indomitus | f. castle

VII.

"Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets, secrets hurt someone."

VII.

"A man was found dead late last night on 5th street in an alley. The cops suspect it was The Punisher once again." The news plays over the diner and Donna turns to me.

"Now he's killing innocent people!" She says but I don't take my eyes off the screen. That street is two blocks from my apartment. I keep my eyes glued to the tv and I gasp once they identify the man.

"Donna, that's no innocent man. He's the one who attacked me." I say still in shock. I couldn't hide my bruised cheek from Donna and the guys and they immediately wanted to know what happened. I explained and Donna was so worried for me she even wanted to send me home to take a day off. That was yesterday. It happened two nights ago. And yet again I haven't seen Frank since that night. When I had woken up that morning he wasn't there but he did make me some pancakes and had coffee made for me for when I did. I was a little scared to walk outside even in the daylight because I was worried the man would stop me again no matter what time of day it was. I hadn't had a night shift since two days ago when it happened, only afternoon shifts. Donna even asked if I wanted to only work the afternoons from now on but I told her I'd be fine. After all, I would be asking Frank to walk me home no matter what. I learned my lesson.

"Looks like The Punisher is looking out for you." Donna teases. It did make me feel better knowing he was dead no matter how awful that sounded. It was also weird that he assaulted me and two days later he was dead. It's like The Punisher knew, and maybe he did. Maybe he knows about me and heard what happened. I just don't understand how, the only people who know are the Donna and the guys and Frank. He couldn't of possibly seen it happen and not do anything about it, right?

The Punisher could be anyone, he could be one of the customers in this diner right now. Either way part of me is glad he's on the streets killing people who actually truly deserved it. I now don't have to worry about that guy again. I felt safe. The Punisher made me feel safe.

"Donna could I maybe go home? I'm not feeling to well with this stuff being brought up again." I was lying. I loved Donna and I felt bad for lying but I wanted to go home, I only had two hours left in my shift anyways. It was only 3pm and I wanted to learn more about this Punisher guy. Maybe he was only killing people who deserved it, but why? What's his motive? There was a hungry curiosity in me to find out and that's what I was going to do.

"Of course! Go! Go! We'll be fine here. Just get some rest." She gives me a quick hug and then I gather my stuff and leave. I make sure Donna doesn't watch me as I go straight towards the office. Once I get there I hurry up the stairs and enter. Karen is the only one here today and she greets me.

"Hey, Emma. Woah, what happened?" She notices my cheek and I shake my head.

"I didn't know you were coming in today?" She adds.

"Technically I'm not but I wanted to look up some things. Is that alright?" I hope they don't mind I'm using their computer for this.

"Of course not. Anything I can help you with?"

I sigh, maybe she could hep me. I was just curious after all.

"I'm a little curious on The Punisher." She laughs lightly.

"Conveniently, we are actually working with a man who says The Punisher is out to get him. He said he had a run in with him and ever since then he hasn't been safe and he's been hiding out."

"So he's seen this guy before?" I ask her and she nods.

"Well, yes but—" I cut her off. "Can I talk to him?" She looks confused.