The Altercations With Purity

A Mixture of Shock and Disbelief

Hey, guys. I'm sorry I haven't finished the trilogy. I hit a horrible case of writer's block when it came to how to end this. Then I saw Glass and the idea wrote itself. NO spoilers to the movie will be in here. I hope you enjoy the conclusion to this story.

"We're here." Richards told his passenger who hadn't said a word the entire ride. She just stared at the window and lost herself in her thoughts. Richards wanted to ask her what she was thinking, what was going through her head to have him drive to Clark's old apartment. 

Casey took a deep breath and turned to face her driver. She knew it was a weird destination to request but before she did any one of her plans, she had to do this first. "I don't know how long I'll be. Can you drive Baylor around? I don't want him around for this."

Richards nodded. He didn't like children, but this one he would make an exception for. Not because of who is father was, but because of who his mother is. "It's apartment 201, second floor. She should be there."

Casey smiled in thanks and got out of the car. She didn't look behind her as Richards drove off, she just kept walking to the apartment complex. She felt like she reached apartment 201 in a matter of seconds instead of a matter of minutes. She couldn't bring herself to knock on the door. Clark loved this woman. He left everything to her. And it was all her fault that he wouldn't be coming home anymore.

Casey slowly outstretched her arm and gave a light tap on the door. She didn't hear any noise so she knocked again, louder this time. Casey thought this was probably for the best and was ready to go when the door opened. A blonde girl with blue eyes gasped when she saw her and grabbed her door frame. "Casey?" She whispered.

"You know me?" Casey immediately realized how stupid her question was. Everyone knew her. "I mean, yeah. Are you Olivia?"

The woman nodded and gestured for Casey to come inside. "Not just from TV, but Clark used to talk about you. Well, vent about you, really. He....um.... he was working really hard on your case before he.......died."

Casey looked this girl over and couldn't help but feel guilty for her pain. She kept her guard up, shying away into herself. Her large clothing made her look skinnier and the layers she wore made her body get lost in translation. "Why did you come here, if you don't mind me asking?"

Casey broke out of her thoughts and looked down, trying to find the right words in a situation like this. "Clark took the bullet for me. The bullet was meant for me and he jumped in front to protect me. It's my fault he's dead. It's my fault you're without him. It's my fault Mr. Benoit is gone too. They're all dead because of me. You're in pain because of me. And there are no words to say how sorry I am."

Casey broke down at the last part. She was rambling and in her words she realized just how much pain she caused. She brought so much hurt to so many people and the weight was falling off of her every word she spoke. She needed to confess, regardless of the consequences.

"I was blind. I thought my pain was meant for a higher purpose. I thought that all those years of hell was to make me stronger. I thought I had finally found a place where I belonged, but it was false. I just wanted to escape, but I went down the wrong path. And look what that's done. Look what I've done."

Olivia didn't understand the girl's ramblings, but she let her speak. She was only a year or so younger than herself and she had already suffered so much. She wanted to tell her that none of this was her fault, but that was a lie. Clark never abused Olivia until this case, that father brought a gun to the station because of her, she was the reason Clark died. But Olivia could see the pain in this girl's face. She could see her try not to cry as she apologized. She could see fear in her eyes and Olivia knew what she had to do. 

 "You saved me, Casey." Olivia said before Casey could continue. "You saved my life."

"What?" Casey let out a shocked gasp. "How?"

Olivia sat down on the couch and let out a sigh. She hadn't been able to tell anyone what Clark would do to her. She knew no one would believe her if she said a word. She could only hope  Casey did. 

"Clark would abuse me. Beat  me, rape me, threaten me, you name it, he did it. I was his punching bag, to put it lightly. He arrested me a while ago because I had something to do with a case he was working on. I caught his eye and once I was let go, he would pay for my time. And that's when the abuse began." Olivia lied for the sake of the girl. Clark never abused her before Casey's case, but some things don't need to be known.

Casey sank to her knees in a mixture of shock and disbelief. "I can't believe this. I thought......I don't know what I thought. He seemed the most normal of the two."

Olivia nodded. "He was a good pretender. He had everyone fooled."

Casey let out a small laugh. "So he wasn't the good guy. He hurt women. Like my uncle did to me. Like he does to impures." Casey whispered that last part to herself. She had been wracked with guilt for weeks because of this guy and for nothing.. He didn't deserve her guilt. 

"No, he wasn't. You need to put this behind you." Olivia advised. "Guilt will eat you up if you continue down this path. You need to wake up from this cloud of guilt and move on."

Casey heard her advice, but the words that stuck with her was wake up. She knew what had to happen. "Thank you. So much. I think you just saved my life."

Olivia helped Casey to her feet and walked her to the door. "Do  me a favor, don't tell anyone what I told you about Clark. Let his reputation stay clean, even though he wasn't." Casey agreed to Olivia's request and walked away from the apartment that held nothing but pain and suffering for its tenant.