Time Bomb

"I suspect the kindest thing you can do for him is admit him to a facility better suited to caring for him than... well, you."

"He doesn't have any money for that?"

"Ah, well, yes. That is a problem." But not mine, his tone finished.

"You knew..." Mia suddenly understood that he had known this when he had sent her the summons to his penthouse.

"Pardon?"

"You new. You already knew you were evicting us before you did... before you did all that to me."

The sense of violation swelled within her breast. Heat filled her head with red rage. Steven raised a hand to mollify her.

"So did you." The older man was clearly confused by her reaction. "That was a conclusion to our arrangement. That paid for your rent from months ago. It as owed."

"Owed?"

Incredulous she attempt to comprehend what was happening. The world seemed strange, slow and sinister.

"Yes, owed. As per our arrangement. This should have been clear in the letter. Did you read it?"

"Our arrangement which you ended immediately after you tortured me." The aches and pains in her body flared as she contemplated the depravity he unleashed upon her any memory of the awful letter burned away by the indignity she felt.

"Torture, is such a dramatic word. That was consensual intercourse. You have a safe word you never used."

On his desk the metal stature of the prostrate woman inspired her to beg. Climbing up on his smooth wooded desk she plead for her home and that of her Grandfather.

"Please don't do this to us! I'm begging you!" Tears fell on his polished desk, and she lowered her head to the smooth surface, hands outstretched in the same hunched, abject pose the stature held.

"Don't be ridiculous girl. This is embarrassing."

Mia looked at him, recoiling in his chair, robe falling open and his flaccid pecker drooping between his thick legs.

Tick tick tick...

BOOM

With an audible electric surge she thought she could hear outside her skull Mia felt her sanity fizzle out and end. Lifting the statue she swung it as hard as her desperation allowed and struck a wholly unsuspecting Steven on the temple with the heavy brass object of art.

The thud was sickening and the way her landlord slumped to the floor looked strangely boneless for such a big man. Groaning low he didn't resist, but twitched spasmodically. Climbing from the desk Mia hit him over and over until the statue bent and became ungainly in her hands. Blood spattered her nudity, mingling with the sperm staining her front.

For several minutes Mia wandered the penthouse lighting things on fire with a bar-b-que lighter until smoke made her cough and she was forced to leave.

All the way down the stairs she lit things on fire using Steven's lighter to ignite anything flammable she could find. When she reached her grandfather's apartment the alarms were ringing and people were flooding out of the building, some stopping to assess the naked girl spattered in blood and something else, but took one look at her face and ran away.

When she reached her grandfather he grinned at her nudity.

"Hello Sweetie. Did you come to play with Grandpa?"

"Yes Grandpa."

Climbing onto his fragile lap she snuggled him as he protested her sleight weight. Ignoring his protest she cuddled the man she hated and loved most in the world and wept as smoke filled the apartment.

5:30 p.m.

Leo couldn't wait to tell Mia that his bosses loved his character and were speaking to their lawyer to work out copyright details and move forward incorporating him into one of their other runs as an introduction to the character. When he saw the flashing lights he didn't think they were at his apartment until he smelled smoke and saw the charred remains of the demolished building.

Even in his moment of greatest triumph he keenly felt the loss of everything he owned, which wasn't much. Once by one the tenants assembled outside their building returning from their days and eventually it was determined that three people were unaccounted for. When Leo understood that Mia was missing he felt in his bones that she was gone. Discovering he was right didn't feel good in anyway.

In the years to come he remained grateful for the sliver of time he'd shared with the vibrant, giving young woman, his Manic Pixie Dream Girl who inspired him to achieve his goals. Later as a successful comic creator he modelled a character on Mia, but by that time he'd already forgotten more about her than he remembered. Still she touched his life at a pivotal moment and he never forgot the adorable, unhinged girl who burned down his apartment building.