Of all the People (Being Rewritten)

[D]

"Daddy!" Nessa shouted. Darren ended up adopting her, despite his job, but it didn't matter too much. After a little bit more time, Umbrella would be figured out, and the people like us would be pushed out of our jobs.

"Nessa's calling you daddy already? You must be a pretty good guy, Darren." He smiled and Nessa let go of his hand. She ran over to me and gave me a big hug. Then she ran over to Steven and gave him a big hug. The kid seemed better now and I was glad. In my eyes, the child seemed to have moved on and I was happy to see her smile again. I was also was happy that I wasn't her father's killer, but it still hurt to think, that I could have stopped the killer. "So Nessa, how's your daddy treating you?"

"He won't let me have chocolates or...or ice cream! He says it isn't healthy to have too much, but Daddy took me to Chuckie Cheese a few days ago! I climbed so high up and then waved to him! AND THEN! And then, he smiled back and I climbed back down to eat the pizza with him! And theeen, I met Chuckie Cheese! He was dancing and then he gave me tickets. Then Daddy got me a big prize!"

"Wow, you must have had a lot of fun, Nessa." Steven picked her up and sat her on his lap. "It's your birthday today, right? I wonder what we should do today. Aunty Jilly, your Daddy, and I took a day off..." When Steven said that, I looked at Darren and scratched my head. He did the same. I hadn't quit yet, but the missions in our area weren't coming in. I was beginning to think that something bad was happening with Umbrella, but I liked not having to do some missions. "...so we can celebrate with you?"

"What's celebrate?"

"Ness, it's when you have a party for something." I said and she nodded with a still confused look on her face.

“Do we get to eat cake?” She asked and Darren nodded. “How abut ice cream?” He nodded again. “Chocolates?!” He nodded once more and she jumped off of Steven’s lap. “YAY! YUMMY!” Nessa grabbed Darren’s hand and tried to pull him off of the couch. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” She tried to hurry him, but he refused to move.

“Wait… Darren, you forgot your…uhmm…” I looked down at Nessa and smiled. “Steven, can you take her to the car?”

“Yeah, I’ll take her to the car…” He said and he took her hand. The two then walked out of the room while having an interesting conversation about unicorns and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“You left your gun here…” I walked into the kitchen, opened a cupboard, and then pulled the gun out. “Don’t do that kind of stuff.” I gave him a simple tossed and he caught it, but then he pulled out a similar handgun from his jacket. I looked at him and laughed. I felt kind of stupid.

“Don’t do that kind of stuff either.” Darren walked over and handed me my own weapon. I hid my gun on me and grinned. “Just in case?” He asked and I nodded.

“It can’t be helped.” I said. “When you’re like us…you kind of get used to bullshit happening on a nice day. But I hope nothing bad happens today… ‘cause it’s her birthday…Let’s hope everything goes well…” I paused and then looked up at Darren. “No. It will go well… You’re being a great father…” I looked away and headed toward the door quickly, noticing I still had the keys in my pant’s pocket. When I reached the door, I heard Darren say something and turned around. His voice was so quiet at that moment.

“It seems that you can make a great mother…” I stopped for a moment and then continued on, pretending not to hear him. I didn’t agree with him and what happened at the time when Steven was gone seemed like a dream to me when he came back. I guess I didn’t take their deaths so calmly like I had thought. “…Let’s go. We’ll be late for the train.” I said.

Darren opened the door for me and let me out first. “Oh yes the train. We’re going shopping for some new things for her, correct?” I nodded and led him out to the front of the apartment building. Man, was that awkward.

[D]

“Oh! Look at that!” Nessa pulled on my jacket and pointed outside of the train window. It was her first time riding a train and her random Oo’s and Ah’s made me smile. The train ride didn’t last long, but it was long enough for Nessa. She fell asleep just before we got off of the train and out of the station, so I chose to carry her out…

“Would you like any help?” My boyfriend/future husband asked.

I shook my head at first, but I stopped and asked him to help me. “Can you get my wallet out of my back pocket?” He reached into my back pocket and pulled my wallet out. Good thing that’s all he did. I wasn’t one who enjoyed being touched most of the time. “Can you tell me how much money I have?”

“…A lot. Are you working double jobs?”

“No.” Darren answered for me. “Jillian and I are security personnel. When someone needs security, they send it to the main office. Then the main office delivers a message to us, telling us where and how long. Depending on what we’re doing, we are paid low or high…but since we’ve been in this business for a while… I guess we’re paid in the middle.”

“You never told me that you did security work.”

“I thought you wouldn’t like it if I used a gun…Hehe, but I’d say I’m an ok shooter.” I smiled and he just looked at me. “Well, whatever…We’re supposed to go somewhere for Nessa, and I still don’t know where.”


My boyfriend then scratched his head and smiled. “Well… there are a few shops that I thought she would enjoy going to… Maybe… Hmm…”

There was a sudden yawn and Nessa lifted her head from my shoulder. She blinked a few times and then asked, “Where are we?” I was about to answer the little girl, but then she rested her head back on my shoulder and closed her eyes. “I love you Mommy…” She whispered and I gave a slight chuckle. Nessa had whispered it, but it was loud enough for the two men to hear.

“Mommy?” Steven asked and Darren turned away from us. Darren usually turned away when he didn’t want to speak to me… It made me wonder about what he was teaching the girl. “Heh, she must be tired from the train trip…Nessa must have mistaken you for her mother. You might look alike, y’know!” Steven smiled and I nodded. He really was a nice guy…Maybe that’s why I married him… haha.

“Jillian does look a lot like Nessa’s real mother.” Darren finally spoke up and I smiled at him. It wasn’t one of those regular smiles either…it was one of those…tell me what’s going on smiles... “Well... I guess we should start walking. I heard the walk is a long one.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me! Does that mean that I’ll be the one carrying this kid through the whole time?” The two men didn’t answer and started to walk without me. “…I’ll take that as a yes…”

Nessa slept for a long time, and when she woke up, I let her down. For the rest of that day, we went around to look for stuff she would like. Steven and I bought her a few toys and dresses…and it only took us most of the day to get the stuff. Haha. When it was time to get some dinner, I treated everyone to taco belle, because by the time we ended shopping, the only food establishment open was that place…Heh… Now that I think of it, I love Nessa so much…even if I had some really bad times with her…

[D]

“Oh! Hell No!” I yelled and then I quickly walked over to a broken vase to clean it up.

Darren felt that it was safe enough to leave Nessa alone with me. I agreed to babysitting her on that day and it turned out to be hell. She started out as an angel, but I made the mistake of letting her find a bag of sugar…and that’s when her inner demon broke out. I really wished that I didn’t tell Steven to go to work on that day. He was a much better babysitter than me.

“My sister gave that to me! Shi—NESSA! COME BACK OVER HERE!” I got up from the mess and ran over my couch to chase after the little giggling demon. “I demand that you also put some clothes on!” I tripped over the coffee table and the ground got me hard. I would have cursed at that moment, but Nessa stopped in front of me so I couldn’t. “Gotcha, you little stinker!” I grinned as I caught her by her arms and then lifted her to sit her on the couch. “No more sugar for you!”

“Lemme go! Lemme go! I’m going to tell daddy on you!” She screamed.

“Oh yeah! Tell daddy about how you destroyed my apartment!” I laughed and my grip on her tightened. Oh, how I hated babysitting her when it was only me… “And tell him about why I have a bump on my head and a bruise on my shoulder! Hahaha! Oh! And tell him about when you ran out in the hallway! My neighbor saw you naked! You can’t do those kind of things!”

“Cut it out, sister!” The child snapped her fingers and I opened my mouth to say something, but she beat me and continued. “I am not naked! This is my natural beauty!”

“Natural beauty?! Oh my god! Listen, you little brat!”

“No, you listen, honey!” Nessa absolutely amazed me and at the moment, I hated her and was amazed. “You are not the boss of me and you will never have that power over me! I, Nessa, say that I shall not listen to you!”

I slapped my face. “Argh! I never want kids!”

“You’d make a horrible mother anyways…”

“That’s it! I’ve had it with you!” I lifted her from the couch and put her over my shoulder. “I hate babysitting you! I give you all the stuff and you’re still a little bit—I mean brat!”

She screamed, but I didn’t let go. “Let go of me! Let go, Let go, Let go!”

“No way!” I put her on my bed, and threw her clothes at her. “Put on your clothes now!”

“And if I don’t want to…”

“I will throw you OUT of the window or throw you INTO the closet!” I shouted. This kid was probably the only kid who could make me yell a lot at her. “Either way… you won’t enjoy it. Now… put on your clothes!”

“I’m going to call the police and tell them you’re a child abuser!”

“Jesus!” I looked up at the ceiling and folded my hands. “Why… Why did you leave me alone with this girl?” I then looked back down her and growled. “I did nothing to you, little girl…”

“NANANANAANANAN! I’m not listening!”

“Don’t…”

“NANANANANA!”

“Just put on…”

“NANANANANANANA!”

“NANANANANANANANA!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. I felt that I needed to be louder than you. “Just put on your motherfucking clothes right now! Goddamnit!” Her eyes widened and I covered my mouth. I made another big mistake. “Shit…” was right…

“Oooooooooo! You said a bad woooooord… I’m telling my daddy!” She pointed her finger at me and I covered my face. I felt like I was going to die…“You said mean words and that is baaaad…” Nessa continued on with the pointing and random Oo’s, and I knew I couldn’t do anything to stop her. So I sat there and listened to her, until I heard a knock on my apartment door. I already knew that the knock meant no good, because Steven didn’t come home until later.

“Ugh… Please put on your clothes… I need to get that…”

“See…and all you had to do was say a magic word…” When I left, it looked like she was putting on some clothes, so I continued on to the door. I opened it and I saw my neighbor from the apartment next door. She looked like she had just woke up from a nap and seemed very tired.

“Is everything alright?” My neighbor yawned and I sighed. “I heard yelling and banging… so I just wanted to know if everything is well.”

“Yes…everything is just swell… You see…this kid…I’m babysitting her for a friend of mine…She’s so cute, isn’t she?” I placed a smile on my face and my eye twitched.

“NOOOO! That woman kidnapped me!”

“Nessa!” I growled and turned around to see a still naked Nessa. I sighed and turned to the neighbor. “Kids these days… haha.” My neighbor didn’t smile or say a word. “Wait… You’re not calling the police, right?” She turned around and walked away from my door. “Ms. Atkinson!? I didn’t do anything wrong! Oh god… please don’t call the police!”

It probably wasn't like this, but this is how I remembered the event. I knew that I hated babysitting Nessa and I knew that something really bad happened on that day...and if I do recall correctly... I think I did actually go to the police station...

[D]

Heartbreak -

Now that I’ve really thought about it, I did go to the police station, and an officer questioned me about Nessa. I really couldn’t believe in the trouble that she had gotten me in, but still, the whole situation I was in made me smile. The kid knew how to make a person’s day bad, and if it had not been my day, I would have laughed my ass off at the poor, unfortunate soul….But sadly, it was my day that had been ruined…and the day got worst as it went on too..

“She said that you threatened to throw her out of your apartment window…or lock her in your closet… Is this true?”

“I ain’t gonna tell a lie…”

“Just answer the question.”

“Yeah, but threats never hurt anyone…” I smiled and then looked up at the cop. “Can I go now? I just got put on a hot seat for something I didn’t fucking do… and I kind of hate bullshit.” I leaned back and put my feet on the table. Then, I pushed back and had the chair that I was sitting in balance on its two hind legs. “…Oh…” I pointed up at the cop and shook my head. “You should stop smoking… It’s bad for your health.”

She rolled her eyes at me and then put out the cancer stick. “No, you can’t go yet…That girl said you kidnapped her…and you took her from the park.”

“From the park?! I didn’t even take her to or from the park! I’ve told you that I was told to babysit her and that little demon…yes, the one sitting outside…made up all this crap…I seriously can’t believe…well, actually… I can believe why you would believe her over me, but for fuck’s sake!”

“Ma’am, please calm down…”

“You’re telling me to calm down?! God! I am in shit and I’m getting deeper into it…and you’re telling me to calm down?”

“Please just answer the questions… Did you kidnap her?” The female officer walked around the table and me. This was ridiculous and I was tired of it. “Miss Masters, please answer the question.”

“Did you check for any reports for missing children?” I turned my head to the door and smiled. Someone had come to the rescue, but his sudden appearance caused me to somehow get the chair off balance and I hit the floor. The man in the doorway quickly came to help me and so did the cop, but I could care less about her… “I never reported my daughter as missing…and I see she has caused quite some trouble.” With his help, I got up from the floor and then moved to dusting off myself. “This was all a misunderstanding, officer?”

“You got that right…” I muttered and the officer frowned.

“I’ll report that… You’re free to go, but if anything should happen, I will come after you.”

“Sure thing.” I smiled and we left the police station.

When we reached the parking lot, Darren finally said something. “I’m sorry for her actions…” I stopped him from walking and then pulled him by his shirt collar. I pulled him so close to me that it looked like I could have kissed him, but I wasn’t going to. I was glad he just saved my ass from the police, but I wasn’t too happy about his kid...and I was beginning to think that he had bad parenting skills.

“Look… you better train that kid! I will never babysit her again if she’s going to get me in this much trouble! I love you, Darren, but that kid drove me insane…and I was this close…THIS CLOSE… to throwing her out of the window!” Darren looked at me and I sighed. “I forgive you guys though…”

I had smiled, but when I heard another voice, my smile disapeared. “Jillian?” My heart sunk and I released Darren from my grip. I knew that tone and I could tell that it wasn’t happy. At first, I didn’t understand why the voice wasn’t happy, but then I realized it. It was another misunderstanding…and I knew that Darren wouldn’t fix this one for me.

This couldn’t be happening, I thought.

“What were you doing?” I turned around and saw Steven. He stood there with a surprised expression and beside him I saw little Nessa. She looked just as surprised at Steven, but her expression wasn’t really like his. It was almost like she was happy surprised. “Jillian, what did you just do?” Words refused to come out of my mouth, even if I didn’t do anything. I didn’t know why I couldn’t speak…

“Auntie Jillian really is my Mommy! She kissed daddy!” Nessa smiled and ran up to me to give me a hug. I looked at Steven and saw it in his eyes. I saw how hurt he was, even if I hadn’t done anything wrong, but he didn’t know that. He thought that I had kissed Darren and I knew that he didn’t come in time to actually hear my words… I’ll admit that I was pretty close to Darren, but I still couldn’t believe what was happening and Steven couldn’t either. I betted the vision of me making out with Darren played in his mind clearly and I could feel that the picture had stabbed him in the heart.

“Jillian…”

“Steven, I didn’t do…You got to under… Please, you got it all wrong!” I wanted to pry Nessa off of me, but I couldn’t. My body felt so cold and frozen…I couldn’t even look down at her. Her smile…didn’t make me feel happy. I don’t really know how I was feeling, but I do know that what I was feeling was not the happy feeling.

“I think…I understand what’s happening. I guess I should leave you alone with your child.” Steven gave me a smile and walked away. Watching his back was something…painful…

But it couldn’t be helped…I broke his heart and as a gift for it, he broke mine. Who knew that a small misunderstanding could cause so much trouble? No, it wasn’t a small misunderstanding…but I didn’t tell myself that then. It was sad and painful really. If anyone else had seen me and knew who I was…then they would have been able to see how hurt and how vulnerable I felt… On that day, I felt the most human…

“Steven!” I yelled after him and tried to move my legs, but Nessa wouldn’t let go and I didn’t want to push her. “Steven, don’t go! I didn’t do anything” He wasn’t going to turn back and say ok or I forgive you. “I really didn’t…It was all a misunderstanding!” Tears were in my eyes, but they didn’t fall. I moved up to wipe them but instead, I stopped and curse. “Shit… Steven…” Those were my final words for him before he disappeared from my sights, and those final words were the hardest for me to let out...

“Are you mad at me?” Darren suddenly placed his hand on my shoulder. I was going to shake it off but I had no energy to do so. “Jillian, I’m sorry…”

“What’s wrong?” Nessa looked up, but I didn’t respond and instead, looked back at Darren.

“No…What has been done…is done…It’s all just a misunderstanding, right?” I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself. My mind was in a mess. “It’s my fault…I thought I could keep some secrets…”

“What do you mean?” He placed his other hand on my shoulder and squeezed my shoulders. Darren was a good friend and a good guy, but I just didn’t know what to do at that time.

“Maybe this wouldn't have happened..."

“If he knew… then Umbrella probably would have killed them.”

I opened my eyes and got Nessa to slowly let go of me. “Would it hurt more to lose him that way?” Like every other day, I knelt down and gave Nessa a kiss and a hug, but when I came to Darren, I just looked at him and walked away. He was a good friend and a good guy, but I felt that he couldn’t help me…after all, Darren was still only a man.

[D]

So I spent a couple weeks alone and in my apartment and when I wasn’t in my apartment, I was working at Walmart or drinking in a bar. Nothing too special… ‘cept for the fact that I got drunk every other night….But yeah, nothing special. I pretty much just drank away the hurt and pain, even if that’s complete bullshit…Well, it was the same thing for some time, until this one night. The night were this bitch comes out of no where and tells me that she’ll take Steven out of my hands.

“You motherfucking bitch! Stay the fuck away from him!” I yelled and the woman in front of me laughed. “He’s my boyfriend!” The woman continued laughing and finally, I stood up. “Don’t you touch him!” I stood over her, but that fact didn’t stop her from laughing at me and it certainly didn’t stop her from hitting my beer bottle out of my hand. She slapped it out of my hand and it shattered when it hit the floor. Beer spilled all over my feet and I could feel some sharp glass pieces. I was wearing flip flops.

“Let me correct you, hun…” She poked me in the chest with her pointy nailed finger. “You’re the one who cheated on him. Having the nerve of kissing another man in front of him…” I kept myself calm as she spoke, but then she just had to continue on. “You’re a heartless bitch, Jillian, and I don’t see why you deserve him. He doesn’t love you anymore and he’s…”

“I dare you to finish that…”

“Steven’s mine now.”

“What was that…?”

The woman laughed and repeated it slowly. “Steven…” She whispered in my ear. “He’s mine now. You know that he doesn’t like bitches like you…” She leaned away from me, but as she did, I pushed her hard. Her flip flops went flying and her feet got cut up in the broken glass. A crash was heard and there she was on the floor next to a broken chair and a turned over table. A look of astonishment was painted on her face, but I didn’t give her time to recover.

My flip flops made the strange flip flop sound they made when they were wet and it felt weird to be walking in them, but I ignored it all and continued my way over to her. “Listen bitch…” I grabbed her by the hair and began to drag her across the floor. “Take it outside!” The bartender shouted and I shouted my reply back. “What does it look like I’m fucking doing?!” I could feel people staring at me. At us. But I didn’t care. I just continued on with the dragging even though she was screaming in pain loudly.

It took me a while to drag her out, but as soon as I thought that her ass was scraped enough, I slowly released her hair from my grasp. “You better fucking listen bitch.” She looked up at me with big, watery eyes, but I just shook my finger at her. “Don’t you show your fucking ass face around here again, or I will beat the shit out of you! Be glad that I didn’t do nothing to you!” I gave her one last glare before turning around to get back into the bar. I thought that the fight was over, but I was wrong.

She came up from behind and swung her purse at my side. And no, it wasn’t those girly, hardly feel it swings…It was one of those…there’s something fucking hard and heavy in the bag. If you ask me about the contents, then I would say that there was a curling and a straightening iron…and maybe some hairspray in the bag. She just looks like one of those girls, y’know? But anyways, the sudden hit caught me off guard and I lost my balance.

I fell to the ground hard and managed to land on my ass, but when I looked back up, she was swinging her bag at me again. I raised my arm for projection and then I felt the bag and its hard contents hit me. “Ahh…” I knew that I would feel that the next day, but that was if I ever saw the next day…

She readied herself for another swing, but quickly, I dug my hand into my pocket and then brought out some brass knuckles. The bag purse thing was headed my way again and again, I raised my arms to protect myself, but this time, I grabbed hold of the purse and got up. “Let’s show the whole world…how much of a bitch you are…” The woman struggled to pull the bag away from me and failed. I pulled her close and then connected my fist to her face.

I brought my hand back and started to laugh. “I wasn’t kidding!” My brass knuckles had left an imprint on her face, and do you know what it said? In big, bold letters, it read out ‘BITCH!’ Her hands went up to her cheek and I backed away, getting ready for another attack. “C’mon… You asked for it…” I readied to launch my own attack, but her reinforcement came out.

Her girlfriend pushed the door open and tackled me in the best way a girly girl could do. I was still standing. “Don’t hurt Marissa!” She yelled, but I ignored her and tried to rip her off. Marissa’s friend was a lot smaller than so it wasn’t too hard ripping her off, but she held on to my hair really good. “I won’t let go! You bitch!”

“For fuck’s sakes!” The tiny friend was now scratching and biting me, but I couldn’t do anything…without it coming out as murder of course…if you know what I mean. Haha…Not funny, but yes. Marissa’s friend was giving me a handful and Marissa AKA BITCH! took full advantage of that.

I suddenly felt her bag slam into the back of my legs and again I fell to the ground. Marissa’s friend continued her Chihuahua attacks and the BITCH! swung her bag at me like there was no tomorrow. I felt stupid when I rolled up and tried to protect my self, but I reminded myself that I wasn’t playing with the men I worked with at Umbrella. No, I was up against two bitches from the real world…Two fucking…fucking bitches…

[D]

“Get off of her!” I heard a yell and suddenly the attacks stopped. I opened my eyes and saw both of the girls being ripped off of me. “Marissa, enough!” Two men held her and her friend back. “What the hell where you doing?!” I heard growls and other sounds girly girls made when they fought…and I also saw her trying to squirm her way out of the man’s hold.

It was too dark to see, but I had a good guess of who my savior was. “That bitch! That bitch! I’ll kill her!” Marissa yelled and suddenly the man threw her to the ground. I gasped and then turned to see the man’s expression, but all I saw was darkness. “Ow! What the hell was that?!”

He approached her and stood over her, but he did not reach down to help her up. “What do you think you’re doing?” The man crossed his arms and without looking, I could tell that he was very unhappy with Marissa. “Who do you think you are?”

“I didn’t mean anything…I..” Her eyes drifted away from the man and then they stopped at me. “That bitch started it. She says that you’re her boyfriend! She insulted me and then attacked me…” I slowly got up and shook my head. Oh…let me tell you…my side was hurting like a bitch at that time… “So I fought--”

“I don’t know where you got that wild idea, but you aren’t my girlfriend and you never will be. After what you pulled tonight…going after my actual girlfriend and beating her up…No. Never in a million years.” As the words flowed out of his mouth, I just stared at him. “Go home. Here’s a suggestion for you. Don’t ever come after me or come near me. It isn’t for me…It’s for you…” Ah…and here’s my favorite part…

Tears welled up in her eyes and they were threatening to fall. “But Stevie…”

“That’s not my name.”

“Stevie…”

“Go home and never come near me or my girlfriend.” She looked up at him with those puppy dog eyes, but from the way she acted, I could tell that Steven was looking at her with eyes filled with no feeling for her. In her eyes, the feelings were gone, but in reality, he never had any feelings for her. “Go…Home.” Her puppy dog eyes failed and soon the tears flowed out.

I watched as she cried and when five seconds passed, she turned around and ran. When Marissa’s friend ran after her and the two left, Steven walked over to me and quickly looked at my ‘injuries.’ “What the hell where you doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been fired three times, your apartment is a mess, and you get into a fight…”

“Wait! How do you know that? Have you been spying on me!?” He didn’t answer. I looked up at him and waited for a response, but instead he checked my temperature by placing the back of his hand on my forehead. “Stop ignoring me, Steven…”

“I love you and I missed you…” He hugged me and I stopped speaking for a while. “I’m sorry…”

“You haven’t answered my--”

“Jesus, you’re hot… Are you sick, Jillian?”

I shook my head. “Well… my stomach hurts…” Her gave me a fake gasp and at the time, I didn’t know where any of this was going, but before I knew it, he was leading me to his car and telling me that I couldn’t drink and drive. If I didn’t have that much alcohol that night then I probably would have said something, but I didn’t and for the rest of the ride, I completely blacked out…When I finally remembered, I found myself not at my apartment.

Instead of being there, I found myself under his roof, in his bed, and under the same blanket as him…Yeah, but that’s not the only surprising thing I remember… Here’s a hint. His car poked me awake…and…OH yeah, there was a breeze!