The Unmaking of Cornelius Munch
By: Bria
Cornelius Munch was being unmade. He was being torn down and built back up from the top. They had told him it was for his safety, to keep him from the people trying to find him and hurt him, maybe even kill him. He wasn’t sure if that was why though, maybe this was just his punishment for what happened to Kate. He knew he deserved it if it was punishment. Everything was different without Kate there to brighten up his day with her warm smile, or make his heart flutter in his chest when she laughed. Life was duller without Kate, it had lost its appeal.
They had dyed his hair a peculiar wood like shade of brown instead of its normal golden hue. He supposed it was necessary seeing what had happened.
“Do you want green eyes or blue?” The FBI agent in charge of his case asked.
“Whichever,” Cornelius answered, as uncaring as he had been since the incident.
He had seen too much that day. That dreadful day that had changed the path of his life forever. If only they’d taken a different path that day, then maybe Kate would still be alive today. He tried not to think about that day, but found himself spending most of his time obsessing over it.
It had started off as a normal enough day, fighting off ninja assassins on the way to work. Oh sorry scratch that, that was a movie he had just watched. Actually he had gotten Starbucks with Kate and walked with her to their work at Critger’s Accounting. Critger’s was a pretty nice place to work, the boss was nice enough and there was always fresh donuts in the morning. He had asked her to go to dinner with him at Olive Garden that day, where they had had their first date. He had been so nervous that first date that he’d spilled hot coffee all over himself, completely embarrassing him. Kate hadn’t cared though, she had thought it was hilarious. Even in the beginning of their relationship he had known that he wanted nothing more than Kate. He had been planning to propose to her that night but he never got the chance.
They had been walking down a deserted street in the dangerous part of town. Kate had been scared but Cornelius had convinced her to take the shortcut with him, he wished he hadn’t now. They had heard shouting and Cornelius went to investigate, telling Kate to stay behind. Cornelius walked towards the source of the ruckus and found a man, who appeared to be of African descent, pointing a gun at another man, he shot the man in the stomach and turned to see Cornelius. Cornelius remembered him raising his gun to shoot him too but then he was pushed down to the concrete. Kate had pushed him out of the way and taken the shot herself. The African man moved to shoot Cornelius too but Cornelius didn’t care. Kate was lying in his arms dying and as she took her last breath Cornelius clutched her closer and sobbed into her hair. He vaguely heard sirens and the man said something in another language and ran down the alleyway.
The ambulances arrived and the paramedics pulled him away and tried to save Kate but it was much too late. Kate was dead, and that was all that mattered to Cornelius. He was checked over by the medics despite his protests that he was fine. It had shocked him to find out the whole ordeal had only lasted seconds, it had felt like years and it still did.
The police later told him that the man who had shot Kate was a diplomat from some tiny European country, that he had promptly forgotten the name of, named John Smith and that his testimony would be vital to putting him in jail. The name John Smith was surprising, he felt that it should be a more villain like name than ordinary John Smith. Smith would be determined to murder Cornelius so that he wouldn’t be able to testify, for without his testimony they wouldn’t be able to even touch Smith.
He would have to be put in the Witness Protection Program for his own safety. He was assigned a handler and a new identity as Robert Fink, an accountant starting a new job at Ruttger’s Accounting Agency. He was being forced to move to Seattle, not that he cared. Nothing mattered now that Kate was gone.
Cornelius could feel his sanity slowly crumbling away as he fingered the ring he had been going to give Kate. He didn’t know what life held for him now. His handler handed him a mirror and asked, “So, how’d I do?”
Cornelius looked in the mirror and almost didn’t recognize the man in the mirror. Other than the obvious differences such as his bland brown hair and green eyes, the handler had chosen green over brown thinking it more flattering to the brown hair, he noticed the small things. The sparkle in his eyes was gone and had deep bags under them from many restless nights.
“It’s great,” Cornelius muttered, listlessly shoving the mirror back into the handler’s hands.
“It’s time to take you to the airport,” his handler informed him walking towards the door in his crisp black suit. Cornelius guessed that he was supposed follow the agent out and walked out the door also. It was a depressing day, it was pouring rain and it seemed as though the entire world was deeply sad. As though the very earth was mourning the loss of Kate which Cornelius thought was fitting. The FBI agent directed him towards a sleek black car and Cornelius climbed in the back as his handler climbed in the driver’s seat.
“You’re a talkative guy aren’t you?” The handler remarked sarcastically. Cornelius didn’t respond he just looked out the window thinking about the somberity of life.
About five minutes into the drive the agent turned the radio on to what appeared to be some kind of strange jazz music. At least it filled the awkward silence in the car.
The excruciatingly long car drive finally ended as they pulled up to the San Francisco Airport.
“Your flight number is Oceanic 815, it leaves in an hour.” The agent said curtly, quickly handing him his blue boarding pass, “Good luck.” He added showing a strange amount of compassion as he got back into his sleek car. Cornelius watched as the handler drove away.
Cornelis suddenly realized that he’d never even learned the agent’s name as he was walking into the busy airport. This was unlike him, Cornelius was the type of person to learn your name, whether you were the newspaper delivery boy or the CEO of a large company, it made no difference to him.
After an hour of getting through security and getting hopelessly lost he had eventually made it to the plane with the help of a passing security guard, and he was now seated in a first class cabin. The plush reclining seats were fancier than anything he had sat on before in his entire life. There were some advantages to being in the witness protection program. Suddenly woman sitting next to him suddenly turned towards him.
“Hello! I’m Melody Steele. ” She introduced herself.
“Cor-Robert Fink,” he stuttered.
“Well nice to meet you Cor-Robert,” Melody laughed, “I’m heading to Seattle where are you heading?”
“Seattle, this is a direct flight after all.”
“Oh I’m so dense! So why are you going to Seattle?”
“New job,” he said feeling guilty even though he wasn’t exactly lying, he was just withholding some of the truth.
“Same here! I got a job at Rutgers Accounting Agency!” Her enthusiasm was infectious and Cornelius felt himself smile.
“That’s where I’m working!” He exclaimed.
“No way! Well, I guess this isn’t the last I’ll be seeing of you Rob.” She smirked and Cornelius felt his spirits lift for the first time in awhile.
“I guess you just can’t get rid of me,” he said, feeling truly happy for the first time since the incident. Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as he thought it would.
The End
