Wrath Of God

Chapter 17: 'Monster'

I stopped the car outside and got out. The curtains in the house were all closed.
Last time I came home and the curtains were all closed there was a hit man waiting for me at home. The hit man. He was still lying dead in my basement. Alison wouldn't see him but I doubt she would miss the bloodstains on the rug in the lounge.
That's going to make things worse. I was worried now but I knew it was all going to be alright, it had to be. I opened the door and went in the house. I had that feeling again, the same one I had last time I came home. Something wasn't right.
Once again all my senses were on high alert. I moved slowly looking everywhere.
There was no one in the lounge or the kitchen. I called out Alison's name but I got no reply. My heart started beating frantically. This wasn't how it was meant to be.
I ran to the bedroom shouting out Alison's name frantically. She wasn't in the room but she had been. The room was a mess. Things were scattered everywhere.
The lamp was lying on the floor broken. Alison had thrown it against the wall.
She had also broken the mirror. This was really not good. Really not how I saw this all playing out in my head. Alison had come home, she had thrown things around and broken things in a violent rage. Tears were starting to well up in my eyes.
I had so wanted everything to play out like I had imagined it in my mind.
I shouted out her name again. Where was she? I heard a noise. I stood as still as I could and listened. The noise was coming from the bathroom. I moved fast, almost a blur.

I got to the bathroom and stood frozen in shock as I saw Alison. She was sitting in the shower. She was crying. She had been crying for hours. Her eyes were red and puffy. She looked like a total wreck. She had a gun in her right hand. Alison sitting broken in the shower. The image in front of me broke my heart. I felt useless and pathetic.
I whispered her name and moved towards her but stopped abruptly as she screamed at me and waved the gun in my direction. She was shaking with pain, sadness and anger. Never ever before had I seen such violent emotion from Alison. "GET AWAY FROM ME! GET BACK!". Her words cut me deep. I stepped back slowly.
I spoke softly, "Alison, please ... you don't have to do this. Put down the gun Alison. Put it down and let's talk. Please Alison..."

She cringed and swayed. I could see how much she was hurting.
She whispered, "I .. I can't do this ..." I moved a little bit forward and spoke calmly to her like a teacher talking to a child, "Then don't Alison, don't do it. You don't need to. Give me the gun Alison. Give it to me ..." She pointed the gun at me seething in anger, a wild look in her eye.
She screamed at me, "GET BACK! YOU DON'T GET IT DO YOU!"
I moved back again., I was afraid. Not for me or my life but for Alison. I could see how much pain she was in. She looked down and spoke. "You are a monster ... you said it yourself to the Bishop. He told me all about you. All about all the people you killed.
I knew you killed people but I thought it was just bad people you were killing.
You were Za'aphiel, the wrath of God. The Angel. A vigilante. Saving woman and people from the filth of the world. I loved that. My boyfriend was a superhero."
She let out a little nervous laugh and shook her head before continuing.
"He told me about the prostitute you killed. I didn't believe him. Then he told me about Reilly. I didn't know what to say. He then told me about all the others. About the senator's Party. You killed innocent people. Men and women. YOU KILLED WOMEN! You were supposed to be my angel ..."
Her words hurt me. Tears were streaming down my face. I was rooted on the spot, unable to move. The worst part was that everything she said was true. I was a monster.
I was the bad guy and no longer the angel I tried to be so many years ago
Maybe I never was the angel. I was just a killer. Killing was what I did.
She raised the gun and pointed it at me. She looked me right in the eyes. I could see the sadness in her eyes and I willed her to kill me. I wanted to die. I needed to die.
I deserved to die. All my life I had brought paid, destruction and death. She spoke, her voice almost inaudible. Soft, strangled words of sadness and pain.