Narcotic of Obsession

Chapter One: Obsession and Revenge

                Renee Jones, the ghost of Christmas past, walks out of the water. Her wet, dirty hair and gritty appearance reveal she has been through hell and high water to reach her vengeance. The flaming wood chips behind her falling into the water reveal the hellish journey she has been through that has spit her out a few steps behind her. Francesca Valdez looks at the woman she tried to erase from history and hearts. With filthy and torn pants, Renee walks to the rival she recently discovered existed.

Francesca looks on with horror, seeing a woman who was supposed to be buried and forgotten about. Renee’s pictures, supposed to be just a relic for Francesca’s stepchildren to see on their family tree, are now the phantom haunting Francesca’s reality at the current moment. The two women stare out of the depths of their hearts in gripped tension.

                Renee, narrowing her gaze, walks slowly to her obsessed rival. Francesca turns, trying to escape her sins. Yet the confession of her guilt plays out in the karma of her tripping over a broken wooden board. She gets up, but by the time she begins to run, Renee hits her in the back. Francesca falls, and she can feel the presence of her past decisions and deceit haunting her. She tries to get up and reach for a blunt object, but her hand is stepped on.

                The remnants of an exploded dock continue to fall on the coastline around them. The ash and embers surround them. Francesca’s last attempt to kill Renee was bold, brash, and uncalculated. The northeastern rainy day cools the intense heat from the explosion on the two, but the damage is d

one.  The wood and metal carnage is a perfect landscape for Renee's revenge. When Francesca winches in pain from Renee’s foot, she looks up with eyes that ask for the mercy she didn’t give.

                Renee looks down at her marital and mortal enemy, and her eyes add to the intense moment with their focus on the woman who took everything from her. Renee, reaching her moment of victory, searches for words—searches for feelings other than hate and rage. Yet the pitiful brown eyes of Francesca only deepen Renee’s yearning to pull out the weapon she saved for this moment. Without words, she pulls out the pistol meant for her death. She takes it out, turns the safety off, and points it at the woman who has taken so much. The two speak with eyes. The brown eyes of Francesca know the price of the game she gambled in. Renee’s green eyes focus on justice and enjoy pulling out the last of horror from Francesca.

                Renee’s finger begins to pull the trigger. moment when the finger pulls back the trigger, Francesca begins to accept her fate. Renee’s eyes focus on their prey, and can begin to feel the relief of killing her most intimate oppressor. When the finger pulls all the way back on the trigger, the gun fires its singular bullet. The shot is loud to the two women but somewhat dampened by the climate signals finality. The poetic sentencing of the one bullet casing on the ground satisfies a mother who forcibly fasted from her kids. Renee watches as Francesca is shot in the same place she was. She rubs her scar as she sees Francesca begin to cough blood. Francesca tries to reach out for help, but Renee watches. When Francesca’s lung fills with blood, and she lies on her back, accepting her death, Renee stands over her and searches for words. Still, in her rival’s last moment, she cannot find the right words to send her off to the afterlife.

                Yet Renee knows the right action. She finds the single casing for the bullet fired, and she picks it up. The casing, like Azariah, has been with both women now. The casing, unlike Azariah, has hurt both women. Renee places the casing in Francesca's hand. Francesca looks at it, then looks at Renee, and the two know. The bullet casing is the intimate object purposely shared between the two. Renee folds Francescas’ fingers over it, then hands her the pistol of bloody intimacy. Francesca sees it is the same one used to end Renee’s life.

                As Francesca’s life evaporates, her eyes grow heavy, and the overcast northeaster sky becomes her last forecast. Renee, with her revenge coming to completion and becoming soggier as the moment prolongs, stands straight up and looks around at the once private dock and boat, searches for a way back to her old life. Then, at the last moment of her life, Francesca gets Renee’s attention with a faint raise of her hand. When Renee leans back over Francesca, she puts her ear close, and Francesca, with broken breath and waning defiance,

                “Valio la pena”

                Francesca’s life fully leaves with her eyes still open. Renee, wishing to show the last bit of disdain to a dead body, spits on it, with her rival's last words being the last middle finger between the two. In memory of how she was left, she leaves Francesca’s eyes open and blank. She walks away in the weary light rain and clouded sky, leaving Francesca’s body to rot in the open on an Island where no one will find her. Renee walks over to her things and calls for a ride off the island. The two leave the island in two separate states. Francesca leaves the mortal plane, while Renee leaves the island on a plane.