---September 17th, 2008, 5:27 PM, Outside Amy Riley’s Home---

 

As the sun begins to set, Evan and Amy stop at the walkway up to Amy’s front door. Amy looks at her home, apprehension clear on her face. Evan easily notices this and puts his hands on her shoulders, making her look at him instead of the house.

 

“Hey…if he tries anything, you hit him with the Shocker, you understand? If he even seems drunk, you Shock him; give him no chance to hurt you. I gave the Shocker more juice this time around, so, if you have to use it, he’ll be out for about fifteen hours, plenty of time for you to get out of the house in the morning. I’ll know if something’s wrong, so you better call me. You better believe I’ll be over here quicker than lightning if I even see a flash. I’m going to say something that I should’ve said a long time ago….Amy...I love you. I love you, and you can be damn sure that I’m not letting anyone ever hurt you again.”

 

After his revelation, Amy rushes forwards, wrapping her arms around him, nearly crushing all the air out of his lungs. She loosens her grip and looks up at Evan, who leans down and kisses her, filling the kiss with his love for her. Unbeknownst to the both of them, her father looks out a window, the alcohol clouding his mind, bringing forth the worst part of him, getting angrier with every passing second the kiss lasts. He watches as they break the kiss, as Amy walks up to the door, turns, and waves to Evan. She opens the door, allowing the last remnants of sunlight to filter into the darkness of the house. From his spot in the shadows, Richard Riley stares at his daughter as she looks around the dark house, calling out to him.

 

“Dad? Are you home? Dad? Helloooo?”

 

Just as she shuts the door, cutting off all outside light, Richard turns on the light next to him, illuminating him and everything around him, though, not the dark grimace on his face. Amy jumps in surprise, not expecting her father to be sneaky. From the corner, Amy easily hears his slurred words as he speaks.

 

“Just like your mother…..a slut. Parading around dressed like that, probably fucking every boy who looks at you…you disgust me. I want you out of my house right now, you little bitch, and don’t you ever come back, you hear me! You pack your shit right now and get the fuck OUT!”

 

Trying to conceal her emotions, Amy ducks her head down, clenching her fists at her sides, as she heads towards the stairs. With every step she takes, the harder it is for her to keep the tears from flowing. She makes it to the top of the stairs and into her room before she begins to quietly weep. She forces herself to stop, to calm down, so Evan doesn’t run over and aggravate things further. She grabs a bag from her closet and begins to throw random articles of clothing in it, hating her father more with every piece of clothing. A sudden clang on her hardwood floor makes her look down, searching for the source of the sound. She quickly spots it, getting down on her knees to pick up, bringing it to eye level.

 

“The Shocker…”

 

Making her mind up, she zips the bag and slips the Shocker onto her left hand, slinging the bag over her shoulder with her right. She leaves her room and starts to head down the steps. Her voice filled with malice, she calls out to Richard.

 

“Oh dad…lets talk about this…”

 

Amy looks over to the corner her father previously inhabited, but finds it empty. She looks to her left, just in time to se his hand as it slaps her across the face. She reels backwards from the blow, quickly righting herself, shaking it off for once, readying for what comes next. He approaches her, his hand raised to strike her again, but he never gets to. Amy reaches out with her left hand, loaded with the Shocker, dashing forwards as she does. Amy slams her hand against the left side of his face, sending thousands of volts of electricity into him, feeling a slight thrill as he shakes and jerks under her hand, the skin blackening and peeling away. She removes the Shocker, nearly 30 seconds later and watches as he crumples to the floor, his limbs still jerking. As she turns towards the stairs, Amy looks over her shoulder at his still-shaking form and, with a sneer, says what her father had commanded her to say after every punishment.

 

“Thank you daddy.”

 

She walks up the stairs, satisfied with the night’s events, when she hears a knock at the door. Evans voice calls out to her from outside, still banging on the door.

 

“Let me in! I swear to god, I’ll break the door down! So help me, if you layed a hand on her Richard-“

 

Amy leaps down the sitars and swings the door open, throwing Evan off balance as he was in mid-knock. He looks passed her at Richards’s body as she holds up the drained Shocker, a small smile on her face.

 

---September 17th, 2008, 5:30 PM, Evan Campbell’s Bedroom---

 

Evan looks down at his watch anxiously, waiting to see if it would flash, ready to be out the door in an instant if it did. After five minutes of nothing, he is about to put the watch away, when it flashes just once, turning a dark red, the color for fear. As he heads up the stairs, skipping every other step, the screen fades to green, for neutral, quickly fading into black, the color for anger. He opens his bedroom door and jogs to the front of the house, ignoring his grandparents’ questions. He throws open the front door, slamming it behind him as he runs out into the night air. As he approaches Amy’s house, he glances at his watch, the color now fades from black to green. He rushes to the door and begins pounding on it, yelling as he does.

 

“Let me in! I swear to god, I’ll break the door down! So help me, if you layed a hand on her Richard-“

 

The door suddenly swings open, throwing Evan off balance as he was in mid-knock. He looks up at Amy, relieved to see that, aside from a red spot on her face, she was otherwise unharmed. He looks passed her at Richards’s body, lying still on the floor. Amy holds up the now-drained Shocker, a slight smile on her face. Evan steps into the house, walking up to Richards’s body, surveying the damage his Shocker had done.

 

“You had me worried there for a minute. Went from scared, to neutral, then to angry, then back to neutral. Thought it might be glitched, but, I guess not. You okay?”

 

Amy closes the door and makes her way to Evan, genuinely happy again. She smiles and gives him a peck on the cheek, before answering him.

 

“You’re cute when you’re worried. I’m fine, just stings a little. You should go back home, I’ll be fine here, after all, you said you made it stronger, so, he should be out for a while now, right?”

 

“Yeah, I suppose so. I don’t want to leave you here by yourself with him though…tell you what, we’ll lock him in a closet. Grab a leg.”

 

Evan grabs Richard by his right ankle, Amy takes his left. Together, they drag his body, into the hallway. Evan opens a door and they drag him into the closet. Evan shuts the door, turning the deadbolt, securing the door closed.

 

“Now we call the police.”

 

Amy whips around, an incredulous look on her face, not believing what she just heard.

 

“What?! We can’t call the cops; they’ll take me away from here! I can’t go to a foster home!”

 

Evan holds up one finger, telling her to wait one minute, as he explains.

 

“That won’t be happening. First, the cops won’t want to deal with placing a sixteen year old in a foster home. They’ll ask if you have any friends or other family you can stay with for an extended period of time, and when they ask you that, what do you say?”

 

A bewildered look comes across Amy’s face, obviously not getting what Evan was hinting at.

 

“Umm…I don’t have any other family? You and Jay are my only two friends, really, and I don’t think jay would be too happy if I asked him to stay at his house, so, I don’t get it…”

 

Evan sighs in frustration, looking up towards the ceiling.

 

“Lord….send me a brain for this girl…..What I’m getting at is that you, Amy Riley, will stay with me, Evan Campbell, who is your boyfriend, thus, the obvious choice. Understand now?”

 

“Um…no?”

 

Evan blinks, staring at her like she had a giant bulbous thing growing out of her head, until she winks at him, clearly joking.

 

“Of course I get it, I’m not a blonde, I just like to tease you. But will your grandparents let me stay there?”

 

“Come on, you’ve met them, you know how nice they are. They’ll understand the circumstances and welcome you with open arms.”

 

“Yeah, a few days ago I would’ve agreed with you, but what about now? What will they think about you having your girlfriend living under the same roof as you?”

 

“Hmmm…You raise a good point. I’d like to think that they know I’m not dumb enough to try something with them in the same house, but, I can’t really say. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, now, call the cops. Don’t tell them about the Shocker though, tell them you hit him with a lamp, the bulb broke, it was still on, and, well, you know how electricity goes.”

 

Amy moves into the kitchen, stepping away from the closet door. She grabs the cordless phone from the jack on the wall. She dials 911 and waits for the Operator to pick up. Seconds later, a feminine voice answers the call.

 

“911 Operator, do you need assistance?”

 

“I wouldn’t be calling if I didn’t…”

 

“No need to get smart Ma’am, now what seems to be the problem?”

 

With the ease of a trained actor, Amy slips into the role of a frightened, near-tears little girl, instead of the triumphant young woman that she had made herself into.

 

“My father attacked me, he was drunk, I hit him with a lamp and it burned half his face, please send an ambulance, I don’t want my daddy to die!”

 

“Don’t worry miss; an ambulance is on the way now. I can stay on the line if you’d like.”

 

“No, thank you, the ambulance will be fine.”

 

Amy ends the call, looking up at Evan, a small smile on her face.

 

“No turning back now. I hope they let me stay with you…”

 

“Oh, they will, don’t worry about that. I’ll be able to talk them into it, no problem. Come on; let’s wait for the ambulance outside, smells like burned skin in here.”

 

Evan & Amy leave the house, needing to get away from the stench. Once they make it out to the porch, they sit on a swing, suspended on two steel rings attached to the ceiling. Evan sets his arm behind Amy, resting it on her shoulders, pulling her close to him. She rests her head on his shoulders in the darkness, closing her eyes. After several minutes of sitting in silence, the sound of screeching sirens can be heard, faintly, but increasing in volume with every passing second. After fifteen seconds, a red and white Ambulance skids to a stop outside Amy’s house, with a black & white police car right behind it.

 

Two paramedics rush out of the ambulance, grabbing a wheeled gurney from the back of the vehicle. They quickly wheel it up to the porch, looking at Amy, obviously questioning where they were needed.

Without opening her eyes, Amy responds to the unanswered question.

 

“Hall closet.”

 

The two paramedics throw open the door and wheel the gurney inside, heading towards the closet. An Officer opens the drivers’ side door to the police cruiser behind the ambulance. He steps out into the darkness, nearly invisible due to his dark skin and nearly black uniform. The Officer looks up at the two on the porch and begins to head towards them. With his hand resting on his gun, out of habit, the Officer steps up onto the porch, looking down at Amy & Evan.

 

“We got a call about a case of child abuse. You wanna tell me what happened?”

 

Amy easily slips back into the role she used on the Operator, answering the Officer.

 

“I came home and the lights were off, I didn’t know what was going on, I thought maybe we had a power outage. My dad turned on a light; I nearly jumped out of my skin. I was relieved to see that everything was okay, until I smelled the alcohol on his breath. He started yelling crazy things at me, he told me to pack my stuff and get out. I started to pack my things; I was hoping that my boyfriend here, Evan, would let me stay with him. When I got back down stairs, Dad slapped me across the face, I tried to get away from him and call for help, but he grabbed my by the hair and punched me. I grabbed a lamp that was still turned on and swung it at him. The bulb broke against his face. The glass and electricity burned half his face off….I feel so bad…”

 

The Officer, who had been writing everything down, stops and looks at Amy, a serious look on his face.

 

“You have no reason to feel bad. He hurt you; you defended yourself, that’s all.”

 

Just as the Officer starts to say something else, the two Paramedics walk out of the house, clearly confused, without the gurney. One of them looks down at Amy, the other at the officer.

 

“I don’t know how to tell you this, but…there was no one in the closet. We searched every room in the house, and there’s no one else in there.”

 

Amy immediately jumps up from the swing and rushes into the house. She looks down the hallway, seeing that the closet door had been broken off of the frame and hurled aside. The door in the kitchen that leads outside had been similarly ripped open. A deep wave of depression washes over Amy, knowing that, with her father escaped, and knowing full well what she had done to him, that he would be unforgivingly relentless in his pursuit of her. She walks out of the house, back onto the porch, still in a daze. She sits down next to Evan, staring blankly ahead. Evan leans forwards, looking at her with an eyebrow raised. He snaps his fingers in front of her face several times, attempting to bring her out of her daze, calling her name as he does.

 

“Amy? Amy? Babe, come on now, what’s up?”

 

She slowly turns her head to look at Evan, the lank look still on her face. She begins to speak, in a monotonous tone, clearly shocked and frightened.

 

“He’s….he’s gone…”

 

Evans eyelid begins to twitch, not wanting to believe his ears.

 

“Come again?”

 

Those two words break Amy out of her reverie, sending her into a rage.

 

“I said…HE’S GONE! GONE GONE GONE, AS IN NOT THERE ANYMORE, AS IN HE LEFT AND ISNT GOING TO STOP UNTIL HE KILLS ME BECAUSE I DISFIGURED HIM!!!!”