and his missing wife.  

Almost flying back down the stairs, Mr. Fall finally made it to the garden, where he saw his wife.  Crumpled to the ground with a bag over her head, bleeding from a stab wound in her stomach.  Although he knew in the back of his mind, she was gone, it didn't stop him from tearing the sack from her face and checking his wife's pulse.  Even when he found none, and the bleeding finally stopped, because there was just no blood left, Charles called 911.  

The moment the ambulance arrived, the medic rushed to Mrs. Fall's body.  But it was obvious she was gone, and the medic told Mr. Fall his wife was dead.  That night, the remaining members of the Fall family packed up their belongings, and left.  Not a glance back at the house where the murder had taken place.  Mr. Fall didn't have a second thought about leaving, nor did he think that his son might have witnessed the entire event.

After marriages, moves, and new schools, Jasper had kept quiet about the entire thing.  Never told a soul.  Until the night he turned sixteen, Jasper had pushed it to the back of his brain.  Until he decided, he was going to get revenge.  Revenge on the hooded figure who ruined his life.  Revenge on the world for changing everything around him, and not for the better.  

But mostly, revenge on his father for ruining any chance Jasper had at a regular life.

Everyone is fueled by jealousy, and revenge.