Ava

Simply Twisted

"I don't want to go to work." Ava sighed to her reflection in the mirrior. "I hate going to work."
She rubbed her cheek with foundation, a sorry attempt to hid the bruise that had been so wrongly placed on her angelic face. She gave up and put the foundation bottle down. Again, she looked into the mirrior.
"I hate it here more..." she whispered.
She shook her head and abandoned the tiny bathroom. Ace was sitting on the couch in their living room, stuffing his face with potatoe chips as he watched TV. She was ashamed of what he had become.
"Sweetie, I'm going to work now." she said.
"Why?" he demanded.
"Because we need money and you're too lazy to get off your ass and earn some yourself." she shot.
"Excuse me? Who the hell do you think you're talking to?"
"Someone who I used to respect and care about."
"Ah, fuck off..."
She rolled her eyes. Maria was right, she reflected, and then she left.
The sad truth was that Ace never wanted to turn out like he had. He loved Ava. He never dreamed of hitting her, only of caring for her, but...He was terrified that if he cared for her, he'd push her away, or lose control. He needed control to feel secure, and the only way to get that, was to hit her and yell at her.
"Why am I so pathetic?" he asked himself out loud. "Why the hell can't I just love someone? It's the only person I've ever truly cared about and I already managed to make her hate me..."
He sighed. He hated himself, too. No wonder she doesn't respect me or care about me anymore, he thought, look at me.
And that was it. He finally came to decide that he didn't want to be around anymore, because he wasn't who he used to be, and it was too hard to change. So a whole bottle of anti-depressants and two and a half bottles of Advil later, the problem was solved.
*
"Ava, phone call!" her boss shouted.
Upon hearing her name, she trotted out of the kitchen and into the break-room. "Huh?" she asked.
"Phone. Call." he said slowly, handing her the phone.
"Oh, thank you." she replied, taking it. "Hello?"
"Ms. Maryanna?" a man questioned.
"Um...Yes. Who's this?" she asked.
"This is officer Leray from the Kent County Police department...Something has happened to your boyfriend."
She froze.
"Ms. Maryanna?"
"Yeah...I'm still here...Erm, what, what happened?"
"He...He committed suicide."
She dropped the phone. Oh my God...Oh my fuckin' God, she thought. No matter how much he had hit her, no matter how many times he had yelled at her, never would she have wished him dead. She loved him. In a sick, confusing sort of way, she loved him.
*
"Goodbye love
Goodbye lies
Goodbye rage
Goodbye lives
Goodbye glory
Goodbye pain
Goodbye beauty
Goodbye angst
Goodbye hate
Goodbye world
Goodbye fakes
Goodbye for good."
It was the suicide not that Ace had left. Ava read it over and over again as tears streamed her cheeks with the memory of what he had been, what he could've been, and what he shouldn't have been. She missed him so much...
She knew that the beast he had become wasn't the real Ace. It ripped her apart. There was a sweet, warm-hearted young man beneath the control freak striving for power. He had been seen at the Snow Ball, and in the Cafe`. She longed to be with him again.
She sniffled and set the note down on the table. With a gulp, she made her way downstairs. She walked over their home protection area, punched a glass case, and withdrew a sleek black hand gun. She checked to see if it was loaded. A grin spread across her face as she put it to her temple.
"Goodbye love, goodbye lies. Goodbye rage, goodbye lives. Goodbye glory, goodbye pain. Goodbye beauty, goodbye angst. Goodbye hate, goodbye world. Goodbye fakes-" her finger tightened on the trigger. "-Goodbye for good."