End of Innocence Ch. 14

Emboldened by this latest development, Derek began to construct what he wanted to say to her next. Yes, this was the time that he would pull out the stops and win over the most beautiful young woman he had ever seen. From childhood, observing at a distance, he had secretly obsessed over Ashley. His fantasies displaced away reality, seeing himself as her lover, her hero, and her master. In his mind, she would serve him; stand in awe of his presence, while submitting to whatever his desires that were his alone. The bridge between the knowing what was real and what was created was beginning to fade. His mind sopped with drink and years of an illusionary world where he lived had forced a shift in perception to take place. He began, "Ashley, I am going to make a lot of money and probably be famous someday soon." The sentence designed to swoon the weaker sex and their obvious attraction to material wealth brought to acceptance of mind from the countless subpar themes in various movies and television programs. If Hollywood thought it important to spend countless hours exploring the subject, there must be some truth to the matter.

Ashley tilted her head slightly without knowing the true intentions of where he intended to go said earnestly, "I am so happy for you Derek, I will be your number one fan!"

Derek lowered his voice, not the speech of someone shy around members of the opposite sex but as someone who was capable of malevolent intent, "I want more."

Ashley's eyes widened, "I don't understand."

Derek turned fully to face her, to dominate not only the conversation but the terminus as well, to succeed at his fantasy and win the goal, "I have been watching you all my life, loving you from afar, waiting for a chance to say how I feel, trying to excel so that you would notice, and now I have earned that respect, I need more than to be considered some off-handed acquaintance that was pitied. I DESERVE more." Ashley studied him for a long moment, anxiety began to grip her, and she wondered at her response, began to wish she had gone with her brother or demanded he stay with her. She thought carefully and thoughtfully going over her response so that not to further exacerbate the situation. She said gently, "I am flattered Derek, but I am already committed and am moving from California in a few weeks."

Dumbfounded as if someone had delivered a blow to his midsection, Derek sat idly looking directly at Ashley and slowly lowering his eyes down her body, his vision accepting every nuance and every detail honed from years of following small spheres traveling at great velocity, sliding down her arms to her hands. Not her hands, the hand, the left one, the one with a gold band. The same damn hand that her brother also wore a ring, exactly the same kind. The eureka effect fully developed, the lights igniting in the recesses of his consciousness, and the sickening realization that after all these years, the vast amount of peculiar behavior between the two, never seeing her date anyone else but always in the company of her brother, the absolute inseparability of brother and sister lashed together was the impetus to drive Derek into a rage of jealousy and torn fantasies that he came apart. He screamed, "You and your brother, what kind of sick bitch are you!?"

Ashley quickly backed away, "It is time for you to leave."

Derek's tremendous wrath and resentment launched full force. He stood up to his full frame and with a look of absolute disgust, "How could you do something so perverted?"

"It is none of your business; you wouldn't understand anything about the love between us, just go and live your own life." Ashley began to sight the room for anything that she could use in her defense. As she backed away, she suddenly stumbled against a packed box on the floor. The delay was all Derek needed as he picked up the wine bottle and threw it directly at her head. Years of conditioned response were recalled, and the container shattered against the left side of her temple knocking her to the ground in a daze; blood trickling out onto her blonde ringlets. The blow was glancing being contained and minimized from the joint impact to brow and the corner of a wall.

The bottle exploded sending shards of glass and wine in all directions. He covered the distance between the two of them in seconds grabbing the front of her blouse in his hands. "No, you bitch" he thought, "You belong to me." With that, he yanked her to her feet and picked her up in his arms. He looked to the stairway and began to climb with Ashley slipping in and out of consciousness. In a second of coherency she fought with her attacker and with another passed into pitch of blackness. Derek reached the top of the landing and finding an open door, walked into the room, and threw Ashley upon the bed. The final confrontation with evil had begun.